(2-11-05) Man, I told you I'd be late on this update, but I failed for foresee that I'd have the FLU! Therefore, you get an update that's a week later than my typical Friday updates (that only lasted like, two weeks...). Maybe if I have time to proof the next chapter over the weekend, I'll post that soon so you can't be mad at me.
Anyways, the normal blah: Thanks for reviewing, I forget everything that happens in this chapter so I can't comment on it, the end.
This chapter is 20 pages long, by the way.
(REPOSTED 2-15-05) Argh! I couldn't stand it, looking at the chapter with so much missing punctuation (thank you, fanfiction dot net punctuation faerie), so I'm reposting it! It's the exact same chapter, only hopefully now it'll have all it's damned exclamation and question marks.
CHAPTER FOUR
You Will Shop, or I Will Kill You.
"Are you not excited, Hiei?" Shadow asked, sitting at the foot of his bed facing him.
"No." He rolled over.
"Get up. We're going shopping."
"No."
"Yes! You can replenish your never-ending supply of black pants and blue tank tops!"
Hiei curled up in a tight ball and pulled his pillow over his head.
"Lemme alone."
Shadow glared and crawled up closer so she could snatch away the pillow. Then she pinned him to the bed and glared down at him.
"Hiei, either you go and buy your black pants and shirts, or we'll go and buy you pink, and you'll wear it."
"No I won't."
"YES YOU WILL."
"Shadow! Shopping is not something I enjoy. As a matter of fact, I don't shop. At all. Ever. Leave me the hell alone. Give me my damned pillow."
"You can do without it."
"Fine!" He made an attempt to get comfortable, but it was hard when Shadow was straddling him and he couldn't move.
"Get up. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Get in Eclipse's car. Go shopping. You will shop, or I will kill you."
Hiei glared. Shadow glared. They both glared. At each other. For a while.
"Hey lovebirds! You coming or not!" Eclipse asked suddenly, bursting into the room. Shadow jumped and fell off the bed, taking Hiei with her.
"Lovebirds!" Hiei yelled, untangling himself from his sheets and from Shadow. "Lovebirds my shoe."
"I'm forcing you into this for your own good!" Shadow snapped, pushing him out into the hall.
"Shadow!" he whined.
"No complaining."
And off to the mall he was dragged.
"Okay, where shall we go first?" Shadow asked, looking around.
"I know!" Eclipse said excitedly.
"How about home?" Hiei asked miserably.
"No. Come with me."
Eclipse dragged them off to Hot Topic. Dunno if there's Hot Topics in Japan, but if there isn't... Oh well.
"Wow. This store is really... freaking... cool..." Shadow said. Yes... A lot of money was blown in Hot Topic. Even Hiei found a few things of interest... Muwahaha. (Ever been to Hot Topic? I love that store.)
"So... Now we go buy slightly less threatening-looking stuff!" Shadow said cheerfully. She strolled through the mall, carrying her bag, looking dreadfully happy. Eclipse walked next to her, and Hiei trailed behind, looking tormented.
"Hey Eclipse!"
Their attention was drawn to the direction of the girl who'd shouted. Shadow and Eclipse stopped, and Hiei caught up to them and stood next to Shadow. The shouter hurried over.
"Why weren't you at soccer practice yesterday?" the girl asked.
"We had practice?"
"You play soccer!"
Everybody looked at each other in a puzzled sort of way, Eclipse confused as to why Shadow and Hiei didn't know she played soccer, Shadow and Hiei confused that Eclipse played soccer, and the girl looked at the fire demons confused because she didn't know who they were.
"Um... Yes, I play soccer, I'm the team's M.V.P."
"Majorly Vile Participant?" Shadow asked curiously.
"No, fool, most valuable player! You coached soccer at one point, didn't you?" Hiei snapped.
"Um... If I did, it wasn't for very long and it doesn't stick in my mind."
"Prison? Community service? Ring a bell?"
"Who are these people?" the girl asked Eclipse quietly.
"That's Shadow, she's gonna be starting at our high school again this year, and that's Hiei, or soon to be Jaganshi-sensei... He's gonna be our new P.E. teacher," Eclipse answered.
"Really? That shrimpy little guy?"
Hiei, who had been arguing with Shadow, stopped mid-sentence when he heard 'shrimpy.' He walked around Shadow and stood in front of the girl.
"Shrimpy?"
"Well... No offense, but you're like, six inches shorter than me..."
"Don't make fun of his height. Only a select few people are allowed to do that," Shadow said. Then she added as an afterthought, "I'm not one of them. He might hurt me."
"So... You're gonna be our gym teacher?"
"Unfortunately for you," Hiei retorted. Shadow kicked him in the leg. "Ow!"
"The only people it's unfortunate for is trouble makers," Shadow said, nodding. "And me. And Eclipse. And Shuuichi. But nobody else."
"Minamino Shuuichi? Why is it unfortunate for him!"
"Because... It just is," Eclipse said. "We really must get shopping, if we give Hiei any more time to think about it, he might bolt. When's our next practice?"
"Tomorrow. Ten o'clock."
"Kay. See ya then, then," Eclipse said. She steered Hiei and Shadow to the nearest clothes store.
"You play soccer?" Shadow asked as soon as they were inside.
"Yes, Shadow, I play soccer, and I have played soccer since I was like, seven. I'm the best player on the team. Now, let's shop!"
"Yay for shopping!"
"I hate shopping," Hiei muttered. "Can't I just sit outside?"
"It's too hot to sit outside, and besides, we need you here to try on clothes. I'm not wasting money on clothes that don't fit you," Shadow said.
"How about you don't waste money on clothes that fit me, either!" Hiei suggested.
"No! You're getting new clothes! I don't think I've seen you get any new outfits at all in the past two years. So you're getting NEW CLOTHES. Problem?"
"Yes."
"I didn't think so. Glad you're so eagerly cooperating."
"Oooooh!" came Eclipse's squeal. Clothes shopping yet again commenced...
Finally, when they finished and all three had more bags than they could carry, Hiei was thoroughly traumatized, every store in the mall had a large dent in its supply black and blue clothes, and Shadow had no money left, they stuffed all their purchases in Eclipse's car and headed back to Shadow's house.
Kurama met them on the porch, smiling at the look of joy on Shadow's face, then nearly bursting into fits of laughter at the look on Hiei's face.
"Was it really that bad!" he asked, holding back his laughter and trying to keep a straight face.
"Yes!" Hiei snapped. "Not only did they insist on going to every freaking store in that stupid mall, they also decided they wanted to drag me through the underwear department, and the make-up department, and the... the... I don't even know what! But it was the most horrible experience of my entire life!"
"Hey, you got new clothes, though."
"I don't care!" he whined. He dropped all the bags he was carrying onto the floor and instantly went sulking up to his room.
"Where's he going?" Shadow asked.
"To his room. I can't believe you dragged him through the underwear department..."
"I needed his input."
"On underwear?"
"Yes. And bras." She then did a little scenario, changing her voice and doing motions and whatnot all. "'Hiei, do you think this bra is too slutty?' 'I don't know! I don't care! It's not like I'll ever see it on you.' 'Would you like to?' And he just stood there kinda moving his mouth and making little incoherent squeaks. It was cute."
"I'll tell him you said that."
"You don't need to. I did."
"And how'd he respond to that?"
"He said 'Shut up!' all angry-like. I think it made him mad. Or embarrassed."
"Ah."
"Then he tried to go stomping away but I dragged him back."
"Well it sounds like you guys had fun."
"Me and Eclipse did, Hiei didn't... After we left Hot Topic, that is... He liked Hot Topic..."
"He would," Kurama muttered.
"Dark evil stuff."
"Yeah, that..."
"Stuff."
"Yeah."
"That's dark."
"Uh-huh."
"And evil."
"Yes, Shadow."
"And stuff."
"...Yeah."
"You know?"
"I know."
"Want us to model our new outfits?"
"That'll take a month, by the looks of it."
"Now did it take us a month to get the clothes?"
"No. Just about six hours."
"Then it wouldn't take us a month to model them."
"You can model a few things, then. Just not underwear."
"Woohoo!" Shadow went rummaging through her bags and picked out a few things she particularly liked and ran away. Kurama sighed and sat down heavily in a nearby chair.
"Maybe this school idea isn't such a good plan after all..."
"Sure it is!" Eclipse said cheerfully, appearing out of nowhere. Kurama jumped up.
"If you keep appearing like that, I'm going to beat your head in!"
"You wouldn't do that, you're too nice."
"Sure. I'm nice. Yeah. Well Youko isn't."
"Youko's nice to Shadow."
"No he's not! He's a professional lecher to Shadow!"
"Yes, well... At least he doesn't kill her."
"Peh. I'd almost rather get killed than be eternally harassed, if I were her."
"You know she likes it."
"Shut up, Youko. You're disgusting. Even if it's true."
Shadow suddenly lunged into the room in the darkest, most evil outfit she'd bought: Extremely baggy black pants with a half a million zippers, chains, and straps with legs so wide you could hide a medium-sized dog in them. The stitching was all with red thread and stood out. Her belt had rings and chains on it, she wore boots that came to her knees, though you wouldn't be able to tell if she even had feet with the way these pants were... Her shirt, black, of course, had some psychotic saying on it, and was also extremely baggy, most likely a couple sizes too big. She had a skintight shirt on under it, fishnet, but only about four inches of this was visible on her arms between her elbow-length sleeves and the biker gloves she was wearing. Last but not least, about ten chains hung around her neck, various lengths, sizes, and designs, with anything from wolf pendants to an anarchy sign. Kurama stared.
"This, my friends," Shadow said, her too-big shirt hanging off one shoulder slightly and exposing fishnet underneath, "This is the most awesome outfit I've ever worn." She smiled evilly. Eclipse grinned.
"Way cool, Shadow. I love it."
"I'm modeling some of my new clothes for Kurama. You should too." She turned to Kurama. "We got almost identical outfits, except where I have red, she has blue. Hiei has something extremely similar to this, too, except he has a coat to go with it..."
"How much money did you spend?" Kurama asked, a bit scared of the answer.
"Um... A lot. Everything I took. Several bazillion yen."
A heavy sigh escaped Kurama's lips. "Remind me to never let you loose in a mall with money..."
"It's my money... Besides, these clothes will last us the next five years if we're lucky! And if we don't fight and get 'em tore up."
"You don't fight anyway. You're a tantei assistant, Shadow, not a warrior."
"Shut the hell up! I could take you any day!"
"Right... Whatever."
"That's it, Mommy's Boy! We takin' this outside! Let's go, girly-boy! Huh! You wanna piece o' me?"
"Sit, Shadow!" Eclipse yelled. Shadow turned wide, horrified eyes on her.
"Why?"
"Sit! Stay!"
Shadow glared and stood still, pouting with her arms crossed. "Sonofabitch."
"First, I am not a son of anything, and second, I don't know my mother, so she might be a bitch. I'm unaware."
"Whatever, child. I'm gonna go get more clothes! Model time! Yeeha!" She spun around and ran upstairs. How she managed to without tripping over the bottoms of her pants, I don't know, but she nearly flattened Hiei as she went. He grabbed her arm as she jogged by and looked at her outfit.
"Good God."
"Yes I am!"
"What?"
"I am God, thank you, and I'm a pretty good God too, if I do say so myself."
"Go away."
"I'm modeling. Wanna watch?"
"I JUST SPENT SIX LONG AND PAINFUL HOURS PUTTING UP WITH YOU AND YOUR CLOTHES! NO, I DON'T WANT TO WATCH!"
"Then stay upstairs," Shadow said coldly, glaring. "Or stay out of my way, cuz I am MODELING!"
"What the hell ever."
Then she very abruptly changed her disposition, gave him a friendly pat on the head while smiling cheerfully, and jogged towards her room.
-
The first day of school, frighteningly enough, came very quickly, it seemed. Hiei woke up precisely at 6:15 AM, showered, dressed, and then went to Shadow's room and walked in without knocking, taking care to be silent. She was sleeping, of course, and he went up to her bed and leaned down next to her. She was so peaceful and calm and quiet... Like a totally different person. He could have done any number of things to wake her. Perhaps a gentle shake, or a tender kiss. The atmosphere was right. But he opted for choice number three.
"WAKE UP!"
"AAIIIIEEEE!" Shadow screamed, sitting bolt upright. She missed breaking Hiei's nose only because of his reflexes. "Don't do that!"
"Get up. You have school today. I have school today, and being a teacher, I have to get there before most students. So, you have to go with me. You wearing the uniform?"
"Hell no, man. Just cuz I have the thing doesn't mean I'm gonna wear it," she scoffed, rolling off the opposite side of the bed. There was a loud thud and the majority of the sheets were pulled off Shadow's bed as she hit the floor. "Eh..."
"Up. Shower. Dress. Food. School. Snap to it, you have half an hour."
"Half an hour!"
"You heard me, kid."
"Well you're certainly high-and-mighty this morning..." She started untangling herself from the mess of sheets.
"That, Shadow, is because I'm a school teacher and I have to be in charge. Right? Yes. Right. You're lucky I don't have you run laps."
"You'll save that for P.E."
"Yeah. Now GET UP!"
"I'M GETTIN'!"
Hiei snorted and walked away, leaving the room and going downstairs just as the doorbell rang. What the hell?
Though the door was only about ten feet away from Hiei, Shadow came streaking down the stairs and got to it before he did, tearing it open so fast that Kurama, standing on the porch, jumped.
"God, Shadow..." Hiei muttered. "You know I'm about eight feet from the door, right?"
"Yes, I know."
"Why, may I ask, did you feel the need, then, to answer the door yourself?"
"Because... I felt like hugging Kurama!" she said cheerfully, and did just that.
"But... You didn't know who was at the door."
"Who else would come at this time of the day?"
"A psychotic lunatic."
"Well... Kurama kinda is a psychotic lunatic, but-"
"I am not!"
Shadow paused. "I gotta go to the bathroom." She turned around and walked down the hall, her bedsheets trailing behind her. When she shut the bathroom door, they got shut in it, there was a clatter, some curses, some more curses, before finally Shadow somehow solved her dilemma and the shower started up.
Kurama looked Hiei over, what with his black clothes and a silver chain around his neck. "Nice, threatening choice of clothes for the first day, Hiei."
"Yes, I know, that's the point."
"People will think you're odd." Hiei looked at him blankly. "Right. You don't care."
"No. I don't. In fact, that's good, in a way."
"... It is?"
"Yes, fox. It's good that people think I'm weird."
"Any particular reason...?"
"Not really."
Kurama blinked. "Okay."
"Any particular reason you decided to come here at quarter 'till seven in the morning?"
"Had to make sure you got up in time."
"I got up half an hour ago."
"I see. Well in that case, I'm going to give you a ride to school, as I know you don't wanna walk, and I drove my car here."
"Why wouldn't I want to walk?"
"More time with Shadow."
"Oh. I live with her, though. Just going to school is getting me a lot less time with her than normally."
"Ready to teach?"
"Uh, yeah... Teach..."
"Hiei..." the fox warned.
"What? I'm gonna teach! Isn't that what I just said?"
"Well that's what the words said, but the meaning hidden behind them said otherwise... You're not going to torment my classmates."
"You don't care."
"Not in particular, but it's just-"
"Yes, whatever, fox, I'll behave like a good stupid ningen sensei..."
"Good. I don't have P.E. until the end of the day. Last class. So..."
"Kurama!"
"Yes?"
"I get the idea!"
"You sure?"
"Quite."
"Positive?" Kurama taunted.
"Shut up!"
"Answer me!"
"Leave me alone!"
"But Hiei, are you positive?"
"Go away! Go to school!"
"Can't. Waiting for Shadow."
"Go fix breakfast. Save her some trouble, the poor child doesn't know up from down right now," Hiei ordered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"No! Fix your own food!"
"Shadow's job."
"Hiei!"
"Kurama!" Hiei mocked. Kurama narrowed his eyes.
"Don't you mock me, young man."
"I'll mock you if I feel like it, Grandpa."
"Grandpa!"
"Old man. You are old. Old, Kurama! Senile!"
"Hey! Just because my demon side has an odd affinity with shiny things, Shadow, and poker doesn't mean I'm old or senile."
"You're mental!"
"I'M MENTAL!" came Shadow's cheerful voice, and she exploded down the hall out of the bathroom, tackling a certain fire demon and hugging him.
"Let go! Leggo! Shadow!"
"Leggo my eggo!" she sang. Hiei went limp. "I KILT HIM!"
"You 'kilt' him?"
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!"
"I... heard you... Shadow..."
"HE'S DED!"
"Ded?"
"DED, DAMMIT!"
"Go get dressed, and wear the school uniform. Rule-breaking is not for the first day of school."
"Sure it is! You can break rules whenever you want. Rules are made to be broken. You should know that, thief."
Kurama sighed. "Fine. Don't. Get detention. I'm not going to nag at you."
"Thank you!"
"You know you're still hanging onto Hiei, right?"
Shadow looked at the limp fire demon in her arms and wailed, horrified. "I KILT HIM DED!"
"Sure you did, Shadow. Go get dressed, I'll handle Hiei."
Shadow very reluctantly let go of Hiei. "If he's not alive and well by the time I get back down here, dressed and ready for a fun day at the building of three thousand tortures, I'm afraid you'll be doing CPR on him. Not me." She spun around and walked away. Kurama looked at Hiei for a second, until Shadow's footsteps had vanished up the stairs.
"She gone?" Hiei asked, opening one eye. Kurama nodded. The little demon got up instantly. "Good."
"So what are you planning on teaching these kids today?"
"I don't plan on teaching anything today. That's how the first day of school is, isn't it?"
"Most of the time, at least in gym class. And they'd hate you forever if you did... Besides, most of them wouldn't have brought their gym uniforms anyway..."
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Hiei sighed, sitting down.
"Shadow's very persuasive," Kurama said, smiling, an odd glint in his eye.
"Okay, what was the hidden insinuation behind that, pervert fox?" Hiei asked, standing right back up again to glare at his friend.
"I'm sure you can figure it out..."
"Yes, I'm sure I can too. Get control on your Youko side."
"Gomen nasai," Kurama apologized. "You'd better get Shadow, you'll be late if she doesn't-"
"HIEI! YOU LIVE!" A black blur came flying into the room, tackled Hiei, and they tumbled over a couple times before Hiei found himself being hugged to death yet again by Shadow.
"Speak of the devil..." Kurama said. "C'mon Shadow, let's get going."
"Hey! I'm not the devil!" she snapped indignantly, standing up and letting go of Hiei. He landed on the floor with a thud, looking dazed.
"It's a figure of speech, Shadow. I know you aren't the devil, the devil is a good bit less cheerful, I'd say."
"He's cheerful when people commit heinous crimes... He was cheerful a lot when Youko was reigning King of Thieves over Makai... Evil makes him happy."
"Youko isn't evil, he's just..."
"Not very concerned about other people," Hiei said.
"Yes. I suppose 'selfish' is the word."
"Selfish Perverted Bastard is the title," Shadow said, following them out to Kurama's car. She actually bothered locking the front door behind her. They all got in the car and headed towards school, all excited and whatnot...
-
"Shadow!"
The girl spun at the sound of her name. Eclipse came running up to her.
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
"High?"
"No, hi."
"Hell. Whatever, I don't speak your odd language."
"Shadow... I'm speaking your native language."
"I don't speak that language. The only languages I know are Japanese, English, and some odd Makai dialects which nobody here speaks."
"That's nice. Looking forward to our first class?"
"Um... Maybe?"
"Well you, me, and Kurama all have the same schedules, so it should be fun!"
"How'd that happen?" Kurama asked abruptly, slightly horrified by this new discovery. He'd known he had Shadow's schedule the same, but... Also Eclipse? Not good... Well at least he could keep an eye on them... Pyeh. Like he could do anything inconspicious to stop them if they decided to cause trouble. That'd be like stopping a speeding train with your bare hands.
Suddenly he noticed that they'd gotten separated from him.
Make that a shinkansen with spikes on the front... While you're tied to its tracks, Youko sighed in the back of his head as he sought the girls out. Before Kurama could make a remark, he spotted Eclipse, then Shadow, and froze, staring.
"What. The. Hell."
Shadow and Eclipse were harassing our good friend (Well, I personally hate him...)Yuu Kaito. Eclipse was sniffing at his uniform like a drug-sniffing dog, and Shadow was reading out of a book and waving burning incense around in odd patterns, which, on closer examination, one could have identified as English words...
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Kaito was yelling. "I demand you leave me alone!"
"You smell funny," Eclipse declared, standing up straight and looking proud of herself. Kurama hurried over.
"I'll tell you what smells funny," he snapped, wrapping his arm around Eclipse's neck and grabbing the incense from Shadow's hand, ignoring her angry protest. "This. This crap smells like marijuana."
"Who's to say it isn't?" Shadow snapped back, glaring dangerously.
"It isn't, is it!"
"No, but it sure smells that way, doesn't it?" she laughed.
"Who are these two? More of your odd friends?" Kaito asked.
"What is going on here?" another voice yelled.
"SHADOW!" Kurama yelped. "It's the first day of school! Classes haven't even started and you've already drawn Yamashita's attention! Idiot! Get out of here!"
"Yamashita? Oh, that S.O.B. who tried to hit me for 'harassing' that one girl in your fan club a couple years ago? That guy's hysterical!"
"Hysterical, am I?"
Shadow spun around and looked up at him, smiling. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Yamashita-sensei!"
"Oh, I recognize you... Decided to come back, have you?"
"Well, it wasn't entirely my-"
Kurama slapped a hand over her mouth and smiled apologetically. "She's very happy to be back and she promises you won't have to worry about her behavior too much."
"And why isn't she wearing the uniform?"
"Because it's ugly," Shadow managed to retort before Kurama could silence her again. He sighed exasperatedly.
"Shadow..."
"What? Yusuke's fine print didn't include not getting in trouble," she whispered back to him, grinning.
Luckily, the class bell rang, saving all their asses as Kurama hurriedly dragged them away, saying over his shoulder to the principal, "Well, we can't be late for the first class of a new year, can we? We'll just be going... Quickly... Away."
He practically carried the two girls to English, the first class of the day. He dropped them into seats on either side of him and glared.
"You guys are horrible. If you get me in trouble-"
"Don't worry, fox! We'll cover for you and take all the blame so your human reputation isn't in the least bit injured... Of course, we all know your true nature, but-"
"Shuuichi!" A girl came running up to Kurama, smiling excitedly. Shadow recognized her and said so.
"Hey! I recognize you!"
Ayame looked at Shadow. Her smile faltered, but she managed to keep it, though now it held obvious falseness.
"Oh, yes, you're Shadow, right? It's nice to see you again."
Shadow continued grinning, quite aware that the girl was not being honest, and deciding to ignore it and act polite and... Well... Maybe not entirely polite.
"Shuuichi brought me to school this morning, wasn't that nice of him?" Shadow said, smiling.
"Yes, very nice..." The girl was obviously quite deflated. How could her dear Shuuichi treat this scrawny, odd girl better than her, better than Ayame, who had so much more to offer! (Right...)
"Ayame, what is it you wanted?" Kurama asked politely.
"I just wanted to say good morning, and that I'm happy we're in this class together! English is the hardest thing for me, but you have the highest grade in the class! Aside from Miller, of course, because English is her first language."
Shadow snorted. "What grades does 'Miller' get, then?"
"If her grade is higher than foxy's here, she's most likely got a solid 97 to 100," Eclipse said to Shadow, like neither Kurama nor Ayame was there. "I, of course, get A's, because I. Am. A genius."
"Pff. Then my goal for this class is to get higher grades than Whatever-her-name-is Miller!" Shadow said, standing on her desk in a superhero pose.
"What are you doing standing on your desk!" the teacher asked, walking into the room at the precise wrong moment.
"Absolutely nothing worth punishing me for, sir!" Shadow said, saluting and falling down and back into her seat. The chair fell over from the force and she rolled over and ended up face-first on the floor.
The teacher looked at her, raising one eyebrow. "What's your name?"
Shadow rolled over and looked up at him. "Jaganshi. Shadow."
"Stand up, Shadow-san." Luckily, this teacher seemed to have a high tolerance for clowns.
Shadow jumped to her feet and offered her hand. "Hajimemashite!"
The teacher pointed to her seat. "Now sit down."
Shadow looked at her chair, uprighted it, and sat down obediently, looking up at him with a small child's innocent, hopeful smile and wide, glittering eyes. The man just looked at her and sighed, hiding a smile. He went to the front of the room and sat at his desk. The late bell had rung long ago, so he called roll and introduced himself as Black-sensei (at which Shadow leaned over and elbowed Kurama, saying, "You were wrong! Ha ha." He pushed her away and looked apologetically at Black, whose attention she had caught with her loud whispers).
"This class is third year English, so I assume you already have some knowledge of the language and culture of Americans," he continued. There was murmured agreement. "Good, then I'd like to give you a test to see where everybody stands. Get out a piece of paper."
"NANI!"
"What? This is school, you take tests, don't you?"
"Not on the first DAY!"
"It won't count towards your grade, how's that?"
"WE DON'T WANNA TAKE A TEST!"
"Shadow-san, would you come up here and pass out a sheet of paper to everyone who needs one?"
Shadow jumped up and danced (literally) to the front of the room. "Yes sir!" She took the stack of lined paper and started passing them out, cheerfully saying something to every. single. person. she handed one to. Compliment, greeting, other such comment.
When everyone had a paper and she'd danced back to the teacher and given him the remaining papers in the stack, he regarded them all with a smile.
"How would you all react if I told you I was joking?"
And Mr. Black was suddenly bombarded by crumpled up balls of paper, erasers, and the caps off pens. He laughed once the attack had subsided.
"Couldn't resist. You will be having a test sometime this week, however."
"That was Not. Cool," one kid said, annoyed. Black smiled.
"Yes, well... Anyway, you're all sixteen or seventeen years old, I assume I shouldn't have to tell you rules for proper behavior?"
"No," several people replied.
"Good. In that case, then, you have the rest of the period to yourselves. Do as you please, without breaking those rules."
Shadow got up and did a happy dance until Kurama, annoyed and embarrassed, managed to push her down into her seat, push her chair under her desk so she was pinned in it, and stand behind the chair to keep her from pushing it out and continuing the dance she was so pathetically attempting to complete while sitting. Eclipse smiled and declared, "DANCING IS CONTAGEOUS!"
...And she began dancing the same way Shadow was (only standing). Kurama stared at her and groaned, slumping down into his own seat and giving up.
"You two are the only things I will ever give up on," he muttered.
"THINGS? We aren't things! We're people, just like you!" Shadow accused, stopping her dancing and pointing accusingly. Eclipse imitated her overdramatically. The entire class was staring.
"Please..." Kurama muttered. "Stop. Being. Idiots! I know that's an extremely difficult concept for you two halfwit children to grasp, but please, for the sake of everything with even a small brain and tiny hint of sanity, PLEASE stop acting like dolts before I refuse to claim any knowledge of your existence."
Both girls froze, looked at Kurama with wide-eyed, scared, "you wouldn't really do that, would you" looks, before sitting down and folding their hands in their laps politely, staring straight ahead.
"Wow. That's some control you have," Black said in the silence that followed. Kurama just sighed and looked at him.
"It can hardly be called 'control,'" he replied.
"Looks like control to me."
"It's a threat."
"A threat? How can silence and stillness be a threat?"
"Never mind, sir..."
"It's a foreboding omen of things to come," came Hiei's falsely kind/polite voice from the doorway. Mostly everyone in the room stared, but nobody was half as bewildered as Kurama, Shadow, and Eclipse. "Sorry for interrupting whatever it was you were doing, but could I speak with Shadow for a moment?"
"Of course," Black said, looking at Shadow in a "You heard the man" sort of way. She got up and walked towards Hiei, and he shut the door behind her before grabbing her arm and dragging her a ways down the hallway.
"Yes sir?" she said, smiling slightly.
"Shadow."
"Yes?"
"I. Am going to kill you. Keep that in mind. You will die. Slow and painful. Soon. Just not right now because it'd be suspicious. Maybe at home. Today. Expect it. You. Will. Die. I am so pissed off right now..." He said this all in a dangerously low, angry tone of voice that any smart person would cower in fear from... Shadow, however, being quite the opposite of 'any smart person' (being 'not just any dumb person') just stood and smiled at him.
"Okay," she said. "You've got a class this period down in the gym, haven't you. And they insulted you several times already. So you're pissed at me because you can't kill the humans and it's my fault you're here, am I right?"
"Enjoy your day while you can, because when you get to my class you'll be in hell."
"Yes sir!"
He let go of her and walked down the hall. She skipped back into English.
"What'd he want?"
"Death threats!"
People stared.
The next class was science/chemistry/biology. The teacher was one Tayama-sensei, who laid down extremely strict rules.
"One, we will be working with a variety of volatile chemicals, and I expect you to always follow lab rules, which are posted on every wall."
Kurama looked pointedly at Shadow, who noticed and quickly faked being undyingly fascinated with the rules posted on the nearest wall.
"Two, do not speak unless I call on you after you've raised your hand, or if I give you permission to speak quietly among the people sitting around you."
Shadow grinned at Kurama and Eclipse on either side of her.
"Three, turn in your assignments on time. Late assignments with no valid excuse, such as absence, will automatically be reduced ten percent."
He went through about ten more rules and after that the class was spent with absentminded twiddling of thumbs (he didn't give permission to speak quietly amongst their neighbors).
Third period, social studies, was uneventful, as mostly all social studies classes always are... This one was taught by a new teacher, the man Hiei had met on his way into the first 'teachers taught to teach' class. His name was Okibi-sensei and he was the cheerful, friendly sort, somewhat like Black-sensei but nothing like Tayama... Shadow figured she could get away with a lot in his class.
Fourth period was language arts, and it was their first class taught by a woman. Her name was Sato-sensei, and she was young-ish and seemed nice, but Kurama warned Shadow that if she irked the lady too much, she wouldn't escape detention for half a month... After school, during school, on weekends... Shadow winced at this.
But the teacher was rather cheerful today, it seemed, and after explaining rules and whatnot, pointed to a question written up on the board.
"You'll be learning about different forms of writing essays this year, and to go along with this, you'll have an essay question every day to tell me about yourself!"
Shadow stared. "Not cool, dude."
"I will be collecting them all, and at the end of the year I'll hand them back and we can see how your writing has improved! So, today's question, if you would all get out a paper and pencil..." She waited until everyone's shuffling had subsided before continuing. "Today's essay is this: 'Look to the people on either side of you and write something nice about them both.' I hope you know your classmates well enough to do that... Try using complete, descriptive sentences and feel free to write more than one positive thing, if you feel so inclined!"
Kurama's eyes widened as two halfbreed, psychotic girls grinned at him from either side. "Man... This is lousy."
"Well I have to write something nice about you, and what have you ever done to deserve that?" Shadow muttered. She looked then to her left, shrugged (she didn't know the kid, so she'd be writing about looks alone), then looked at her paper. She touched the pencil tip to the paper. There was a pause in which she stared at the blue lines on the paper before she accidentally broke the tip of the pencil and it went flying over onto the desk of the boy on her left. He glared at her.
"I have to write something nice about you, it's best not to aggitate me before you need to."
Shadow blinked, pulled out a lead pencil from her back pocket, and scribbled down, "The boy on my left has a nice voice, even though it's slightly gruff from always being angry." Quite the judge, aren't we?
Then came the hard part. Look to your right.
Shadow stared at Kurama. One compliment, huh...?
On my right, reigning champion in the world of intelligence, looks, social skills, and multiple other things, we see our friend Shuuichi Minamino, the genius, the gentleman, the if-looks-could-kill... LEPRECHAUN!
I just spoiled my roll, didn't I... Sorry. Let's try that again.
Shuuichi Minamino is smart, polite, athletic, good-looking, and also a good friend of mine so I feel like with all this idiotic blathering that I'm hitting on him or something.
The teacher gave them a good ten minutes to write what took Shadow less than five. So Shadow used her wonderfully subtle skills of information gathering to scoot her chair over a bit and look at Kurama's paper. He noticed, but didn't even bother trying to shield it, because all he'd get was an ear full of complaints.
On my left is Shadow. We've been friends for several years, so luckily I know her well enough to have seen some of her good attributes (aside from her physical attributes, which are obviously quite good). It may surprise you to know she's really quite intelligent.
On my right is Eclipse. She's pretty, too, and from what I've heard and seen, really good at soccer. She's the team's MVP.
Shadow narrowed her eyes slightly. "You wrote more about me, but I catch an odd hint that you have this flattery thing going on with Eclipse..."
"What!"
"Well, you said nice stuff about me, but you seemed to stress Eclipse's sentences more, with more emotion..."
Kurama sighed. "Are you saying I have a crush on Eclipse?"
"...Maybe..."
The teacher interrupted, diverting Kurama from his death glare. "Who would like to read theirs aloud?" she asked cheerfully. Shadow, Kurama, and Eclipse quite plainly refused (or rather, Kurama threatened Shadow with "IF YOU READ THAT TO THIS CLASS, I WILL KILL YOU!").
So went the day fowards to LUNCH! Taking one look at the school lunch, Shadow crept into a corner and cowered in fear until something (or rather, someone) caught her eye...
A certain little fire demon was hanging around near one of the doorways, leaning on the wall, his eyes scanning over the people in the room. As she watched, a few kids went up to him, smiling, said something that rewarded them with a raised eyebrow and some smart remark that made them laugh as they waved and walked off to their own little group of friends.
Shadow slipped out through one of the other cafeteria doors and went around to the door behind Hiei. She stood silently in the doorway, intending to lunge out and scare him, as another kid came up to him, laughing.
"Hey, Jaganshi-sensei! That was awesome in class today!" The kid's eyes flicked to Shadow for a split second and she put her finger on her lips in the universal "BE QUIET!" gesture. But Hiei had caught the tiny deviation in attention as something more than just casually glancing around. He didn't let on.
"And?"
"Do you plan on doing that very often?"
"Not really."
"Aw, come on, it was awesome! The way you kind of like, well... I don't even know! How'd you do that!"
"It's none of your business."
"Aw, man!"
And Shadow took this opportunity to lunge out and grab Hiei's shoulders, shouting "BOO!" in his face. He blinked mildly at her.
"Hello, Shadow."
"Aw, man! I was supposed to scare you!"
"You'd think when I live with you that'd by now you'd realize I don't scare easily."
"You live together?" the kid asked, surprised.
"Unfortunately," Hiei said.
"What's she, like, your daughter? Niece? Cousin? Sister?"
"No relation," they said in unison. Shadow was still holding onto Hiei's shoulders for no apparent reason.
"So what'd he do in your class?" Kurama asked from behind them, seeming quite disapproving.
"You know Hiroshi Nakada, right?"
"All too well," Kurama replied, looking at Hiei as he already started putting pieces together. "What'd he do...?"
"Well, Nakada thought he could beat the crap out of Jaganshi-sensei here, so when he said 'go ahead and try,' Nakada ran at him and tried to tackle him or punch him or kick him, whatever it was... I couldn't tell because it was a really pathetic try, or maybe it was because Jaganshi-sensei dodged it and flipped him onto his back every single time. It was awesome! I bet Nakada won't be messing with you anymore, man! Way to go! I can already tell P.E. is gonna be awesome with a new teacher like you! I gotta go, though. Ja mata!"
Kurama, however, was giving Hiei a look that plainly warned, "LECTURE!"
"Please, fox, don't lecture me, I know I'm not supposed to do stuff like that around normal ningens, but I couldn't resist. That idiot gave us so much grief, then he wouldn't shut up, I just couldn't help myself..." Hiei said, grinning. Shadow hugged him.
"Way to go! I wish I could have been there!"
Kurama sighed heavily. "So do I."
Two sets of red eyes focused incredulously on him.
"You just said-"
"I know, but I hate that kid. I wish I could have done it myself... O'course, I wouldn't've been able to restrain myself and probably would have put him in the hospital... You did have mats down, didn't you?"
"Yes sir," Hiei sighed. "I know how to handle you frail ningens..."
"I'm not a frail ningen."
"You know what I mean."
"I take it you have no class this period and were sent to watch all us irresponsible teens, right?" Kurama said, changing the subject.
"Well I wasn't sent, but I have nothing better to do, and you guys are here, so..." He shrugged. "Why not."
"Come sit with us!" Shadow said cheerfully.
"Wha!"
But he was already being dragged off to the nearest empty table, Kurama trailing behind. Eclipse was still standing in the lunch line, waiting to get her oddly plastic-looking food...
"So I can tell you've already put your impression out on the students as 'cool,'" Kurama said, poking at his food for a second before pushing his tray away with a distasteful look on his face.
"Whatever gets me through this Hell," Hiei muttered, quietly enough that any nearby students wouldn't have heard him. Teachers aren't supposed to be so negative about their jobs, and he knew that. "So what class are you in next?"
"Calculus, boys and girls!" Shadow announced, poking at Kurama's food, then picking a bit off and flicking it so it ended up in a nearby prep's hair. She looked at it with a wide-eyed "OOPS" look, contemplating what to do for half a second before deciding to leave it there. Nobody would know it was her...
"Ha! Have fun!"
... And fun they had.
Baisotei-sensei, their math teacher, wasn't in a good mood. He told them rules, handed out books, all the stuff other teachers had done, and succeeded in ticking off Shadow pretty bad. So when he snapped at her for yawning, she glared and retorted, "Who the hell pissed in YOUR Cheerios?"
And he stared. Then burst out laughing. Then it was Shadow's turn to stare.
"Was it that funny?"
"I didn't think so," Kurama replied.
"I'm sorry!" the teacher laughed. "Wow, that was the perfect thing to wake me up! I like you, girl, you're really straightforward. What was your name again?"
"Shadow..."
"Thank you, Shadow. For that, you're excused from tonight's homework."
"We have homework!" the rest of the class cried miserably.
"Yes, you do."
"Aw, maaaaan!"
After math, they had to suffer through health... Which, when they reached the room, became an apparent and obvious fact that they indeed would be suffering. The teacher, Etsuko-sensei, told them her plans for the year's lessons.
"I thought first we'd start out learning about relationships and reproduction!" she told them. "It's appropriate for all you hormone-driven teenagers! Now, you're probably thinking 'Ew, I don't want to talk about reproduction! You mean sex?' Well let me tell you, human reproduction is a beautiful thing. When a man and woman fall in love and decide to have a child, when they-"
At this point, Shadow stopped listening and instead vouched for the more appealing action of staring in horror as the lady went on about how beautiful sex is, like the majority of the class had no idea what sex even was or something... The lady didn't seem to realize that the majority of the people in the class had probably already had sex once or twice (being anywhere from sixteen to eighteen years old, y'know. I know people that age who already have kids).
Shadow stole a glance at Kurama and Eclipse. The fox abruptly looked at her with an odd glint in his eyes, then snorted to keep from laughing hysterically.
"Damn Youko," Shadow hissed under her breath. Eclipse, on the other hand, was just as horrified by this lady's sense of 'beauty' as Shadow was, and was plugging her ears and humming.
"So you see, it's nothing to be disgusted by..." Etsuko was saying. "And after relationships and reproduction, I believe we'll learn about the human body in its entirety, first aid, emotional and physical health, and if we have time after that, I... I'm not sure what we'll do, but we'll find something if there's a couple weeks left. I don't think there will be, though. Reproduction will take up the majority of the time we have."
One boy raised his hand. "Are we going to get to watch videos?"
"Maybe."
Shadow coughed and it sounded oddly like, "Porn!" Everyone else in the room seemed excited by this. More like, "Yay! Porn!" than "EW! PORN!"
"Hey, but this is the last class we have to suffer through before we get to go see Hiei!" Shadow squealed, elbowing Kurama in the ribs.
"Ow... Yeah, Shadow. You're excited, I get it..."
The rest of the class, Etsuko spent giving rules and telling classroom procedure like all the other teachers had. When the bell rang, Shadow got up and literally bolted from the room. Kurama and Eclipse followed at a slower pace. Another kid from their health class, Kurama wasn't sure of his name, came up behind them halfway to the gym.
"Hey! Aren't you Shuuichi Minamino? The genius?"
"Yes... I suppose."
"And you're Eclipse Shinomori, the soccer player?"
"Yes, among other things."
"That's awesome! Who was that girl who was with you in health and Science?"
"Shadow Jaganshi..."
"Where is she now?"
"She ran to the gym. She's excited."
"About gym class? Heard we had a new teacher. Heard he's really cool."
Kurama couldn't help but chuckle. "Hiei's already cool before the end of the first day. I have to admit I didn't really expect that," he muttered to Eclipse.
"Who's Hiei?" the kid behind them asked. "The gym teacher? You know him on a first-name basis? Wow!"
"We've been friends for quite some time," Kurama said.
"Well I'm headed to his class, so give me some pointers. Can I play pranks?"
Eclipse snorted and burst out laughing.
"We're in his class next too..." There was a pause as Kurama grinned. "What kind of pranks did you have in mind?"
"Just typical new-teacher pranks. Lying, confusing him, stealing his papers and stuff. Nothing terribly harmful. You can't do a lot of complex pranks in a P.E. class. No desks and whatnot."
"You can try your pranks," Kurama said. "I'm not saying it's a good idea, but you can try."
They turned into the gym. Most of the class was already there, including Shadow (she'd probably arrived first).
"Awesome! So where is he?"
Kurama looked around. "Beats me."
Everyone who'd just recently arrived was looking around curiously, but Shadow and some of the first to arrive were chatting among themselves. Shadow came flying over to Kurama and grabbed his shoulders.
"If he's not here, he can't kill me!" she cheered. The prankster boy looked confused.
"Kill you?"
Shadow looked past Kurama at him. "Who're you?"
"Obake Ryu." (written Japanese style, so Ryu Obake, dragon ghost. Don't ask.)
"Nice to meet you, Ryu. I'm Shadow."
The late bell rang. Now people were really confused. Apparently, they had no teacher... A couple kids came running in late, already babbling excuses.
"We're sorry J- Where is he?"
A few people shrugged. Then Hiei's voice made them all freeze.
"You're late."
Now everyone started freaking out. BODILESS VOICES! Eek!
"Ah!" Shadow chirped suddenly, her eyes lighting up. She ran to the bleachers, which were folded against the wall, the top nearly twice her height, and scrambled up them (somehow) to the top (which you aren't really supposed to stand on). "Found you."
Hiei was lying on the top against the wall, his eyes closed and his hands behind his head. Shadow kicked the bottom of his boot.
"Get up."
"Get off the bleachers or I'll give you detention," he muttered, smiling slightly as he opened his eyes and sat up.
People stared. The guys were confused moreso than the girls, who were shocked to see their new P.E. teacher was a total hottie. Short, yes, but hot. They stared and drooled.
"Are they related?" Ryu asked Kurama quietly. The fox shook his head.
"Iie. No relation."
"You sure? They have the same last name."
"I'm sure."
"Then they're married!"
And Kurama and Eclipse both fell over.
"No! And you'd better not say anything like that to either of them because they'll explode."
Hiei dropped to the floor easily and looked up at Shadow.
"Can I stay up here?"
"No. Get down."
"But..."
Hiei sighed. He mumbled under his breath, "Damned humans..." and helped her down. At that point, several members of the class started getting ideas about the relationship between these two (and the drooling girls started getting evil plans for Shadow's unsightly demise so they could have the 'little hottie' all to themselves). Hiei turned and faced them.
"What were you doing up there?" one kid asked.
"Waiting," Hiei replied shortly. He looked directly at the two who'd been late. "I'll give you a reprieve since it's the first day."
The two sighed. "Doumo arigatou gozaimasu..."
"Whatever," Hiei said.
"What're we doing today, Jaganshi-sensei?"
"Dying!" Shadow cheered.
"Shut up." Hiei then pulled out his attendance sheet and called roll. Then he had everyone line up and count off by twos.
"So what're we doing?" the same kid asked.
"I've had a lot of requests for dodgeball today, and since I approve of it and don't give a shit what Yamashita says... Who wants to play dodgeball?"
Several kids were totally awed by his choice of words, so the kids who did want to play dodgeball (which already outnumbered everyone else), just grabbed these stunned-into-silence kids' arms and also raised them.
"Okay then..." Hiei went to the store room and came out with a sack of foam balls over his shoulder (well he does have some regard for rules. At least nobody will get terribly hurt with foam balls). "You know the rules, any disagreements come to me for clarification, I will be watching. Knock yourself out. Er... Figuratively speaking." One team on either side of the gym, ten foam balls, ready go. He retreated back to the bleachers and sat quietly, assessing each student and making sure that nobody got wailed on too bad...
In the end, Kurama and Shadow came over to talk to him while Eclipse yelled at some perverted boys who'd said something about her ass.
"I know there was a point to this, Hiei," Kurama said when the little demon obediently dropped off the bleachers to talk to them.
"Yes, there was. You both did very well, of course."
"You were testing them, weren't you!" Shadow said. "The stupid weak ningen teenagers!"
"Something about brightly colored things flying towards your body at high velocities makes you a bit jumpy, doesn't it? Even ningen games can train you, if played with the right people. I've learned that," Hiei told them. "Most of the kids in my classes have the ability to dodge something thrown at them. That's good."
"You're not planning on teaching any martial arts, are you...?" Kurama sighed.
"Weeellll..."
"Hiei, you can't teach these kids martial arts! They'll end up having false delusions that they can fight, then they'll start fistfights in the hallways and you'll get in trouble!" Kurama warned.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hiei said, brushing him off. "Pardon me for being a martial arts master..."
"You're a martial arts master?" a nearby kid said suddenly. Hiei and Kurama both swore under their breath. "Why kind? Karate? Ninjutsu? Samurai? Tae Kwan Do?"
Hiei rolled his eyes before looking directly at the kid. "Swordplay."
"Swordplay? Awesome! Like, with a sword?"
The little demon hit himself in the side of the head. "No, with a bow and arrows..." he retorted sarcastically, leaving "idiot" unspoken, no matter how much he really wanted to say it.
"What's that about a sword?" another kid said.
"Jaganshi-sensei is a sword master! Like those people in movies!"
"Wow! Really? Awesome!"
"Can we have a demonstration!"
And soon the entire class was buzzing with questions. Hiei winced under the interrogation and requests, plugged his ears and muttered to Shadow, "If you would be so kind as to silence them..." Kurama heard and instantly plugged his ears too.
"SHUT UP!" Shadow screamed. Everyone silenced instantly.
"Arigatou, Shadow. There's a possibility I'll do a demonstration, but I'd have to clear it with your stupid principal-" Kurama elbowed him ("Stop openly badmouthing him!") and Hiei glared. "-first. And I doubt he'd like it."
"But I heard you beat some kid up in fourth period!" one boy complained. Hiei clenched his fists so hard he nearly drew blood. Then he rounded on Shadow.
"You know, I liked myself much better before you came along and tainted me," he said, practically hissing "tainted." The class looked confused as he turned back to them, much more calm but still looking pissed.
"I did not 'beat him up.' I merely put him in his place. He challenged me. I doubt he'll even have a bruise tomorrow. Now if you don't mind, the bell is going to ring soon and I doubt you want to miss your bus on the first day of school. Get lost. You're dismissed early."
"But I wanna see you beat somebody up..." one kid mumbled in the silence that followed. The rest of the class murmured agreements.
"I volunteer," Shadow said cheerfully. "You can beat me up!"
"I'm not going to beat anyone up, especially you, because you are a girl and there's some twenty people watching, and this is a public place and the stupid principal could walk in any second, and..."
"How about if I attack you? Will you defend yourself?"
"We have two minutes before the bell, Shadow."
"So? I can beat you up in two minutes."
"One minute, after we roll out some mats."
"So? I bet I could hit you in one minute."
"I doubt it."
"You're a pansy."
"Why are you taunting me? Do you really want the class to see me humiliate you and your pitiful skills?"
"I'M NOT PITIFUL!" Shadow snapped, tackling him.
"Well... That was him taunting her, so I'd say he wants to show off just as bad as she does," Eclipse muttered to Kurama. He made an agreeing sound and watched the fire demons roll around a bit before both jumped to their feet and stood a few feet apart, grinning.
Shadow took the first swing. Hiei dodged and swept his leg low to knock her feet out from under her, but she jumped and tried to kick him. He caught her leg and flipped her.
"Eek!" Deciding honest tactics wouldn't work, Shadow landed on her hands, flipped her feet to the floor, and launched herself at Hiei. She latched onto him and started tickling him.
"Hey!" he yelped.
"Is he ticklish?" Eclipse asked.
"I don't know," Kurama replied dryly.
"Apparently he is," Ryu said from behind them as Hiei, laughing, tried to pry Shadow's hands away.
"That's just hysterical, really," Kurama said, smiling.
"You're making me look like an idiot!" Hiei shouted telepathically at Shadow. She grinned.
"I know you're honorable, and you can be because you're strong, but I gotta do whatever I can to win, and that includes cheap tricks..."
"Wench."
"Bastard."
Hiei managed to shake Shadow off, but then she clung to his leg.
"Leech! Get off!"
"Make me!"
"I would if there weren't twenty people watching," Hiei snapped.
"Pretend they aren't."
Hiei grabbed Shadow's arms and twisted them until she yelped and let go, sitting at his feet to massage her injured arms.
"Normally I don't allow pauses for nursing wounds, you know," he muttered.
"Shut up! I'm a pansy girl and if I wanna sit here and nurse my wounds, I'm allowed!" She jumped up and tried to hit him, but he caught her wrist. She tried with her left hand and he caught that wrist too. Then she tried to kick him and he blocked with his leg.
"You suck," she snapped, obviously defeated as she stood on one leg with her arms held immobile.
"Let's hope he doesn't! That's your job!" one of the more disgusting kids in the back of the group shouted. Hiei and Shadow both stared, Hiei's grip going slightly lax. Shadow escaped his hold but didn't jump away, as she still was appalled and staring, as was most of the class.
"You're lucky I don't give you detention for that, kid," Hiei snapped.
The bell rang, saving the kid from Hiei's wrath. Kurama and Eclipse hung back with Hiei and Shadow.
"That was a lovely ending to your little display," Kurama snapped. "Take something from that and don't do it again."
"I'd like to do that all the time, actually," Shadow said, grinning. The redhead glared.
"Of course you would."
"I didn't know you were ticklish, Hiei," the girl said abruptly, turning back to Hiei. He narrowed his eyes.
"I didn't either."
Shadow grinned. "You learn something new every day!"
Hiei just scowled.
"Yes, especially when you come to school," Kurama said. Then he seemed thoughtful. "Unless you've already lived for several hundred years and know everything vital to survival..."
"Are you saying you don't learn, Kurama?" Hiei accused.
"Of course I do. Just nothing vital to survival. I learned all that when I was little. Centuries ago."
"I know everything vital to survival, too. For Makai and Ningenkai!" Shadow said proudly.
"I don't remember squat about Makai, but I know all about ningens," Eclipse said, grinning. Hiei sighed.
"Pathetic."
"You just can't be afraid!" Shadow continued grandly, oblivious that anyone else had spoken. "Fear is a weakeness!"
"Sometimes," Kurama muttered.
"And yet at other times it's a strength!" she said, then glared at Kurama. "I was getting to that, fox!"
"Sure you were," he retorted under his breath as Shadow commenced her valiant proclaimations of survival tactics. After a few minutes of staring at her, Hiei rolled his eyes and started walking away, towards the nearest door that led outside.
"Where are you going?" Kurama called, jogging after him.
"Where do you think?"
"Don't teachers usually stay after school or something?" Eclipse asked, catching up.
"Not today," Hiei said. "Even if I'm supposed to, not today." He pushed open the door and walked to the parking lot with the other two tagging behind. Shadow was, however, not following. They didn't noticed this until Eclipse had already driven away and Kurama was starting up his car.
"Where's Shadow?" the redhead asked suddenly, looking around.
"Dunno. Don't care," Hiei replied. "Start driving."
A scream pierced the air. "DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"Start DRIVING!" Hiei repeated, sounding slightly panicked as he watched Shadow come flying towards them in the rearview mirror.
Kurama pulled out of the parking lot and sped away. Shadow managed to keep an 8-foot margin between her and the car as she tore after it, screaming and waving her arms, her eyes closed tightly. Unnoticed to her, a kid rode his bike quickly across the street on a dare from his friends, which caused Kurama to slam on the breaks and her to slam into the car (her eyes were shut, remember?). She went tumbling over the back window, onto the top, and fell over onto the hood, lying there with swirly eyes, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Hiei and Kurama stared.
"You killed her..." the bike-riding kid's friends said from the sidewalk, staring.
"She's perfectly alive, I assure you," Kurama replied, not sounding quite so sure of himself.
"Though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at her," Hiei said, sitting on the roof of the car and poking her with his sword sheath.
"Hiei! Get in the car!"
"What about Shadow?"
"OH MY GOD, YOU KILLED SHADOW!"
Kurama recognized Yusuke's voice before the boy came into view, running up the sidewalk. He pushed past the bike-gang kids and ran into the middle of the street (yes, the middle of the street, and innocent bystanders are gathering) to Kurama's car, where he grabbed Shadow's shoulders and shook her.
"Wake up! Come back to life!" He held her in a half-sitting position for a second, hoping for a sign of life, before dropping her. She hit the hood with a thud and slid off, tumbling into a crumpled heap on the asphalt in front of Kurama's car.
"Yusuke!" Hiei admonished. "Good move, baka!"
"Isn't it, though?"
A cop car pulled up and two uniformed men got out. "Hold it right there!"
"YUSUKE!" Kurama screamed. The black-haired boy scooped up Shadow, and Kurama went flying down the street with Hiei still on the roof, clinging to it for dear life.
"Hit and run!" several people shouted.
"Did you get the license plate number?"
"This girl needs medical attention! Put her on the ground!"
Yusuke didn't obey, but somebody pulled her out of his arms and put her on the ground. Instantly, twenty people formed a circle to watch as one of the cops knelt next to her to do CPR.
"I'm a licensed medic, don't worry!"
Yusuke noticed a change in Shadow's breathing before she even moved (Yes. He did.), and as the cop bent towards her, she opened her eyes, screamed bloody murder, got up, and high-tailed it down the street. The bystanders and police all looked at Yusuke for answers. He shrugged and started walking away.
"Hey! Get back here!" the cop said. Yusuke 'eep'-ed and took off after Shadow.
And that, my friends, is a 20-page chapter about the first day of school and a few events occuring in the month before it. Have a nice day.
To make it perfectly clear to you before ANYONE says ANYTHING, I am quite aware that Japanese schools are different than American schools, but since I don't know a lot about Japanese schools and my general readers probably aren't experts either, pretend they're the same for the most part and we'll all benefit from the complaining you won't be doing.
-Shadow Jaganshi-