(6-12-05) Let's see... What to say...
First: Everybody has to go look at my beautiful drawings on myotaku. The link to my myotaku page is on my bio.
Second: Currently 664 reviews.
Third: I finished chapter 29 in one day, pretty much, and need to work on chapter 30... I started it. I only have a little bit more. The estimated 35 chapter could probably be reduced to 32 or 31... Damn I'd hate to only have 31... such an odd number... 32 would be so much better... 35 is an odd number, but it's an even odd number, right in the middle of 30 and 40. So nice... We'll see.
Fourth: The reason for the title will become apparent within the chapter.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Child Abuse
Nakada spent a few days in the hospital with a concussion, and Arisa went to see him while he was there, to tell him not to pick fights with Shadow and her friends any more. He was infuriated, but calmed down a bit when she said she'd finally found someone to get rid of their baby, and she didn't seem to have any kinds of diseases from the procedure. He was re-infuriated when she told him exactly why she'd apologized, and vowed that the second Shadow gave up the pictures, he'd pummel her, and her "dumbass gay boyfriend, too."
Shadow, meanwhile, was plotting exactly how to piss off Nakada enough to hit her again even though Arisa had warned him not to. She eventually narrowed it down to a few options, which she ran by Hiei: punch him, taunt him, make out with Hiei in front of him, trip him, pelt him with dung, push him out into the middle of the road, run him over with a little girl's bicycle, jump off a roof and land on his head and stomp on his skull until he died!
"Wait a second, koi," he said, stopping her after that one. "It'll be really difficult to piss him off if he's dead."
Shadow seemed to contemplate this, stroking her chin thoughtfully, and after a second she nodded. "You're right, as usual. Well then... We'll just try out the other ones."
"Let's wait a few weeks, at least, and see if he doesn't start anything with you on his own."
"Okay. Good idea."
"Of course it's a good idea. It's my idea."
"Oh yes. Of course. My birthday's in a few weeks."
Hiei nodded. "I know."
"That's all?"
"What else am I supposed to say?"
"I don't know, maybe tell me you've got something planned for me that I'll enjoy?"
He kissed her lightly. "I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves regardless if I have plans or not, don't you?"
"I think I like that more," she murmured thoughtfully. Hiei drew her close for another kiss, and when they pulled apart, Shadow nodded certainly. "I definitely like that more."
He smiled. "I thought you would. Besides, if I have plans for you, that kind of takes away from the 'you can do whatever you want on your birthday' thing you've said before, doesn't it?"
"Yes, I suppose it does... Like you said: whatever we do, we'll enjoy ourselves."
To Shadow's great dismay, Nakada certainly did not do anything to provoke her for the remainder of that week, or the following week...
However, they did move on to an entertaining subject in Health...
"Homosexual sex may be disgusting to some people, but--"
"TO EVERY MAN HIS OWN!" Shadow cheered from the back of the room, jumping up. "I know a bisexual guy! He wants to get Shuuichi here up the ass!"
Kurama groaned and hid his face. Eclipse petted his head like he were a dog. The remainder of the class stared. Ryu looked a little uncomfortable.
"You're so cruel," Eclipse admonished.
"Well he does," Shadow said innocently.
"Okay..." Etsuko said. "And, about your friend--"
"He's not my friend," the girl said sternly.
"Oh..." The teacher looked a little upset. Shadow laughed and waved her hand at her.
"I'm just messin' with ya! Nah, he's my friend. He's also got a past as a rapist and a murderer, but you guys don't have to worry about that, cuz he only raped and murdered people while he lived in Pakistan."
"Pakistan?" Kurama asked incredulously. "Cut me a break! Anyone who knows that guy could tell he's not from Pakistan. They have dark skin in Pakistan! He's nothing short of a vampire!"
"Okay, so he only raped and murdered people when he lived in TRANSYLVANIA!" Shadow snapped, annoyed. "What does it matter where he lived! Point is, he doesn't do it any more!"
Kurama rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, until he gets ahold of me, you little brat."
Shadow shrugged. "He's desperately in love with you, you know. I gave him a picture of you so he could jack off properly."
"You did WHAT!"
The demonic trio in the back row typically had these conversations in health class. They'd start talking at the beginning and continue all the way through class. After a few minutes they'd lower their voices so Etsuko could continue without interrupting them.
However, about halfway through class, Shadow jumped up on her desk and flung her hand in the air.
"Can I bring him in to talk to the class!"
"WHAT ARE YOU, NUTS!" Kurama screamed. Shadow went spiralling through the air and out the window into the late March air, landing in the middle of the road and getting hit by a passing bus while the class looked on in horror. She plastered to the front of it and showed no signs of unplastering off of it.
She was in gym class that day, however. Kurama, Eclipse, and Ryu entered as a group and found Hiei at the top of the bleachers with Shadow in his lap.
And the following day, without anyone's permission, Karasu was in Health class. Shadow had wondered off without warning in the hallway to look at something on the wall that had caught her interest, so Kurama and Eclipse entered the room first and the redhead stopped in his tracks.
There, practically pinning Etsuko-sensei to the wall, was Karasu, saying nasty things to the teacher. She looked like she might faint. Kurama listened for a second and looked like he might puke. Eclipse glanced at the door and noticed something in the hallway that caught her interest, and walked away like a zombie. She crashed into the doorframe and fell over.
Of course, the noise of a girl slamming into the wall and falling over, cracking her head off a desk and knocking over a pile of books in the process, caught Karasu's attention, and he glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh, I didn't hear you come in," he said, totally ditching Etsuko in the middle of her flustered state to walk across the room to Kurama.
"Stay away from me," Kurama warned. Karasu stopped on the other side of his desk.
"I'll stay right here."
Just then Shadow came storming into the room. "Can you believe that! It was an ambush! They surrounded me from every side! There was no easy escape! I was forced to indapacitate them, every last one, even the women and children! IT WAS A FURIOUS BLOODBATH! Oh! Hi Karasu!" With that she walked to her seat with a certain bounce in her step while she hummed and sang.
By then, a few more students had come in, and they looked at the situation curiously: Etsuko sitting on the floor looking hot and flustered and totally zoned-out, Shadow in her seat singing something about a banana and a phone, Eclipse lying on the ground bleeding amongst a pile of books, Shuuichi glaring at some tall pale-skinned man, some tall pale-skinned man checking out Shuuichi-- Wait, checking him out!
Yes, the tall pale-skinned man with the purple eyes and vampire wannabe outfit was most certainly checking out Shuuichi Minamino. And the redhead was clearly not enjoying it.
"Stop it," he said flatly.
"Why?" the other man questioned.
"Because I'll kill you if you don't."
"Oh, come now," Karasu taunted. "That didn't work the first time, did it?"
The late bell rang and everyone continued watching Shuuichi and Karasu argue. Finally, Shadow jumped up.
"Pardon my rudeness, all! This here is Karasu, and he's bisexual, in case you couldn't tell. He desperately wants to screw anything that will hold still long enough, but in particular he wants to screw Minamino here, and I have no idea why."
"Because he's beautiful," Karasu said. "Perfect in every way."
The class shuddered collectively. Well, most of them. Ryu, Shadow, Eclipse, and Etsuko didn't, among most of the girls.
"Come on, Kurama... Just give it a try," Karasu pleaded.
"What? Getting screwed up the ass by you? I don't think so."
"Shadow..." the crow whined. The girl looked at him.
"Yes, sir?"
"Tell him to try it."
"I can't do that," Shadow said. "He'll go kung-fu on my ass and tear me limb from limb."
"I don't know kung fu," Kurama admitted. "But I could tear you limb from limb."
"But not with kung fu?"
"No."
"Okay then! Minamino, I demand you let Karasu get you up the--"
"Ahem..."
Shadow spun and got a huge smile on her face when she saw Yamashita standing in the doorway. "Ohayou!"
"Konnichi wa," Karasu corrected under his breath. Shadow hit him subtly. By subtly, I mean she reached up behind her and hit him in the head, quite obviously.
"What is going on here?" Yamashita asked.
"You're stalking me," she replied.
"Would you care to explain why nobody is in their seats?"
Everyone but Shadow, Kurama, and Eclipse were instantly in their seats.
"Where is your teacher?"
Shadow pointed to the sweating, quivering woman on the floor across the room. Yamashita stared.
"What did you do to her?"
Shadow pointed at Karasu.
"Who the hell is this?"
"My spirit guide," the girl replied. "The crow. He's bisexual. Etsuko said he could come in and talk about his orientation to the class since that's what we're learning about anyways."
Of course, Etsuko had said no such thing, because Shadow had been hit by a bus before she could answer.
"He has a visitor's pass," she continued, pulling it out of her pocket.
"Why, then, do you have it?"
"I stole it from him," she admitted, her hand diving back in her pocket as she continued, "along with Eclipse's watch, necklace, about six dollars in change from the mugs who ganged me in the hall, your wallet, Hiei's wallet, Ryu's wallet, Minamino's driver's license and ten bucks, and a white rat from the pet store across town."
As she pulled these things out of her pocket and named them, she laid them on the desk in front of her. The white rat instantly took off out the door, granting Shadow a furious glare from the principal as he snatched his wallet up off the desk. Shadow didn't care; she was currently going through Hiei's wallet.
"Jeez... He doesn't carry much," she muttered, flipping through the wallet. Karasu peered over her shoulder.
"He doesn't carry a picture of you?"
"He doesn't have a picture of me," she replied. "Last time anyone took a picture of me, I had to go on a long spiritual quest to the otherworld to recapture my soul from the jar into which it was put."
Yamashita glared at Shadow as Ryu and Kurama stealthily reclaimed their property from her. The redhead also took Eclipse's jewelry and stuck it in his pocket. Karasu reached for the six dollars in change from the 'mugs who ganged' her and she slammed her fist down on his hand. He let out a whimper and shrank back. She scooped the money back into her pocket and continued going through Hiei's wallet. She lifted all his money and tucked it inside her shirt. Karasu clapped lightly when she did that.
"You're smart, Shadow."
"Thank you, I know," she gloated, bowing. Yamashita was still glaring. Eclipse was still dying. Finally, the principal spoke.
"Get rid of this... man. You have detention, Jaganshi. You're cleaning the whole school this time, and I don't care if you're here until tomorrow morning when classes start, you're cleaning the whole damn school."
Shadow nodded. "Alright. I'll just use some of this nice change to call the child abuse office and see what they have to say about this. Ta!" She left the room. Yamashita stood there for a minute.
"She will," Kurama assured him. "She's not kidding."
The principal snarled and left the room at a slightly quicker pace than Shadow had, but when he got out there, he looked around and found her nowhere in sight. In his mind, he was going over all the things he'd done to her that year that she could possibly tell the authorities. He came up with a lot more than he'd expected, and got more desperate to find her with each one he came up with.
Stories would be told for a while of the principal's wild chase all around the school to find the girl he hated with a passion that burned like the fires in the pits of Hell itself.
He went to the gym first. She wasn't there.
She wasn't in any classroom.
... Nor in any of the bathrooms...
He finally found her on his way to the office. She was leaving it. "Don't call them," he panted.
"Ohhhh! Too late," Shadow said mockingly, and went dancing back to Health class. Yamashita refused to give in to sorrow, and instead became unfathomably angry.
Upon Shadow's return to Health class, she was a little sorry to have left. Something seemed to have occured in her absence.
Ryu and a few others were restraining Kurama and Karasu both while Etsuko, finally at least partly over Karasu's dirty talk, was trying to calm them down. The room silenced when Shadow came in. She stopped dead.
"Wow. I didn't know my presence had such influence." She shrugged and walked towards them. "What'd I miss?"
"A lot," one boy said, snickering evilly. Kurama shook off the boys restraining him.
"He grabbed my ass. And he touched my hair," he snarled. Shadow sighed.
"Karasu, what have I told you?"
"That I... um... shouldn't... do that?"
"Exactly. Apologize to the poor boy."
"I'm very sorry, Kurama."
"No you aren't," the fox said flatly, "and I refuse to accept a phony apology. Go away."
"Aw... Must I?"
"YES!" Kurama snapped, returning to his seat. Karasu looked to Shadow. She shrugged.
"Stay away from him 'til he cools off. But you were supposed to talk to the class today, weren't you?"
"I wasn't aware of that," the crow said. "I just thought I was here for the heck of it."
The girl shrugged. "Do me a favor then." She pulled him out into the hall. "Remember the guy who came in here and was all, like, 'BLAAAARRGH!' all over me?"
"The ugly guy that has glare wrinkles?"
"Sure. Well, I need you to keep an eye on him for me, will you?"
"Sure."
"Stay out of sight."
"Naturally."
He swished down the hall and was gone. Shadow looked, finally, at Eclipse's inert form on the floor. After a few seconds of staring, she casually asked,
"Does anyone know first aid?"
That evening, Shadow and Hiei were home alone together when the sound of shattering glass totally destroyed their romantic mood. Shadow lunged over the back of the couch and flew to the source--the front door. Observing a brick on the floor, her window totally shattered to nothingness, and a guy running away from her house, she leapt out the hole which had previously been blocked by glass and gave chase. Hiei grabbed the brick and followed. Shadow was almost caught up.
"MOVE!" Hiei yelled. Shadow lunged out of the way without question, and the guy she was chasing had a brick slam into the back of his head. He fell. Shadow jumped on him and Hiei was next to them a moment later.
"Who sent you?" Shadow asked angrily. The guy was out cold. Shrugging, Shadow grabbed his ankle and dragged him back into the house. Hiei opened his mouth to protest, but shut it and sighed. There was no protest when she had her mind set. He picked up the brick, which had a note attached to it, and followed her.
Once inside, Shadow dragged the guy to The All-Purpose Oversized Closet Of Doom in the first floor hallway. Hiei let out a little startled noise when she opened the door. It was certainly not a room full of technology, like it had been last time he'd seen it. He supposed that wasn't to be expected. Shadow must have named it the 'All-Purpose' closet for something.
"Well you didn't think I called it 'all-purpose' for the heck of it, did you!" Shadow asked, reading the incredulous look on his face as he gazed around the plain stone room. "C'mon. The dungeon is downstairs." She opened a door in the far corner.
"Dungeon!"
"Yeah!" She started dragging the guy down the stairs. Hiei shrugged and followed. He supposed she knew what she was doing. And even if she didn't, it should be interesting to watch.
With a psychotic grin on her face, Shadow began chaining the guy to the wall. Hiei watched her for a second, then said, "Is this some kind of sick fantasy of yours?"
She blinked and looked at him curiously. "Why, I have no clue what you mean by that."
"I mean, chaining some guy up to the wall like that."
"Nah," she replied, finishing her task before turning to continue. "My fantasies only involve you, dear. Would you like for me to chain you up to a wall?"
"No."
"A bed, then?"
"Your straightforwardness bothers me."
"What, and you're not straightforward?"
"Not as much as you are."
Shadow grinned. "I'm straightforward about sex, and you're straightforward about pain and death and pessimistic, bloody, evil things like that."
"You're straightforward about everything."
"Yes. And?"
"Nothing. Here, that brick had a note on it."
"Had?"
"Well, it still does, yes. I didn't bother taking it off when I cracked that guy's skull with it. By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if he were dead."
Shadow shrugged and took the note Hiei handed her. She opened it and read it aloud.
"'Jaganshi: We have our eye on you. If you're intelligent, you'll pack your bags and leave the country. If you're not, and stay, you'll regret messing with us.'" There was a pause while she stared at it, then she commented, "What a self-important, insuffrable little bastard."
"I agree," Hiei said, walking up to the guy chained to the wall. He was cold. "Hey, I think this guy is dead."
Shadow looked at him nervously. "You're not allowed to kill humans."
"Nope."
"Koenma will regret it if he says anything to you."
"He'll say something."
"He'll regret it."
"I'm surprised he isn't appearing right here and now."
"Koenma can't appear like that in my Doom territories."
"Your what?"
"My Doom territories. He can poof into the yard or the house, but not the Doom territories."
"So that's what they're called now?"
"Yeah," Shadow said. The dungeon vanished around them and they were in a white room that seemed to go on forever. The dead guy was no where in sight.
"Where'd the dead guy go?"
"I dunno."
She opened a door that hadn't been there a second ago and sure enough, Koenma was standing on the other side glaring.
"Hiei."
The fire demon tilted his head to the side curiously. "Yes?"
"You know you're not allowed to kill humans."
"I know. And?"
"You did."
"He did not!" Shadow protested furiously. "What the hell kind of off-the-wall accusation is that! You're out of your gourd, man! Off your rocker! Lost your marbles! One cake short of a bakery!"
"I'm not stupid, Shadow. He--"
"I never said you were stupid," she interrupted. "I said you were off your cake."
"I'm not that, either. The point is--"
"How was the weather in Reikai today?"
"Shadow!"
"How's Botan doing? I haven't seen her in ages."
"Shadow, I'm serious. Hiei can't be an exception to rules he knows he has to follow just because you're around."
"You look nice today, Koenma. Did you get a haircut?"
"Shadow!"
"Have you lost weight?"
"I'm gonna--" He strode forward into the room. A hole opened in the floor, and down he fell. There was a splash when he landed about five seconds later.
"SHADOW!"
"Oh, my. I hope that wasn't the sewer."
"Shadow!" He sounded a bit less angry now, and slightly more worried.
"Does it smell bad?" she called down to him.
"NO! GET ME OUT!"
"Are there rats?"
"NO!"
"Weasels?"
"SHADOW!"
She shrugged. "It could be the sewer. It could be whatever I want it to be."
"You're a little odd," Hiei muttered.
"I know," she said. She looked down into the black, seemingly bottomless hole in the middle of the endless white. "You okay in there, Koenma?"
"NO! GET ME OUT!"
"I want a favor."
"NO!"
"Oh! Okay then! You could spend the rest of your life in my pocket if you want. I already have a whole family of hamsters and a white rat named Henri in there. You're not all that much bigger than a rat. I bet you'd be fine in there."
"SHADOW!"
"Let Hiei off."
"BITCH!"
"Hey! Wash your mouth out with soap!" Shadow snapped, and suddenly Koenma was in front of her, dripping muddy water, with a bar of soap in his mouth. He yanked it out the instant he'd gotten his bearings and regained his composure.
"Shadow! Hiei has to follow rules!"
The floor gave out beneath him and he fell a couple feet before he landed on solid ground again.
"Give in?" she asked.
"No!"
"You sure?"
"Yes! As a leader, it's my duty--"
"I don't care about your duty! As a girlfriend, it's my duty to protect my boyfriend." She grinned. "Want another mudbath?"
"Shadow Jaganshi, if you don't cut out this nonsense right now, I'll be forced to take drastic measures."
"YOU DARE TO REFER TO MY WRATH AS NONSENSE?"
Koenma fell. There wasn't a splash this time, there was a thud. Then, an echoing scream and a scrabbling insane flurry of movement as Koenma tried to climb up the walls of the pit. Shadow grinned at the look Hiei was giving the vicious noises that also came from the pit.
"Mice," she replied. Hiei sighed.
"You're gonna piss him off and he'll toss me in prison for life."
"Nah." The pit spat Koenma several dozen yards up into the air and he landed on his butt behind them both, looking rather battered and upset.
"You little--"
"Ah," Shadow said, pulling a mouse out of her pocket. "You cannot escape my wrath when you're in my territory! Give up! Or you will forever face the wrath of the baby white mice!"
Koenma glared. "I'll let him off this time on the grounds of it being an accident. But next time--!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, get out of my house." She punted him out the door, then turned to Hiei. "And that, koishii, is how you handle naughty children."
"You'd make a great mother," he said sarcastically. "So who sent that note?"
"Beats me."
"Well don't you have some kind of trained bloodhound weasel?"
"Yes," she replied. "Yes I do."
"Great. Go get it."
She smiled. "I will. You'll regret it, though."
"Why?"
Shadow just pulled him out of The All-Purpose Oversized Closet of Doom and shut the door, then walked away. She returned moments later with a little white weasel at her heels.
"This is Daisy, Hiei. Daisy, this is Hiei."
The white weasel snuffed at Hiei's shoes, then darted up his leg, chest, and then jumped from his shoulder and sat in his hair. There, she sat grinning stupidly.
"Daisy's a little eccentric, you'll have to get used to her." Shadow pulled the note out of her pocket and held it out to Daisy. "Hey, I need you to smell this and lead us to the guy who wrote it's leader."
Daisy snuffled at the note, jumped off Hiei's head, and scurried towards the door. Shadow followed.
"Hiei, stay here and repair the window."
"What? I can't--"
"Nevermind! Leave it broken, that's another sinister thought to my plan." She followed Daisy out the broken window. Hiei blinked, then shrugged, wandering off to do something to entertain himself.
Three hours and forty-nine unsuccessful accusations later...
Shadow returned, carrying Daisy by her tail. She had a rather sour look on her face. Hiei glanced up.
"What's wrong?"
"This stupid weasel doesn't know the first thing about tracking!" she complained, stuffing the white weasel into a pocket of her jacket, despite its squealing protests.
"You didn't find him?"
"Nope."
"Well that sucks, then."
"I know who it is, though. It's the mob. It's Yamashita and his mob connections again. Cuz I called the child abuse labor office thingy. So he wants to kill me."
"What?"
"Y'know. Cuz he wanted to make me clean the whole school all on my own?"
Hiei stared blankly for a second. "You never told me that."
"Oh, but he did."
The fire demon bristled. "That son of a--" Shadow quickly placed a calming hand on his cheek, stepping closer.
"Don't worry, Hiei. You know I can handle my own problems."
"And judging by that little display with Koenma, you can handle a lot of mine, too."
Shadow smiled. Then a thought struck her, rather painfully, right in the face. "Holy hell! Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
Hiei, rather than flipping out, glanced at his watch and said calmly, "I've still got five minutes."
"That's not very long."
"It's plenty of time."
"To get ready, and to get there?"
"I said it was plenty of time, didn't I?" he replied, pinning her to the wall. "And I meant it." He leaned closer. "With time to spare." His lips closed over hers.
Pulling her away from the wall a bit, he slowly slipped her coat off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. His hands found their way up her shirt, caressing the smooth skin of her sides, causing her to squirm. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, forcing him to put up his arms and separate his mouth from hers so she could remove the fabric from his body. Her mouth finally freed, she gulped in air and sank slowly to the floor.
Once she's regained her composure, she realized rather abruptly that his closeness and her position could put sick ideas in the minds of innocent children. She simply looked up at Hiei and said, "Now you've got three minutes, tops."
He knelt, straddling her, putting his hands on the wall on either side of her head. "I know. I only need two."
Shadow grinned as she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her hands at the top of his pants. "Well if you continue sitting on me like this, you're not gonna have two. You're gonna end up being about two hours late. Or more."
"Fine," he sighed, kissing her lips tenderly. "You're so eager to get rid of me, I guess I'll just go." He moved to get up and she pulled him back down. Her lips latched onto the bare skin over his collarbone and refused to let go until she'd left a satisfactory mark. "There. Now you can go. Love you."
"I love you too, Shadow," he said, grabbing his discarded shirt as he stood up. "How about you actually sleep while I'm at work today?"
"You've got a minute to get there."
As it was, Hiei reached work about a minute and a half late, and Kyouken blew up on him for it, until it became obvious he wasn't listening. Then Kyouken blew up on him for that. Only a high-priority call got Hiei away from Kyouken's bitching.
In the car on the way to the scene of the crime, Saiko snickered and asking teasingly, "So, what kept you for an extra minute, Hiei? Traffic?"
"My girlfriend," he replied.
"I figured as much." The man chuckled. "So, you two gonna get married?"
"No."
"You get any yet?"
"You ask me that every day."
"Have you?"
"No. And I wish you'd stop asking."
"Alll riiight..." Saiko acquiesced with a sigh. "So how's your other job going?"
Hiei shrugged a bit. "Shadow called the child abuse office on Yamashita."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"What for?"
"Because he was abusing her."
"Well obviously, you moron..."
"Pardon?"
"I mean, 'I figured as much, Jaganshi-san...'"
"That's what I thought you said."
"It is."
"I'm glad."
Much to everyone's great joy, a few days later, following the appearance of a woman in a business suit and the summoning of Shadow Jaganshi out of classes for nearly an hour and a half, Yamashita was no longer in school.
"So what happened?" Hiei asked as Shadow sat on his lap in his office during gym class.
"The lady asked me a bunches of questions, which I answered honestly and truly. Then she asked Yamashita a bunch of questions, which he answered dishonestly and untruly. She had him leave and the vice principal is in charge until Yamashita's extended 'leave' is over." She smirked. "Shadow Jaganshi wins once again."
"That's excellent," Hiei said, grinning. Then he looked thoughtful. "I didn't even know there was a vice principal."
"I've met him a couple times. He likes me."
"That's good."
"I don't think he liked Yamashita. I think he was glad to see him go."
"D'you figure he'll force you to go to detention every day?"
"I'll ask him. C'mon!"
"What the--"
Shadow grabbed his hand and dragged him from his office.
"Minamino! Watch the class!" she snapped as she led Hiei from the gym.
"What do you think I'm doing!" Kurama snapped. "What are you doing?"
"Going to the office!"
The fox didn't even bother replying. He just sighed and returned to watching the class do whatever.
Shadow had barely gotten into the office before the acting principal jumped up from his desk (where he'd been working hard with his feet propped up and his eyes closed).
"Shadow! What brings you here, hand in hand with the gym teacher?"
Shadow glanced at her hand, as did Hiei, and they both quickly stuck their hands in their pockets. The man laughed a bit and looked to Hiei.
"I don't think I've ever spoken to you, despite your popularity in the rest of the school. Too busy doing all Yamashita's work for him, as it were." He held out his hand. "Tashiro Igarashi. Nice to meet you."
Hiei shook his hand. "Hiei Jaganshi."
"Alright! Nice to meet you, Jaganshi-san. I've heard a lot about you."
"I can imagine," the little demon replied grumpily, returning his hand to his pocket.
Tashiro Igarashi was an angel compared to Utemaro Yamashita. He wasn't tall, ugly, or perpetually unhappy. His black hair was messy, he was pale-skinned and had bright blue eyes. He was young, smiled a lot, and was easygoing. He liked Shadow especially because she was willing to stand up to the rules and not wear a uniform or conform to any sorts of rules. To make it all better, he was only about as tall as Kurama, meaning he didn't tower over Hiei and Shadow the way Yamashita had.
"I'm interested to know the real you," Tashiro said, smiling at Hiei. "Not what the rumor mill has made you out to be."
"He's a wonderful person," Shadow told him. "Anyways, I came to ask you something."
"Yes?"
"Yeah. Are you gonna give me detention every day like the asshole did before I turned him in for child abuse?"
"Not unless you want it," the man said innocently.
"Want detention?" She looked thoughtful for a second. "Well, it is where I do all my work... When would I do my work if I didn't have detentions any more?"
Tashiro put an arm around her shoulders and leaned down to say, "Well, there's always class, dear Shadow, where you're supposed to do your work anyways..."
"Then when will I sleep?"
"At night," Hiei informed her.
"Well then when will I spend time with the house?"
"What?" Tashiro asked, looking confused.
"You know. Cleaning and taking care of the weasels and the fish and all the Doom!"
"Weasels?"
"Never mind," Hiei said. "Koi, you can continue going to detention. Continue with your weird schedule. But think of this: If you do your work in school, and don't have to go to detention, you'll get more time at home."
Shadow knew what 'more time at home' meant for her, and she smiled. "Very good. I'll go to detention whenever I need to, but if it's not necessary, I'll be going home. Thank you very much, Tashiro-san. Now, I've got a class to be in, and Hiei's got a class to teach, so we'll be going."
The man nodded. "Nice meeting you, Hiei-san. Hope we'll get to talk again."
"Of course," Hiei agreed. "We're in the same building all day, I don't know how we've avoided it up to this point... Ja mata."
Shadow left the school at a normal time that day, meaning she got to have a word with Arisa as the crowds of students were leaving the school.
"Hey Slut-Face!" she called, catching up to Arisa. Among the mobs of red and purple school uniforms, Shadow looked like a female image of Satan. In her black Hot Topic pants, tight black tank top and ankle-length trench coat, she stood out like a whale in a room full of poodles. Everybody cast her odd looks, which she absorbed like they were her single most vital source of sustanence.
"I just wanted to congratulate you and all your loser friends on your behavior around myself and my friends. Congratulations. Your mother might be spared the utter terror of seeing her daughter fucking a guy in the park."
"Go away," Arisa snapped.
Shadow shrugged. "Whatever... Oh, and I don't have detention every day anymore, so guess what? I bet I could walk you home every single day."
Arisa stopped dead. Shadow continued for a few steps before she did an about-face and clasped her hands behind her back.
"If you walk me home, I will find some way to terribly ruin your life."
"And I've already found a way to terribly ruin yours, so I guess we're equal, no? I suppose I don't have to walk you home, since then I'd have to come all the way back here for my motorcycle and my boyfriend..." She blinked and looked around. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
Movement up in the nearest tree caught her attention, and Hiei waved. She returned the wave and ran over to him. He dropped down from ten feet in the air and landed gracefully in front of her, ignoring Kurama when he snapped, "Stop showing off!" as he passed.
"I just received notification that spring soccer starts tomorrow morning."
"Spring soccer? But tomorrow's Saturday!"
"Ten o'clock, bright and early, I have to be at the field, doing all the... fun... soccer... stuff..."
"Ten! But what about me?"
Hiei kissed her lips gently. "You come with me, koishii."
"What, and be outside for two hours?"
"You're outside now and it isn't hurting you!"
"I am?" She looked around and let out a little scream when she realized she was indeed outside. She shielded her head with her hands and cowered slightly, glancing around suspiciously. "The sky is falling..." she whispered. Her voice increased in volume and she stood up straight suddenly, shouting, "THE SKY IS FALLING!" She ran away screaming.
"What a total head case," a passing boy scoffed. "What kind of loser would associate with her?"
Hiei strolled right up to the boy, stopping in his path barely with enough room to dodge should the boy trip and fall instead of stop.
"I would associate with a total head case like that girl."
"I would too!" Eclipse agreed in a high-pitched voice, appearing from no where. Hiei jumped.
"You just walked by a minute ago with Kurama!"
"I know."
Hiei gave her a questioning look (silently asking, "Well then why the hell are you here?"), but she didn't continue. He shrugged. Not like it mattered, anyways.
A motorcycle engine revved from the student parking lot behind the school, and ZOOM came Shadow!
Three minutes later, all three were at Shadow's house. And somehow, oddly, Kurama was already there.
"I thought you had rehearsal!" Eclipse asked accusingly.
"Rehearsal?" Shadow queried, puzzled.
"We had an accident," the fox sighed.
"Accident? Rehearsal? HelLO! Fill me in!" Shadow snapped.
"The school play," Kurama told her. "Let me guess, you had no idea I was in it?"
"Not a clue. What's the play?"
"Romeo and Juliet."
"Oh, that's right up there at the top of my list of things wasted time is best spent on. So what was the accident?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Somebody died, didn't they?"
"No. The girl playing Juliet somehow fell down the stairs just before practice. She broke her leg."
Shadow looked thoughtful. There was no way that girl she'd accidentally knocked down the stairs could be the same person, could it? Nah. No way. Coincidences like that just didn't happen.
"So now you're doomed and you can't put on the play and you're very upset because you finally would have gotten to show of yet ANOTHER of your superior talents in front of a large group of people, and now you can't," Hiei summarized.
"Not really."
"Shadow has the whole play memorized," the little demon said helpfully. Kurama looked at her skeptically.
"Well... I think she would fit the part..."
The girl was oblivious, now trying to remember anything she may possibly have heard about a school play... Faintly, several months ago, she recalled hearing about auditions for... something...
"She's a good actress, too," Kurama was saying. "There's been more than once I've thought she should do theatre or film..."
"Huh, who, me?" Shadow asked suddenly, looking around. "I could play Juliet, did you ever think that?" She started quoting off the play. Kurama twitched.
"I'll hate myself for this... Shadow, come with me."
"With? But I want a sandwich!"
"We'll get a sandwich on the way there."
"Where is 'there,' exactly, fox?" Hiei asked.
"The hospital. Tamura-sensei, the director, went there to visit Sakura..."
Hiei sighed. "You have no idea what you're dooming yourself to."
"I know what I'm doing, Hiei," Kurama replied. "The first public show of the play is scheduled for April 15."
"That's the day after my birthday," Shadow announced. She had no idea what was going on; she merely commented on the snippits of words she heard here and there as she repeated the entire Shakespearean drama in her head.
"Shadow!" Kurama snapped. "Come. With. Me."
"Can I get a sandwich?"
"Yes! Just--"
"A... Subway... sandwich?"
"Fine! Just get--"
"WOOHOO!"
"I'm coming too!" Eclipse declared. Hiei smirked as Kurama looked questioningly at him.
"Of course I'm going, if you all are," he answered.
Kurama sighed heavily. "Fine. Whatever. Just get in the car."
... Now I can explain the foreshadowing that was way back in chapter 19 that nobody caught and you're probably gonna be pissed at me for having a one-word foreshadowing. Shadow called Kurama "Romeo" when Eclipse flipped out on her for playing matchmaker. Yep. That was the foreshadowing. Don't you hate me now?