(7-3-05) Eclipse got back from vacation today. -has a party- Thank her for this update. I'm feeling happy, so I updated again. Anyways... I got rid of all of the stupid anonymous pointless reviews I was complaining about, so I only have 896 reviews now. Ha. Only. That's a freakin' LOT. THANK YOU.
So, five chapters left including this one.
I think that's all I have to say...
Warnings: I don't think there's anything too major in here. Kissing. Shadow's typical psychotic perversion... Otherwise, I don't think there's much. But I read this the same day I last updated, so I don't remember. I don't read looking for perverted stuff, I read for typos and to make sure it doesn't have some wacky stuff in it that doesn't make sense with the rest of the story.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kokuei
The following morning in school, Arisa found Shadow and pulled her aside rather roughly. Shadow allowed it and looked at her expectantly, smiling.
"Good morning, Arisa-san!"
"Here's your fuckin' bribe, Whore-Face." She held a rolls of bills up in Shadow's face.
"Sweet Jesus!" the girl yelped, snatching the money and pulling the rubber bands off it. "There's gotta be $300 here! Did you get this shit from prostituting?"
"Is it enough?"
"Heck yes! Thank you!" She smiled sweetly. "Mommy dearest won't find out... Assuming Nakada leaves me the fuck alone?"
"He will."
"He'd better!"
Shadow skipped everywhere merrily for the remainder of the day. Until Kurama reminded her, "Hey, you're in a play tonight. You can't be all giddy then, so take a chill pill."
She fell flat on her face and had to be dragged to her next class by her ankle.
Directly after school, she and the fox reported to the auditorium. They occupied themselves preparing for the play. Shadow and Kurama had hooked up Hiei and Eclipse with front row seats.
A few minutes before they were ready to go out on stage, Tamura gave the cast a pep talk.
"Okay, everyone! This is the big production we've been waiting for! We've worked hard, spent our time and energy on this play for months!"
"Except me," Shadow said. Kurama kicked her. Tamura continued as if she hadn't heard her.
"This is opening night, so I can understand if you're nervous. Don't be. Pretend there's no one there, and you'll be fine!"
"We're fine anyways, Tamura-sensei," Shadow drawled. Kurama kicked her again.
As the play began, Kurama gave Shadow a pep talk of his own.
"Please, please don't screw this up. I know Hiei's out there in the audience, but you can be mature and act like you did during all our rehearsals. Okay? Promise."
"I promise, Kurama-sama."
Meanwhile, out in the audience, Eclipse noticed Hiei was struggling to understand a single word of the play. She leaned over and began translating for him.
"The Montagues and the Capulets hate each other and those two jerks are provoking those other jerks and now they're fighting cuz they're jerks, and now the Prince is breaking them up and saying, 'If you fight anymore I'll have you killed.'"
"Ah. Thank you," Hiei said. "Why'd it take so long for them to say it?"
"It's just how it is. Shh. Kurama's on here soon..."
When Kurama came onstage, both Hiei and Eclipse snorted and started choking back laughter. He'd had to have a little adjustment done to his long beautiful hair, and it was all pulled back into a braid and dyed black. When he started talking, Hiei nearly choked on his own tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Those words just didn't belong in that boy's mouth.
Kurama heard them, he heard them all too well, but he showed no signs of it.
At the end of the scene, Hiei managed to relax. By that point, he had no idea what was going on and was totally lost, and so was Eclipse, so they just sat there and enjoyed snickering and making fun of Shakespeare until the balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet. Then both of them were suddenly quiet.
"It bothers me to see her kiss him," Hiei said.
"It bothers me to see him kiss her," Eclipse said.
"Are you sure you don't love that stupid fox?"
"Fairly certain."
"Hn." A short pause. "You sure? Cuz--"
"Shut up, Hiei, I'm trying to hear his beautiful voice."
Hiei groaned quietly and stared at the ceiling, hitting his head off the back of his seat in the process. How he managed to keep awake for the following hour and half was beyond anyone's comprehension, but he did, and at the climax of the play, when Kurama and Shadow ended up lying "dead" together, he let out something of a sigh of relief while everyone else was sobbing or clapping or whatever else they do at the end of 'tragic romance' plays.
As everyone else was filing out of the auditorium, he and Eclipse went backstage to talk to their friends. Shadow, still wearing a dress with a fake blood stain on the front, ran to Hiei and flung her arms around him, kissing both his cheeks then his lips before stepping back and bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other.
"Well? Did you like it?"
"I didn't hate it," Hiei said.
"That's all I expected. Thank you for wasting two hours of your life, koishii," Shadow said. "I wasted a heck of a lot more than two hours..." She shrugged. "Oh well. It was fun. I got free food a few times. And I got to kill myself!"
Hiei kissed her cheek. "How many more times do you have to put this show on?"
"Two. Saturday and Sunday."
"And how many more times is that kissing Kurama?"
"Um... I don't know. How many times did I kiss him?"
"More than I feel comfortable with."
"Oh, Hiei koishii." She kissed him lovingly. "You know I have no feelings for him! He's all for Eclipse!"
They looked over at the pair just as Eclipse and Kurama's lips touched for a passionate kiss. Both fire demons got quizzical looks on their faces.
"Are you sure they're not together?" Shadow asked. Hiei shrugged a bit.
"She insists she doesn't love him."
"So she's just in it for the sex?"
"She's not getting any sex."
"So she's just in it for the kissing and touching?"
"Apparently."
"What a whore. At least I love the guy I kiss."
"You kissed Kurama."
"It was a play, Hiei."
"Uh-huh, yeah, well it looked pretty real to me."
"That may have looked real, but it didn't feel real! When I kiss you, it's real! Because I love you and you know it and if you keep BITCHING about me kissing Kurama in some stupid school play, I'm never gonna suck on your nipples again!"
Hiei turned a distinct shade of pink. "You couldn't be any louder, could you?"
"What, is it embarassing? Why are you embarassed? You wouldn't be embarassed in the Makai, would you? Why should you care what a bunch of stupid ningens have to say about me sucking on your nipples?"
"Knock it off, would you? You're freaking out the readers!"
"Oh. Oh yeah... Well at least I wasn't talking about sucking your dick."
"Shadow, just shut up while you're ahead."
"But I'm not ahead."
"Then just shut up."
"Do you hate me? For kissing Kurama? For frightening the readers? I mean, I know you've got a real close relationship with Authoress Shadow, but just because she can't control me, she sic's you on me? I mean, it's like she's my mother and you're her pussywhipped lackey!"
"Shadow, shut up and change into your normal clothes. Can we go home?"
"Of course we can." She wandered off to the dressing rooms. Eclipse strolled over to Hiei, stood in front of him for a second looking at him, then threw her arms around him and hugged him until he gagged.
"What the fuck is wrong with you you sick psychotic son of a bitch Kurama-kissing weirdo! Let go of me! You're gonna make me die and you'll piss off my girlfriend!"
Eclipse let go and he fell to the ground with a loud thud. She bent down with her hands on her knees to look at him.
"Guess what? I have good news!"
"You're pregnant," Hiei guessed bitterly, standing up.
"Yup!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!"
"I'm totally kidding, Hiei. Take a chill pill, for the love of God almighty!"
Hiei sighed and sulked off to wait for Shadow. She came dancing out of the dressing rooms a second later in black shorty-short shorts, a skintight white spaghetti strap belly shirt, and black knee-high boots.
"Ready to go?"
"You didn't wear that to school today."
"Yeah I did. Under my jeans and t-shirt."
"Where's your jeans and t-shirt?"
She reached back into the dressing room, grabbed something, and pulled it out to show Hiei. It was an ankle-length black leather trench coat.
"In one of the pockets!" she said cheerfully. Hiei sighed.
"Put on the coat. Let's go."
She threw the coat on over her skimpy outfit, making her look rather odd indeed, and Hiei took her hand and led her towards the back exit.
They were walking home, so it was very easy for the mob to 'ambush' them when they did. Ten big muscle-bound thugs with lots of guns and ammo surrounded the couple. They were expecting some sort of upset reaction, but all they got was a stupid curious look from Shadow and a sigh from Hiei.
"You'd think you losers would give up already," he said.
"We're not here for you. We're after the girl."
"Oh?" Hiei said. Shadow twitched, then grabbed Hiei's shoulders, contorting her face into a sobbing look of horror.
"OH, PLEASE! Please, Hiei! Sacrifice me and run for it! I can take care of myself, and all these fat ugly stupid bumbling musclebound good-for-nothing brainless thugs who think big guns are like an extension of their manhood so they use them because they have tiny little baby dicks and are horrible in bed!"
"Are you sure?" Hiei asked. "You just personally insulted ten guys twice your size."
"I can handle it, Hiei! They have little dicks! It's not like baby-dicked jerk-offs can hurt me!" she sobbed.
"That's IT!"
"GO, Hiei!" Shadow cried melodramatically, spinning Hiei and pushing him out of the circle just as ten guys--each weighing in around 350 pounds--lunged at Shadow.
Using agility only a female or Kurama could have, the girl did a series of insane acrobatics to dodge every single one of them. They got up quick enough, however, and began chasing her as she ran down the street.
"Wait, stupids! We have guns!" one guy yelled.
"Oh yeah!" nine voices chorused.
"Good one, meatheads!" Shadow yelled from way down the street. She made sure to stop right under a street lamp so they could all see her very well, and she waved and stood still. Just as the men were about to pull the triggers, something totally unexpected happened.
A large black, snarling blur lunged out of the nearby treeline and went for one guy's throat. Way down the street, Shadow dropped her arm and stared with big, wide, confused eyes as a huge shaggy dog tore at the guys' throats and hands and arms. From considerably closer, Hiei watched with equally wide eyes as three guys were taken down by a canine. The other seven peed their pants and took off running like giant pansies.
"What the hell was that?" Shadow asked flatly, walking up to the scene of carnage. The dog was giant and shaggy and had blood all over its muzzle and face.
"Shadow, explain to me why you were just defended by a dog."
"I haven't got a shit of a clue," the girl said plainly.
"That's not good."
"I could have taken care of myself, you know," the girl said to the dog, kneeling in front of it and taking the bloody muzzle in her hands without hesitation. "Yes I could have."
The dog gave her an exasperated "Don't you baby talk me, freak" look. Shadow sat back, her hands now bloody.
"What the hell's up with this?" Hiei asked. "Maybe it was some sort of dogfight competitor."
"I bet it whipped ass," the girl said. The dog glared and she hurriedly added, "Assuming you were a competitor, which I never, ever said you were!"
"Shadow, what the hell! You're defending yourself to a dog! It's a dog! They're big furry stinky--JESUS CHRIST!"
Hiei found himself pinned to the ground under a huge snarling dog. A drop of blood fell from the furry muzzle to his cheek.
"This is freakin'... Freaky."
"Can we keeeep her?" Shadow asked. "PLEEEEASE?"
Hiei looked at the dog who was currently holding him to the ground with huge clawed paws. It was pure black from the tip of its bloody nose to the end of its shaggy tail. Its eyes were two-tone, the left eye being white and the right being brilliant sapphire blue. It had a long shaggy coat and perky ears which were currently laid back on its head as it continued to bare its fangs at Hiei. It had to be at least three feet high at the shoulder. Huge, giant dog.
"God, I'm sorry for insulting you!" Hiei snapped at the dog. It jumped away and he sat up. "What's with it? Figure out what its problem is so we can go home."
"What's your problem?" Shadow asked the canine bluntly. The dog barked and sat down, looking at her. The girl shrugged. "Apparently I've been stalked by a dog for the past week, and now she wants to live with us."
"What?" Hiei asked. "You're lame. If you want a dog, you don't need to make up some stupid story. I'm going home." He got up. "I don't care if you bring the dog home, as long as it doesn't get in the way."
"She has a name, you know! Stop calling her 'it'!"
"Then what's her name?"
"Shugotenshi!"
The dog gave her a 'Cut me a break' look.
"Kokuei?"
She cocked her head, then stood up and went to Shadow, wagged her tail a few times, and the girl smiled.
"Kokuei it is."
"You're bonding with a fuckin' dog..." Hiei moped. "Don't tell me I'm gonna be second rank now?"
"You're never second, Hiei." She wrapped her arms around him, making sure not to get her bloodied hands on him, and kissed him passionately. Keep in mind there's three dead 300-pound mobsters lying with torn throats in puddles of their own shiny deep red blood right next to them through all this.
Hearing police sirens in the distance, Hiei and Shadow broke their kiss and took off running hand in hand with a huge shaggy black bloody dog galloping behind them.
They arrived home easily and Hiei instantly had to change for work and be on his way. He was confronted by the seven remaining 300-pound gun-toting psychos on his way there.
"What the hell do you people want? Three of your guys got their throats ripped out by a rabid dog and you're gonna come back for more? Who says I don't have the dog with me again?"
Seven guns were raised and aimed at Hiei.
"Our guns say."
"Shit," Hiei said plainly. He startled them by running directly at them, using their huge muscular arms as steps up onto their shoulders, which he jumped over and tore off running at the fastest possible speed a human could possibly ever muster until he was out of sight, then he kicked it up and was at the police station in two seconds flat. He walked in panting. Saiko glanced up from his Subway sandwich with the look of a curious chipmunk with full cheek pouches.
"The mob again," Hiei answered before he attempted to ask through a mouthful of sandwich. He grabbed the other half of his partner's sub and took a bite, ignoring the muffled protest. When the young man could finally swallow, he snapped, "Gimme back my sandwich, bitch!"
Hiei tilted his head slightly to one side. "What was that?"
"Could you please give me back my sandwich, Hiei-san?"
"Um, lemme think for a second: Nope." He pulled out some money and tossed it to the guy. "Buy yourself another one if it matters so much, you glutton. I happened to have been at my girlfriend's school play and didn't get dinner."
"School play? Really? You mean Romeo and Juliet?"
"Uh... Yeah."
"My friend's daughter was in that... She played the nurse!"
"How exciting."
"What's gotten into you?"
Hiei shrugged, polishing off Hanshin's sandwich in one more bite and dusting his hands off on his shirt before spinning his chair to face his computer and clicking on Solitaire.
"Seriously, Hiei, you're being moody."
"I'm plotting murder. Don't bother me."
"For serious?"
"For serious."
"Holy God! You really are a psycho!"
"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Don't tell."
"Is it anyone I know?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
"Who is it?"
"You."
"What?" The man paled considerably. Hiei laughed.
"No, it's not you. It's nobody. I would never kill a human, Saiko, and I'm glad you have so much confidence in me."
"Oh! You're not really plotting murder?"
"Nope."
"I knew it all along! You don't seem the murdering type to me, Hiei..."
"Shut your trap, you liar."
Kyouken's office door flew open and slammed into the wall as he came striding out. The second he was out of the way, the glass shattered and fell to the ground. Hiei glanced up and swore loudly when he saw Kyouken was uninjured.
"There was an urgent call," Kyouken said, giving Hiei a death glare. "Three men were found dead on a sidewalk. Jaganshi, Satoya, Tokaji, Shimazaki! You guys go. There will be a team of paramedics arriving shortly."
Hiei sighed and got up, grabbing his coat. Saiko followed suit, as did the other two.
"What I don't understand is why they send paramedics when they're already dead..." Hiei muttered. Saiko shrugged and followed him out of the station.
Unlike most people, Hiei had extremely good control over his facial expressions, tone of voice, and perspiration at all times, even when he was totally aware of what had happened at a scene and just didn't feel like divulging the information (that had happened more than once since he'd started working with the cops). I mean, come on. If he said, "I was walking home with my girlfriend from the school play when ten huge guys with guns surrounded us and a giant shaggy dog came along and tore open their throats," people would probably think he was covering something up. He knew better than to tell wild tales like that. But he could act, and he had excellent self-control (which was useful more often than you'd think).
"Got any theories, Jaganshi-san?" Tokaji asked after he and the others had made their assumptions.
"They were attacked," Hiei said intelligently.
"We'd established this much," Saiko told him.
"Maybe it was a vampire. Look at the freaky fang marks."
"That looks more like a dog..." Saiko muttered. "Maybe it was a wolf?"
"Wolves don't live around here."
"A fox?"
"A fox could not tear open a man's throat."
"Then it was a domestic dog?"
"Possible. Probably should test 'em for rabies. A German Shepherd could do that."
"Why the hell do they have such huge guns?" Tokaji asked.
"Because they have small weiners and feel like the weapon is an extension of their manhood," Hiei said calmly.
"Is that what it is with you and your sword, Hiei?" Saiko taunted.
"I don't need a big weapon to feel confident about my sexuality. I've got a girlfriend who is very... very... reassuring."
"Hiei, when's the last time you got laid?" Saiko asked, leaning up against the car while the other two did all the work. Hiei hopped up onto the roof and lay down with his fingers intertwined behind his head and the lower halves of his legs dangling off the roof.
"Last time? Months ago." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does. Sex is very reassuring if you've got low sexual self-esteem."
"I have high sexual self-esteem, Saiko."
"Why?"
"I have my reasons."
"WOULD YOU TWO JACKASSES GET YOUR JACKASSES OVER HERE AND HELP US!"
"Help what?" Saiko asked stupidly. Hiei slid up so he went off the car headfirst, caught himself on his hands, and flipped to his feet.
"What can I help you losers with today?" he asked, strolling over calmly.
Needless to say, Hiei was quite unconcerned with actually working... or getting paid, or pissing off Kyouken... Well, actually, he was concerned with pissing off Kyouken. He tried his hardest to make sure it was done.
Meanwhile, back home, Shadow had washed up Kokuei and herself and was fixing dinner for herself and the dog. While she did that, Kokuei wandered around the house. When she came back down to the kitchen for dinner, Norman the Weasel was perched on her back.
"Making friends?" Shadow questioned, grinning. "You fit right in here... No worries. You're like another one of the doom minions."
Norman climbed up Shadow's arm and sat on her shoulder as she ate dinner. Incidentally, she's eating dinner at 10:30 at night.
She was lounging around afterwards when there was a knock on the door. Getting up, she went to the door, opened it, and let out a choked, "Eep."
The seven remaining thugs with guns were standing outside her door. All seven guns were aimed at her head.
"Outside. Now."
"Why come outside? Just shoot me where I stand."
"No. Get out here."
"Why, so you can all gang bang me?"
"We don't want anything to do with a scrawny little girl like you!"
"A scrawny, sexy, muscular girl with big boobs and amazing endurance and strength. I bet all you guys could pound me into the mattress all seven in a row and I would still have strength left to make love to my boyfriend."
"You're full of yourself."
"I'm shit."
"What?"
"LOOK! A distraction!" She pointed behind them suddenly.
"Huh!" They all turned to look.
"HA! YOU'RE CONFUSED!" She slammed the door and lunged into the next room. The anticipated gunshots did not come. Instead, the doorknob turned and one of the guys walked inside, easily found Shadow, and dragged her towards the door by her neck. The man froze, however, when he heard a feral growl. He turned slowly to face...
Norman, the Supreme Weasel Minion of Uncontrollable Amounts of Rabid Man-Eating Weaselly Doom.
The guy got a stupid arrogant grin and swung his gun at Norman, who dodged and ran down the guy's arm to his wrist, where he started unleashing his man-eating weaselly doom.
"Don't get blood on my floor!" Shadow snapped. Norman instantly stopped chewing the guy's hand off and glared at her, the blue fur around his muzzle and on his face stained purple from the blood. "What? I'd have to clean, then. And he's probably got STDs." Norman gagged and spat blood all over the place. Kokuei tilted her head to the side with an amused look on her face.
The thug, meanwhile, was howling in pain. Shadow pulled out of his laxed grip and went kung-fu on his ass, then dragged his body out into the middle of the yard.
The remaining six mobster thugs aimed their guns. She took off running towards them, kicked one guy straight in the side of the head, knocking him over. She pulled out a cell phone from her pocket and called the police station.
"Hey! Police? I'm being attacked by the mob, and if you ignore me just because I'm Hiei's girlfriend I'm gonna find you and beat the living monkey shit out of you!" She paused as she dodged a few attacks. "Wrong number? Oops. Sorry."
"You call anyone on that and I'll shoot you!" one guy snapped. Shadow reached in another pocket and pulled out a different cell phone, dialing the police station. When Kyouken answered, she repeated the message she'd given to the poor old lady in the nursing home. He chuckled and hung up.
"Son of a BITCH!" She threw the phone down, took one man's gun, and shot it into oblivion. Then she gave the gun back and took off running. "YOU CAN'T KILL ME! I HAVE TO BE JULIET!"
Hiei was in the car with Hanshin on the way back to the police station when he heard something familiar. It was a scream, coming from the right side of the road up ahead. A second later, a skantily clad girl very familiar to him rocketted across the road screaming, her arms waving around up above her head, far enough up ahead that Saiko didn't need to swerve. Hiei stared at her retreating form for a second, then looked to where she'd burst out of the trees on the side of the road. Seconds later, six large guys with guns came jogging out into the road, huffing and puffing like they'd just run a marathon. They, unlike Shadow, were not far enough ahead by now that Saiko didn't have to swerve. He'd plowed into three of them before he managed to stop.
"Good job," Hiei complimented. He got out of the car and took off running after the three guys who hadn't been hit and were now running away from the police car as fast as their weary legs would allow. He delivered a few strategic kicks and they were lying in the middle of the road unconscious. Hanshin used the radio in the car to call for backup to ship all the guys back to the station. When he'd gotten out of the car, Hiei was no where in sight.
"HIEI?" he yelled. "YOU JERK, WHERE'D YOU GO?"
"He went running that way," Tokaji said, pointing to the left side of the road.
Hiei had indeed run after Shadow. He caught up to her and flittered to stand in front of her. She ran straight into him, knocking him onto his back on the hard ground.
"Oh, jeez! You need to work on your agility, Shadow!" he groaned. She pushed herself up with her hands, looking down at him.
"Hiei? Where'd you come from? I thought my landing was a little cushiony..."
"Thanks... I think you broke my back..."
"Oh, you're being overdramatic. If I broke your back you wouldn't be moving."
"I'm not."
"OH MY GOD I BROKE YOUR BACK!" She started flipping out all over the place and rolled him over so he was laying on his stomach. He groaned.
"Shadow, I was joking!"
"SILENCE, CRIPPLE! LET ME HEAL YOU!" She laid on top of him and combed her fingers through his hair, kissing the back of his neck.
"I love the way you go from psycho to lover in two seconds flat," Hiei muttered, rolling over as she lifted herself to allow him. "This'll look real bad if someone comes looking for me."
"You'll notice them before they notice you, won't you? You're observant like that, aren't you?"
"Typically... Except when I'm really, really distracted."
"Well, since I had no time with you after school," she muttered, kissing him tenderly on the lips, "I want one real good kiss right now, then you can leave."
"One real good kiss and I won't wanna leave."
"One real nasty, sloppy, wet, disgusting kiss and you wouldn't want to leave either, purely because it's me."
"Give me a nasty, sloppy, wet, disgusting kiss and we'll see about that, koi," Hiei challenged. Shadow grinned, licking the tip of his nose.
"As you wish." She wetted her lips and kissed Hiei's gently, then ran her tongue across his lips, nudging them open. He obediently let her into his mouth, where she explored a bit before her tongue trekked out of his mouth and up the middle of his face to the lower edge of his headband, where she left a wet kiss and pulled back to grin at him before pushing her tongue back into his mouth. His eyes opened wide for a second at the ferocity of her assault on his mouth and he moaned. Just as he closed his eyes again, he felt her wet tongue leave a path up his cheek from his mouth to his ear, which she sucked into her mouth, tracing the ridges with the tip of her tongue. Hiei squirmed.
"Okay, that's--AGH! Get your tongue out of my ear!" He shoved her away, wiping the saliva out of his ear and off his face. She was laughing.
"Nasty, huh?"
"Yes, nasty," he muttered, still trying to get his ear dry. "Now I need a good kiss or I'll be upset."
"Okay, okay," she muttered, gently pressing her lips to his. Their arms went around each other as the kiss deepened, hips pressing together, until breathing became a necessity that could no longer be ignored and Shadow pulled back, gasping, and rolled onto her back on the ground next to Hiei. After a second, Hiei sat up.
"Hanshin's coming," he said. A second later, Shadow heard in the distance, "JAGANSHI! HIEI? HEY!"
"Genius. Could never have guessed," she replied, sitting up. She kissed his cheek gently. "See you later, koishii."
"Yeah... tomorrow morning."
She smiled, got up, and ran back the way she'd come--a stupid move, to be sure, but Hiei didn't object. He knew she could handle herself. Usually. She ran right past Hanshin as he came seeking Hiei and he stared as she went straight back across the road and into the woods on the other side. Hiei himself came along a few minutes later with his hands in his pockets, innocent as could be.
"What was all that about?" Saiko asked. Hiei looked innocently puzzled.
"All what?"
"That girl just ran by again and... She looked pretty familiar."
"Yeah, because she's my girlfriend."
"Oh!" Saiko said cheerfully. "That would explain it. Well come on, then. The reinforcements came and all the mobsters are going to prison."
"That's excellent."
The following day was Saturday, and Yusuke and Kuwabara showed up at Shadow's house while she and Hiei were still sleeping. He knocked on the door a few times until Kurama of all people answered.
"Hello, Yusuke," he said politely.
"What the heck are you doing answering their door?"
"They're asleep."
"So?"
"So it'd be best not to wake them. Come in."
"I want to talk to them, though."
"Why?"
"Cuz they're my friends!"
"If they were, you'd let them sleep."
"Are you gonna let me in, fox boy?"
A low growl from somewhere in the depths of the house answered him, and he peered past Kurama curiously.
"Um... What was that?"
"Kokuei."
"Again I ask, what was that?"
Kurama chuckled a bit and stood aside. The huge black dog that had instantly taken a liking to him walked to his side and continued growling as she looked at Kuwabara.
"Jesus Christ, it's like a werewolf! That is a HUGE dog, Kurama!" Yusuke said. "Where'd you get it?"
"Her. She's not mine. Kuwabara, you don't have your cat, do you?" the redhead questioned as he noticed a trembling lump in the boy's pocket and simultaneously caught the scent of cat.
"Um... No..."
"Yes you do."
At that precise second, Shadow came rocketting into the room in her pajamas and socks, slid to her knees next to Kokuei, and wrapped her arms around the dog's neck, purring soothing words in her ear and nuzzling her cheek in the long fur.
"You told me she was still asleep," Yusuke said. Kurama shrugged.
"She was."
Hiei came shuffling into the room, still looking half asleep, and stared at Shadow.
"Hiei, she left you for a dog," Yusuke said. Kokuei, who'd stopped growling at Kuwabara, glared and snarled at Yusuke. He stepped back. "Your dog is a freak."
"We know this. She's also a murderer, but we won't go there. Now, puny mortal, why are you on my porch?" Shadow asked, standing up. Hiei glanced at the gathering, the dog, then the fish tank (why? I don't know), turned around, and left.
"I wanted to see how you're doing with only a few weeks of school left."
"Romeo and Juliet tonight and tomorrow night, talent show Wednesday night, and sometime in all this I've got to totally ruin a few lives, plus I still need to destroy the mob, get rid of Hiei's contract, his boss, the law enforcement system altogether, and reign supreme over all of Japan. Oh, and I also want to lose my virginity to my sexy boyfriend, but we all know I'm not ready for that, and also, that I have a resolution, and currently am immortal. But I'd gladly give up immortality if it meant I could screw Hiei passionately a few nights a week."
Hiei walked back into the room without a word, went up to Shadow, and kissed her. "Nice to hear," he said, then turned and left again.
"What's up with him?"
"He's tired," Shadow answered. "You wanna come in? I don't see the point, since Kurama's just doing homework and I'm gonna go cuddle back up to my sexy boyfriend, but maybe you can like... buddy up to Kokuei. She's not seeming to like you too much. Well, ta!" She ran away again, returning to bed with Hiei. Yusuke looked at Kurama, who shrugged and stepped aside to let the two boys in. Nervously, they sidled past Kokuei and scurried into the living room. Kurama followed, chuckling to himself.
"So... how'd they get this dog?" Yusuke asked.
"They didn't get her, she came to them," Kurama explained, closing his schoolbooks and stuffing them back in his bag. "And she's really intelligent, so I'd watch what I said if I were you."
Yusuke looked skeptically at the dog, who stared back with her two-tone eyes until the boy looked away nervously.
"Um... How long have they had her?"
"Since last night," Kurama answered, scratching Kokuei's ears.
Kuwabara stared, his cat trembling on his lap as he petted it. "I never thought Hiei was a dog person."
"I never thought Hiei was a pet person, period," Yusuke said.
"Neither of you thought Hiei was a relationship person either," Kurama reminded. "Just look at how he's changed from when you first knew him."
"Yay! Reminiscence time!" Yusuke said with false excitement. "Hiei used to be a major asshole, and he still is! To everyone but you and Shadow!"
"That's not very nice, Yusuke," the fox reprimanded.
"YOU'RE REMENISCENING WITHOUT ME?" Eclipse came flying over the back of the couch and landed in Kurama's lap, and squeaked when she saw Kokuei. "A puppy!"
"ECLIPSE!" Shadow came flying down the stairs and jumped over the back of the couch, tackling Eclipse off Kurama's lap and onto her back on the floor. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"FUCKING KURAMA!"
"WOW! SOUNDS FUN!"
"STOP SHOUTING!" Hiei snapped from behind Kurama. The fox jumped.
"Give a guy some warning!" he barked. Hiei smiled. Kokuei jumped up on the couch, putting her feet on the back and licking Hiei's face.
"Stop it!" he complained. "You've been ripping open peoples' throats!"
The dog gave him a pathetic look and he sighed, petting her head while Shadow slunk away like she was in trouble.
"Been what?" Yusuke asked with horror.
And so, it was explained to the others how exactly Shadow and Hiei had come across the giant shaggy dog. When their story was over, Kuwabara suddenly found an excuse to leave, and Yusuke had a stronger liking for the dog than he had before.
"So it's a kick-ass dog, huh?"
"She," Shadow corrected. "She is a kick-ass dog."
"So she is a kick-ass dog, huh?" Yusuke amended with a glare at the smiling girl.
"Yes, she is."
"That's the kind of dog I'd like to have," he said, grinnning widely.
"Yeah, tough luck finding another one," Hiei said. "Unless you put a leash on Kurama."
"That privelige is reserved for Eclipse," Shadow reminded.
"Oh yeah."
The remainder of that day was spent lounging around. When it came time, Shadow and Kurama left for the school. The play went well that night, and the following night. The cast had a party on Sunday night to celebrate, which Shadow returned home from totally drunk... on caffeine.
Hee hee... they have a doggie now. I've been intending to get them a dog for some time... Then the opportunity totally presented itself at a random time...
Ha ha, and I bet you were all expecting a heck of a lot more out of the play, weren't you? XD Well I hate Romeo and Juliet (actually I think it's funny), and besides, quoting Shakespeare in my stories is just wrong. Especially from Shadow's mouth... It... hurts me... so badly... As if I were the one quoting Shakespeare! Which reminds me... Something in Act 2 Scene 2 that cracked me up so bad...Mercutio was saying things about Rosaline, and Benvolio says he'll make Romeo mad, so Mercutio replys: "This cannot anger him; 'twould anger him to raise a spirit in his mistress' circle of some strange nature, letting it there stand till she had laid it and conjured it down..." What do you get out of that? The side note on the page said "mistress' circle" meant 'magical place.' Again, I ask, what do you get out of that? I get that Mercutio thinks talking lewdly about Rosaline won't tick off Romeo, but screwing her would. (They didn't know about Juliet at that point). I mean, just look at it! Shakespeare is such a pervert!
Now that you all got like, three updates in a week or something, don't expect another one so soon. Chapter 29 will probably be posted after I start my next story. Now that Eclipse is back from vacation, I can go have a party at her house, and come back drunk on caffeine, all set to write a nice, SHORT story. I'm guessing (with no basis at all) that it will about around 10 chapters. Maybe not even that. Praise the lord.