Road Trip, YYH Style!
Foxglove: Foxglove here. Kurama refused to do this chapter's disclaimer, said he didn't want to deal with Solaris's tendency to go crazy if something pulled her away from writing. Hiei ran off, and voila! I get stuck with this crap. So, while Solaris is writing a new fic for you to hopefully enjoy sometime in the near future, I'd like to say… Solaris owns herself and me. Anything else is owned by their respective creators. She especially doesn't own YYH, credit that to Yoshihiro Togashi. Read on.
Chapter 15: More insanity and WTF!
An uneventful day had passed, Solaris had slept 24 hours straight, and the group was two days outside of Tokyo.
"Awake now, foxgirl?" Kara asked. Solaris nodded.
"Good thing, too. Foxglove almost turned us into road kill when she drove." Raccoon laughed. "You woke up at the perfect time."
"I can't help it! If she's asleep, I get tired. I can pass out and she won't feel a thing, but I get tired when she's asleep!" Foxglove protested.
"You liar, you were just coming off a caffeine buzz and her yelling when she woke up startled you away." Melody laughed. No one bought Foxglove's story. Good thing too, considering it was bull.
"My muse and I died peacefully in our sleep. The other 10 people travelling with us died screaming." Solaris said, her twist on an old joke.
"It's all over now, the muse isn't in shock anymore, let's let it die." Hiei sighed. Everyone else in the trailer nodded their agreement. The car slowed to a halt and Day opened the trailer door. She and Ami entered, grabbing things from their suitcases.
"Okay, 6:30 AM, do what you have to and get ready." Ami smiled. The whole group went their separate directions in the campsite.
"So, who's driving next?" Day asked.
"I'unno," Ami said around a mouthful of toothpaste. (A/N: And no one can say that they've never done that before, I'm sure!) "Sorry, I have no clue." She said as soon as she had spit it out.
"I think Hiei and Raccoon are driving next, but I'm riding in the car." Melody said, then left the bamboo blind, wearing black shorts and an Inuyasha-print black tank top and carrying her pajamas.
"Understandable." Solaris nodded, then stretched her legs. "I'm goin' for a run. I want to get into what shape I can. Gonna need it to run from Koenma when I get back to Tokyo, 'cause two days ago, he was royally pissed at me."
"TWO DAYS! You've got to be insane!" Azurite called after her, but Solaris couldn't hear it over her music.
--
"So you called next to drive?" Kurama asked.
"Yes, I can drive. So before you comment, don't. What's with the stretching? I can't remember you ever doing that, even before a fight." Hiei observed.
"I'm going running with Solaris. 30 minutes. She picks pockets for gas money, I beat any Sotas-to-be." Kurama said laughingly, then took off.
"Y'think he's finally los' it?" Jenks asked.
"I don't really know, Jenks. I think it began with Rose and Solaris finished it." Hiei sighed.
"Rose, who's tha'?" Jenks asked, and so Hiei told the pixy the saga of Rose and Thorne.
--
(While they do that, skip over to Kurama and Solaris. For the quote-unquote saga, read 'Fox Thief'. And yes, that was a shameless plug.)
Solaris noticed a bit of red that wasn't her sleeve or a flower. She pulled one headphone from her ear and looked at Kurama. "Wow, what inspired this fitness thing?"
"Same thing that got you?" Kurama tried.
"I doubt Koenma's going to try to kill you. Me, I'm expendable. You, mi amor, are not so." She smiled, never ceasing her run.
"Fine, I'm your bodyguard. Just in case pickpocket victims decide to try to kill you." Kurama admitted. The foxgirl stopped in her tracks.
"I'm not picking pockets anymore. There are none left to pick." She gestured to the trees. "This is nowhere's-ville, population 12, soon to leave for Tokyo."
"Oh. So this is just a 30-minute run?"
"Yeah, pretty much, then I hit that little pond really fast as a sort of shower."
"Ah." was all Kurama said.
"Well, I'm headed back. Oh, and Kurama-kun? Here's your wallet back." Solaris smiled and handed him the brown leather square. Everything was still there, she had only taken it for kicks. He snapped out of shock and ran after her.
--
Kurama rode for about two or three hours in the car. When it stopped for Melody to switch places with Hiei, he went to the trailer. Solaris lay on one of the beds, reading while Foxglove zoned to her music. Azurite, Kara, Ami, and Rooney were playing poker while Day made lunch. "Who's driving?" Day asked.
"Melody." Kurama answered.
"Thought it was Raccoon's turn?"
"Raccoon fell asleep a few kilometers back. Melody took over for her."
"Oh… well, she did stay up half the night arguing with Jenks. Of course she's tired." Day rationalized. "It was just half of a turkey sandwich. Surprises me that she'd be angry at him for eating it."
"Surprises me that he could." Rooney called. "And that, my friends, is a full house."
"Five aces." Azurite laughed. "Just kidding!" she quickly amended as she saw the glares. Solaris never looked up from her copy of 'Four Past Midnight'.
Steven King, eh? Kurama thought, then snuck up on the girl and tapped her shoulder. Three things happened all at once: her book fell, she jumped, and a scream startled everyone.
--
At that moment in Tokyo, Mitsuo thought he heard a car wreck or a girl's scream; he couldn't really tell, but he was pretty sure it was the second. (A/N: Give an idea of how loud she can be?)
--
"Sheesh, Kurama, don't do that! I thought you were a goddamned langolier or something!" Solaris gasped.
"If you didn't always get so engrossed, you wouldn't have to worry. Hey…" he said as he looked at her black shirt. "That looks a lot like Youko's shirt dyed black."
"Same basic design. Just a different color. It looked comfy." She smiled.
"Why me?" Kurama sighed.
-Divine punishment for making her think a goddamned langolier was coming for her!- Youko crowed in the back of his mind. -Say, what the hell is a goddamned langolier, anyway?-
It's a langolier, first, you don't have to curse. Second, it's a creature from a Steven King story. A character said the langoliers were creatures that ate lazy people, and toward the end it came to mean the creatures that ate yesterday or something like that. Kurama thought.
"You know, some days I think your best conversations are with yourself, my schitzo friend." Solaris laughed.
"What! I'm not schitzo! I just can't help that Youko is there commenting on every thing. And now he wants out." Kurama said softly, leaning against the wall.
"Oh man… take deep breaths, don't think of what he wants out for…" Solaris said, trying to calm him, down.
"Too late." Kurama said. Solaris looked down to see the droop in her shirt and put two and two together as to how it looked from the side. It wouldn't show much, the way she had it fixed, but it would show just enough.
"Oh shit." Solaris said, clutching the shirt closed. Day was walking by with a glass of ice water, and Solaris, hardly thinking, stole a couple of ice cubes and threw them down the back of Kurama's shirt. The cold startled him out of the transformation. "Wow… didn't think that would work!" Solaris smiled as he tried to get the ice out of his shirt. Her giggling attracted attention, and soon the whole trailer was in an uproar. The ice was soon out of his shirt, Day went back to her lunch, Foxglove returned to her music, and the others got back to their poker game. Solaris was still smiling.
"Better?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks." He said, lacing the 'thanks' with a ton of sarcasm. Solaris ignored it. "Youko says he's flattered that you like his shirt so much, but if you want him to stay inside my mind, he advises that you stitch up the sides a little."
"My advice to your pervy other self is to not be so pervy." Solaris grinned and turned back to her book. "Just a thought." The car slowed to a stop and Raccoon came get the trailer group.
"A photo studio? Here? Are you sure?" Day asked. Once bitten twice shy, as the old truth went.
"I'm sure. Turns out this scenic route isn't as scenic anymore. Hiei enlightened me to the fact that it took you about six days to get to Kyoto." Melody laughed.
"Yeah, but we stopped nights." Foxglove pointed out.
"So we're stopping here for an hour and getting a photo!" Raccoon insisted.
"Ah! Solaris, talk some sense into them!" Kara demanded; all the others seemed to agree with Raccoon and Melody.
"Hm… you know, I meant to get at least a print club in Kyoto… never got around to it, but I meant to. All right, photo's on me!" Solaris smiled gamely, then pulled out her cell phone. "Gotta make a call, hold up."
--
Koenma scowled at the phone. He'd had a sinking feeling that someone was going to call soon and he wasn't going to like it. Sure enough, the phone rang. "Reikai headquarters, Koenma speaking."
-"Heya, Koenma-Sama! 'Sup?"- Solaris sounded happy.
"What now, Solaris? Oh, and sleep well?" He had heard about her day-long 'nap' from Kurama, who seemed to be the only responsible one in the group.
-"Actually, yeah. Nothing like 24 consecutive hours of sleep. I rather pity you, not getting to take a nap once in a while. Maybe that's why you're so cranky…"-
"WHAT DO YOU WANT, SOLARIS!" Koenma yelled; she had crossed a line! Whatever she wanted, it was 'no'!
-"It's not entirely what I want. It's what you want. And if I recall correctly, you wanted that sapphire. Tears of the Ocean, I believe. One in a series of twenty? Put together they make a necklace that gives the wearer control over all water in all three dimensions?"- Solaris could almost be heard smiling.
"What do you want for this information?" Koenma sighed. He knew that there was no way Solaris was telling him this for free, nor did she offer the same info twice. It was just how she operated. Sometimes he wondered if she had been trained by the Yakuza.
-"Enough money for eleven photos. Eight by ten glossies."- Now he could really hear her smiling.
"WHAT? ELEVEN!" he asked incredulously.
-"Yeah. Eleven."-
"Where is it?" Koenma sighed and sent the cash to her card. He had specifically had it made if she couldn't collect her payment herself; she got really mad if she didn't get her money.
-"Thank you! And it's near the ocean, maybe 30 meters away. Baaiii!"- Koenma sighed and hung up. Once again she had won. And once again she had given sucky directions. He sighed a final time, and after telling Ayame to get a team out to the Makai to find the 'Tear of the Ocean', he laid his head on his desk. Maybe a nap was just what the doctor ordered.
--
"Okay, now smile! Three two one!" the photographer grinned. The flash went off and the 12 sat down to wait. Solaris idly twirled the rose Kurama had given her just before the photo was taken between her fingers.
"Well, that was a waste of twenty minutes." Kara said, sounding bored. "Damn waste of good money too."
"Oh, what makes you think that?" Foxglove laughed.
"The voices in my head." Kara growled and everybody left it at that. An hour later, they had the photos.
"I look so fat!" Foxglove mourned.
"You do not. I just look weird." Azurite said gently.
"We all look weird! Aside from Rooney, Melody, Ami and Kurama. Hey… Is that my wallet? Rooney!" Day yelled. Rooney tossed the dark blue wallet back.
"Sorry, once a thief always a thief." She shrugged.
"Not necessarily. Kurama was once a thief, but he doesn't steal anymore." Solaris reminded them.
"'Ception that proves th' rule, lass." Jenks said, staring at the photo over Raccoon's shoulder. It was amazing; his wings hadn't blurred!
"Good point." Kurama nodded.
"Sure, you just like the compliment!" Ami and Raccoon laughed simultaneously.
"Of course. Who doesn't like a compliment?" Kurama pointed out.
"I knew this guy once who tried to kill someone who complimented him. Wait… yeah, it was meant as a compliment." Melody said.
"Wow, what'd make him wanna kill the dude?" Solaris asked.
"'Nice buns'." Melody looked around at the puzzled looks, then explained. "He was a chef, and he took the guy the wrong way. Or maybe it was 'cause he stole a dinner roll."
"So, can we leave now?" Kara asked. Solaris nodded, and Kurama took the car keys. Hiei followed.
"The girls are all riding in the camper?" Kurama asked.
"Hn." Hiei nodded, then got in the car. "You know, you never answered my question. Is Solaris special to you or what?"
"I did answer; I don't have to tell you." Kurama sighed. Hiei glared at the red headed bishounen.
"Yes, you do have to answer. Your human mother would hate to know her son is not really a human. And wouldn't she really hate to know you hang out with two juvenile delinquents, a fire demon and two fox demons? Or how about I tell her…" Hiei began threateningly, "… that her innocent Shuiichi has really taken down demons by the score, killed them with his bare hands? Why, that'd break her heart."
"You don't know the number, you can't follow through." Kurama said, not sounding as sure as he looked. Hiei pulled Solaris's cell phone out of his pocket.
"Rooney and Solaris aren't the only pickpockets on this trip. And if I'm right, she has your home number right… here." Hiei smiled evilly as he held up the phone. 'Shiori' was on the screen, followed by a bunch of numbers.
"It could be Amashi Shiori's number. They are good friends."
"Were. Amashi-San was one of Sangatsu's Imouto-san's henchgirls. The vixen quit talking to her after the found out that the Jeep that nearly hit her was Amashi-San's boyfriend's, and it was not an accident." Hiei laughed. How could the fox not know that? He was the closest person to Solaris after all.
"Okay, so it's my home number. You wouldn't dare." Kurama scowled. Hiei still laughed.
"Try me. And since you're driving, and I know you hate to risk wrecking Solaris's car, so you won't take your hands off the wheel to take the phone."
"Try me." Kurama growled, and reached out with one hand to steal the phone. Hiei pulled it back.
"No answer, no phone."
"I never thought I'd see the day you'd resort to such juvenile tactics, Hiei. Fine." Kurama sighed. "She may be, she may not be. I'm not even sure. But I do know she's different from Rose. That said… hand it over!" he growled and reached out with both hands to reclaim Solaris's phone. Hiei was so shocked that Kurama would be so reckless that he let go easily. "Thank you, though. I do need to call my mother." Hiei blinked as Kurama hit 'call'.
--
Shiori was watching TV but paying no attention to the show. Her son had been gone for almost two weeks on this 'road trip' that Solaris-San's twin had suggested, and he hadn't called once. She knew that he could take care of himself, but it didn't keep her from worrying. Suddenly the phone rang.
"Minamino residence, Shiori speaking." She sighed, certain it wasn't Shuiichi. To her surprise…
-'Kassan? It's Shuiichi."-
"Shuiichi! How have you been? Two Weeks! I know how you are when you're with your friends, but I do worry." She smiled, even as she scolded him.-"I've been fine. Sorry for not calling earlier. Hiei reminded me that I hadn't, so I borrowed Solaris's phone."-
"Oh! How is Jaganshi-San? And Moon-San and Adiea-San?" It had struck her as odd that twin sisters would have different surnames, but Moon-San had said something about a divorce, and that ended that.
-"Hiei's just fine, and so are Solaris and Foxglove. Solaris is still hyper and Foxglove is still 24-karat insane. Hiei did want to talk to you though, so I'm going to hand him the phone."-
"Oh. Could you tell him to hold for one minute? I've got to turn the rice cooker off." Shiori sat the phone down and hurried to turn the appliance off. Darn thing, beeping the done signal during her conversation!
--
"Fox…" Hiei growled, one hand over the mouthpiece in case the ningen onna hadn't set it down.
"Well, you were so desperate to use her as a lever for my answer, I guessed that you wanted to talk to her. So chat, my friend!" Kurama laughed.
-"Sorry. Jaganshi-San?"- Shiori's voice came out of the phone. Hiei glared at Kurama one last time.
"Damn you." He growled before removing his hand from the mouthpiece.
--
-"Sorry, needed to tell the fo- er, Shuiichi, something."- If she didn't know better, Jaganshi-San had almost sounded unnerved. She smiled at how his voice sounded; not what you'd expect from someone Shuiichi and his other friends said could 'beat the daylights out of the strongest man alive'.
"It's all right. Shuiichi said you wanted to speak to me?" Shiori asked.
-"Actually, I told him to say hello for me. How he skewed that into 'let me talk to your Okassan' is anyone's guess."-
"I see." Shiori nodded. "How has the trip been?"
-"Don't ask. Somehow Solaris managed to pick up eight people along the way."-
"Eight! Doesn't she know that's dangerous?" Shiori gasped.
-"If she doesn't know, she's more foolish than I thought. So far we've had no trouble. Aside from a perverted stalker, but he's gone."-
"A stalker! Just where's he gone to?"
-"Some hospital is my guess. The way she beat him up…"-
"Beat him up! That's it, let me talk to Solaris!" Shiori half yelled. That girl needed a talking to!
-"Hold on for just one minute… hey!"-
--
"What's with you!" Hiei asked.
"You got my mom ticked off! You need help!" Kurama scowled, then turned to the phone. Hiei laughed; this was gonna be good.
--
-"Kassan, Solaris is asleep right now. It's been a rough day for her."- Shuiichi sounded frantic, but Shiori didn't notice.
"Shuiichi, she put someone in a hospital, now let me talk to her!"
-"Kassan, he tried to do the same! The cops on the scene ruled it self defense, and I can guarantee you that as soon as he gets out of the hospital he's going to jail. Now, please, let Solaris sleep. She was up most of last night driving."- Shuiichi was trying to protect the girl, and it was working for now.
"All right then. So, how long until you're home again?" Shiori could hardly wait until he had returned and she didn't have to worry anymore.
-"Two days, Kassan. And all of us can hardly wait to be back in Tokyo."-
"Okay. Have a safe trip, and be careful."
-"We will. Ja ne."- Shuiichi said, and ended the call.
--
"Well, that was close. Oh, and thanks for nothing, Hiei." Kurama scowled.
"Hn." Hiei replied, and they kept driving.
Solaris: Okay, next chapter is the last. And sorry for the "Four Past Midnight" spoiler. Please review! Ja 'til next time!