Disclaimer: Don't own YYH!
Chapter 7: Just Blend InI peer cautiously both ways. I see no man with long shaggy hair.
I think I can leave now.
I look both ways once again, just to be safe, and I walk out.
Now my mission is to find the bank. I think I'll be able to get in. My leg seems much better, although it's still a little tender. I can walk on it anyway, and that's all I need. My bruised leg feels more or less the same, but my arm seems to have stiffened at the elbow joint, and it twinges when I try to bend it. But I know that that is what is supposed to happen, and it all confirms that it is broken. To heal right, the pieces need to be right near each other, and the result is a kind of joint paralysis. I can deal with that, as it's temporary, for how long I don't know for sure. It depends on how badly it has snapped. I don't need my right arm to get into a bank. I'm left handed, so it worked out well that my left hand is virtually uninjured as of yet.
At least most of the visible wounds are covered in my clothing, and the arm – well, you couldn't tell with the arm unless you actually tried to bend it forcefully.
As I walk out, no one looks twice at me. I guess I am really lucky. Hoboes aren't common around these parts. As I said, Alken is a clean town, and by clean I meant clean of litter and the homeless.
But okay. Now I just need to get to the bank. I know pretty much of where to go. I would catch a bus, but the system is down for a few weeks.
…40 minutes later…
Ugh. I thought it was around here somewhere! I have to worst sense of direction ever!
I stare at the right. The sign reads Jackson's Pottery. I think I went by that place last time I robbed the bank, and so the bank should be up this street.
I bump into someone because I'm not looking ahead. "Sorry." I mutter.
Then I get an idea. I look up into this guy's face, and decide to ask for directions.
It's a guy. He's wearing a baby-blue suit and he has this neon orange hair. Good, I was afraid for a second that he was Mr. Hair.
His face is kind of long and pale, as with all redheads, and he has beady black eyes. Definitely unattractive.
"Um, can you help me find the bank in this city?"
"Konnichiwa. Ki na lauyi?" He has a rough, grating voice.
"What the hell?"
"Oh…" He says slowly. "Umeda." He walks away without another word of mishmash.
What was that language? French, or maybe German?
Oh. It must be Japanese. I think I heard Konnichiwa once on the Japanese channel. I think it means Hello.
I don't care, but I have to get to the bank soon. My legs are starting to get sore.
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I walk into the alley.
"Well?" Asks the Fox-dude.
"Look, Kurama, I thought it was her, but it wasn't. Her hair is not brown or green tipped, and she has no slash on her left leg."
Kurama gets a throb. "And did it ever, ever cross your mind to check underneath the leggings?"
"Uh…" Kurama makes me feel like an idiot. "But she still had black hair!"
"Might that have been dye, you oaf?"
"Uh…"
"Ugh. You are a disgrace. I think that was her."
"Why?"
"Because who else walks around in bloodstained pants? And I can smell her. She was in this very alley a few hours ago. Ugh, come on, I guess I'll have to baby-sit you again. Let's go."
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I've asked several other people for directions since the read-haired Japanese guy, but none feel I'm worth talking to. Most people just assume that hoboes are retarded, so that's one unforeseen way that my costume has messed me up.
But, I still should find some way to get there. I did it once before, and I can do it again.
I just don't know where it is.
I turn and slump down on a park bench just sitting by the road. I pant. I know it's summer and all, but it seems especially hot and humid today. June the 15.
I am just so tired of trying to talk to rude people and find this asshole bank. I am so hot and tired and hungry and frustrated.
Let's think this over. Pure guessing is not working.
Let me see. When I first got to the city, I passed the bank. That, I am sure of. And then, I avoided that car, and jumped on the sidewalk. The sidewalk opposite from the bank. Then, I walked a few hundred feet, and walked into the phone booth, right next to the lady with the hot water. Then, I met Mr. Hair and got a lashing. I crawled some distance and slept.
So, if you figure that all out…
I hit my forehead in agony. If that's all true, and we're just doing approximates here, then I should have made a left out of my alley and walked a few hundred feet and I should have met the bank.
And I went straight.
DAMN!
And I don't even know how to get back to my alley, anyway!
I sigh. If only I had thought about this when I was right in my alley.
But wait. I did, didn't I? I thought about going to the bank but then I figured that Mr. Hair would still be there. How thoughtless! If he was truly looking for me, would he have hung around that same spot, all day and all night?
My god, I don't even know the street that the alley was on.
I stand up again, stretch even though it hurts, and continue onward. This is a pretty small town. It only has about a 5000 population count. And the bank is this big red brick building, so I should have found it by now.
It'd be funny if I actually walking into another town by accident. I'd never find my way home or to the bank I am planning to rob.
Yes. Wonderfully, amazingly funny.
I study the green and white sign.
Maple Street. Sounds kind of familiar…
Suddenly, someone trips me when I am not looking, and I come down hard. Cursing audibly, I crawl over to the side to assess the damage. I see this punk with spiky green hair walk away laughing.
STUPID ASSHOLE! DOES HE KNOW HOW MUCH THAT SIMPLE ACT OF MEANNESS JUST AFFECTED ME?
I look myself over. I don't feel any different, but something happened to my knee. When I try to stand, it's almost impossible, and my leg shakes violently.
DAMN IT! I guess it's time to find another alley.
I think it's around 1 o'clock, and that also means that I haven't eaten anything in about 9 hours. I can really feel it too. My body feels like lead.
I shake my head violently, and crawl into a much shallower alley than the other. It's only about a 10 foot passage. But at least I'll be okay in here.
As soon as I am comfortable among the trash, I start to think things through.
I can pretty much X the bank idea. In this state, I'll be lucky if I even get inside, let alone dodge all of the security cameras. I mean, come on. A trip knee, a bruised leg, a bleeding leg, a broken arm, and one good limb, which knowing me will get injured in the next few seconds? How am I going to get around in this mess?
Stupid punk!
I take a deep, shuddering sigh. Getting food wasn't a problem when I could walk. I certainly had the money to eat fast food for a month.
And now look at me. I'm a total and utter failure.
I refuse to let myself cry. Crying does nothing for anyone. It only puts you in a depression. And I've been there before. Once I got so depressed the only reason I got out of it was because I was starving myself. It wasn't too long ago, so I guess that's why I'm still pretty thin. If I become anorexic again – now – I'll die. I'll slip into obscurity, and no one will know I ever lived.
I am worthless.
No one knows who I am.
I'm just Kara Azhura. Well, technically Sakara Azhura, but it's still a name no one will know.
A nobody.
Maybe I don't deserve to live. Maybe I really don't have a purpose.
I mean, if I did, wouldn't I have found it by now?
I sigh, and huddle together. I guess I have to go sleep again. I gotta recharge.
But why? What is the point of my life?
Do I…
Do I even want to go on?
Do I want to live in this world where no one knows my name except for a father who will never care and a mother who will never return?
Do I want to live?
Do I need to live?
Would death be easier?
Would it better just to throw it all away? This tangled mess of emotions I call my life?
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"Kurama, if you're going to be so picky, find her yourself!" I mutter to myself angrily.
The girl is nowhere to be found. I don't know why Kurama is so positive the dark-haired girl is her anyway. He's a crazy bastard, all right. And people call me stupid!
"Kara?" I whisper this every now and then, in hopes she'll come out.
I hope we can find this girl. She seems to be really important to the gang, though no one seems to think that I need to know anything. All I know about her is her physical description. And that girl just was not the girl I was shown to look for. And yet, here I am, taking orders to capture her.
She could really be anywhere. Chances are that she's taken refuge somewhere. Any idiot would.
But then again, if she's as maimed as Kurama says she is, then maybe she's in another alley like the one Kurama said he saw her in.
"Ow…" all this thinking is making my brain hurt. Better just to find her, get her, and be done with it. I also don't get why Kurama and Hiei aren't making an effort to find her. I mean, as long as they're so high-and-mighty, and they know what's going on, they shouldn't put the burden on me!
I stop every few feet, looking into the alleys carefully. I don't want to miss her. If I do, she might leave and go to New Hamper. Or whatever Kurama said that state here was called.
It's almost two. Could she really still be in an alley?
I guess.
Only three more to go and I'll have searched all the alleys here. After that, we're going to need a magic wand to catch her at best. I can't believe Hiei didn't just get her when he had the chance. All because he got something on his cloak. And Kurama – Kurama was so stupid as to light his own whip on fire. Moron!
Hey, who's that?
I think I see some legs in the second-to-last alley.
I walk down it cautiously. She's supposed to be dangerous – better take care.
I peer around the trash bags.
Yes, that's definitely the same girl I bumped into.
Good, I'm in luck. She's asleep.
But I want to make sure.
Kurama said he wounded her leg.
Bending down, I carefully pull open the right bandage. Nothing but a nasty purple-ish bruise.
I look under the other one.
Oh god. That's a whip mark all right. And a nasty one too, even for a spiked whip.
"It is you, after all."
This is a mistake. The girl – why do I keep calling her the girl? – Kara wakes up. Or at least opens her eyes.
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I open my eyes wearily. I see that buffoon who knocked into me before standing in front of me just watching me. That's enough to jolt anyone.
I shakily scramble to my feet. "What?" (Pant, pant.)
"Uh…hi. I…am…Kazuma…Kuwabara." He has very slow English.
"What do you want?"
"Are…you…Kara?"
"Why?"
"You get…prize…if you are."
"Uh-huh. Sure. Now let me by." I try to shove past him.
"Are…you Kara?"
"Yes, now lose it!"
"Kara." It's not a question. Then he picks me up and tucks me under his arm, calm as can be.
The same does not hold true for me. "PUT ME DOWN!"
"Don't…make me."
"LET GO!" I try to hit him but only hurt myself.
"Kara…I sorry."
"WHAT? PUT ME DOWN, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" This is probably not a wise thing to say.
I feel something hit me hard over the head, and I black out instantly. That's one powerful fist…
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No one was ever meant to catch the Kara Azhura.
Most didn't even know who she was, let alone try to catch her.
And yet…someone had tracked her down.
No one had ever caught the crafty thief Kara Azhura. And no one ever would.
But someone just did.
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A/N Hoped you liked it! Please Review! I know it's been kinda slow getting to this point, but at least it's finally here!