Disclaimer: Don't own YYH, but I do own the storyline.
Fireof Death: What did you mean by number 45 in your last review?
Chapter 50: Let's Just Say I Want To Die
Damn, now my grip is weakening! Could they make these bottles any more slick? And why isn't the guard noticing me? He's just walking around nonchalantly, seemingly without a care in the world, except for restoring his nephew. He just keeps muttering about how stupid Maurice is for shrinking himself and something about how two plus two isn't that bad of a torture. And if I wasn't so afraid of falling off, I might agree. I'd actually consider it a reward.
The rocking motions are starting to take their toll on me, and my biceps are starting to swell. It's really hurting me all over. Without Genkai's training, I'd never have even held on this long.
Oh damn. Now he's skipping. I am literally swinging from side to side, and my grip lessens even more. I think the only thing keeping me up is just all the sweat I'm shedding, which is literally sticking me to the glass polish. And I should be sweating. The fall below would kill me, if not undead me.
Ahhhh! I slipped a few more inches that time. I stare down, once again getting slightly dizzy. It's only about a three-foot drop, but in my present state, I'd be dead if I should decide to fall. It's my equivalent of eighteen stories.
My captor unlocks a door, to find a three foot tall Maurice sitting there, looking forlorn, within a soft looking white room. An unfinished fifth grade multiplacation worksheet sits in front of him. It has only one small window high on the wall, next to the door, looking out into the hallway that I was just in. It looks like an insane cell.
"Tim, I didn't mean to! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME SOLVE TWO TIMES THREE! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"
"Just take the potion!" Growls Tim. "Or better yet, for your punishment, eat the whole bottle! AND do the math afterwards!"
He must be joking. Eating the whole bottle, with me on it. I can't decide which is worse, dying or being a Polly the rest of my life.
I think I'll go with my life, oddly. Even if Hiei will have a lifetime of "now who's tiny" jokes. I think I can handle it.
Tim shakes the bottle near Maurice, tempting him to eat it – and me – whole. I know I have to jump off, but that would probably kill me.
Yet if I do not jump, I will definitely die, crushed by Maurice's disgusting, rotten teeth in that huge mouth.
One thing for it.
I jump.
All I feel is the giant terrifying yet exhilarating feeling of flight; watching the demons above growing smaller and smaller…and the ground growing closer and closer...
I shut my eyes, and hit hard, flat on my back. Ow. That really hurt. The world spins wildly as I sit up, rubbing my head gingerly. Man, am I lucky I didn't die or what? Must be the panther section of my DNA.
Come to think of it, why didn't I just transform before I made impact? Stupid! Cats always land on their feet, right? Idiot! But then they might have noticed me, because it all worked out, so who cares?
Remembering, I look around suddenly to see if anyone is there anymore. No one. I can smell that they were definitely here a little while ago, but they certainly aren't now. I should feel relieved, but I am not. I must have been out for longer than I thought. I need to grow up, literally! But how? The iron black door is shut tight! How could I have let this happen? Why didn't I JUST GET UP?
I see the remains of a glass bottle near me. Maurice probably dropped this part of it when he ate it. I pick up a shard with a sinking feeling of bitter disappointment in my stomach. If I had been but a moment quicker when I was in that storeroom…I could have grown up, killed Agent Tim, and set out to find Hiei and Dad and Lahri!
But then, I would have been caught at normal size all over again, so maybe it was for the better. Knowing me, I would have drunk another medicine and this time killed myself.
Or permanently frozen my left nostril. The horror.
I don't know anymore. I have to redraw myself up, then I have to find Hiei, and then I still have to rescue Dad and Lahri.
It never occurred to my stupid little cranium that I might not have thought this out. Running away was a stupid idea, taking Hiei even more so. Most likely Hiei was caught, trying to steal that "shiny thing" he described to me through Commir. Now he's probably imprisoned along with Yusuke and Kuwabara, and I'm as good as, while Botan and Genkai are lost, the gang's probably worried, and I just realized the door to outside's locked. I couldn't evenopen it if it wasn't. It'd take me a year or more. This white room is huge. To. Me.
I go to the math worksheet, and solve all the problems out of boredom. Then, I sit back on my butt again and wait for inspiration.
Mom always told me that I needed to look at the bright side, but this time I can safely say that there is none. I'm in a total stalemate.
Out of frustration, I chuck the glass piece at the door, where it shatters upon impact. The breaking sound makes me feel better, and I flick another at the door, where it breaks as well.
Sitting down, I throw another at the door, and another, and another. Finally, I get bored and my aim starts to fail. On my 5th try, I accidentally hit padded wall instead of hard metal door.
I close my eyes expectantly, waiting for the tinkle of breaking glass, but oddly, there is none. I open my eyes hesitantly.
There it is. Shining, stuck in the wall, directly below the window.
A bubble of hope forms in my mind. I run over to it, feeling it, pressing down on it, testing my weight on it.
Yet, the padding is so thick is still holds.
I grin. There's my bright side. I have captured the queen. This chess game is still on.
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I think I have enough shards now. All with razor sharp edges, that could really hurt if stabbed with. Which, conveniently, is exactly what I've been making. I break the few shards I had in half with a karate chop technique, courtesy of Genkai, so now I have 20 where I originally had but 10.
Well, here goes nothing.
I walk over to where the original shard held, and step up on it. As like before it holds perfectly. My feet fit on it with room to spare.
Crouching down, I place one of my blades into the wall for a foothold, and another for a nice handhold. I step up onto the footrest, jump slightly, and grab my handhold. There. I've increased by about an inch.
It's slow work. As in S-L-O-W. On occasion I'll slip, which naturally makes it harder. Once, a hold broke because it was too small, and I was left dangling by my handhold, and it takes me a while to regain my uneven footing. And as I get higher and higher up, the more vital it is not to look down.
And we're talking about me; I am never afraid of heights. Never. But looking down my equivalent of a 30-story building, it's enough to make anyone nauseous.
Ah, almost there now! I even have extra shards too! I just need a few more footholds…
There, I have gotten my elbows up. Now I just need to kick up...I push up from the last handhold...
There! I'm on the windowsill! I almost cheer, though that would have ruined everything. Even the genius Touya or Kurama wouldn't have thought of it! Though the windowsill is only about one inch wide and 5 inches long, it's perfect for me or anyone else my size. Just like a cozy little park bench perched directly above Niagara Falls. PERFECT.
I get ready to throw away my extra shards, which ahve caked on my hands, but on second thought...maybe they can help.Doesn't he use his Shards of Winter as his most lethal attack? How are glass shards that much different?
I put them in my pocket. They couldn't hurt, given my current situation.
I look at the edge of the window. It's locked, but not the kind with a keyhole like the door. This type I know how to open because it is the mirror image of the windows in my boarding school. To lock them, you simply just turn these little leversto theright. To unlock them, you turn them to the left. Simple.
But if I remember correctly, they are murder to flip for a person of normal size, let alone me.
But what do I have to lose?
I go over to the nearest of the two locks, and tug viciously to the left. Nothing happens. Several more fruitless tries.
Ugh. I hate wasting power on this. I call on my rage of Hiei leaving me behind, and transform quickly.
It occurs to me how odd it would look if someone were to walk by. A Polly Pocket living panther, trying to undo a lock. The panther is also wearing a Jun Boarding School Uniform. Also, the skirt looks like a cheerleader's. I hate miniskirts.
DAMN THESE TANGENTS! WHY CAN'T I FOCUS TODAY?
My claws make poor substitutes for hands, but all the same, their power makes me drag both locks easily open within two tries. Then I heave out with my back on the window, pushing it out…out…out… why isn't it moving?
I try again, feeling sweaty, and it gives way so suddenly that I nearly fall out. I hear a small creak, but that's it – other than that the hall is deserted. Perfect.
I demorph and admire my hands again before calling myself back to reality. How do I get down? My remaining 3 shards won't do me much good on a hard wall, so I am faced with jumping again. I should call it Suicide Leap or something…so fun to tell my grandchildren all about Suicide Leap…
ButIF I ever do get grandkids, I'll never be able to tell them about it. It will be hard, if I escape out of here alive. I mean, sure I could tell my mom, (not like she'd believe me anyway), but as for anyone else, they'd think I was losing my mind. I'll save the world, and not be able to tell anyone about it. That will be hard, like all of my work will be for naught.
But I guess that's how Yusuke and the others feel. They deal with it, so I must also.
Of course, I won't have to worry about it anyway, at least, looking at the drop of death below, since I'm so gonna get killed.
My god, I didn't even think to bring a parachute. Dropping 5 feet…that's harsh for someone three inches tall. I check my pockets, for any ideas at all.
The first thing I feel is, well, apparently I didn't throw all of those radishes into Beauty's wound back in January...heheh... and I also feel the glass shards I've been saving, as well as a pretty buckeye I found on the sidewalk. There's a also a very very very very old piece of chewing gum, that's kind of lodged in my pockets, as well as a long piece of string. I guess I'm lucky that for some reason my clothes and everything in them shrunk with me. Otherwise I probably would have been crushed by my buckeye and be running away naked. I guess that was just because I spilled some of the juice,in my haste to drink it, allover my clothes…wait…
I take out the shards of the old medicine bottle, since maybe traces of the pill can be found on the shards. Maybe I can make me grow a little.
True, I do see traces of blue powder, but not nearly enough for me to get normal again. I'll need a whole draught from the liquid stuff.
But what if I don't use the power for me? What about my buckeye?
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I descend at the bottom of the wall, finally on flat solid ground that isn't only 5 inches across. Kurama would have been proud of me for my plan. I enlarged my buckeye and my piece of string significantly, then tied them together, securing them with my chewing gum. I tied the other end around the right lock, and then coiled most of it up.
Then I sat on the buckeye and shoved myself off the edge. The weight of the buckeye carried me down easily, and the string caught me before I hit the ground, so I could just jump off the rest of the way. I admit, it was mostly chance that I stopped before hitting the ground, but Kurama himself couldn't have done it. Besides, it took a bit of talent, right?
Because I'm feeling silly and hyper-confident, I salute my machine. I picked up that buckeye because of its looks, not so it could save my life, but I guess it really did. Hurray for rock collecting!
Now for that chemical closet…
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A/N Well, I hadn't planned on making this separate from chapter 49, but figured I might as well. Review! And I want everyone to read RebelWriter. Her Inu-Yasha story is killer good, and I'd like to know I'm associated with her. She's been writing a lot longer than me, and it really shows. Keep up the good work RebelWriter! And also, her story is on hold, but she might post more if you all review her and admit that she's a better author than you!
Also, read RoseMaiden. She has good stories too, especially her story Lives. She writes a lot of good old fluff combined with action and adventure. It's all very interesting. Also, she is rewriting LIFE so that it makes more sense and is easier to follow. Her and me is proofreading very much so! Any of you who have read it should go through it again. I think you'll notice a marked improvement.
R&R!