Disclaimer: (Me: Grins)
Author's Note: This is it guys. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this story! Happy Readings!
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Three hours later the rain was less than an irritating mist outside and the thunder only grumbled quietly in the sky. The lightning flashed weekly in the gray clouds, which were being punctured occasionally by elegant fingers of cheery sunlight.
Rinku sighed as he climbed off of his hands and knees and sat back on his heels. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and gazed longingly out the picture
window. Beside him sat a bucket of soapy water and over his shoulder was a damp rag. He didn't imagine that the pudding stains would ever completely come off of the walls.
"Back to work, kiddo," commanded Genkai.
The young boy cast an irritated glance over his shoulder at her but went back to scrubbing the scarred wall.
Suzuki swept the floor, freeing it of the things that hadn't dried and stuck to it, and Shishi followed him with a wire brush as he laboriously scraped the more crusty substances off of the hardwood.
Chuu collected the abandoned bottles and cans and dismantled the forts whilst Touya and Jin returned the missing kitchen items and home décor to their rightful places.
Genkai, Yusuke, and Kurama sat around the restored coffee table and watched with mild interest the goings on. Genkai was relentless in her orders as well as her criticism of their battle once Rinku had explained it all to her. Despite her apparent displeasure, though, she maintained a good-natured smile on her wrinkled face throughout the duration of the tale.
Yusuke and Kurama shared healthy laughter at the entire situation as they sipped tea with their older friend.
"You see, Kurama? I told you we needed to check on them," Yusuke said.
The former thief smirked. "Perhaps we should hire them a baby sitter. I'm sure Genkai could take some time out of her day to come and watch them," he suggested.
At his statement, all six member of the household looked up with matching expressions of horror. Having Genkai there every day would be like training all over again!
Genkai snorted disdainfully. "Like I haven't better things to do with my time than to baby-sit a bunch of shit for brain fighters."
Time wore on and the evening hours were in full swing with Genkai, Yusuke, and Kurama still present, watching their friends clean up the colossal mess.
The chiming clock struck seven, breaking Rinku from whatever musings he had been immersed in. He looked around the room and noted that it had made progress, but it was obvious that it would never be the same. He didn't regret it. He had been successful at purging the day of boredom for him and his friends. The rain was pretty much finished, and he planned on going outside the next day. Of course, he would do that only after he had found his red shoe. He still liked the red pair better than his blue ones, and anyway, his blue ones were spotted with most of the contents from their refrigerator. Perhaps he would put his blue ones on display. After all, they were a part of history now; voiceless echoes of a troubled time when war had gripped the world by the proverbial throat. But mainly if he pegged them as artifacts, Shishi might not insist that he wear them anymore.
His ears perked up as Chuu started humming some strange song a little off key and Shishi and Suzuki muttered quietly to one another. Jin and Touya were nowhere to be found, but he heard strange noises coming from the kitchen. He looked up, confused, and took note of the expressions on his friend's faces.
Chuu rolled his eyes and continued humming while Shishi sighed in exasperation and Suzuki chuckled lightly. Yusuke and Kurama left it well enough alone, but Genkai wasn't quite as accepting. The elderly woman stood up and stretched casually as though she were merely loosening up her stiff body. However, her meaningful stride suggested otherwise.
She walked over to the swinging kitchen door, pushed it open, and stepped inside. The door swung closed behind her. Within seconds two different voices yelped their surprise at her presence and electric blue light gleamed from under the door. Two yells followed the light show and Genkai reappeared to take her seat with Kurama and Yusuke.
The fox and the spirit detective tried to muffle their laughter along with Chuu, Suzuki, and Shishi. Rinku merely blinked.
It was the ensuing conversation between Touya and Jin that caused their snickers to erupt into full-blown laughter.
"'Ey Touya," they heard Jin say.
"What?" Asked Touya irritably.
"You smell like fried coconut."
"Jin?"
"Yeah, Touya?"
"Shut-up."
Rinku sighed and thought about the injustice of being subjected to such behavior at his young and impressionable age, but he couldn't help but smile. Despite his housemates' over active hormones and strange little quirks, he could always rest assured that boredom, however often it visited, would never be a permanent residence among HIS family.
And with a word from Genkai, Rinku uttered another countless sigh and bent to scrubbing once more, but the chore could not chase the lingering smile from his face.
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-Owari