Sun and Moon

Chapter Three: Readers Don't Know Crap

Disclaimer: I (don't) own EVERYTHING in the WORLD! MUWAHAHA!

Rai, messy brown locks streaming behind her, hazel eyes threatening tears, sprinted down the hall, looking for Mai's and Kei's rooms. In her panic, she had forgotten where they were located; they were positioned on either side of her own. A bam resonated through the house as the girl ran straight into a wall and fell to the ground. This aroused Mai and Kei. Heaven forbid they rise when needed; however, once someone had gone and done something retarded and hurt themselves, well… Then the two were up and about, like insomniacs who had a fetish for self-mutilation…

"Hey, Rai! What're you doing?" Kei's quiet, polite accent reached Rai's slightly ringing ears. She looked up from the shiny tile floor, deciding that Kei was probably a little more important. Well, suffice to say that it was a major sacrifice, wrenching her hazel eyes away from the blessed shiny.

"Yeah, 'cuz I want you to do it again!" Mai was with the skinny blonde, eating from a box of popcorn that had previously not existed. She probably was a bit sadistic, if truth be told. Rai struggled to find words to express her concerns, but instead contented herself with lying on the floor, panting tiredly. Kei sat beside her, smiling warmly. Her sky blue eyes comforted Rai, and suddenly Rai had the words she needed.

"Kai's in a hell of a lot of danger, and we need to do something fast!" She said, eyes feverish. "Any suggestions, fellow half-breeds?" Mai scratched her sandy head and shrugged.

"No fucking idea. Sorry," She replied, grinning apologetically. Kei, however, lit with an idea.

"What is it? What have you got in mind, O Intelligent Blond Girl?" Mai implored, bowing reverently to Kei. Rai and the "Intelligent Blond Girl" sweatdropped.

"Umm… What about the plan that the guys came up with?" She looked, and was, quite unsure as to what that entailed. As the three began to try and remember what they had been told, a voice broke into their private circle.

"You've got to be kidding me," Hiei spat derisively as he strode into the hall, toward their chosen place. He was of course shirtless and clad in his usual black pants. His eyes, all three of them, glowed eerily, the Jagan eye having been uncovered. As soon as Mai stopped herself drooling all over the carpet, she was able to respond with a confident,

"Nope. Not kidding. Totally slipped my mind."

"What mind?" Kei muttered to Rai, who giggled as they both took their places standing beside the absent-minded blonde.

"Now, now, play nice children," Kurama spoke softly as he, too, joined them. He shot Hiei in particular a meaningful glance, as the pyromaniac had been looking like he wanted to kill Mai. In all honesty, the demonic punker probably did. "Now, about the plan…"

At one in the morning, five people stood outside the Alcatraz of the Makai, though only three could be seen. One was Mai, whose sandy hair blew about in the bitter, desert wind. She looked to be badly beaten up, possibly by the two guards who held her tightly. Both were clad in military uniforms similar to those of Fullmetal Alchemist. One was scarily short with impossibly spiked hair and a white bandana across his forehead; the other was average height, with hair as red as the most beautiful rose and eyes of the purest emerald. At the moment, these perfect eyes held a very annoyed look.

"This is absolutely pathetic, Hiei," Kurama, incognito and tired due to cram school, muttered angrily. Hiei answered with a mocking grin.

"That's what I said when you proposed this plan, fox, and if you had bothered to heed me, you wouldn't have had to be embarrassed." Kurama muttered angrily again, but otherwise shut up. Mai, meanwhile, was squirming.

"Can you loosen your grip a tad, fellas?" Came her whispered plea. When her request wasn't granted, she as good as broke Kurama's foot with her stiletto heel with a wicked grin and flashing blue-green eyes. The bishie gave a pained grimace, but did nothing more to satisfy her desire for revenge. Not a moment later, his other foot panged greatly; Hiei was the culprit this time. The pyro's red eyes were directed at a bulky, blue-skinned security guard. Kurama forced himself to calm, as much as for Kai as for Kei, who needed her friend's company, if his hunch was correct.

"Evenin'," the man grunted. Taking a drag from the cigarette in his lopsided mouth, he cast a lecherous look at Mai. "Who's that?"

"A woman," Hiei responded in his usual condescending tone, eyeing the underqualified guard. The man-ogrenearly wet himselfat the dagger-like glare.

"She's guilty of helping Tsukiwa," Kurama told the creature with the pointy weapon, convincingly disgusted. Suddenly, the half-breed didn't look nearly as attractive to him.

"Alrigh', go on in," The man said by way of approval as he opened the gate. The three spies entered the nearly empty prison, but not before the spiteful guard was able to deliver a kick to Mai's side. Rai, who hovered nearby as an inconspicuous insect, coaxed the angry look off of her comrade's face with the telepathic promise of revenge.

As Mai, Hiei, and Kurama made their way deeper into the cold, dark hallways of the prison, they heard the sounds of a struggle outside, though a short-lived one; and shortly, they were joined by the other two members of their party.

"Way to go, Seiko," Hiei complimented Rai, calling her by her last name, as he had recently taken to. This cheered the girl up immensely, if her golden-brown eyes were any indication.

"Kai does the same thing, remember?" A rather wet Kei (her dominion was over water) whispered to a relieved Mai, who nodded smilingly. The blonde then straightened up and gave a set of keys to Kurama. "Here're the keys. I believe we're looking for a gold one."

Hiei rolled his eyes, took the keys from Kurama, and held them in Kei's face. "They're all gold, Gaisu." He smiled mockingly; Kei's pale face suddenly became a tomato. Kurama reclaimed the keys from the vertically-challenged pyro and gave Kei a comforting smile.

"This one, right, Kei?" The emerald-eyed fox youkai said, holding up a key engraved with the words "Max. Security." Kei nodded sheepishly; her face had gone to the shade of an under-ripe tomato now, rather than an over-ripe one.

"Let's just get this over with, shall we? I think I may have a lead." The short Koorime muttered; no one listened, and only walked distractedly to and fro, examining all the different cells.

There were, it seemed, more than just Kai imprisoned in that hellhole. They were all asleep, and dressed in ridiculous uniforms; and though it was hard to tell, and none of them dared to trust their eyes in the poor lighting, the prisoners looked almost like regulation RSDF agents.

Hiei cleared his throat, but still didn't command attention. An anger mark grew upon his forehead, and as a last resort, he grabbed Mai by the collar and chucked her into a nearby pillar; the stone collapsed on top of the half-breed, who immediately transformed it all to sand in order to save herself.

"What the hell was that about, Jaganshi!" The feisty girl queried angrily, holding a shakily-made sand-based sword threateningly. Hiei, raising his eyebrows derisively, touched the sword's tip; it collapsed and Mai, along with the rest of her accomplices, sweatdropped.

"I... HAVE... BEEN... BEATEN..." Mai yelled in agony, falling to her knees in a sort of prayer, crying over the pile of sand that had been her weapon. She was, of course, ignored by all.

"Well, Jaganshi, she's got a point. Entertaining though it is to watch Mai make an idiot of herself…" Kei added, asserting herself to the group's front; not a difficult feat, considering that the group was scattered about all over. Hiei sighed exasperatedly.

"Don't you have eyes, Gaisu?" Kei pulled out a compact mirror and examined her face briefly, as though making sure that, yes; she did in fact have eyes. Hiei sweatdropped. As the rest of the group ceased its wandering (and as Mai ceased her pointless-yet-entertaining whine), Hiei pointed to a quite dark, quite creepy, quite empty corner. When the others shot him confused looks, he again began to get angry. A black aura began to rise about, unnoticed in the nearly lightless corridors. And what finally made him implode was Mai.

She approached him and put her hand on his shoulder; she was only a little taller than him, around five three and a half. "You know, I have this woman's number… it may help with some of your… shall we say 'issues'?" Hiei, confused, looked down at the card. It was a well-known psychologist's office.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" He screamed, and dark aura exploded around him. "I'M NOT FUCKING INSANE! I HAVE NO ISSUES! NOW WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME!" He unleashed the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and a curse was heard as a figure -- a woman, judging by the voice -- agilely dodged it and landed on the tile, falling to her knees because of the impact. Everyone's eyes were glued to her, but Hiei wasn't done. "YOU SEE! I HAVE A LEAD! YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT TEN MINUTES AGO, IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO OOGLE OVER THE DUSTY SKELETONS IN THE--"

"Whoa, whoa, take a flippin' chill pill, Shorty," the woman interrupted in her clear, commanding voice. "And I happen to LOVE dusty skeletons…" The girl pushed herself off the ground, whispering goodbye to the precious shinyand rubbing her shoulder, which had been hit by Hiei's attack. "Damn, that's fuckin' hot…"

Despite the fact that her brown hair was matted and poofy, her clothing obscenely wrinkled and torn, and not in a stylish way, her rigid OCD rules crossed, she was easily distinguished as soon as she crossed into the lighter area. Her eyes told it all: covered though they were by partially cracked spectacles, they shone blue, green, and gold. Kaisa Tsukiwa stood with as much dignity as she could muster, despite the sporadic twitch she suffered.

As soon as she stood, three crying, laughing girls pushed her to the floor again.

About an hour later, seven people were gathered in Kurama's uber-comfortable bedroom, some lying on the bed, some sitting, one leaning coldly against the wall, not facing anyone… well, as per each one's comfort, anyway… Six, however, were facing the remaining person, a feisty, fairly skinny girl, whose pale skin rivaled Kei's. And that girl was sitting backward on Kurama's cushioned desk chair, eye alight as she told again how she had gone about her escape.

"So… The dream… Was that a trick?" Rai, shocked, stared wide-eyed at her best friend. Kai gave a sort of half-smile.

"Well, not really. I mean, it was more of a memory. I was, like, this close to escaping" -she showed a miniscule amount between her thumb and forefinger- "but I heard that stupid guard coming, so I had to do something. And that one was dedicated, he was. I knew that 'cuz I had tried to escape before, but I had failed--"

"Well, that's a bit obvious, isn't it?" Hiei's red eyes sparkled derisively as he mocked the girl, a thing that he seemed to enjoy immensely, if Kurama was judging correctly.

"Shut up, webotch! Let me finish!" Kai cleared her throat imperiously and continued. "So I came up with a plan."

"Umm… We already know this, Kai…" Kei told the girl, who shot her a death glare.

"Well, the readers don't know, now do they, Ms. Smartass?"

"Well, readers don't know crap. And besides, we aren't really supposed to know that this is a story, I don't think…"

"OH FUCKING WELL! NOW LET ME FINISH, DAMMIT!"

All save Hiei decided not to ask questions for a while. Kai flashed a psychotic grin; it seemed eerily natural on her face.

"ANYway, I sent that dream to Rai, knowing that she would push you guys into action, and as soon as you took care of the entrance guard, I zapped the interior guard -- he's locked up in what were my chains now -- and I waited for you. Originally, I wanted to scare the shit of you all, and see what happened, but thanks to Shorty here, I couldn't."

Kai smiled again, though not nearly as insanely. This time, Kei, Mai, and Rai joined her in laughing. Hiei and Kurama traded glances, each cracking up in their own minds. Finally, Kurama rose to his Converse-clad feet.

"Kai, I think we need to talk for a moment. Do you mind…?" The four RSDF-X members had a sort conversation with their eyes and Kai rose, grinning like a happy stoner, which, by all means, she probably was.

"I do hereby deem such a thing as a worthy endeavor, my not-unattractive acquaintance. But we mustn't digress; for, the cloudy, rainy skies outside await my arrival, so as to be able to cry onto my irreplaceable, and very expensive, L.A.M.B. sweater!"

And so Kai opened Kurama's bedroom window with a flick of her wrist, grabbed him by the elbow, and dragged him out the window, first jumping herself.

"First star to the le--" She began, and cut herself off as she fell two stories. "Whee! That ouched!" The four left in the room, for Yusuke and Kuwabara had long since left, sweatdropped.

Author's Rants: Hey, all! Sorry about the long wait. Life's been set against me for a while… Fear not! for fanfiction waits for no man – or woman, for that matter – and nothing shall stop me! Ahem… So yeah. Oh, and BTW… PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! Hope you liked it!