Chapter Sixteen: The Morning After
Kuwabara sat awake for the rest of the night, keeping his eyes on Keiko as she slept. He had watched over her with the attention of a hawk, making certain that the mysterious invisible snake never returned. His eyes were weary and exhausted, but he refused to let fatigue dissuade him from keeping his word as a man.
Finally sunlight began to stream in through the window, and Kuwabara felt more secure with the return of day. He needed to talk to someone as soon as he could, though. Kurama was the most likely candidate to understand what had just happened and be cooperative enough to speak with, but he knew he'd first need to talk to Yusuke, who would want to know every detail of what had happened last night.
Kuwabara paced silently in Keiko's room, trying to think. Whatever that thing had been, it wasn't Tsarakino. He knew that much. And it had definitely been evil, that was a feeling he could not shake. It had been trying to harm Keiko, but the question was why? That was what he tried to piece over in his head. The first meeting with Tsarakino, Kurama's meeting with Tsarakino, the invasions on Keiko, whatever the heck had happened to Botan...it was as though the enemy was targeting THEM specifically, as though they were the central focus of this attack. But why them?
Kuwabara sighed, his right hand reaching up to rub his forehead. If he were a smarter man, he could figure this out. He knew that much. The pieces were there but they just weren't coming together. Maybe he needed more pieces? Maybe he just needed to get a hammer and make them fit.
Gazing out the window, he wondered how long this would go on. Usually, when they had a case, Urameshi and he just went and beat the crap out of a bunch of demons, and the case was closed. But this was completely different. These were not tactics he was accustomed to, all this waiting and searching and trying to figure out the enemy before the enemy's plan, whatever the heck it was, carried through.
He stopped at the window to watch the sun rise, and he sighed. These guys, the Tomorrow, had them on the defensive. Kuwabara was uncomfortable with that, he knew that he, for one, needed some work on defense. He sighed, wondering what new horrors today would bring. Things seemed to just be getting worse and worse, and he had a bad feeling that this trend would continue quite a ways before things picked back up. Last night had been bad. Today...who knows? And he couldn't help but wonder what lay in store...Tomorrow.
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The rising sun cast its light through the window, invading the apartment within. The blankets within the room were cast all across the bed, only partially concealing the woman sleeping beneath them. Her light brown hair splayed all across the pillow, and her fingers still gripped the bed sheets from the previous night.
Her dreams had been peaceful, probably the best sleep she had gotten since that damned Tournament ended. And there was no doubt left in her mind after that night. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he really had come back to her, and this knowledge left her feeling powerful, feeling stronger...she felt like the old Shizuru again.
As the light fell over her, it began to lull her back to the waking world. They morning light crept through her mind, crept over her body, and slowly, reluctantly, she opened her eyes. The night's dreams were shattered, and she now had to face the next morning.
The first sound from her lips was an exhausted yawn, which continued as she lifted her arms up into the air, stretching her limbs out. Parts of her were sore from the past night's activities, while other parts tingled from the slightest movement. She could still feel the last night warming through her mind, and it even managed to put a smile on that cold, harsh face of hers.
Last night, she'd been afraid that it was just a dream, that she would awaken and they wouldn't be together, he wouldn't be inside of her, loving her, whispering to her, making her feel so good...but this morning, she could feel it. She could still feel the lingering embrace of his presence, and it made her feel whole again.
With only the slightest reluctance, she slipped herself slowly out of bed. She let the covers fall back onto the sheets, and stepped towards the bathroom. She needed a nice, hot shower to wake her. That, she knew, would feel good, and make her sore parts ache a bit less. A nice, hot shower would do the trick.
Her bare feet padded against the floor, making only the smallest of sounds as she slipped into the bathroom. She hadn't worried about dressing herself this morning, she wasn't afraid of running into her brother. Sakyo's ghost, as she figured it must have been, wouldn't have come back last night if he were here; she knew that, for whatever reason, he'd gone someplace else last night. And she was more than just a little grateful for that.
Shizuru slipped herself into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, locking it out of habit. She didn't hesitate before stepping through the glass door of the shower and closing it behind her. Her delicate fingers twisted the metal knobs, and soon there came that hiss of hot, running water pouring down from the showerhead. Shizuru pulled her head back, letting it wash over her, letting it ease the tension from her aching body. Last night had truly been a miracle, but she wasn't sure she'd survive another night quite that intense.
She spent several minutes in the shower, just basking in the warm heat and letting the steam rise, before she finally twisted the knobs back off. She stepped softly out from the shower, grasping the towel off the rack and wrapping it tightly around her body, using it to dry herself off. Realizing she didn't really need it for anything more, she hung it back on the rack before she unclicked the lock and opened the door.
Shizuru stepped out into the hall, minus the towel, and turned down towards her room. Her eyes flew open in surprise the moment she saw him standing in the hallway, and her face flushed red with embarrassment. Because there, standing just inside the door, with a similar blush on his face, was her brother's friend, Kurama.
Shizuru pulled herself quickly back into the bathroom before any more of her body was revealed, then slammed the door behind her. She gasped for a moment, trying to calm herself down. She had just exposed herself right in front of one of her little brother's friends, and now she was pissed. She heard a knock on the door, followed by the words, "Excuse me...um...I'm terribly sorry about–"
She didn't even let him finish. In her anger, she cut him off. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" she screeched at him through the door.
"I was looking for Kuwabara," the soft voice replied. "Is he here?"
One of Shizuru's little peeves with that little group of her brother's acted up, and as she was already irritated, she couldn't restrain herself from snarling at him, "You know, I'm a Kuwabara too." Her voice carried a snide tone of anger, but she didn't care. He had just gotten a free peek at her naked form, she was pissed beyond words at this point.
"I'm sorry," Kurama responded. "Is your brother in?"
Why couldn't this jackass argue with her? Did he have some kind of mental deficiency that kept him from getting mean and angry? "No, he's not," she snapped. "Now, I would appreciate it if you would LEAVE." Her temper had flared majorly, and it wasn't helping that this guy couldn't carry an argument.
"Okay, thank you for your time," Kurama responded. "And, again, I'm terribly sorry about that little incident." She heard his footsteps in the hall, then heard the door shut. Frustrated and irritated that he was too damned nice to really take her anger out on, Shizuru ran her hand up to her forehead and rubbed it softly. She needed to hit something. That would take the stress off. She couldn't believe she'd actually done that. But, she supposed, if one of her brother's idiot friends had to be there, Kurama wasn't the worst of the lot. She sighed once more, picking herself up off the floor. She really needed a smoke.
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Morning had come and Yusuke was out the door as soon as he was showered and dressed. He took off before even grabbing anything to eat, in a frantic rush to go check on Keiko. Wearing his green version of the school uniform, he raced down the street, dodging a man in a business suit then hurdling a golden retriever in his rush to find her.
The previous night's match raced through his mind, but he found it difficult to focus on. Something had been up with Hiei, but he didn't really care about that. All he cared about was making sure Tsarakino hadn't gotten to Keiko again. He knew Kuwabara was there to take care of her, but he honestly wasn't sure what Kuwabara could have actually done if Tsarakino had really come. After all, how do you fight something you can neither see nor touch?
Yusuke hurdled a bike rack on his way towards Keiko's house, having no way of knowing that was the same bike rack that Kuwabara had leapt over the night before in his effort to get Keiko away from the black snake. Once the ramen restaurant where Keiko lived was in sight, however, Yusuke ducked into the nearby alley. Keiko's parents probably weren't too eager to see him at the moment, so he'd have to wait until Kuwabara and Keiko came out to meet him.
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The sunlight began to flicker down through the trees, casting shades across the forest floor. Hiei found himself roused from his sleep by the light shining down upon him. His eyes opened quickly, he had never been the slow waker, and his Jigan glowed lightly from behind his headband. He cast his gaze to the left, and then to the right, which was followed by a sigh. "I thought I told you to go away," he snarled.
The young, female demon, Kitrone, stood with her back against the tree Hiei was resting atop. A smile crossed her lips, and the glowing balls on her visor turned orange for a moment. "Maybe you did, but I never was too good at following orders." Her smile turned into a grin, and she stepped around the tree, looking up at Hiei. "How 'bout you? Order boy, are you?"
This snagged at one of Hiei's buttons. "I don't take orders from anyone," he growled, her voice already beginning to grate at him.
"Oh," Kitrone replied. "I'm sorry." She waved her hand unconsciously while she spoke. "I heard some of the others talking about you, saying that you'd been domesticated." Hiei narrowed his eyes at that. "Word has it, you follow any order you're given these days, even if your heart is someplace else at the time." Her words were aimed, targeted, and Hiei, somewhere inside, knew it. But still...she did have a point.
Hiei didn't respond. She was an idiot. Some stupid groupie from the Dark Tournament, something he had no time for. And she knew nothing about him, he reminded himself. She knew rumors, she knew external perceptions, but she knew nothing about him. So what did it matter what worthless words she had to spout? Her words, her very existence, was absolutely meaningless.
And yet, he found he couldn't deny that she did have a point. He sat there, in that tree, and his thoughts traced back to Botan, wherever she was. Part of him wanted to see her, but the rest of him shut that part down. He hadn't gone to see her because he had no reason to. He had no desire to. She was an annoyance, one that he was grateful to have out of his life, one that he hoped would never come back into it. His refusal to go to her had absolutely nothing to do with Koenma's orders, because he didn't care what that pathetic toddler fool said.
"Struck a nerve?" the young demoness laughed.
Hiei cast his eyes downwards to her, narrowing them slowly. "Go away," he warned her, refusing to give her another word, or even so much as another thought. She was nothing.
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The morning sun crossed over Keiko's bed, slowly bringing her back to the waking world. Her dreams had been blocky and disturbed, and she found, as she opened her eyes, that she couldn't remember a thing that had happened. Something felt off to her, something she couldn't quite place. She opened her mouth wide, yawning for a couple seconds, while stretching out her limbs. But something felt off, something that she didn't understand.
"Hey, good morning," Kuwabara smiled at her from the window. There were bags under his eyes, and she could tell he hadn't slept a wink last night. She smiled a little, but also felt bad for him. He'd stayed up to watch over her, stayed up to keep her safe, but she didn't want to put him out like this.
But maybe he could answer the question that was pressing on her mind. "Did something happen last night?" she asked him carefully, though she wasn't certain she wanted to hear the answer. "Something doesn't feel right," she admitted, but she thought that might just be her own internal worries getting to her.
Kuwabara raised an eyebrow at her, trying to make sense of her question. "What do you mean?" he asked her carefully. "You don't remember?"
Keiko shook her head, confused. She couldn't recall a thing from last night, just that she'd had some weird, blocky dreams. "No, I don't." She wondered what was going on, because Kuwabara's reaction had confirmed her suspicion. Something had happened last night, something she didn't remember.
Kuwabara was silent for a moment, unsure what to tell her. "What was the last thing you remember?" he asked her, and the question made her even more suspicious. Was something going on? Was he keeping something from her?
"Last I remember...we were talking about the Tournament. I complimented you on that fight with that Toguro guy." Her words were careful, uncertain. Because now she was definitely wondering just what had happened.
Kuwabara was silent for a moment, and this only served to unnerve Keiko further. What wasn't he telling her? "It's...it's nothing," he assured her, though she couldn't help but feel as though he was lying to her. "You had a pretty bad nightmare, and I woke you up from it. It was nothing big," he smiled to her. A nightmare...she wondered why she couldn't recall it. Usually, the really nasty nightmares stayed with her when they were gone. She didn't remember anything about a nightmare last night.
"Oh," Keiko responded, trying not to sound too suspicious. Kuwabara was hiding something, she knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt, but she didn't know how to press the issue. If he didn't want to tell her something, he wouldn't. Maybe it was for her own good, she sighed. Maybe whatever had happened last night was something she didn't want to know. In any case, just sitting here moping about it wasn't going to do either of them good. "Thank you," she sighed, before looking towards the door. "I think I'm going to go take a shower. You should get some sleep. You look exhausted."
As soon as Keiko was out the door, Kuwabara sighed. She seriously couldn't remember last night? She'd been terrified, he was afraid she was going to start screaming bloody murder in the middle of the park. How could she not remember that? He sighed, adding this to the list of things he needed to speak to Kurama about. Kurama was smart, he could make sense of it. But for now...he supposed it was better that Keiko not remember. At least, this way, she wouldn't have to hurt for it.
