Disclaimer: No, I don't own Inuyasha, but I own all the friggin' OOCs that are going to be in this fic.
Once again, I'd like to thank all the people that have been reviewing my chapters! I feel all giddy inside!
KiT: You're learning Japanese! I wanted to go for that class, but somehow my mom managed to convince me to take Spanish 'cuz in my place, a lot more people speak Spanish than Japanese! (I hate my Spanish teacher by the way. She's a total bitch. So glad school's out!)
Graciously Taken: Yay! Someone who's looking forward to another chapter!
crimson whispers: O.O I'm seriously going to check into whether I had a twin or not. But thanks for reviewing anyway!
(looks around) Hmmmm…It's quiet around here. Too quiet…Where the hell is everybody! All the other times, they're here to annoy the hell outta me. Where're they when you actually need them!
(sees note on ground and picks it up) Dear Psycho Spaghetti, seeing as how Psyche and I have been with you through thick and thin working on this fic, we've decided to award ourselves a little vacation. Don't worry, you won't find us anywhere, and don't bother finding us. We'll be back in a year or so.
Until then, enjoy your life of peace while it lasts,
Big Q
P.S.-If you are reading this letter now, you have three seconds to get away before this letter explodes.
3…2…1…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!
Ugh…
Chapter 7: Cupidina Schemes
"What are you still doing here. Haven't you ruined my life enough already." Itachio's monotone voice filled the empty, fancy restaurant, Dark Horizon, as he dusted up a few crumbs from under a table. It was 6 P.M., the time when Dark Horizon closes. Most of the workers that have closing duties are hanging around, not really feeling up to cleaning.
A young girl around twelve sat on a chair backwards not far away, resting her chin on the top of the chair. "Well, we need to talk about…What's her name again?"
Itachio bent over and picked up a shiny, silver fork that somebody had missed earlier and tossed it into a tray of other utensils set on another table not far away. "If I told you once, I told you a hundred times. Sango."
Flarenii raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to at least wash it before someone uses it?"
With a low grunt, Itachio bent down to scrape off gum that the idiotic kids stuck under the tables. The owner of Dark Horizon clearly despises uncleanliness, so every night during closing duties, a couple of people had the honor to get on their asses and break their backs trying to scrape of the stubborn little pieces of shit. "It's not like anybody's going to know."
"I heard that, Jaamaru!" A black haired girl said, throwing the towel she had over her shoulder, where it landed perfectly on another pile of dirty towels. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Itachio with dark eyes. "You march your ass into the kitchen and tell Jak to wash that fucken little piece of shit."
"You go girl, Hirunashi!" Flarenii said, grinning for ear to ear. Ever since Itachio first took her here to meet his friends, she found someone else out there in the cold world that liked to cuss and boss Itachio around.
Hirunashi smirked when Itachio grumbled and picked up the fork and walked into the kitchen. She looked up at the stairs when someone thundered down them. And that someone was excited about something.
Flarenii looked up from the chair she was slouching on. "What's got you so high, Hiroshi?"
The excited blonde skipped over the last five steps and zoomed up to the two black-haired, foul-mouthed girls and pulled at a green fifty dollar bill.
"Don't tell me, you stole that. A-mazing." Hirunashi's voice was layered thick with sarcasm.
Hiroshi's grin slid off like butter and was replaced by a false hurt expression. "Now, now, dear Hirunashi, why would I do that?" His childish features pouting.
"Because for one thing, you were a highschool, punk-ass pickpocket." Hirunashi said, pulling two bottles of beer from out of nowhere. "Here." She tossed one to her drinking buddy.
Hiroshi popped the top and drank like no tomorrow. "I hate it when you can't drink in front of the customers." He released a rather eye-flinching belch.
"So are you going to tell us how you got it or what?" Flarenii snapped, eyeing the bottle of booze in his hands. Beer…beer…beer…
Hiroshi shook a finger in front of her. "Now, now patience. Just a couple of years and you can drink with us. If you're tough enough to handle it like a 'real' man." After his strange little statement, Hiroshi threw back his head and let out a loud laughter.
Flarenii's eyes did a little twitch. Nothing more…
Hiroshi clutched his stomache and started hopping from foot to foot. "Oh…my…GAWD! I…can't…breathe!"
Flarenii's hand tightens into a fist.
Now the blonde wonder is rolling on the floor, pounding the ground and still laughing loudly. His loud laughter echoing in the near-empty building.
WHAM!
Hirunashi's eyes opened in surprise when she saw Flarenii jam her fist into Hiroshi's face. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. That pretty much shutted him up.
Flarenii stood up with a seething glare on her Asian features, punching her fist into her other palm. Her brown eyes narrowed, creating a frightening image. Oh, no! It's the attack of the hideous, Bambi-eyed (A/N: That's what my cousin says about my huge eyes. Bambi…keh! I'll show you Bambi!), tinsel-teethed (A/N: And this is what my oh-so-lovable cousin says about my braces. Gawd, can't wait to just kick his ass when no one's looking.), flat-chested he-she! "Never…" Her voice clearly showed how pissed she was. "…ever let me hear you say that…AGAIN." She sat herself roughly back down, which she regretted instantly as she flinched. "Ow, fuck, my ass…" She muttered.
Itachio walked back into the room from the kitchen and looked down at the dazed Hiroshi on the floor. He raised his eyebrows at Hirunashi, who just shrugged and pointed at the little Chinese girl. You could practically see the piss rays coming out of Flarenii's back.
Just then, the other door leading to the kitchens opened to reveal a charming looking man. His pearly-white teeth sparkled when he smiled at the four people seated around a table. "Well, seems jolly-good time to be closing and go home, isn't it?" Even in the horrible hours of closing duty, his Prince Charming sparkleness never ceases to shine through.
Hirunashi looked towards him dryly. "Ya know, Hiroshima, you could just drop the Charming act. It's getting kinda annoying, and we all know that it's only for the tips from the ladies."
Hiroshima threw on an expression of the utmost hurt. "Oh how you hurt me, dear Hirunashi. This is just the way I am."
Itachio rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. Somehow, denying that they weren't related still didn't help things out. "I'm leaving." He loosens his bow tie while walking across the room, the damn little shit was choking him anyway.
Flarenii followed him. "About time. I felt like I went through five birthdays by the time you came out."
"Hey!" Hirunashi's call turned Itachio around. "Jak needs a ride home. Don't wanna get Angela mad. We all know how protective of her little baby boy." She crooned out the last part.
Jak, who had just came out of the kitchens with a half annoyed, half embarrassed look on his face, walked over to the little group. "Quit treating me like a baby or something. I'm turning fifteen in a few months."
"You so sure about that?" Hiroshima said, mockingly.
Jak grumbled under his breath, and decided to ignore Hiroshima for the time being. "Besides, I'm not going to sit in the same car as her." He jerked his head towards Flarenii.
The twelve-year-old was unfazed. She glared back. "Got a problem with being three feet near me?"
"Hell, yeah!" Jak yelled.
Hiroshima laughed again, and patted Jak on the head. "Don't worry about getting stuck in the same car with that feisty little monkey, I'll drive you home. I don't want your mother chasing after me with a chain saw until the crack of doom." He waved a goodbye at his brother and Hirunashi before walking outside towards his Porsche.
Hirunashi had responded with a curt nod, whereas Itachio completely ignored his brother, and instead motioned to Flarenii that they were leaving. Hirunashi was going to stay and close up when Hiroshi finally gets into his right mind.
There was a heavy fog of silence in the Silverado as Itachio drove out of the parking lot. He finally broke the silence when he stopped the truck in front of a red light. "Does your parents know that you were here the whole afternoon."
Flarenii shrugged. The usual answers from the girl.
Itachio sighed and stepped on the gas pedal when the lights burned green. "Why did you come anyways. She just…left."
Flarenii gave her older friend a side-long glance before her eyes stared straight ahead. "Why are you concerning yourself with her anyway? It was supposed to be a fucken blind date. I know that you're not just paying me to find out whether or not she has forgiven you." Her features were now somewhat less childish and more wiser.
Itachio kept his eyes on the road. Great, she was using semi-big words. That usually means she's attempting to play God. Ever since he had first met her, the girl had moments where her seriousness is unlike any other, and her voice held a strange level of command in them. It was her way of complete control.
"I don't know." Itachio answered truthfully. Why was he thinking so much of Sango anyway…Maybe, it's love at first sight. No…wait, love at second sight. Fuck! It didn't really matter. He hadn't realized that until after he had angered her that he cared about her feelings of anger towards him.
Flarenii glanced at Itachio again, a faint smile forming at her lips. Maybe…just maybe, she could pry into Itachio's mind to see if Sango was of any significance to him. She'll try to see the same in Sango. If there was something in between, then that was a couple already made. Another few points of success in her career as a match-maker.
Just when Itachio was about to make a turn, Flarenii tapped his arm. "Go straight. I'm seeing someone at Chuck E. Cheeses."
Itachio threw his friend a surprised look when he continued driving straight. "Seeing someone. Forgot tonight's a school night, what about your parents."
Shrug again. "My parents work late, you know that. Just shut the fuck up and get me to that fat-ass rat's place." Great, now she's back to that same annoying little brat that we know and love. "Always hated that ugly rat's face." Flarenii muttered darkly as Itachio's Silverado pulled to a stop.
As soon as they walked in, Flarenii craned her neck to look around. Itachio looked at her strangely as the person stamped their hands, and followed her to a table far away from the noises of the games and kids having fun.
Flarenii scooted into a booth and Itachio followed suit. It wasn't until after he sat in did he see who it was: a short, little youngster wearing a hat too large for him and a pair of shades. Obviously, the orange-headed youngster had tried to make himself less conspicuous, but it only made him more suspicious looking.
He quickly looked around and spoke in a harsh whisper. "Were you followed?"
"Um…no." Itachio said uncertainly. Okay, now this was fucken weird.
This seemed to cheer the youngster up as he pulled off the hat and tossed it aside. Flarenii snorted. "Just get to the point, punk. I ain't risking my allowance just to see a little ass like you on a school night."
Ah, so she did cared about what she did on school nights, Itachio mused.
"I have a name, and it's Shippo!" Huge, innocent-looking emerald eyes looked back as sternly as possible.
"Oh, I'm quivering in my bra." Flarenii said sarcastically. "What do you want, Shippo?"
Itachio looked at his friend in surprise. This was just too rich to pass. "I didn't know you used a bra. Don't tell me you have something underneath tha-"
WHAM!
"You were saying?" Flarenii said as if nothing happened, leaving Itachio to nursed his bruised cheek. Great last time it was the left side of his face, now it was the right side. Women just can't keep their fists away from his face, can they?
The youngster, Shippo, looked back at the pair with narrowed, business-like eyes, a look Flarenii was familiar with. Shippo coughed a few times into his fist before clearing his throat. Silence… "I want to know what happened at Sango's blind date last week."
This caught Itachio off guard. His face grimaced, this wasn't something that he wanted to take about. Can there be anything else more embarrassing to a guy other than retelling a story in which he got a girl so pissed off that she right-hooked him and got away with it? I don't think so. Itachio looked to his right, hoping that Flarenii would talk for him.
His hopes dropped when Flarenii didn't say anything. She just continued to stare back at Shippo. Maybe, she was expecting him to talk. This was just like her: let him tell the twerp and snicker on the side. Fine. Just as Itachio opened his mouth to speak, Flarenii interrupted him. "Why? It's not like it's any of your damn business, kid."
Shippo frowned at being called "kid". Well, he'll let them slide this time. "I'll make it my business. Sango's one of my best friends. If she's gotten more depressed than I want to know what happened." The young boy stated with a firm voice. Sango was the strong one back then with Miroku. But now…it's like she's broken.
Conflict broke out in Itachio's head. He knew that she was pissed at him for calling her boyfriend an "old lover." But depressed? That's a new one. Wait. Boyfriend…WTF? If she already had a boyfriend than why did she go on that blind date? Maybe Flarenii conned or blackmailed her. Wait, wouldn't her boyfriend be with her or something? This is too damn confusing!
Flarenii's voice was layered with sarcasm. "How touching. But that still doesn't give me any reason to talk."
Shippo sighed. "I didn't want to do it this way, but…" Shippo reached under the table and pulled out a fresh green twenty dollar bill and placed it between Flarenii and him.
Itachio could tell that Flarenii was willing to talk by the way she was drooling over the money. Her eyes were wide open with $v$. Itachio sighed, goodbye male pride and hello embarrassment. However, neither of those things happened because in the next second, Flarenii was looking at him with a look of deep concentration. Itachio gave in, who cares? He got right-hooked by a girl, I'm sure plenty of guys that that same treatment when they piss of their girlfriends during that time of the month.
Moola…or respect of a friend's pride…moola…or respect of a friend's pride…
Flarenii groaned and pulled on the bangs that protruded under the brim of her beanie. "I can't take this anymore!" The young girl shrieked, causing Shippo to jump. "Let's go, we need to talk!" Flarenii literally kicked Itachio out of the booth and pulled him towards the bathroom. After stopping a little too close outside of the women's restroom, Flarenii rubbed her temples. Itachio had no idea how much pride-swallowing his friend was going through. Usually Flarenii went ahead and demanded everything, but now… "Is it all right with you for me to tell twerpy there about last week's little mishap with Sandy?"
Itachio was utterly surprised. Here she was, Flarenii, asking him if it's all right for her to do something. That was something new. "Her name's Sango, not Sandy." Was the first thing that Itachio said.
"Who gives a shit! Hurry up and just tell me before I go over there and tell that little fucker my version of the story!" Flarenii hollered, causing several women exiting the restroom to look in their direction. Clearly, they thought of the pair standing outside the women's restroom strange, and moved away quickly.
"Why're you asking me." Itachio asked.
Flarenii gave a huge sigh and grabbed Itachio's shirt and started dragging him back to the boothe. "Come one, ding dong."
While the two were away, Shippo did some thinking of his own. Sango was definitely more depressed than usual today…
After Sango left, the three males looked at each other. Itachio wasn't all that surprised that his neighbor was still hell pissed at him. All the other days after the blind date, Sango seemed to never be around when he knocked on her door to apologize if he had hurt her feelings. Damn right he hurt her feelings. Flarenii had come over a few times, but most of the time she just came to insult him and tell him what a "fucken jack-assed S.O.B." he was. All the while, Itachio came to the conclusion that maybe that Miroku fellow was her boyfriend, seeing as how she had shouted she still loved him.
The silence was broken when Flarenii ran into the hall and looked at them. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "You…guys aren't going gay are you?" Her tone completely contradicted what was written on her sweat shirt.
"Sorry, I find females plenty more attractive." Hiroshima replied, giving Flarenii a grin.
"Who the fuck are you?" Flarenii asked, looking down at Shippo who was standing between the two men and her.
"Now, now, you shouldn't set a bad example and swear in front of little kids." Hiroshima said in a scolding tone.
Flarenii rolled her eyes, but Itachio asked her, "So, where does she work at."
"Woah, woah, woah…Hang on a minute!" Shippo said, looking back and forth at Itachio and Flarenii. "You-" he pointed at Itachio- "had her-" he pointed at Flarenii-"dig out information on my friend Sango? What for? What do you guys want from her?"
"Well…" Flarenii began.
Then something clicked in Shippo's mind. "Wait. You're that girl that set up the blind date for Sango!"
"No shit, Sherlock."
Shippo ignored her comment and looked up at Itachio. "Then you're the guy that was Sango's blind date! What happened? Ever since her date, Sango's been acting strange."
Itachio stayed silent, debating whether or not to tell the child who claimed to be Sango's friend what seemed to be bothering her. Hiroshima broke the silence when a girl with long black hair peered into the little hall and yelled. "Jaamarus, get your asses outside, we got work. You guys can talk to your little friends later!"
"Oh, look at that. We have to go, see you children later." Hiroshima said, while steering his brother out of the hall.
And that left the two kids by themselves. Flarenii looked after the two Jaamaru's with a hard to read expression.
Shippo tugged at Flarenii's shirt and looked up at her with determination in his eyes. "I want to know what happened last week."
Flarenii scowled and held up her side bag and shook it in Shippo's face. "Look here, little brat, us middle-schoolers have a thing called plenty-of-crappy-homework to do after school. I don't have time to tell some little story to a little pre-schooler like you."
Shippo glared at her. "I may look small, but I'm in fifth grade!" After a minute of glaring at each other, Shippo came up with a resolve. "Then tell me at Chuck E. Cheeses at 6: 30 sharp!"
Flarenii looked at him with blank brown eyes before sighing. "Fine, but it better be quick."
Shippo's thoughts were interrupted when Flarenii and Itachio came back. Flarenii grabbed the twenty-dollar bill from the counter and belched. "Money satisfies my like no other." She grinned over at Shippo. "Let's see, where to begin…"
Shippo looked from Itachio to Flarenii and back. Suddenly his face shone with admiration for Sango. "I knew Sango was strong enough to beat anybody!" That left Itachio to sulk in his little humility pool.
Flarenii was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of her eyes. "And the left side of his face was like, mongo until the next day!"
"So, who's Miroku." Itachio asked over the two kids' laughter.
Shippo instantly stopped and his face was overwhelmed with a sad expression. Flarenii still had a grin on her face, but that grin was short lived. "Miroku…he…he was one of my best friend too. He and Sango were going out…" That confirmed it, Itachio thought. Miroku was her boyfriend. Itachio could her the scratching of pen on paper, and he knew that Flarenii was scanning down everything in that Goddamn notebook of hers. "But…Miroku gave his life like all the other people on 9/11…"
Everything seemed to have stopped at Shippo's last words. Flarenii dropped her pen, as her eyes widened to a size that Bambi would have been envious of. Itachio was shocked. Sango…was strangely monotone because…of the tremendous shock of losing someone you loved so much…just like that. So much like me…
Flarenii turned slowly to look at her friend. Shippo was quiet now, thinking of a dead friend dampens one's mood. But just then, something hit her. If Sango's boyfriend is dead, than she's free to hook with. But…the only question is whether or not she can be hooked again. Losing Miroku caused her depression, but she almost decided to move on when I made her go on a blind date with ape head next to me, but he screwed up big time. However, it seems that my lame-brained friend might have a thing going for Sango, I can't be sure if I don't find out whether he's jealous or not when I pair her up with someone else…Oh, I'm so smart…Heh heh heh heh heh heh…
Flarenii coughed and stood up. "Thanks for telling me that, kiddo. Itachio's going to take us home."
Itachio didn't say anything while dropping off Shippo and Flarenii. As soon as she opened the front door, our foul-mouthed girl checked to see whether or not her parents were home. Laramie was on the computer as usual, and her brother was entranced with the PlayStation2. Flarenii sneaked up into her room and watched as Itachio's Silverado drove off.The young girl'seyes almost seemed to glow in her dark room.
So Sango…let's see whether or not you can charm our boy…
End Chapter 7
Uh oh…What does Flarenii have planned out? Oh, yeah, sorry about taking about a week to update 'cuz I usually update in a few days. I kinda had writer's block, but that went away. (claps) Yay! Please review! (Flames welcome.)