Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but I do own bologna. It's my bologna I tell you…
Hello, I'm back (finally) with chapter 14 and I noticed that two or three of you guys (KiT and sakuryn, I didn't spell it right did I?) said that my swear rate was going up. Maybe I was going a little overboard and I apologize for that. I was sort of in a pissy mood and I had no idea what my fingers were typing; so…yeah. And….yeah, can't remember what else to say…
Chapter 14: Pouring Rain Part I
Sango had no idea what was coming for her. No, she wasn't expecting anyone at her door at SIX. IN. THE. MORNING. Freakin' SIX IN THE MORNING, for crying out loud! She had gone to bed late and it was still an early Sunday morning. Sango wanted nothing more than to go back to bed, pull her covers up and tell whoever was knocking to go fuck off.
Sango yawned loudly as she made her way across her apartment room…in a flowy pink sort of sleep wear while scratching in such an unladylike way that Kirara had to hide behind her paws when Sango stumbled past her. Sango is NOT a morning person as you can tell. Waking up early puts Sango in an extremely agitated and bitchy mood.
Too bad for Flarenii that she didn't know about that.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Flarenii was asking for a death wish the way she was pounding on the door. You'd swear someone was kicking it rather than knocking.
"God! When's she gonna open the stupid door!" The annoyed girl flipped open her cell phone to check the time and gave another loud knock.
There was a muffled, tired sounding reply from the other side of the door. "Coming…"
Flarenii scowled, "About damn time…" And she just stood there waiting for the door to open up.
As soon as Sango opened up the door, Flarenii grinned up at Sango in her unique brace-filled business woman smile, and…
Sango slammed the door on her face.
She had woken up that early, walked across her room just to open up her door to that little piece of dog-crap-eaten-by-another-dog-and-crapped-out-again-it wasn't worth staying around to hear what she had to say.
"Gerdamit…" Due to the fact that Sango had shut her out like that, Flarenii's annoying chart just went up another two notches. "And what did I ever do to annoy her?"
Yes, we all wonder, dear Flarenii, we all wonder.
It was another fifteen minutes full of loud raucous door pounding and maybe two seconds of yelling before Sango finally opened up again to shut the dumb girl up.
"What…is it that you want?" Sango asked, holding back another right hook. Hell, if she gave a grown man, Itachio a cold sucker to the face than maybe she could punch this brat's face right off and smack into the pavement.
Flarenii, finally seeing that Sango wasn't exactly a morning person, took a step back and looked up at Sango with a sort of a, "Mommy, I'm scared." expression on her face. "Um, yeah…You know how I invited to go trick-or-treating with us? Well,"-she grinned like the devil-"we need to pick out a costume for you."
Where in the heavens did that come from? Costumes? Wait, she wasn't going to seriously dress up, was she? That would be bad- really, really bad. Sango couldn't remember the last time she ever wore a costume. Okay, maybe she did, but that part right there was sort of an expression type of thing…so yeah.
Sango stifled a yawn, there was no way she'll ever have herself vulnerable in front of Flarenii. "I could go get my costume later. Besides, it's still six in the morning."
"Six: twenty-seven A.M. to be precise." Flarenii corrected. "And you need all the time in the world to pick out the perfect costume so hurry the hell the up!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms out into the air.
Sango groaned, slammed the door (almost squashing Kirara in the process as the cat was standing in the doorway) marched back into her room, and changed into something suitable.
Sango followed the young girl out of the apartment complex ten minutes later. The early morning October day made her warm breath visible in front of her. Flarenii walked briskly next to her creating little puffs with each step.
Flarenii's dark brown eyes swam to her right. "Why are you bringing your stupid cat?"
Sango glared down at the young girl. "Because I can." Burn!
Flarenii scrunched up her face into a 'Chinese men's glare' before looking ahead of her to a dirty, old looking van. "Oh, what the hell. It's not like their car's going to get any crappy."
Sango was at first a little skeptic at the thought that that van was what she'll be riding in to find her Halloween costume. Stealing a quick glance at her wristwatch, Sango noticed that she only had about five and a half hours before she had to get to work. Wait, what the hell was she saying? Only five and a half hours? That's more than enough time to buy some silly costume. Flarenii's ideas are starting to pollute her mind.
Imagining herself as an older version of the bratty young girl was enough to make her gag.
And she did.
"What's with you?" Flarenii asked, sounding like she demanded Sango to answer. "You better not puke on me 'cause I won't be getting new clothes for another half year." She gave Sango an "I'm-warning-you-look."
Sango didn't say anything, but when she reached the van she was surprised. The same blond waiter from that fancy restaurant she and the gang went to a few weeks ago was sitting in the passenger seat. The girl sitting next to him driving the car she didn't know, but from where she was standing she could see the girl had inhumanly pale skin-a different type of pale from Flarenii and the Jaamarus. Jet black hair with a lusty gloss and dark eyes that you couldn't tell the color of- if it weren't for the look on her face she might have been considered a pretty attractive lady.
"The hell took you so long?" The girl yelled out of the car, bubble gum smacking.
Jesus, from the moment she opened her mouth, Sango realized that girl was the true grown-up version of Flarenii.
Sango opened her mouth to give a decent reply, but the young girl beat her to it.
Flarenii rolled her eyes and grabbed the side door, swinging it open with a bang and climbed in. "Preppy princess was taking her sweet time."
Sango totally denied that preppy statement, but she didn't say anything about it nor did she say anything about the interior of the car.
Trash: empty potato chip bags; beer bottles, some empty some not; newspapers dating back to the 80s; popcorn strewn on the ground; and amidst all of the other junk- was that a tampon?
Seeing the "I'm-not-sitting-in-here-look," on Sango's face, Flarenii sighed loudly like Sango was the one being annoying. "Just sit your arse down. It's perfectly clean."
Sango took a step in gingerly and closed the door. Yes, perfectly clean in a hobo's low standards. The inside of the car smelt like stale paper and the air coming from the heater sort of smelt like a bathroom with an un-flushed toilet. O.o
The smacking of gum could clearly be heard over the rushing of the heater. "Oi, we're going to old town to get your costume."
The blonde waiter she had recognized looked behind his seat at her and winked good-naturedly, "They've got all the good stuff; plus it's cheap."
"If it's so cheap there, why don't you buy a new car?" Flarenii asked, sounding like an irritable old lady.
The blonde's smiling face immediately changed to one of utter revolt as he muttered darkly, "That's where we got this piece of junk."
Flarenii smiled, "For how much?" She was clearly pushing him.
The blonde grouched before turning back to face the front with a completely sour look. "Like seventy-seven bucks. I knew a guy there and he gave us a deal."
Sango couldn't imagine a well-tipped and paid waiter from a fancy-pants restaurant having to buy something as low as that.
"Oh!" Flarenii exclaimed. "Fergot the introductions. Sandy, bumblebee-head's Hiroshi and the bitch is Hirunashi."
Sango didn't bother correcting Flarenii on her name. She was going to have to get used to it; even if she didn't like it one bit.
The brown-haired girl could tell why Flarenii referred Hiroshi as the 'bumblebee-head'. The man with the boyish face had blond hair, but his spikes were outlined with black. Sango shifted her gaze to Hirunashi. That was when she noticed half a bottle of Budweiser in the driver's cup holder.
Whoo boy, sitting a trash of a car with a brat, bumblebee and a gum-smacking driver under the influence was the best way to start out the morning.
They almost crashed into a telephonepole and narrowly missed running over a senior citizen trying to cross the even street roads on a rusty wheelchair.
Sango nearly jumped the car when they were pulled over by a police car. However, somehow Hirunashi managed to convince the officer that she was a completely sane woman that just happened to have a couple shots of Budweiser before driving.
(Actually she left that part out and said that the beer was Hiroshi's who was puking his guts out over the passenger window from the fear of losing his driver's license. Hirunashi isn't even certified. O.o.)
"Okay, we're here. Let's get our asses moving," Hirunashi slammed the door shut and Sango could have sworn that she heard something break. Flarenii closed the door just as roughly as Hirunashi had while Hiroshi was left on the side complaining about how getting a car these days was extremely hard.
Sango dusted off her clothes and the grip on her purse strap tightened. This was known as the bad side of town.
Gangster symbols and shady looking characters littered the streets just as much as trash did. Hobos crowding around camp fires trying to warm themselves up from the cold morning, prostitutes standing around suspicious corners and alleyways, drug dealers standing outside every store- of course this analysis were made by a completely paranoid non-morning person.
Hirunashi lead the way to an old looking shop that had just been remodeled with a tattered white banner out on the front saying, 'New look; same great deals.' Some arrogant little punk had written in red sharpie, 'Pussy shop!'
Hirunashi rolled her eyes upon the sight of the sign. After a snap of her gum, she turned to the blonde waiter and said, "Take the sign off will ya? It pisses me off to think that some wuss has the nerve to call this place a pussy shop…"
Hiroshi shrugged in a way that clearly stated he probably wouldn't have cared if something even more vulgar had been scribbled on the banner. But, nevertheless, he reached up and tore the banner down, crumbling up and holding the door open for Flarenii and Sango.
Flarenii shook her head upon entering, and Sango wondered if her obvious annoyance was caused by the loud metal screaming from the several large speakers placed in several corners of the medium-sized shop.
Sango moved her eyes across the various items and accessories that hung on the wall nearest the door. Above it she could see the small red blinking light of a camera. She was impressed that even in this side of town people bothered to set up security systems.
"Even if she sometimes writes shit herself she doesn't like it when other people write stuff on her friends' stuff."
Sango hadn't expected Flarenii to be standing next to her. So that's why she was shaking her head. At first, the older girl didn't say anything. Surprised more than anything, really. Flarenii just suddenly upped and told her something without a)Sango asking her to or b)she was spewing crap.
"Are you two…?"
Flarenii beat her to the punch. "No, we're totally not sisters. We don't even look alike for one thing." The girl eyed her from under her black beanie. There was a rip justbeginning to form at the tip of the material just above her left eye...
Sango definitely denied that statement. Even if their hair color was different, and even if their eye color were different. There was this thing about their attitudes and their personality that seemed to make one think that Hirunashi and Flarenii were remotely related. Maybe something like sixth cousins.
Funny, Sango just realized something. Flarenii had just 'toned down' from all her cursing and swearing from the ride.
Another look told her that the young girl was looking green. Ah, she must have been feeling car sick. Flarenii's cheeks looked slightly puffed as if she was trying to hold something in. Sango couldn't blame her, she herself was on the edge of ripping open the door, whether the car was moving or not, and jump out for fresh air. For one thing the car was extremely stuffy and for another was all the junk in the car. That half moldy sandwich sitting by her foot had her eyeing it all trip long.
There was a loud raucous laughter coming from further in the shop. Flarenii headed off towards it, walking slowly as if trying to regain her equilibrium and Sango walked softly behind her. She was a stranger in this place and trying not to stand out was basically the best thing to do in this situation.
Upon coming into view were more clothes on racks for sale, some hanging on the way, Sango saw a display case similar to the one at Kinko's Trinkets and Accessories at the mall. Sango unconsciously fingered the necklace that Hiroshima had bought for her. Yin and Yang: two halves of a whole. It could mean many things.
Where was the strong woman that she used to be?
She's not here anymore.
Why not?
Because.
Because what?
Because what!
Is that all you have to say?
…I don't know…
In her half a second of space out-ness, Sango hadn't realized that there were actually two Hirunashis. Maybe she was seeing double from the nauseating ride.
No, she couldn't be because Flarenii was talking to both of the Hirunashis.
"Sana, can't you be more original? Like, you totally copied right off of Kinko, man!" Flarenii was leaning on the display case, looking at the many necklaces and other such things.
The second Hirnuashi, whom Sango realized after a minute was that she was shorter, definitely less thin, and younger, answered in a pissed voice. "Hey, hey, hey, gimme some credit here. I came up with the store name!"
"That isn't very much, is it?" A low, calm voice called out from behind the 'Employees Only' door behind the display case.
Sana, Hirunashi look alike, turned bright pink before a deep purple and yelled, "Just shut up, Taki! Jeez, you all just think Kinko's pussy shop is better, doncha?"
Hiroshi sounded hurt. "Heeeyyyyy…I think your shop is better." He was standing off next to a shelf displaying various caps with vulgar designs and languages.
"Hey, Sana, how much is the 'Bikini Man' worth?" Hiroshi asked, holding the cap out in front of him excitedly.
Hirunashi scowled in disgust.
Flarenii rolled her eyes.
"$14.99 plus tax." Sana replied.
"Fuck!" Hiroshi snapped and threw the hat roughly back onto the shelf.
"Don't mess up the hats, Hiroshi. I had to straighten them up just five minutes ago." A man in his early to mid twenties said, coming out of the 'Employees Only' room and stood next to Sana.
With this vivid orange and red tipped hair, he looked slightly like a fire cat gone slightly crazy with his feline looking eyes that don't look too slanted.
Flareniii opened her mouth, but Taki held up his hand to stop the girl. "Don't start with the introductions. I know you are going to say something about 'pussy' cats."
Flarenii gave him a deep glare and moved her lips and mock mimicking his words all the way whiletapping the glass display case with the urge of someone thinking killer thoughts about someone else.
Taki stared back indifferently at the Asian girl before moving his eyes over towards Sango. She could feel herself burn slightly under his gaze. He really was a good looking young man. Everything about him seemed to scream fire: from his vivid hair to his equally fiery eyes that hold many secrets behind.
If there was only one thing Sango would say at this moment, it would be: Itachio has strange friends.
"Excuse me?" Sango asked, just aware of the fact everybody was staring at her.
Somewhere behind her, Hiroshi was making kukoo signs.
Hirunashi scowled and shook her head.
Flarenii scowled.
Sana looked at Taki.
Taki cleared his throat. "I said, my name is Taki. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Sango."
Sango felt extremely embarrassed. Somebody that polite has to add a title to her name had to re-introduce himself just because she was staring at him for an extra ten seconds.
Damn, she needed fresh air.
"So," The Sana's voice, which by the voice sounded uncannily similar to Hirunashi's with maybe a higher pitch, bought her Sango's attention. "What can I do for you?"
Flarenii answered for her. "We're looking for a costume for her. Something to fit her blank look."
Sango blinked. Blank look? Flarenii was looking up at her with a 'What?' expression. Well, she couldn't exactly blame the Chinese girl. Kagome had once told her she was slightly like a plastic doll- somewhat hard to make smile. That doesn't make her expressionless. She did smile, cry, and even laugh sometimes. Sometimes meaning once every couple of weeks in Kagome's opinion.
"Nnn…" Sana cast a tired eye down her shop before pointing a black nail polished finger down an aisle of some interesting clothes of the extreme sort (heavy cleavage). "There, all the stuff on that rack should be about to fit you and if you're looking for something that'll go a little easy on your rack, check out the shelves. I remembered booking something for the shyer people right, Taki?"
The bright-haired man nodded his affirmative.
"C'mon." Flarenii elbowed her lightly and lead her down the direction that Sango pointed at.
Sango followed Flarenii without a word. This wasn't exactly her strong suit. Sango wasn't the type of girl to fawn over her clothing. She could care less what it was as long as fit her nicely, is comfortable, and covers various parts of her anatomy. None of which any of these articles here check out with her list.
"Um…isn't there something else-"
Loud raucous laughing came from the group over at the glass display case. Mainly coming from Hiroshi and Hirunashi, the four people were gathered around something and flipping through it roughly without a care. Wait a second, that brown leather bound notebook…
With a loud surprised gasp, Sango dug into her purse and searched its every pocket. Groping at every possible space hoping it wasn't what she was thinking.
She gaped at the group with her mouth slightly open in outrage. How could they? They…they j-just…
"Sandy…" Flarenii began almost warningly.
Sango ignored the girl and made her way over with a brisk stride.
The blonde looked up and gave her a grin that made her angrier. She had never felt more upset than the time with Itachio at the park that one night.
"Hey, Sango, maybe you shouldn't keep these kinda pictures with you. You never know what might happen." He flipped through the pages just to make his point.
Hirunashi laughed but smacked him. "Okay, that's enough. Put it back. It's bad enough you took that out of her purse without her noticing."
Hiroshi let out a tsk, tsk, tsk. "I was the high school pickpocket king remember. Old habits die hard even at a time like this. Which reminds me," He looked toward Sango with a look in his eye that made her want to kill him. She reached out to grab her things back but his arm blocked her.
"Playtex Gentle Glide? Funny, you strike me more as a Tampex girl." He sniggered, but that was the most sickening thing that she had ever heard. The more he kept his sneer on the more she hated it.
"Hiroshi!" Hirunashi called, motioning for him to stop-it wasn't funny anymore.
Her fists shook with rage at her sides as she kept her head down, unable to look back up with the extent of the humiliation that she had just felt. This type of thing only happened back when she was younger and still in school. The other kids made fun of her because she seemed the masculine type of girl that nobody seemed to want to date. Except for Miroku…
"And you might want to think twice before getting a picture with the words, "I heart Miroku" on the back, huh. Like I said, you'll never kn-!"
A loud, and painful groan escaped from the blonde's opened mouth. Nobody, girl or not, had kneed him there at his little pride spot for a long time. He doubled over only to be kneed in his face, successfully smacking the blood right out of his nose. Even before he hit the ground, Sango had grabbed the falling notebook and turned to storm out of the store.
Flarenii was standing right behind her. None of the others except Hirunashi had made a move to help the situation and the little girl was no exception. Her eyes formed into a menacing and ugly look, something that shouldn't be seen on a girl that young. "An eye for an eye. You found all the skeletons in my bag and it's payback. Square?" With a smirk the girl was immediately pushed roughly aside as Sango dashed right out the front door.
"Hey!" Sana called.
Taki made a move to go after Sango, the streets were dangerous at a place like this, daytime or not. It was a wonder they had safe business here. Maybe it's 'cause of their reputation for beating up some of the head gang leaders a few years back.
Hirunashi stopped him with an outstretched arm.
Taki looked at her with wide eyes.
She explained, keeping her eyes on the still swinging door. "Relax, I just saw Itachio walk by."
"Lame-ass probably saw her." Flarenii said, getting up off the floor and dusting herself off. "You guys about our own stupid bumblebee here. Someone get him an icepack. I'm going out." She hastily ran out the front door, slamming it behind her.
"I'll go get the icepack." Sana informed to no one in particular, turning towards the employees' room.
Hirunashi gave the outside one last look before helping the still-in-pain-and-twitching Hiroshi up.
It was starting to rain.
Outside, Sango ran, her notebook held her arms with dear life and her purse swing and jingling behind her. It didn't matter what street she took, as long as she was away from that place. She cut into different alleyways until she didn't know which direction she was going anymore.
Run, that's right. Just run. That's all you're ever good for now.
Slumping against a brick wall covered with gangster-sprayed symbols. Sango slid down leaned against the wall sitting on the heels of her feet. Wrapping her arms around her she buried her face in deep.
The rain pelted at her hair and was getting her wetter by the second. She didn't care, like a stray mutt all she wanted was to be found and taken to a safe and secure home, but at the same time she wanted to stay away from the fear of rejection.
Sango sniffed and looked up just in time to see a group of men advancing towards her. Swaggering and hitching their low-belted pants and pulling up their shirts to show wannabe muscles and unnecessarily showing the tops of striped boxers.
"Hey, chica, whatcha doin' out in a place like this, eh?" Snickers were passed all around.
Itachio ran in the ever worsening rain. Shit. He had to find her fast.
The pounding of feet against pavement brought his attention to behind him. Flarenii gasped, wheezing for air and holding up a large black umbrella. "Weather guy said nothing about fricking rain at seven in the morning."
Itachio turned and was about to head across the street when a yellow cat with bright red eyes skidded out of an alleyway, dragging a familiar looking purse behind it. Itachio squatted down at eye level was reached out a hand towards the cat but something else in the alleyway caught his attention.
"The damsel in distress," Flarenii commented, not making a move at all.
Itachio didn't say anything. In one fluid movement, the silver-haired man grabbed the hissing cat and threw it into the purse, latching it onto one of Flarenii's arms. Then, grabbing the confused girl and dropping her on his shoulders like a father would carry his daughter, he looped his hands around the girl's knees. Itachio took off so fast Flarenii would've flown right off with the umbrella had she not grabbed onto Itachio's mass of silver hair.
Here comes Prince Charming.
End Chapter
Once again, sorry for the long delay. I hope I did well in this one. Any mistakes, just tell me about it. Kinda lazy to edit it now…Hiroshi is such an ass. I just have to say that. Some of my OCs are just plain...asses. Including Flarenii.