Part XI: Of Invalids, Catfights, and Betrothals
Huffing as you continued your angry walk down the hall, you either kicked aside random objects that were in your path, or batted them away with the mop you were wielding from washing the onsen's floor. Horo, hearing your approach, appeared in one of the doorways, ready to start trying to win you back from Ren. But when he saw the malicious glare you threw his way, he squeaked and disappeared into a different room. He obviously knew there would be fireworks if you met up with anybody, and he was not about to let you explode in his face.
"Katsumi," the voice of the one and only Tao Ren rang out from somewhere ahead of you. (You had your eyes glued to the floor.) Looking up into the catlike golden eyes, you scowled harder than before. "Katsumi," he repeated, a little more annoyance in his tone. Instead of answering, you shoved past the Chinese teen, knocking the glass milk bottle he had been holding out of his hand, allowing it to shatter in the floor in a puddle of shimmering whiteness on the floor. Much to your surprise, he grasped your wrist and jerked you back towards him with much more force than was necessary.
"What?" you grumbled, more of a command than a question. Ren grasped your wrist harder.
"You know, I was going to ask you to come for a walk with me, but seeing as how you shoved past me and broke my milk bottle, you're just going to have to stay and clean it up." You huffed and slapped the mop down into the puddle, splashing milk onto everything within five feet of you. Ren hopped back, narrowly avoiding the barrage of creamy white droplets destined for his pants.
"Katsumi, you'd better not let Anna see you in such a bad mood; she'll pitch you out," Ren said, disappearing into one of rooms of the inn. The ease at which someone could be eluded at the inn was beginning to bother you a little bit.
You silently continued your journey to the kitchen, and when you finally reached your destination, you found it deserted. You made dinner as quickly as you could, making absolutely sure to slam each of the cabinet doors as you closed them. But surprisingly, you had only managed to break one glass object; which happened to be a jar of mayonnaise that wouldn't open despite the unnatural levels of female testosterone pumping through your system. Upon realizing that Yoh could not attend dinner due to the large and painful burn on his chest, you prepared a tray for the injured boy.
When Horohoro had been lured into the kitchen by the aroma of freshly cooked food, he screeched that it was time to eat, thus assembling a majority of the residents at the dining room table. You scowled at the girls, who were still wet and giggling from the onsen. Somehow, you felt it necessary to spit into Anna's tea before you presented it to her, and therefore did so, smirking ever so slightly as you presented it to her. Then, remembering the charred brunette on the upper level of the house, you excused yourself from serving duties and walked steadily up the stairs, tray in hand.
Knocking gently on Yoh's bedroom door before opening it, you slid in unnoticed, as the singed teen was fast asleep. A note with instructions from the doctor lay on the bedside table, along with several bottles of God-knows-what and a heaping pile of new bandages. Quickly reading the note over (which was addressed to you, for some unknown reason), you poked the inactive brunette to alert him of your presence. He groaned and rolled over onto his side, then rolled right back due to the large blister that was forming across his torso.
"I've got your dinner," you said, motioning to the tray at the foot of the bed. Yoh smiled weakly.
"That's good," he said softly. "Anna hasn't let me have anything besides painkillers since this morning, so this'll be nice," he added, trying desperately to sit up. Apparently, he had tried to shield himself from Hao's attacks using his arms, as most of his upper body was bandaged. You twitched, thinking about how much pain he must be in. Once he had gotten himself correctly positioned, you placed the tray on his knees so he could reach it. He attempted a goofy grin as he held up his hands, which were bandaged up like mittens.
"There's no way I'll be able to use any chopsticks, Katsumi," he chuckled, raising his eyebrows a little. You sighed and scooted up closer to him, taking the chopsticks in one hand and plucking a random piece of meat from the plate. You directed the meat over to Yoh's open mouth, poked it in quickly, and then returned the chopsticks to the plate for more. Your hands shook slightly as you repeated the act again and again, afraid you would somehow harm the blistered brunette, either by dropping the chopsticks onto his charred chest, or (strangely enough) shove the chopsticks down his throat. But sure enough, you did neither, and soon Yoh's plate was cleared.
"That was a really nice dinner, Katsumi," Yoh commented, grinning brightly at the comfort of a full stomach. You smiled back, reaching for the note from the doctor, who had apparently come and gone while you were cleaning the onsen. You sighed, realizing the task ahead of you; you had to change Yoh's bandages.
"Alright, Yoh; sit up," you said heavily, motioning for him to scoot down closer to you so that he was not leaning on any pillows. He did so, though he looked reluctant to leave the warmth of the bedding behind him.
"Be careful," he warned jokingly, the tip of his bubblegum-colored tongue peeking out ever so slightly at you. "You wouldn't want to hurt poor little me even more, now would you?" You giggled in response, absently feeling the long strip of bandages around his chest for a place where you could start to loosen them. Finding the end sooner than you thought you would, you began to uncoil the bandages, eliciting a small hiss from Yoh when you accidentally brushed your nails against part of the burn.
"Are you okay?" you asked, eyes wide.
"Fine," Yoh responded, waving his hand dismissively, though a little too quickly to be taken seriously. You looked over to the bottles on the bedside table.
"You do realize that it's going to hurt a lot more when I have to clean these burns, don't you?" you inquired as you pulled the last bit of white fabric-ish material from Yoh's torso. His eyes widened a bit as you said this.
"Why do you have to clean them? Faust just did a few hours ago!" You sighed mentally, wondering who on earth Faust could be at the same time as the extent of how idiotic this boy was. And they say that blondes are dumb...
"They need to be cleaned more than once, Yoh-san," you reminded him. His eyes glassed over as if he was trying to make himself cry to get out of this situation.
"Why?" he whined, fake tears balancing in his eyes.
"Because you might get an infection," you said, retrieving some cotton from the bedside table, as well as a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Yoh's eyes widened, nearly creating the effect that they were the only feature on his face as you unscrewed the top of the alcohol. A sharp scent assailed the pair of you.
"But it hurts," Yoh pouted, trying to cross his arms but failing miserably due to the many blisters.
"You'll just have to deal with it, Yoh," you replied, swabbing his chest with the cold, wet cotton. He flinched, squeaking slightly and clenching whatever was within his reach tightly in his fist; surprisingly, the only thing within his reach happened to be the hem of your skirt. You blushed, quietly trying to pretend you didn't notice.
"Sorry," he muttered, blushing and letting go of the black satin dress Anna had forced you into. Somehow, you didn't mind as much as you should have when, after you had finished re-bandaging Yoh, he had asked for a favor.
"Katsumi," you heard him say quietly when you got up to leave the room.
"Yes, Yoh-san?" you asked. He probably just wanted you to turn out the light so he could go to sleep; burns have a tendency to make you tired.
"Could I have a hug?" Yoh asked softly. Seeing your awkward blush, he elaborated innocently. "It's been a long day, with Hao burning me like a bad french-fry... And since Anna would never hug me, even if I paid her--"(you highly doubted that from what Pirika had said to you almost a week ago)"--I thought that maybe you would." He looked at you with hopeful eyes--the same ones Hao had used on you when he had asked to stay and make waffles.
"Why not," you sighed, returning to the bedside and wrapping your arms loosely around Yoh; you didn't want to break the blisters or anything. He hugged back sweetly, and you worried about how much it must hurt to give a hug with his entire front covered in burns. Finally breaking the hug, you leaned over and clicked off his light next to the bed.
"Oyasumi nasai, Yoh-san," you said, standing up in the sheer darkness. Then you felt a tug at the hem of your skirt.
"Can I have another hug to make up for all the times Anna never hugged me?" Yoh asked hopefully. Somehow, he reminded you of a little kid.
"Fine," you huffed mockingly, leaning over and embracing the brunette in the gloom of the bedroom.
Much to your surprise, he hugged back a good deal harder than before; apparently, Yoh had a much higher tolerance for pain than he had appeared to be when you were fixing his bandages. You gasped as he half-pulled, half-rolled you onto the bed. Then he rolled himself on top of you so that you were almost face to face, much like you and Ren had been the morning of that very day. But, instead of directing his mouth to yours, he went straight for the side of your face, somewhere between your jawbone and your ear.
As if it had been scripted, Anna burst through the door, flicking on the light and demanding to know where her dessert was, the other tenants of the inn flocking behind her.
"Katsumi, you said you made orange cheesecake and I can't find it! --Oh...my...God...! "
"You made orange cheesecake?" Yoh asked innocently, his head shooting up from somewhere awfully close to your bosom. Yet he made no attempt to remove himself from your body as Horohoro and Ren tried to squeeze through the door at the same time and ended up in a growling heap on the floor at Anna's feet.
"Katsumi!" Anna shrieked. "What the hell are you doing to my Yoh!" You attempted to remove a slightly blushing Yoh from your body as you scowled at the enraged blonde.
"What am I doing!" you yelled. "What's he doing! He pulled me onto his bed and--!"
"You're fired," Anna stated calmly, her eyes hidden by her hair.
"What?" you stuttered, falling to the floor from the bed, as Yoh had made no attempt to remove himself from you.
"I said, 'you're fired.' Get out." Anna crossed her arms over her chest as the other girls filed into the room, taking their places by 'their' respective guys.
"Why! I didn't do anything wrong!" you pleaded.
"You're right, if you call having an affair with my fiancé 'not doing anything wrong'!" she yelled. Clearly, the others were getting quite a show from your catfight with Anna.
"Anna, it was my fault--," Yoh tried to cut in. Somehow, Anna managed to appear at the bedside and backhand the poor brunette in the face within half a second.
"Shut up, Yoh," she barked, her eyes narrowing as she advanced on you, an ugly red mark appearing on Yoh's right cheek. You were absolutely sure that the same treatment, or worse, was in store for you. And you were absolutely right; a threatening hand flew through the air towards your face, but, by some instinct, you shielded yourself with your forearm. A gasp shot around the room like an electrical current in a bubble bath.
"You should really treat your fiancé better. He won't love you in the slightest if you bitchslap him every time he's right," you sneered, a pinkish tint forming where Anna's hand had made contact with your wrist. "In fact, I don't think he loves you at all," you observed mock-mildly. You were already fired, so what worse could Anna do? You decided to give her hell for every time she complained about something not being exactly right or just so.
"How dare you judge our relationship!" she screeched. "You just waltz around here all day in that slutty dress, screwing up everything we girls have worked so hard for!" The other girls nodded in agreement, while the boys looked genuinely confused.
"Excuse me! You're the one who makes me where this cheap rag instead of normal clothes!"
"It illustrates the differences between social classes!"
"But why is it so short and revealing! I would have been just fine in a normal maid's uniform!"
Unknown to anyone else in the room, Horohoro unobtrusively slid his hand into his jacket pocket and guiltily fondled a spool of thread with a needle stuck through it as he regretfully contemplated the consequences for his dress-shortening actions. But by the time he had gotten back to listening the catfight, the topic was on something completely different.
"You just whine and complain about every little thing that's not exactly as you want it! Don't you care about anyone else but yourself!"
"Who the hell do you think you are saying that about me! I hired you so I could have exactly what I wanted!"
"See! There you go again! It's all about you, isn't it?" you hissed. For some reason, this hit a nerve, and Anna completely lost herself. She threw herself at you, knocking you back slightly. You growled, knowing that your self-control was disappearing faster than Ren could drain a bottle of milk. Some odd feminine shriek originating from Anna pierced through the room as threw an enraged punch at your face, missing it completely as her momentum pulled her past you. Seizing the opportunity of a cheap shot, you shoved your elbow between her shoulder blades, flooring the fuming blonde for a few moments. The spectators seemed to be enjoying this fully, no one even trying to stop you. Every single one of them wanted to know who would be victorious; the champion or the challenger.
A sick, sadistic grin crept across your face as you watched her try to stand, but fall flat on her back as your foot connected with her face. A trail of blood trickled down from her nose, and she lunged herself at you, this time sending your back slamming to the wooden floor, she being in almost the same position as Yoh had been in a few minutes earlier.
After receiving a successful bitchslap in the face from Anna, you decided to take it a step further. Your balled fist connected somewhere near her temple, knocking her out cold on the floor. Only when you sat up, then fell back to the wooden floorboards from exhaustion did anyone say anything.
"Alright girls, break it up," Ren said casually, his hands forming the "Time-Out" signal.
Then, a faint clapping from the open window echoed slightly throughout the room. Hao was sitting on the windowsill like a coach at a boxing match, clapping slowly.
"Well done, Katsumi," he said, hopping down into the room, Opacho close in tow. Your head shot up, a goofy grin on your face.
"Thanks," you huffed. The group who had watched the fight fell over anime-style. Hao cleared his throat.
"Now that you've been fired, will you come and be my Shaman Queen?" Hao asked, a glimmer of hope sparkling in his eyes. You sighed.
"Oh...Alright," you said after eyeing the troop of people who had accumulated to watch the action, some of them friends, some of them not so much. Hao let loose an uncharacteristic squeal that sounded like it had been building up for a while, and glided over to you and picked you up bridal-style, just like a few hours before.
"Then let us be on our way, dearest," he said happily, walking towards the window. Why didn't he ever think to use doors?
Glancing over Hao's shoulder, you spied Ren, who had the most hurt expression you thought you'd ever see plastered all over his face. He took a step toward you and opened his mouth as if he were about to protest, but Pirika put a firm hand on his shoulder, shaking her head sternly. Unnoticed by everyone other than yourself, twin streams of crystalline tears flowed freely from his eyes before they plopped silently onto the hardwood floor.
Hao hopped out the window into Spirit of Fire's hand, Opacho still close behind. Just as Spirit of Fire was ascending into the sky, you heard your name being called over and over. Taking one last quick glance over your shoulder at what you were leaving, you saw Ren leaning out the second story window, tears falling freely into the dying grass below as he called your name. Turning away from the frantic Chinese boy, you gazed up into the face of Hao, who was still carrying you. He smiled happily at you, then started to babble about all the wonderful married-couple things you would do together.
As Spirit of Fire disappeared into the night sky, Hao sat you down with him in the large red hand, you sitting somewhat on top of Hao (due to his request). There, you laid your head on his chest and fell asleep, because you had another strong feeling that this was the last sleep you'd get for a while. Hao, meanwhile, also slept, happy dreams of waffles and his new bride-to-be floating around him.
End Part XI.