6 Agents of Capitalistic Oppression
I pulled out my manga for this section to reread Shizuru's first appearance, where she gives Keiko clothes after the fire. I was actually kind of surprised to see that she's 17 when introduced, only three years older then Yusuke, who's 14 at that point. She seems pretty mature a lot of the time which is probably why fic writers tend to portray her as older. Also the anime getting rid of Kuwabara's parents and making it just the siblings probably has something to do with that. The book also says she's an aspiring beautician :3
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.
Shizuru walked down the street with confident authority, three not-so-sure people trialing behind her. Hana was holding onto the back of her shirt as they walked and doing a skip every third step to keep pace with the human. Yusuke and Kuwabara were several paces back, grumbling and looking around every few seconds. "You boys didn't have to come if it's going to make you so uncomfortable."
"We couldn't just let you two go off, what if something attacked?"
"Hana's a demon isn't she?"
"I no fight," Hana remarked. "I run."
"You run away?" Shizuru asked, looking back at the girl.
She nodded quickly. "Not, not a…. no know word." She gave the human woman a pained expression. "No eat animal, eat plant."
"A vegetarian you mean?" Kuwabara asked.
"The word's herbivore when you're talking about animals," Shizuru snapped. "And I'm guessing this means that she's like some kind of peaceful demon."
"She just gets weirder and weirder," Yusuke laughed. "First she doesn't know what humans are, now she tells us she doesn't fight. What next, she's girlier and perkier than Botan?"
"Aw quit your bellyaching," the older girl called back as she turned into a store. "And you two might want to wait outside."
"Why would we want to—oh." Kuwabara stopped in front of the double doors, turning pink. Yusuke came to a dead stop too and eyed the merchandise in the window skeptically. "Yeah outside is good."
"Damn that frilly stuff looks expensive, she better not come out demanding more money!"
"As long as she doesn't want us to carry the lingerie bags I don't care if she takes my whole wallet!"
-Twenty Minutes Later-"Kazu, come help us with the bags! Wha, you don't have to take those Hana." The boys were saved from the indignity of carrying the bag as Hana took it and headed off in the direction Shizuru had pointed the shoe store as being in earlier. They trotted along after her. Shizuru had to jump forward and turn her around by the shoulders to direct her into the shoe store she'd just walked past.
"We should have just enough for a nice pair of sandals or mary janes."
They walked down the aisles of the shoe store with the boys looking bored and Shizuru picking out cute shoes in all the sizes. Hana looked over the fancy shoes with disdain when the trainers caught her eye. She headed straight for these strange things. In the whole store they most closely resembled the shoes Kurama had given her. She slipped several boxes off the shelves and tried on different pairs until she figured out what size fit. Then associating the one character that was different with the size she tried on different styles in the same size. Shizuru dragged her back over to the pile she'd created and made her try on cute shoes to match her skirt. Hana let her feet be squeezed into all manner of uncomfortable contraptions. She let them walk her around the store in these different shoes. She even let them put a different shoe on each foot to compare them. But once Shizuru and the saleswoman were done she held out the box with the sneakers in it.
"You're kidding right?" Yusuke groaned. "All that trouble and she wants sneakers?"
"Oh well, I know what we're getting her with you next month's allowance," the brunette smiled at her brother, who paled. She handed the clerk a pair of black, closed-toe heels to put on reserve and took the sneakers up to the desk.
"Hey Hana, wanna show us what you got in the first store?" Yusuke asked, pointing at the bag the girl was still holding. She blinked at him then held the bag open and looked down into it.
"Urameshi! You can't look at a girl's underwear like that!" Kuwabara yelled, hitting his friend in the back of the head. Hana jumped out of the way as Yusuke hit the floor. He was up again in a second and had Kuwabara in a headlock.
"Hey, if she wants to show us what's in the bag its up to her isn't it Kuwabara? I was just asking what she got with out money, is all!" Kuwabara found himself unable to reply as his air supply had been cut off. As he started turning blue Hana made a loud squeaking noise and began jumping up and down while pointing at him.
"Urameshi, let my brother go!" Shizuru hit both boys upside their heads. "You're freaking out Hana-chan." Turning to Hana she said "Don't worry, they do that all the time. Here you go." She handed the girl another bag.
Hana took it and looked in curiously to see the shoe box at the bottom. 'Why not just give me the box?' she wondered as she followed the strange group from the store. She was still trying to determine whether these humans were matriarchal or patriarchal. She could tell they were some type of herding group, one that split into smaller groups then reformed bigger ones. At Kurama's house she had found them like lions, with the male nominally in charge, the first to eat, but the female doing the work. Now with these three the female was ordering the males around. 'Like hyenas,' she thought as Shizuru hit the boys again. She wanted to ask who was socially dominant, but had no way of phrasing the question in an understandable manner. So she stayed quiet and kept observing.
"Okay, now you guys can run off and do whatever," Shizuru said. "Just don't take advantage of that poor girl!"
"Don't worry sis, I'll keep Urameshi in line!"
"What are you talking about? You're as bad as he is! Are you gonna be back for dinner?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back," he said, waving her away. The group split, Shizuru headed home while the boys and Hana were headed to Yusuke's apartment. They arrived and Hana looked up at the tall building with almost as much apprehension as when a car first drove by her.
"Come on, elevator's over here," Yusuke said. He pulled her over to the large metal doors and pressed a button. Hana didn't like the sound it made, she didn't like the way it smelled, and she most certainly didn't like the confined space behind those doors when they slid open. "Whoa there" Yusuke said as she tried to bolt and he caught her. "It's just an elevator it won't hurt you." The girl was bouncing up and down in his arms, twisting and turning with her limbs flailing out. "Damnit Kuwabara, hold the door while I get her inside!"
The taller boy jumped forward and grabbed the elevator door as Yusuke dragged the demon backwards into the thing. She was now shrieking as Kuwabara stepped into the elevator after them and pounded the 'door close' button. Her warbling voice reverberated around the interior, drowning out the muzak. As the elevator jumped to life the girl's shrieking jumped several pitches.
Yusuke was still yelling "It's okay! Nothing's going to hurt you!" when the doors open and the girl shot out of his arms. She ran straight into the wall and hugged it, sinking to her knees and panting. The boys stepped out of the elevator carefully. They made sure to stay silent and still as they watched her breathing return to normal. Her head turned slowly and her black eyes fixed them with an accusing glare. They both swallowed. "Hey, it didn't hurt you! More like you broke my eardrums!" Yusuke snorted, rubbing his ear. "And it sure as hell beats taking the stairs!" He walked past her down the hallway and unlocked one of the doors. Kuwabara followed more slowly, skirting around the girl and keeping his eyes fixed on her.
"Look," Yusuke said as he shoved his friend into his apartment. "You can come in with us, or you can stay out here until someone a lot scarier than either of us comes along and snags you." He turned around and began very slowly walking into his apartment. Hana staid on the floor for a moment debating, having only understood about half of what he said. She had told Kurama she would trust these boys, and the ride had not done more than scared her to death so she jumped to her feet and ran in after Yusuke. He let out a huge sigh as she bolted into the room. "Good choice Hana-chan."
"I'm really sorry you were scared," Kuwabara said as he swept a mountain of bottles and cans from the couch. "We had no idea you would be freaked out, to us it's normal to ride in elevators."
"Elevator?"
"Yeah, the big box we came up here in," Yusuke was shoveling empty bottles into a big trash bag as he spoke.
"Up?" She looked around curiously and saw a window. She moved towards it, wanting to see just where they were, and maybe get a breath of air not so thoroughly polluted with alcohol. She gasped as what she saw. They were several floors up, but she had gone up no stairs, climbed no hills. She pressed her hand to the glass as the guys laughed. 'The magic box did this, it moves people very fast. The elevator.'
Yusuke took out the overflowing bag of trash and when he returned the other two helped him open all the windows and they taught Hana what dusting was. They were trying to convince her that sweeping the floor was actually fun when there was a knock on the door. Yusuke answered it to a brown haired girl who was slightly shorter than him. Hana looked at her intently, wondering what relation she had to the boys. "Hey Yusuke I just wanted to thank you for actually showing up at school today," the girl said as she came in. Then she spotted Hana. "Hey, who's she?"
Not missing a beat Yusuke smiled and said "She's Kurama's new pet. He found her in the park yesterday, a lost little demon."
"Uh, why's she with you then?"
"Because his mom would freak if he had a strange girl move into their house, whereas my mom," he waved a hand around and shrugged. The woman he was referring to was obviously absent.
"Aw Yusuke, you're such a softie," the girl smiled. The boy frowned and crossed his arms, trying very hard not to smile back.
"Hana, this is Yusuke's girlfriend Keiko," Kuwabara said to the poor demoness who'd been left out of the conversation about her. "Keiko, this is Hana-chan."
"It's very nice to meet you," both girls said simultaneously. Keiko laughed and smiled brightly. "I'm sure the boys are treating you well, but if they don't let me know and I'll beat them both silly for you."
"Yes," Hana said, doing her little bow and eliciting an "Aw how cute!" from Keiko.
"Yeah, but what would really help too is if you have any old clothes you could give her," Yusuke said. "We hit up Shizuru earlier and she pulled out some stuff, but then she hustled me an' Kuwabara and went panty shopping."
"Oh, let's see what you got Hana-chan!" she exclaimed. "Shizuru's got some pretty interesting clothes, I should know." She laughed and followed Hana to where she'd placed her bags under the window. Keiko rooted through them making little comments as she looked over the items and told the girl what tops would match which bottoms. Yusuke glanced up at the clock.
"Ah, bout time to start dinner, Keiko you stayin'?"
"Oh! That late already? I'm sorry, I have to go home, but I'll see you in school tomorrow Yusuke!" She bounced out the door with a wave and smile, leaving her boyfriend half-frowning after her.
"Oi, I guess that means I should probably be heading home too," Kuwabara punched Yusuke's arm. "I'll see ya tomorrow, don't get into too much trouble before then!"
"You know I'll save it for you dumbass!" Yusuke called as his friend headed out the door. "Well it's just you and me kid." He turned and looked at Hana who stared back at him with her watery eyes. "You like instant noodles?"
"No meat."
"Yeah, you're Miss Vegetarian, I'll keep that in mind." She followed him into the kitchen and hovered behind him, watching over his shoulder as he whipped up a quick batch of noodles. "That's kinda creepy, just for future reference," he said, pushing her back with his foot.
"Creepy?"
"Not cool, weird, sketchy, like the odd kid in the corner with thick glasses who eats glue and talks to himself. Not good."
"Sorry."
"It's ok, lemme introduce you to the TV."
"TV?" She followed him into the living room where he set the bowls down on the floor and walked up to a large black box. He laid his head down on the top and stroked the side of the box with a dreamy sigh. "Ah my first friend, and the best babysitter ever."
"Creepy." He snapped back to reality and glared at the girl.
"Hey, no using my own words against me! Let me tell you the TV is great. Okay how it works is somebody goes out with a camera and takes pictures, the pictures get sent out to everybody's TV's," he waved his hands through the air, wiggling his fingers to imply little particles. "Then we turn it on and see the pictures people took." He paused to think for a second. "But there aren't actually people in the TV, you'll see pictures of them, but if you opened the TV there aren't people in it, there's like wires and stuff. Oh and not everything's real. They make stuff up, script it then have people act it out. Understand?"
"No."
"Oh well, Kurama can probably explain it better." He picked up the remote and dropped down next to is bowl of noodles. When the black screen flashed on the demoness jumped, but she was drawn in by the bright colors. She moved forward cautiously and sat down next to the boy who was already slurping his noodles.
"Chi-chan!" Kurama looked up and saw the demoness happily bounding towards him. Yusuke was a block behind her, clutching his side and breathing heavily. "We run!" she exclaimed as she saw him looking at Yusuke. "Yusuke very much fun! Show me TV," her eyes were saucer-sized as she thought about the magical box. "You must explain the pictures that float through air to me!" Yusuke caught up to them and shook his head as Kurama smiled.
"Not only does she wake me up at the crack of dawn because she can't find the toilet herself, she makes me pick out her clothes, get her breakfast and go to school! I mean I might as well since I'm up and dressed."
"It sounds like she's good for you then Yusuke," the redhead responded.
"Nah. I'll see you guys later," he waved, beginning to walk away.
"Would you like to come over for dinner?" Kurama called at his friend's retreating back.
"Yeah sure!" Yusuke responded with a shrug before vanishing down the street.
"Shizuru's clothes," Hana said, pointing at herself. Kurama looked at her knee-length red skirt and white blouse with approval, it didn't stand out as much from the girl's uniform as what she'd been wearing the day before. Then he saw the brown and white sneakers at the bottom of her knee socks. They were brand new shoes.
"How'd you get those?" he asked, pointing down.
"Shizuru hustled Yusuke and Kuwabara for money. 'Let's go hit up the boys for money. Two thousand yen a piece. Come on hand it over.'" Her voice was an uncanny imitation of Shizuru's as she held out her hand to an imaginary Kuwabara.
Kurama couldn't help chuckling. "She made them give her four thousand yen for shoes?"
"And other things, they acted very strange. Yusuke and Kuwabara not come in the store, they made jokes I didn't understand about the bag and Kuwabara kept hitting Yusuke and calling him a pervert."
"Well, they are strange boys," Kurama said quickly. "Let's go inside." He led her through the building and she was unusually silent as they walked. "What's the matter Hana-chan?" he asked as they entered the classroom. Luckily the high-strung first period teacher wasn't there yet.
"Yusuke told me something to tell you," she said glancing around the classroom. "I don't understand the words. He said: 'Kurama will kill me if you say it in front of his classmates, but it'd be a helluva lot funnier.'" She looked at him with her big, innocent eyes.
"You should probably say it very quietly then," the fox responded, well aware that whatever message Yusuke had told her was not a good one. She leaned towards him, cupping her hands around her mouth as she whispered. Kurama's posture went very stiff and he flushed then went pale. "I am going to kill him," he said in a low voice as she finished. "I can't believe he taught you that."
"Yusuke teach me many words!" she chirped happily. Yusuke had refused to explain the words in his message but by asking him about individual words throughout the course of the night she had gotten most of it figured out and found the demon's reaction highly entertaining. Yusuke had also told her what she should call people in different situations, like what to call someone who bumped into her in the hall, and what to call one of the demon's fangirls.
"Don't repeat anything Yusuke taught you!" Kurama exclaimed.
"Not even: goddamn teachers always-" He clapped his hand over her mouth but she kept talking.
"Hana!"
"Mr. Minamino, what is going on in here?" The teacher had arrived.
"I'm sorry sir," he replied immediately, shooting the girl a warning look as he removed his hand. "I'm afraid one of my friends taught my cousin some vulgar language yesterday and she doesn't understand how offensive it is."
"Your friends Mr. Minamino?"
"His idea of a joke, sir," Kurama replied in clipped tones.
"Miss Minamino, what exactly did your cousin's friend teach you?" the teacher asked. His face seemed to take on something of an elated air as he faced the prospect of proving everybody's golden boy was a bit tarnished.
She smiled brightly and Kurama felt his stomach dropping in anticipation of whatever the foul-mouthed youth had taught the demoness. "He said teachers are self-aggrandizing agents of capitalistic repression bent on smothering the souls of students with the operose and monotonous drudgery they dub 'school work.'" The teacher blinked. "He also said thanks for the thesaurus," she whispered to the gaping fox. "We had fun looking that up, but it took me a while to memorize it."
He silently led her to a seat and indicated that she should sit down. She gave him another innocent smile as he sat next to her, but he was far more suspicious of her than he had previously been. More suspicious than when he'd found her in the woods. In less than forty-eight hours she'd picked up that much Japanese? It was too impossible. "You have to teach me to write Kurama," she said with a bright smile in his direction. She didn't seem to recognize his return to an emotionless expression as he looked at her. Class started and all conversation died.
Hana walked home with Kurama, carrying his bag and skipping down the street. She danced circles around him as he walked while swinging his bag up in the air. He was doing his best to act like this was normal behavior and keep his cool. They were about two blocks from his house and all of his fans had been left far behind when Hana stopped dead in her tracks behind him. It took him a few steps before he noticed. When he turned around he saw her arms hanging loose, looking like she was about to drop his bag, her eyes were fixed on his and her posture betrayed her to be on the edge of fight.
"Kurama, are you going to kill me?"
He looked at her in shock, completely unbalanced by this question. He had been running through possibilities in his head but hadn't expected such an accusation. He had been expecting to be the one making accusations. "Of course not."
"Then why are you acting strangely. Ever since first class you have been stiff, not looking at me, not laughing at me, you wouldn't answer my questions. You turned on me."
"Hana that's not true. I might have been withdrawn, but only because I was thinking."
"Thinking which sauce would go best with my meat over your cooking fires?"
He laughed a little at this, it was a sad noise, devoid of any enjoyment. The girl's posture shifted more towards running at the strange sound. "Actually I was considering whether or not you truly are who you told me you are. I was wondering if it was possible that you deceived me and were really a threat." Her black eyes met the emerald orbs, expressing her discontent and incredulity. She could see the fox in his eyes, the shifting unwillingness to be pinned down in anything, the way he was reevaluating her with her every movement, and deeper down the mistrust and suspicion. A mistrust deeper seated and much more difficultly overcome than her own.
She dropped his bag and he was about to spring forward in chase when he realized she wasn't running. She turned slowly and began to walk down a side street towards a nearby park. He followed her carefully, picking up his school bag as he passed it. She walked into the park and straight for a secluded back corner. Her shoes and socks were off by the time Kurama arrived and he watched in surprise as a sandy haze enveloped her figure.
When the haze faded away he was faced with a complete surprise. The beast before him was at least four feet high at its shoulders, its elegant head rising to an even higher 150 cm or so. It took him a second to identify her as some type of antelope. She had a dark chestnut hide, but white cheeks and belly, and as she turned her head to look at him with one limpid black eye he saw a bristly black mane running along her neck. Her head was on the level of his shoulder and she bumped against him as if to say 'do you believe me now?' He could just see two little black nubs on her forehead where her horns had been before she'd traded them. "I'm sorry I doubted you Hana," he said, cautiously reaching out to touch her mane.
The tan haze was back and a second later he found himself patting the top of her head "Well it's not like I can really expect your kind to make snap decisions and stick with them," she yawned.
"You should probably put your clothes back on."
"Hmph, you and clothes. Yusuke didn't seem to think they were that important last night." He stood there, looking up at the trees while she pulled her shirt on, trying to dissect that comment. It was definitely an opinion Yusuke would have voiced, but it was also something she would say just to provoke him into an agitated reaction. He bit his lip trying to decide which was true when she burst out laughing and bumped up against him. "Silly Chi-chan! Yusuke is just as shy as you!"
He decided to ignore that comment. Taking her by the arm he led her back to his house and let them in. As he was telling her to take off her shoes his step-brother appeared, leaning out of the next room to gawk.
"You've brought that girl home again!"
"Her name is Hana, Shuichi," Kurama responded as the girl pulled off the trainers and held them up for inspection.
"Pretty," she said with a smile. "They were the only ones that seemed natural. Shizuru wanted me to wear these horrible things with big spikes in the back that make you fall over, and they pinch in the front and bend your foot most painfully. She made me put on many of them and walk around in circles. Then Yusuke and Kuwabara put me in the scary box and I screamed."
"What!" Kurama blinked several times while his brother poked him.
"What'd she say? Huh? What'd she say!"
"I'm afraid I did not understand all of it myself," he said while gently shooing the boy away. "I am going to be giving Hana Japanese lessons upstairs if you should need us."
"Upstairs? Why don't you sit in the living room like normal people?" The younger boy smirked and wiggled his pinkie finger.
"Because she would find you too distracting." He walked towards the staircase and the girl hopped after him, grinning brightly at the boy. Shuichi watched her go and pouted.
"What box, Hana?" Kurama asked when they were safely in his room.
"I cannot remember the name, but it is one of fear and dread! It has huge metal doors that move on their own and bright lights that flash. Terrible sounds come from inside it like the screeching of departed souls and it is magic! It moved people without moving and its doors always open on another place!" She was waving her arms around as she paced the room and he watched her with some concern, and a little amusement.
"Was it an elevator?"
"Yes! Yes that is the word that haunts my nightmares!"
"Was it really that scary?"
"They dragged me in and would not let me go until it had opened its doors of death again."
"I'll have to talk to Yusuke about that," he muttered. "He should have explained it to you first." He set his bag down on his desk and pulled out the contents. Not too much homework for the night, not to him at least. He felt a tug on his pants' leg and looked down to see the demoness sitting crosslegged on the floor, her back leaning against the desk as she held up a book.
"Read me. Please Chi-chan." He smiled and left his books on the desk as he sat next to her.
"Read to me," he corrected. "The History of Japan, are you sure?"
She nodded and flipped the book open, pointing to a specific picture. He was surprised to see a woodcut of Perry's black ships. "Read to me please," she repeated adding pleading, doe eyes. He couldn't turn down the doe eyes.
and yes I mean "doe" and not "dog" or "puppy dog"