Eight Months

The water felt good on the back of his neck and on his warm forehead, but the burning in his lungs felt better. It was countered by a sharp pull at his collor bone, pulling his head out of the bucket.

He looked up, dirty water pouring down his face, into Kiki's glaring eyes. She didn't say a word, just took a cloth and started to scrub the grim out of his hair.

"I don't know why your doing this," he muttered, his head drooping forwards, too heavy for his neck. Kiki simply pushed the bucket aside and lifted his head up to clean his face.

"Because we're gonna find her soon," Kiki said in a monotone voice. She paused for a moment to scratch her almost-bald head. Thanks to the lice that had been travelling around the tunnels, almost everyone was forced to shave their heads, Kiki included. "And you do not need lice when you see her."

"You know, I would be able to forget all about her if you would just shut up," Seamus muttered. It wasn't filled with venom and hate, as it had in the past. "Hurry up and get this over with."

Kiki let go of his face, letting it fall forwards again. He waited, immobil as she shuffled around him. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift as they pleased...

Eight months... eight months to the day since Tasha had disappeared. Seamus had changed his home twice, blown up ten different Nietzchean bases, grown ever more quiet, and discovered his love for alchohal.

Eight months, and still he couldn't forget the merky hazel eyes of a girl he had only known for a week.

His eyes opened as he felt the cool metal of Kiki's pliars againt the back of his neck. She carefully snipped away his hair, and he watched as it fell around him. Little bugs landed on his clothes, and carelessly he flicked them away.

'Is there really any meaning to life anymore?'

"You can die if there are too many eggs in your head," he heard himself sneer. Kiki's hand quivered, and the next cut took away a little bit of his flesh as well. He barely felt it.

"Sorry Shay," she muttered, reaching for the cloth. He raised a hand to stop her.

"Don't bother... just finish," he could almost see her hesitant nod, and slowly she went back to work.

He heard foot steps around him, and the gentle tinking of a bracelet or necklace as someone came nearing. The sloshing of a new bucket of water being placed beside him wasn't lost either, but relitively unimportant, for now anyways.

"He's bleeding," it was Brendon. "Will he be alright?"

"He'll be fine," Kiki said softly. "Well... the wound will be anyways. What worries me is that he doesn't even acknowlegde it."

"What worries me," Seamus interrupted. "Is that you even acknowlege it."

"Its a good thing that we do," Brendon snapped back. Kiki turned a little and carefully cut the area above his right ear. "Because you don't! You're so wound up on something that you did to a girl you barely even know! What was so special about her anyways? There's lotsa girls around here that would want to spend their time with you Harper."

Seamus tensed.

"Don't call me that." he hissed. Kiki moved to cut the hair over his left ear now. "Never, ever call me that, got it Brendon?"

"It's who you are," Brendon sat down on the ground, glaring at him slightly. "Your going to have to come to terms with it sooner or later... and don't punch me, it's getting kind of old."

Seamus stood up quickly. Kiki shrieked slightly, but bit it back as she looked up at him. Seamus felt something warm trickling down his neck, but ignored it.

His gaze met squarely with Brendon's and he bit the insides of his cheek to fight the sudden urge to break his cousin's jaw. He took a few long, slow breathes, and dragged his hand through his hair, looking away from his cousin's face. Slowly, he sat back down.

Kiki continued to sheer his head, until there was nothing there but an uneven bristle. She let her hands brush over the rough texture, then sat back on her heels to look at the cousins.

"You look shorter now," Brendon stated with a little nod. "Maybe you'll get less girls swarming around you?"

"I don't care about the girls," Seamus snorted. "But maybe they'll stop thinking I'm Harper, or change their signs."

"They were only a little ways off," Kiki grinned, moving to sit infront of him again. She took the cloth and soaked it into the new bucket of water, then brought it up to scrub at Shay's head again. "Your next Brendon."

"No," Brendon said quickly. "No, no, no way in hell. Girls dig the hair, got it? The hair stays."

"Girls don't dig lice," Kiki added. Seamus sighed minutely, and closed his eyes again. Their words landed on deaf ears, for frankly, he really didn't care...

"Never," her eyes widened beneath him, fightened. "-Ever- call me that again or else I'll throw you out!"

"No..." she pleaded, red tears coming to her hazel pools. "Please don't! I'm so sorry! I won't do anything like that ever again! Please!!"

"Shut up!" he screamed. She started shaking beneath him, bitting her lip. "Your too much of a liability to have around you bitch!" He pulled his hand back to slap her...

"Don't Harper," she begging. "Don't..." he froze again, glaring, but sat up so that he was straddling her hips.

"Why do you call me that?" he hissed.

"Because you are Harper," whimpering, she shut her eyes, red trails marring her cheeks. "I'm sorry I didn't see it before... you are Harper, and you before... you before were Seamus."

"I am -just- Seamus," his hands clenched into fists, and he pounded one into the wood beside her head, making her squeal as her eyes shot open once again. "Harper is -not- a part of me! I am -not- in -anyway- related to that -two timing-, -bitch- of a -traitor-!"

"Seamus Harper," drops of blood started to form at her dried lips. "I could imagine you to be a man to love... a man thatjust doesn't exsist..."

He glared at her, blue eyes as icicles, piercing straight through her soul. He got up off of her, and looked her over. Clothes torn from nails and splinters. Cheeks red from tears.

"Your leaving," he said, his tone almost soft. The light in her eyes, present even through all his screaming and yelling, disappeared.

"What..?" her voice was small, truly scared.

"Your leaving," he repeated, his eyes softening for but a second. "Look at yourself, it would be better for you to leave..."

"But..." she sat up, pushing back her hair. "But you are a man to love Seamus Harper, have you only accept that-"

"I will -never- be that man!" he howled, no softness in his voice. She crumbled back to the bed, curling up as she sobbed. "I could never be that man! This is EARTH Tasha, and your too much of a liability to have around! When I get back, your out!"

He turned around to leave, ignoring her as she called him...

"Harper... Harper? Shay?"

"Seamus!"

His eyes snapped open again, and he looked up into the glaring eyes of both Kiki and Brendon. "Jeez kid, your black outs are even worse..."

"That wasn't a black out," he snapped at Brendon. "And I'm not a kid Brendon."

"Your short enough to be one," Brendon grinned. Seamus had to fight back the grin from his own face; this was the first time in a long time Brendon had truly smiled. "Common... lets go drink some whiskey and get ourselves some babes... remember that girl, Claire? She's still interested..."

"When will you grow up?" Seamus sighed, standing up slowly. "Claire is just another sl-"

"Say it," Kiki interrupted. "And loose much more then just 'Seamus Jr' in your sleep."

"Girl," he ammended. "She's just another girl who has no business with me, and only likes me for the crazy alter ego."

"Which, thankfully, you rarely punch people over," Brendon added. Shay rolled his eyes and started to walk away. Kiki and Brendon called him back, but he ignored him, as he had for the last eight months.

He would most likely spend the rest of the afternoon aimlessly walking around, and thinking up skemes and skimatics for plans and gadgets he had yet to make, only to wind up back in the tunnels in the night, drinking away his troubles. Then he would stumble his way back to his new ghetto, and fall into another miserable nightmare.

Just as he had for the last eight months...