(A/N: Hey all! Next chapter's up! WOOHOO! I love it when I know what I'm gonna do ahead of time! I'm also starting up yet ANOTHER fic. A Final Fantasy Seven Fic this time around. Be sure to look for it okay? And with that being said, READ ON!)
-SWEET LITTLE BUMBLEBEE-
-I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME-
-DOODOODOODOODOODADA-
"Hey Keiko. What's up?" Yoru asked cheerlessly. Currently, she was trying not to think on the fact that she had spent half the day with a pad of PostIts on her butt and run into Kamiyama Kouta over ten different times that day.
"Hey Yoru." Keiko replied brightly over the phone, sounding a might too perky for Yoru's taste and tipping her off that something was wrong, "Say…um, just a question…but do you happen to know a way to get melted plastic out of hair?"
"What did you do?" Yoru cried, leaping out of her chair and almost stepping on Bonita's hamster ball (the rodent herself was nestled away in her cage)
"It wasn't what I did." Keiko said, annoyance leaking into her voice that Yoru would even suggest that she would do something stupid enough to result in plastic embedding itself in her hair, "It was what Hiei did. You know, short guy who always wears black?"
"I can't say I do, but I'll be right over." Yoru replied quickly, righting the overturned chair, "Wait, are you at your house, or that red headed guy's?"
"If you mean Kurama, then yes, were over there." Keiko replied, "Do you need directions?"
"No, I remember where it is." Yoru sighed, tugging on her shoes as she spoke, "What happened anyway?"
"He went toddler, somehow managed to get a trashcan over his head, which then got stuck when he changed back." Keiko supplied, jerking the phone away from her ear as Yoru let loose a loud laugh.
"Oh yeah, she was definitely friends with Yusuke at one point in her life." Keiko thought to herself, shaking her head to clear it as Yoru started speaking again.
"I'll be there in about twenty minutes." She said laughingly, "Just warn the micro man that he is going to loose a bit of hair."
"Why? Is there cutting required or something?" Keiko asked nervously, eyes drifting to the doorway that led into the living room from which Hiei's loud cursing could be heard, "That might not fly, hun."
"Nah, no cutting." Yoru said casually, walking out her apartment door, "Just careful aiming with solvent."
"Oh…alright." Keiko breathed in relief, "I'll see you in a bit then. B'bye."
"Bye."
"Ho boy, too funny." Yoru snickered after she locked her door and began ambling down the hall, "This gonna be good."
"What's gonna be good?" an all too familiar voice asked from her right.
"None of your business Kamiyama-sensei." Yoru ground out without pausing to look at him.
"I just received a notice from my family ordering me to go on another omiai with you." he said evenly, "I'm sure if you check your email, you'll find you've received on as well. So, yes, Yaminade-kun. This is my business."
That got her attention. She flipped open her phone and made her way to her email and much to her annoyance, Kamiyama Kouta was telling the truth and an email from her grandmother, instructing her to go on a second omiai, burned into her eyesockets.
She closed the phone with a snap, and shoved it viciously into her pocket again.
Yoru glowered up at him, hating how Kamiyama Kouta towered over her, hating even more that her was right, and without a word, turned on her heel, motioning shortly over her shoulder for him to follow.
He easily caught up in three strides of his long, lanky legs, keeping pace with her without much trouble.
"So what's going on?" He asked with an easy smile, "If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."
"Listen." Yoru said abruptly, "This is an arranged marriage. I don't like it - at all. This is really none of your business, so please do me a favor, and let it go."
"Alright." He said calmly as he followed her down the stairs, "I wont speak of the matter again then. But I'm still going along with you so we can go on our omiai after you finish your business."
"…you really want to help?" Yoru asked quietly, not wanting to believe that his kindness was real and not feigned, but finding it difficult not to.
"If you will permit me, then yes." Kamiyama-sensei replied evenly.
Yoru stared at her substitute art teacher appraisingly, looking at his face and into his eyes to see if she could detect any hint of a lie.
All she found was someone who appeared legitimately interested in helping her, an expression of genuine concern etched into every line of his face.
"You can start by promising to keep an open mind." Yoru sighed frustratedly, "And not repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone."
Kamiyama-sensei's expression abruptly changed from one of concern to one of childlike curiosity, his eyes practically glowing with inquisitiveness.
"Kawaii..."
"O-okay." Yoru said tentatively, forcing away the thought that had just popped into her mind, "My friends were burning some trash and a piece of plastic got caught in an updraft and melted into my buddy Hiei-kun's hair."
"And that's where you're going?" Kamiyama-sensei asked, following her onto the awaiting bus, "To help get the plastic out of this Hiei person's hair?"
"Yeah." Yoru said taking her seat, feeling rather uncomfortable when Kamiyama-sensei took the spot next to her.
"Why does that have to be a secret…aside from keeping your friend from being embarrassed?" he asked gently.
"…you'll find out when we get there." Yoru said with a sigh.
"Hiei, if you would just stop pulling at it, you wouldn't be in so much pain." Kurama said indifferently, not in the mood to be sympathetic given the state of his face, "Don't make me sedate you."
Hiei shot a glare that in normal circumstances would make a grown man piss himself, but at the moment, wouldn't make a five year old respect him…maybe it was his hands plastered to the sides of his head…who really knows for sure?
Shizuru was currently sitting atop her baby brother's back, smoking a cigarette. She had knocked him out a few minutes earlier to ensure he wouldn't do any popping back and forth until Suzuki came up with a cure.
"Yeah Hiei." Yusue commented with a smirk as an idea popped into his head, "You wouldn't want me telling a certain koorime who her brother is, now wouldja?"
"…you do…you die…" Hiei growled, eyes flashing, "I don't care if it requires ripping off my own scalp, those words shall never pass your lips."
Yusuke calmly picked up the phone and pressed the number 4 on speed dial, which was for Genkai's temple.
"Hi, Yukina?" he said with a smile in Hiei's direction as his expression changed from animalistic fury to wild panic, "It's Yusuke. Listen, were in need of your skills here. Do ya think Genkai could drive ya over?…greeeeeeat. See ya in a few."
Hanging up the receiver, Yusuke smiled in an overly bright way in Hiei's direction.
"She says she'll be here in thirty minutes." He grinned as Hiei's look of alarm increased five times.
"I have to-!"
"-stay right where you are." Touya said coolly, as Kurama listlessly manipulated his plants into binding Hiei to the ground, "How do you expect to fight off assailants with your hands pinioned? Just stay put until Yaminade-san and Yukina-san arrive."
Touya surveyed Hiei's current situation: his hands were pinned to his head, preventing him access to his katana and use of his Kokuryuha, Hiei himself was pinioned to the floor; over all he was in a bad way. Even a small child could see that.
A knock came at the door.
"Hello?"
"Yoru-kun!" Keiko said in relief as the washed out teenager wander into the living room…with her literary arts teacher following not two steps behind.
Grabbing her childhood friend by the wrist and dragging her in close, Keiko hissed:
"What-is-HE-doing-here?"
"I'll explain later." Yoru said shortly, pulling away from Keiko, "First things first, get me some solvent, a pair of gloves and two buckets: one with water in it, one empty."
About twenty minutes later, Hiei was in pain, bald and chemically burnt in several places, but free to move his hands in any way he wished.
His first motion was to knock a few of Shishiwakamaru's teeth loose for laughing at his bald patches.
His next action was to answer the door, since everyone else was too fascinated in the hand freeing process to bother answering it.
"Hell-OH MY! Hiei-san!" Yukina cried, hands flying to her mouth in shock as Hiei's hands fell limply to his sides in dumbfounded horror, "So that's why Yusuke said my skills were necessary! Don't you worry. I'll patch you right up."
She grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him into the house, Hiei too out of it to notice.
The koorime sat him down in an easy chair and place her hands on either side of his face, and within seconds, Hiei's scalp and hair were righted.
"My lord!"
All heads turned to look at Kamiyama-sensei who had loosed the cry.
"Is…is this what you were…oh Yaminade-kun…such a secret" he murmured, shaking his head.
"…you can't breathe a word of this, understood?" Yoru said sternly, "Or your mind will have to be wiped clean."
"I understand." Kamiyama-sensei replied, "Not a word."
"Your word isn't good enough for me." Yusuke snorted, "I trust Yoru cuz I've known her for years. How do I know we can trust you?"
"I give my life over to you." Kamiyama said confidently, "If I ever go back on my word, my life is now yours to take."
"Sounds trustworthy to me." Shizuru said calmly, exhaling a lungful of smoke.
"I don't sense any deception either." Kurama said calmly, "So we'll take you on your word…for now."
"I thank you." Kamiyama-sensei said bowing deeply. He then offered Yoru his hand, "Well then shall we?"
Yoru stared at the hand as though it was a frog, or some other particularly slimy creature she didn't want to touch without gloves, but after a few moments, forced herself to reach forward and accept the hand.
"I'll tell you everything tonight." Yoru hissed into Keiko's ear as she passed, "Login to IMVU at eight fifteen."
"Gotcha." Keiko mouthed as her friend was led out the door.
"I've done it!" Suzuki cried triumphantly, startling them all out of their serious mind frame as he thundered down the stair with a vial in his hand, "I've found the cure!…what? What I miss?"
(A/N: Ayame, Botan and Koenma arrive with a new case for Yusuke. It involves twelve EXTREMELY dangerous ghosts and an AWOL Shinigami. R&R!)