Shi: Okay, here we go! Chapter 60! I made it extra long! Nine whole pages as a matter of fact! XD
The next day was a lazy day because it was pouring outside with the occasional bolt of lightning or clap of thunder. So, most of the gang just felt like sitting around and doing nothing, seeing as the adults had hangovers and the two human children seemed to be afraid of the storm. In order to amuse themselves, they decided to sit down and watch a movie.
Takara had Shuku in her arms, cuddling the infant, and was being held in Kurama's lap on the recliner. Aki and Sesshoumaru were sitting side-by-side snuggled up on the couch, their arms around each other, and Hiei was acting as a pillow on the love seat, with Mizuki laying down and resting her head in his lap and Jamie curled up into Hiei's side. The movie they were watching? Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
"You know," Takara said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "I've been thinking... Mizuki, Aki, we should write a book!"
Aki and Mizuki both looked at their hanyou sister, as did Kurama, Sesshoumaru, and Hiei. Takara just laughed and said, "What? Can't a girl shout out a random thought now and then?"
Aki rolled her eyes and replied, "Yeah, a girl can, but you have too many random thoughts." She smirked at Takara, who huffed indignantly and argued that she didn't. The two were just playing around; it was one of their favorite past times. If it wasn't between two of them, then all three would be tossing insults back and forth, but Mizuki didn't feel like arguing today. She loved it when it was rainy, and she was so comfortable laying there, feeling Hiei run his fingers through her hair.
"Must you two always bicker?" Sesshoumaru growled, still trying to get over his hangover from the previous night's fun.
"Yes," Takara and Aki replied and scowled at Sesshoumaru.
"Come on, don't argue now," Mizuki groaned, her head pounding slightly still as she tried to curl up into a ball and hide from the arguing, friendly or not.
"Alright, everyone, calm down," Kurama sighed, always the peacemaker.
"We are calm!" the Trio shouted at the redhead, who winced, his own head aching all the more.
"Sorry," Kurama grumbled moodily and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to sooth the migraine.
Shuku had begun to cry when the three had shouted, and Takara immediately started rocking the child again. In a soft, quieter voice, she apologized to Kurama and kissed his forehead, grinning slightly.
"Get a room," Aki called over to them, grinning ear to ear.
"We will when you do!" Takara replied with her own big smile and watched in amusement as Aki's face became a rosy color and Sesshoumaru smirked down at the dog demoness.
Mizuki moaned and sat up in favor of cuddling into Hiei's other side, burying her face in Hiei's shirt. "Hiei, does Zuki not feel good?" Jamie asked in worry and looked up at the fire demon.
"No, Zuki doesn't," Hiei answered quietly and petted Mizuki's head, smoothing back her hair.
"Poor Zuki," Jamie muttered and crawled over to hug Mizuki, who smiled softly and hugged the little boy to her.
"Haha, yeah, poor me," Mizuki giggled and kissed Jamie on top of the head.
"Why do rainy days always make me so sleepy?" Aki asked absently, not really expecting an answer to her question.
"I don't know," Sesshoumaru said and softly kissed her lips.
"Shuku, sh, it's okay," Takara muttered as she tried to keep Shuku from screaming. "I think someone's hungry," she muttered as Shuku's face scrunched up. "Who'll get up and fix a bottle?" she asked the others in the living room.
"Not me," Aki said matter-of-factly, and Sesshoumaru shook his head.
It seemed no one would, and Takara sighed, starting to get up, but Mizuki grinned and said, "I will. You just relax, Takara."
"Thanks, Mizuki," the hanyou said with a smile.
"No problem," the wolf said over her shoulder as she left for the kitchen. Jamie ran after her and clutched at Mizuki's pant leg. "Oh, are you scared of the storm?" the wolf asked as she stopped and squatted down. At Jamie's shy nod, Mizuki giggled some and picked him up, keeping him tucked safe in his arms. "There's nothing to be afraid of, I promise."
When the bottle was made, Mizuki tested it. Then, satisfied with it, she picked Jamie up and headed back for the living room, where she found Takara explaining something to the guys as the wolf handed the hanyou Shuku's bottle. "What are we talking about?" Mizuki asked as she cuddled back up to Hiei, who wrapped his arms around her and Jamie.
"I said that we should go on vacation," Takara said grinning.
"That would be really nice," Mizuki replied. She always loved to travel. That's one part of their jobs as thieves that the wolf missed, was going to new places and seeing new things.
"It would, wouldn't it?" Takara giggled.
"Alright, then that settles that," Aki shouted excitedly and jumped up to her feet to sway momentarily. She had got up too fast and was dizzy. Luckily, Sesshoumaru hurried to catch and pull her into his lap, nuzzling his face in her hair.
"Settles what?" Kurama asked frowning slightly.
"We're going on vacation!" Aki exclaimed, and most winced as their head pounded with an extra thud or two after the shout. "Oh... sorry, eheh.." Aki apologized with a sweatdrop.
"Where would we go on vacation to?" Kurama inquired carefully.
The Trio looked at one another and excitedly exclaimed, "America!!!" The guys winced, and Jamie laughed at the looks on everyone's faces while Shuku grabbed a stray strand of Takara's hair to tug on it. Carefully and smiling, Takara gently pulled the hair from Shuku's grasp.
"Why America?" Hiei snorted, having to put his two cents in.
"Because," Aki shouted in a huff, "because we've always wanted to go to America!"
"Yeah! We love to travel, actually!" Mizuki cried and sat up to scowl at Hiei lightly.
"There's no point even trying to argue," Kurama sighed heavily, "is there?"
"Nope!" Takara replied brightly and grinned as Kurama and the other two guys sighed again.
"But what about communication? How can we travel through America when we know no English?" Kurama asked, always the rational one.
"Well, me, Takara, and Mizuki can all speak it quite fluently," Aki shrugged, "That's how long we've wanted to go to America. We learned English YEARS ago," she stated.
"How about you, Jamie?" Mizuki asked the little boy, "Would you like that?"
"Yeah, Zuki! That sounds like lots of fun!" Jamie shouted, a grin growing on his face.
"Alright, well, first you have to get Hiei to say yes," Mizuki told the human boy with a mental smirk. There was no way Hiei could say no to Jamie. The fire demon was really just a big softie on the inside.
"Can we, Hiei? Can we go, please? Please? I'll be good, I pwomise!" Jamie began to yell promises and hugged Hiei's neck. "Please! Me and Zuki really wanna go! Pretty please?" he begged and clung to Hiei, who was getting uncomfortable in this situation.
Hiei awkwardly patted Jamie on the back and muttered, "Calm down, brat..." But Jamie didn't listen. He kept on until he was near tears and everyone else in the room was silently laughing behind their hands. "It's alright, just calm down..." Hiei grumbled, but when the little human kept on and on, the fire demon sighed, finally caving in, "Sh, it's okay... If you and Zuki want to go then I don't have a problem with it..."
"Yay!" Jamie cheered. "Thank you, Hiei!" Then the little boy kissed Hiei on the cheek and crawled over into Mizuki's arms and said, "Zuki! Hiei said we could go! He said we could go!"
Everyone finally burst out laughing, especially at the way Hiei's face was red after Jamie had kissed him on the cheek like a little boy would do with his father. Hiei grumbled incoherently under his breath and avoided eye contact for a few minutes.
Mizuki giggled, "Really, Jamie? That's great! Thanks, Hiei," Mizuki grinned and leaned over to kiss him fully on the lips, making his blush deepen just a bit.
"Haha, what about you, Fluffy? Would you mind?" Aki asked, eyes glinting at the prospect of a vacation as she looked pleadingly at Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru sighed, not able to say no when Aki had that puppy-dog look on her face. He could tell by her eyes that she was excited, and he couldn't seem to make himself say no. Instead, he conceded quicker than Hiei, "Fine. Whatever you want."
"Yippee! Thanks, Fluffy!" Aki shouted and hugged Sesshoumaru tightly around the neck and kissed each cheek then his lips. "I love you! Thank you so much! I'm so excited now!" She laughed at the small blush that appeared on Sesshoumaru's cheeks, but he was glad she was happy.
"So, Kurama," Takara snickered, "are you going to be the spoil-sport of the whole thing or are you going to be all for it with the rest of us?" She smirked at him as she absently rocked the slumbering Shuku.
"Well, seeing as I am already out-voted," Kurama gave an overly-dramatic sigh, "I suppose it doesn't matter, but I wouldn't have a problem with it. If you would enjoy that, then I'm all for it." To be honest, he hoped he would earn himself a kiss like Hiei and Sesshoumaru both had, and he wasn't disappointed.
"Aw!" Takara squealed and kissed him deeply, careful not to squash Shuku between the two. She and Kurama ignored the cat-calls they received, though they did have the grace to blush as they pulled apart. "You're awesome, Kurama." she told him with a big grin.
"I know I am," Kurama chuckled and tightened his hold slightly on the girl he loved.
"Okay, so it's settled? We're going to America?" Aki asked excitedly.
"Yeah, guess go," Takara laughed and snuggled into Kurama's embrace.
"Alright!" Aki cheered, "Hey, Mizuki, ready to play Travel Agent?" she grinned at the wolf, who only smiled back and nodded. Everyone else besides Takara looked confused, and all three demonesses laughed.
"Mizuki's like our very own travel agent," Takara said grinning ear-to-ear, "whenever we need to plan a trip to go undercover for a mission or something, Mizuki always manages to get us reservations at hotels and things like that."
Mizuki nodded proudly, "Yupp, I'm just cool like that!" The Trio laughed again, and Mizuki carefully wiggled out of Hiei's grasp and set Jamie on Hiei's lap. "I'll go get things planned, alright?" Without even waiting for an answer, she kissed Jamie on the top of the head and Hiei quickly on the lips then was off, heading for her room to get her laptop out.
It was late into the night when Mizuki finished up. Yawning, she printed out the tickets for the airplane. She loved how everything could be done online nowadays. All she and the others had to do was get passports that next day, or in, Mizuki's case, a few hours. She felt proud though, because she managed to finagle reservations at a five-star hotel in New York when they arrived by plane just a few days later. And she had made excellent plans, spacing everything out.
Now, Mizuki wasn't a control freak who had to ALWAYS have a plan. She's easily flexible too, but it had been easier for her and her sisters in previous years to at least have a plan to fall back on in case something went wrong. So, now she gathered up all the paperwork and put it in a manila folder, tucking it in the drawer of her nightstand.
It was then that her stomach growled at her. With a soft laugh, she slipped out of her room and into the kitchen to grab a snack, which was an apple. She walked around and hummed quietly as she munched on the apple. That is, until she heard soft, frightened footsteps hurry down the hall. The wolf's curiosity was peaked, and she silently poked her head out the door to see Jamie run around the corner, jumping at the sudden clap of thunder. Hm, I didn't even realize the storm was still raging outside... I thought my Internet connection seemed a little slow... Slowly, she snuck out and followed after Jamie, curious as to see where he was going.
Jamie whimpered when a flash of lightning brought him to a temporary halt, but as soon as Mizuki was about to hurry over and hug the boy and tell him everything was okay, he was on the move again. He ran to Hiei's door and hurried to push it open and get inside, closing the door only just, so that there was a crack left.
Mizuki tiptoed over to spy through the crack. She watched with a small grin as he clambered up the bed. Jamie shook Hiei's shoulders enough so that the fire demon came awake immediately, suddenly very alert and ready for any danger, but upon seeing Jamie, Hiei groaned and flopped back down onto the bed.
"Yes?" Hiei asked quietly, barely above a whisper.
"I'm scared," Jamie muttered fearfully, whimpering when another clap of thunder was heard. "The storm is scary, and Zuki's too busy..."
"So what do you want me to do about it?" Hiei grumbled, eyes kept shut, as if he was trying to stay asleep. No matter what, he couldn't ignore the frightened boy beside him.
"C-can I," Jamie stuttered, "sleep with you tonight?" he asked finally.
Hiei sighed and looked at the boy with tired crimson eyes. "No, you have your own bed. Go sleep in it," he ordered sternly, hoping the boy would do as he was told.
Jamie didn't however. The little human sniffled, tears collecting in his eyes as he tried the puppy-dog look, but it wouldn't work seeing as Hiei refused to meet his gaze, knowing what the boy was up to. "Please? Only for tonight? I promise I'll be a good boy from now on and not bother you at night... but please?" he asked in a watery tone that said he was about to cry.
"Don't cry," Hiei moaned and ran a tired hand over his face in an attempt to wipe away his sleepy demeanor. It didn't work, and he heard Jamie sniffle again. "Alright, alright, sh... Come here," he gave in and held the sheets up to let Jamie crawl in beside him.
Jamie hurried under the covers, afraid Hiei would change his mind before he got settled. However, the sheets fell back over his small, human frame.
Hiei wrapped his arm around the boy and pulled him close to himself, so he could make sure Jamie stayed warm. "There. All settled in?" the fire demon asked Jamie, who nodded against his chest. "Everything's okay now," Hiei whispered, "no more nightmares or scary storms.. Just close your eyes and rest..."
Jamie seemed to drift right off to sleep after that, and with a childlike sigh, he unconsciously snuggled further into Hiei's hold. With a small smile, Hiei hugged the boy tighter and leaned down to kiss the top of his blond head.
Mizuki's lips grew into a smile. She was glad Jamie had Hiei to come to, though she wished he would have come to her, even though she was busy. She would have dropped whatever it was to spend time with him, but she sighed, knowing it was good for Jamie to idolize Hiei, seeing as the fire demon would be sure to be a good role model.
"No need to stand out there all night," Hiei whispered suddenly, eyes staring straight at the wall. He knew she was there, and to be honest, he felt a little embarrassed, but it was Mizuki. He knew the wolf wouldn't tease him.. not too much anyway.
"Sorry," Mizuki apologized in a quiet tone, a wide smile stretched over her face as she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. She padded over to the bed and stood somewhat awkwardly until Hiei looked at her with a curious glare.
"Why're you apologizing?" Hiei asked, barely loud enough for the wolf to hear him over the storm outside. "And what are you doing just standing there? You can get in, too. There's plenty of room," he smirked at her and carefully rolled over so that he brought Jamie onto his chest. Then, he slung the covers back on his side and waited for Mizuki to climb in beside him.
Mizuki's smile widened, and she climbed into the nice warm bed and huddled beside Hiei as he threw the covers over her and himself. He hugged Jamie carefully between him and her and wrapped his arms around the wolf's waist. Cautiously, so as not to wake Jamie up, Hiei leaned over and started kissing Mizuki, first on her lips, then landing soft kisses everywhere on her face that he could reach: on her nose, her cheeks, her forehead, and even her eye lids.
The wolf let out a content growl, kind of like a purr, in pleasure at the wonderful feeling of butterfly kisses on her face. "M.. I love you, Hiei," she mumbled as his lips found hers again. He softly nibbled on her bottom lip.
Hiei then drew back to say, "Love you, too, wolf," then he continued to plant butterfly kisses on her face until she drifted off to sleep. When he made sure both the wolf and Jamie were asleep, that was when he let himself fall asleep, a tiny smile tugging at his lips.
The next morning, Aki went bounding through the temple screaming, "Mizuki! Do you have the plans made up yet?! Are we ready to go!? Come ON! Mizuki, don't ignore me! Where are you!? You're not in your room! What about the vacation!?"
Hiei scowled at the door as Mizuki jumped awake, her hair pointing every which way as she looked around frantically. "What!? What is it? I'm up! I'm up," the wolf groaned and fell back onto the pillow when she realized it was just one of her sisters who just so happened to have had a lot of sugar already that morning.
Aki grinned and bounded into Hiei's room. "Aha! Here you are! So, what about that vacation? When're we leaving? Come on! Get out of bed already, you lazy bum! Move! Let's goooo!" Aki whined and stamped her foot impatiently.
Hiei glared at the dog demoness and retorted scathingly, "Shut up, Mutt! It's too early."
Jamie gasped as he sat up from the bed and stared at Hiei with wide eyes. "Hiei! You're not posed to say that, member!? Zuki said not to say it anymore! Zuki, Hiei called Aki, Mutt!! Zuki, did you hear him?" Jamie chattered to the wolf.
Mizuki sighed, giving up on going back to sleep, and sat up with a stretch and a yawn. "I heard him, Jamie," she hushed the boy with a small smile and a ruffling of his hair, then she turned on Hiei and said, "Hiei, you know you aren't supposed to call Aki that. You're setting a bad example for Jamie. He looks up to you! Be a good role model!"
"And that means I have to do what you say?" Hiei snapped, not much of a morning person.
"Yes," Mizuki stated, "he comes to you for everything, Hiei! He seeks acceptance and relief with you, and you should realize that he looks up to you, that you have an obligation to be a good role model! Like you were last night! I know you care about Jamie from what I saw last night!" she shouted, not being a morning person either.
Aki watched the yelling match like a volley as Hiei and Mizuki tossed insults out to each other. She tried to enter into the conversation by saying, "Uh, hey, Mizuki, what about," she was quickly silenced by the death glares the two sent her. Huffing, the dog demoness stomped off, slamming the door.
"So what? I don't even know why the little brat looks up to me! Why should I change for him!? He's only a human! It's not like he'll outlive me or anything!" Hiei yelled with a vicious scowl. Mizuki was stating that he was going soft. He couldn't afford that, no matter how much he may like it. He had to have his enemies think he's heartless, so he couldn't be brought down or put those he cared about in danger.
"Don't say that around him!" Mizuki roared, face turning red in anger, eyes blazing furiously. "You know you care about him! Why can't you show your soft side? Just a little!?"
The sound of a sharp sniffle caught both demons attention, and they quickly turned to look at Jamie, who was cowering in a corner of the bed, hugging a pillow tightly in his arms, eyes squeezed shut as he cried, little tears running down his cheeks.
"Jamie," Mizuki crawled over and reached out to touch him, but the little boy flinched away. "Jamie, what's wrong?" she cooed gently, eyes softening as she looked helplessly back at Hiei, who shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do.
"M-my mommy and daddy used to f-fig-fight lots," Jamie sobbed, "like Zuki and Hiei are doi-doing right now... Are you go-going t-t-to lea-leave me t-to?" he asked, fearfully, afraid of being all alone again.
"Aw, Jamie," Mizuki was near tears. She didn't want Jamie to feel that way, "of course we're not going to leave you! Why ever would you think that?" she asked softly and hesitantly gathered the fragile boy into her arms, slowly rocking him back and forth as he cried into her nightshirt.
"Cause you and Hiei're fighting... just like my mommy and daddy," Jamie wailed, clinging tightly to the wolf's shirt with his little fists.
"Oh, little one, I'm sorry," Mizuki sighed and hugged the boy tight, wishing she could cry herself. Just hearing the boy cry was bringing tears to her eyes, ripping her heart to pieces. "Sh... I'm sorry... It's alright... we're not going to leave you..."
Hiei scooted over to run a comforting hand up and down the human boy's back. "It'll be okay," he murmured awkwardly, not too sure of himself, "Zuki and I are sorry... We promise to get along better," he said quietly. "And we won't leave you," he added, more sure of himself.
"Promise?" Jamie peered up from puffy red eyes at Hiei and sniffled, staying snuggly in Mizuki's warm, comforting embrace.
"Promise," Hiei murmured with a small smile on his face, sticking out his pinky to Jamie, who, after a moment, carefully extended one of his little hands and wrapped his pinky finger with Hiei's as the fire demon stated, "Pinky promise."
Mizuki snickered slightly. She couldn't help it. Hiei was just acting so mushy. It was completely adorable! It made her giggle, and when Hiei noticed she was laughing about him, his face turned crimson, and he tried hard to avoid her gaze as he let his pinky finger slip from Jamie's.
Jamie sniffled again, a happy smile forming on his face. He clumsily wiped his tears away with the backs of his hands before grinning up at Mizuki and kissing her cheek. Then, he wriggled out of the giggling girls arms to race over to Hiei to give the fire demon a kiss on his cheek and a hug, making Hiei's face turn a shade darker in its red color.
A hesitant knock at the door came, and the three looked to the doorway to see Takara poking her head in. "Uh, is it safe now?" she asked uncertainly.
"Haha, yeah, of course," Mizuki laughed and climbed out of bed, "tell Aki that I have everything we need. We just gotta pack, but that can wait until after breakfast I would think." She pecked Hiei on the lips before hoisting Jamie into her arms.
"Oh, breakfast is ready," Takara added, as if she just remembered that little fact. She and Mizuki laughed at that.
"Alright, let's go eat then," Mizuki said with a grin. She was leaving the room and noticed Hiei still sitting on the bed, seemingly in deep thought. She made her way back over to the bed and took hold of Hiei's hand. "Hey," she said as he looked up at her, "you coming?"
Stiffly, Hiei nodded and stood up. "Come on, the brat's probably starving," he smirked at Jamie, who pouted at being called a brat, but he knew Hiei was only kidding. Hiei always called him brat, a term of endearment, he supposed.
"Yeah, I am! Can we go to breakfast now?" Jamie whined slightly, looking at Mizuki with begging, pleading eyes as his stomach let out a growl of hunger.
"Sure," Mizuki laughed while Hiei's lips quirked up in a quick smile and he ruffled the boy's hair. Together, they followed Takara to the kitchen, where Aki sat, bouncing in her seat.
When Aki caught sight of Mizuki, she was instantly on her feet. "So, what of the vacation? Are we going or aren't we?" she whined like she was five years old, but hey, who could blame her? She was really excited about the prospect of a vacation.
"We're going, don't worry," Mizuki assured her and rolled her eyes, setting Jamie down at the table, "just let me go get my folder and I'll fill you in when everyone's in here." With that, she slipped out of the kitchen, heading straight for her room. The manila folder sat where she had left it in the drawer. Snatching it, she returned to the kitchen.
Aki was tying Sesshoumaru to a chair and Kurama and Takara were going ga-ga over Shuku and feeding her a bottle when the wolf demoness walked in. "No, we all gotta stay here! Or else we won't know what we're doing for vacation! Now, stay!" she barked at Sesshoumaru, who blinked then scowled at the dog demoness, letting a small growl work its way out of his throat. "Bad Fluffy!" Aki scolded and lightly banged Sesshoumaru on the head with a rolled up newspaper, causing Sesshoumaru to growl again. Before Aki could hit Sesshoumaru with the newspaper again, Mizuki started talking, opening her folder and flipping through it, a smile on her face. She always loved doing things like this: planning and getting everything prepared. She could probably be a great travel agent if she wanted, but meh, she had more fun as a thief, or ex-thief now.
Shi:Wow... not as long as I was going for, but still.. wow.. I think this might be the longest chapter I have ever written... for ANY Story... lol. Well, thanks so much for reading! Don't forget about the lonely little review button here at the bottom of the screen! xD