R&R please!
Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter One of this fanfiction.
Chapter Three: Half Full In That Half Empty Space
Takara dragged herself through the doorway and plopped down on the couch next to Cayenne who didn't say anything. Kurama had put her through two good long hours of gymnastics exercises when she learned how to bend using muscles she never knew she had. After becoming a bit more flexible, two more hours of general strength training took place before she, along with the others, were allowed a break. She thought she was the first to make it back to the mansion but, lo and behold, Cayenne was there next to her being too quiet in her opinion.
"Cayenne? Are you alright?"
She waved a hand in front of her face, yelled in her ear, threatened to poke her to no avail. But when she actually did poke her in the shoulder, oh boy, did she get a reaction!
"DON'T TOUCH THE KOOPA!"
"AAH!"
Takara tumbled backwards off of the couch and Kurama ran over to help her.
"What's wrong?"
Takara merely let out a shaken giggle and pointed towards Cayenne who was twitching madly.
"Too many koopas...I didn't touch it, you're delusional. Fucking cloud, move out of my way!" she dropped to the floor and started rolling around in circles.
Hiei entered the room and smirked at the hysterical girl.
"Hiei, what did you do to her?" Kurama asked suspiciously.
"Nothing intense, but when you train yours on reflexes you should really try this Mario Party game, it gets amusingly effective results."
"Mario Party? You trained her with a video game? Tch, how lame is that?" Takara said, disbelieving such that training could cause her friend this much delirium.
"Well, she can play "What Goes Up..." without hitting a single deterrent now. I doubt any of you or your little friends can do that."
"So?"
"So, her eyes can detect movement much easier now, therefore improving her reflexes. Also, her mind goes to another place when you mention those flying turtle things." Another smirk crossed his features.
"You mean the koopas?"
Cayenne promptly screamed.
"Yep, those."
It took a little while to sooth Cayenne's nerves. She did beat the game without hitting anything, and her reflexes had improved, so it was all for the better. Meriel came in a few minutes later and lifted all their spirits when they remembered that there was cheesecake to eat. One was strawberry, the other chocolate. Reijin came in and had to have the strawberry one pried away from her; she was not tired like the rest of them, more like invigorated.
Unbeknownst to everyone else, she had convinced Jin to fly them into the city for doughnuts. Since neither of them really ever ate the sugary treat, it was a nice way to start the morning before being thrown into the air and learning the proper way to float if you didn't want to go spiraling into a tree. Since her power would keep her levitated, it was most important to know which way the winds were supposed to blow, and what to do if control was lost.
Meriel learned how to be less random with the swings of her kendo sword, her chosen weapon for the practice. Water would be hard to concentrate into any specific form, let alone use in a fight. She was glad to relax after her precision training and enjoyed a piece of the chocolate cheesecake as Reijin rolled about the floor muttering something about "sugary goodness" and "fwaa."
"Hey, when do we go back outside to train more?" Reijin asked after she slowed her roll a bit.
Cayenne mouthed the word "no," Meriel signaled "X"s with her arms from the kitchen and Takara took the offensive and tackled her to the ground.
While they fought Hiei answered, "You don't, not today anyway."
"Hm? Why not?" Takara questioned from the floor, relieved.
"You girls need to learn to be more flexible, not just with your bodies either. Each of your elements has certain attributes, including the time of day when you're at your peak of power. I can only assume Reijin is this hyper because dawn is her ruling period," Kurama explained, "Botan's researching the information and will get it to us as soon as possible. Either way there will be four hour training sessions each day. Today was at dawn, tomorrow will be around noon, then the next day will be at dusk, followed by one at midnight and we'll repeat the process."
"You mean you'll be getting us up at midnight to go fight!" Cayenne exclaimed.
"Whoo! Midnight training session!" Takara yelled gleefully.
"Well, I guess we know your ruling period," Meriel figured.
"Yeah, her other ruling period is when she's PMSing and no one can oppose her newfound bitchiness."
Cayenne was restored to her normal state after realizing she had made that remark while being in kicking range of Takara and made a break for it up the stairs with her in hot pursuit. Once locked in her room, she collapsed into sweet sleep that was missed dearly during the hours spent playing that now dreaded "What Goes Up..." game.
Once Takara realized her efforts were futile she stomped back downstairs and drowned her embarrassment in more cheesecake. Kurama decided not to remind them of their studies at this moment, he would wait until later that afternoon. It would be easier for them if it were around the time school let out anyway, homework would add a bit of normality to their schedules.
Takara soon decided she was sleepy too and trailed off upstairs to her room. Meriel followed soon afterwards, but Reijin fell into a half-sleep on the couch while watching cartoons. Jin, who was assigned to keep up with them until afternoon while the others trained, saw and prodded her. It was entertaining since she did not wake up, even though he had thought she did when she started talking in her sleep.
"Noooooo...monkey? Come back with my Skittles!"
She rolled off of the couch and into a heap on the floor which woke her up. Apparently she was trying to catch said monkey before she hit the ground and saw Jin hovering overhead with a suspicious looking finger.
"...Were you poking me?"
"Um, no..."
"Answer carefully. Were you poking me?"
"...Maybe..."
"Don't poke me," she said getting up to retrieve a glass of grape juice.
"Okay...?"
So this is what the half past and living are like, Jin thought amusedly.
It was more like three fourths dead actually, she made it halfway back to the couch before tripping over air (I hate it when that happens!) and almost spilling grape juice everywhere. The cup barely slipped out of her hand before Jin caught it, Reijin was just awake enough keep from falling flat on the floor.
"Hey, are you going to be alright?" he asked, doubtful of her ability to stand at the moment.
Reijin wobbled back to the couch before responding, "I'm fine, really, just semi-unconscious."
She flopped back onto the cushions and positioned herself under one pillow and on top of another before mind-numbing cartoons meant for the demented brains of three year olds lulled her back into her buzzed funk. Jin set the cup of juice on the table next to her and wondered, how much longer 'til noon?
About an hour later...
Cayenne rolled around restlessly in her sleep. She had a very slim chance to stay in that sweet state of mind until--
THUMP!
"Ow! Who the hell put this floor here! Last time I checked I was falling onto clouds!"
She had obviously been having a "What Goes Up..." nightmare, no thanks to Hiei, so she went into the bathroom to wake up more. She snatched her alarm clock off of the window seat and took it into the bathroom with her so that she could listen to the radio while she was in the shower. By the computer, it was 11:26 A.M.
She started the shower and tuned to a radio station where (1) "All About Us" by T.A.T.U was being played. As she stepped into burning hot water a peculiar thought crossed her mind. Why the hell am I up this early anyway? Wait, no, it can't be! Reijin is dawn, Takara, midnight, which leaves just dusk and…noon.
"God damn it!" She yelled and kicked the wall.
That was a really bad move on her part, because she lost her footing and fell backwards into the shower curtain which got tangled around her and fell too. She screamed and hit the floor hard enough to wake up Meriel and Reijin who came rushing to her aid. All would have been well and good had not Jin been the reason Reijin got up there as fast as she did; she had him fly her to the third floor to reach her at the same speed as Meriel.
No one really knew right away what had happened, although the running water might have been a clue for these slow sleepyheads. The full situation hit Jin like a mountain tumbling down and he tried to leave the room as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. Once Meriel freed Cayenne of her shower curtain prison though, she tossed it aside and tripped him up as he tried to get out of the room, enough time for Cayenne to notice him. Their eyes locked. He froze. Maybe...she won't...see me.
"DIE!"
Wishful thinking didn't save him; she went after him with the closest thing in reach: a bottle of pink, girlish smelling, bubble bath. It got all over the place and Jin went slipping and sliding out of the room with Cayenne hot on his heels. Being the Wind master that he was, he merely had to jump over the railing to escape her wrath. Cayenne was not about to give up. She ran back into her room, grabbed a video game case and threw it at him Frisbee style as he was busy trying to get the pink stuff off of his face. She hit her mark and he ducked for cover in the kitchen once again wondering, how much longer 'til noon?
Hiei entered the scene a few minutes later and saw Jin rinsing his head in the kitchen sink.
"Time to shift."
"Good luck," he spat, a little P.O.ed at Cayenne's temper, after all, he at least tried to get out of the room before being ambushed by pink goo.
A quick towel off and he was out of the house before Hiei could even question the situation. Oh well, I haven't done anything except train, I still have a clean slate. He walked toward the stairs and was about to call up to tell them that they had switched but noticed something under his foot. It was the game case Cayenne had thrown. He read the back and realized it was the game Cayenne was playing when they had first encountered—DDR.
Back with Cayenne, she had shooed Meriel and Reijin out of the room to make sure she would not explode on them. After a few deep breaths, she rooted around in her chest of drawers for clothes. Putting on the essentials first, she fished out a red tube top. No, red is not the color I need now. She swapped it with a green tank top with a lacy butterfly pattern over the breast area and got some blue jeans out before heading back to the bathroom.
After changing, she walked out and was surprised to see Hiei waiting for her.
"Don't you ever knock before coming into someone's room?" she asked irritably.
"Onna, what's this like?" he questioned and held up the game case.
"Oh, so that's the one I threw...well it's different from other games if that's what you're asking. You saw when you kidnapped me; it uses your entire body instead of just your hands."
"So...it'd be better than other games for training?"
"NO! YES! GAH! Don't ask me such a frustrating question!" She sighed, "Yes, it would, and it's fun but four hours in a row would exhaust me beyond belief so you'd better have a stretcher ready."
"Well that's why you're training, to become powerful without exhausting yourself too badly."
On that, he left the room and Cayenne was swept in an interesting thought. She thought about the people back home that she would always kill in DDR matches. Then she thought of how tired she would be afterwards. To be powerful...but controlled? I do need help with self-control...and learning through a game I love might be fun. With new inspiration, she set up the game, but instead of going straight to Heavy, she went to Endless mode on Light. A steady, simple pace...perfect, she thought.
After leaving Cayenne alone, Hiei suddenly felt a disturbance in the house. He jumped downstairs and checked the freezer. No...
"Onna! Where did you put it?"
He was talking to Reijin who was moving to sit on the couch and looked highly distrustful. He kicked the couch back a few feet and she landed on the floor which granted him her full and undivided attention.
"What are you talking about?" she groaned, "Oh, your "sweet snow"…I hid it so I can eat it later."
"What! Where is it?" He yelled and unsheathed his sword.
"Don't be silly, I know you aren't allowed to kill me, but if you can find it, you can keep it…good luck."
With that she climbed back onto the couch and watched the dozens of Hiei after images search the room, which one was real, which were fake, who could tell? Eventually she got dizzy, left the room, and came back with the carton of ice cream.
"Here, take it, just stop moving!"
Since she did not know exactly where he was she tossed it into the air and he appeared and caught it. She turned to walk upstairs but he suddenly materialized in front of her and held out the box.
"It's melted..." he stated and glared at her.
"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that," she toyed, "but…"
In Cayenne's room, the DDR fever had hit and she played hard until the fifty-fifth stage when she noticed how parched her throat was. She actually was not that tired since it was Light mode, but all the same she opened the door to go downstairs for a glass of water and collided with Reijin who was about to barge in.
"Hiei's taking us to Dairy Queen for ice cream!" she announced gleefully.
"Hiei's going to do what now?" Cayenne responded in shock, but got over it, "Awesome!"
It was after they awakened Meriel—Takara decided to continue sleeping—got ready, and made it halfway down the steps of the temple when they realized they had no means of transportation.
"Hiei, how exactly do you plan on getting us all there? Hell, how will we pay?" Reijin asked.
"I was given money in case of emergencies and as for getting there, I have an idea."
"This is an emergency?" Meriel questioned skeptically.
"Yes," Hiei responded forcefully, "and if it'll soothe your conscience any, here's your own shopping money," he said and handed her enough for at least two complete outfits.
"Whoo! Drop me off at the mall on your way to Dairy Queen, 'kay guys?"
"Hey! What about us?" Cayenne prodded.
"First of all, (2) that one" he pointed at Reijin, "will be lucky to get anything at all for melting the sweet snow at the mansion, and you're just coming along because that one invited you, and that one only gets money because it's a bribe, not a gift."
"Oh, lovely, and the ice cream is our bribe I'm guessing?"
"Precisely."
They reached the bottom of the hill and Hiei disappeared on them so they had no choice but to wait. About fifteen or twenty minutes later, a blue convertible drove up and Hiei was driving it. There was swerving and abrupt stopping indicating he was learning as he went.
"H-ha-holy crap," Cayenne stuttered, "what, did you steal this?"
"Kind of, I'll take it back when we're done; I don't think they'll miss it."
Some one clearly should have informed Hiei about road signs and signals, because once he got started driving, he did not stop—AT ALL. He slowed down just enough for Meriel to jump ship when the mall came into view, then it was just Cayenne and Reijin fearing for their lives. The police could not make it through the traffic jams to catch them, and when Hiei started driving on the sidewalks no one was about to stop them.
"They're like piñatas! When you hit them, stuff flies everywhere!"
"Yeah, if those mailboxes had minds of their own they would've run along with the people."
"This is such a Grand Theft Auto moment!"
"Definitely! M'kay…fun's over, hit the brakes Hiei, Dairy Queen's coming into view," Reijin told him.
"There are brakes?"
The girls' eyes widened.
"Of course there are brakes! How did you stop earlier?"
"I just let the car slow down on its own," he shrugged.
"What! Never mind, hit the brakes! No, it's that other pedal! Hurry, hit the brakes or we're going to hit—"
CRASH.
To quote from an anonymous source (Kerushi), "There goes another waitress."
Author's Notes:
(1)"All About Us" - Has that even been created yet? I'm not going to Google like crazy to find out what songs were made in 1996 and back for this fanfic so just go with it.
(2) that one - Hiei's official name for Reijin now that she has crossed the line and melted the precious sweet snow.
I'm not sure if that waitress died or just plain quit from the trauma…hm…I'll leave it to your imaginations. :D