What I Learned at Genkai's Temple
Chapter 23: Oops…

Jacqie- Yay…it's another chapter! And guess what we realized when I actually began typing up this chapter…

Kohari- The chapter number!

Jacqie- Yup…it's number 23. I don't know if any of y'all remember but in a previous chapter, we stated that if you wanted to see the guys get their revenge on the girls then review…even if that didn't happen until Chapter 23! Unfortunately that's not actually gonna happen in this chapter but isn't it awesome that we made it this far?

Kohari- For anyone who's interested by the way…the chapter where we said that is Chapter 8 (Birthday).

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Daphne was sitting on the end of Kit's bed watching her friend's look of happiness as she talked about the way Kurama had apologized for his terrible behavior. Daphne couldn't help but smile at the huge grin that was gracing Kit's face as she described Kurama's romantic 'plea' for forgiveness. He had arranged a huge display of rose petals that spelled out 'Forgive me, please?' in the girls' room the day after Sarena had left. Of course, Kit had been absolutely thrilled and had forgiven him.

"So you and Kurama are completely past the whole Sarena thing right?" Daphne asked when Kit stopped talking.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, we're completely and totally past it. Of course, that's thanks in part to you literally knocking some sense into him and telling him just how much of an idiot he was being. He told me that his jaw really hurt after that!"

Daphne looked away for a second, concealing a satisfied smirk that was making its way onto her face before turning back to Kit, "I guess those training sessions with Hiei are working," she said laughingly.

"Seriously though girl, I'm really grateful for that. I don't know what I would've done if I lost Kurama for good. And just to let you know…if Hiei ever does something like that, I'll do the same to him. Well…I'd tell him that he was being stupid and everything, but I probably wouldn't be able to actually hit him." Kit and Daphne couldn't help laughing slightly at the end of her statement.

"I know you would, Kit…after all, what are best friends for? However, just so I've made it completely clear, Hiei is MY guy! I've fought for him and have gone through hell and back to get him to see me as more than an annoying little prankster. And I swear that I'll hurt any girl who goes after him."

"Okay, then…what conversation am I interrupting, and do I need to get lost so you can finish it?" asked Kurama as he leaned on the side of the door.

"Hey Kura-kun!" Kit exclaimed happily as she bounced over to the door to give him a hug.

"Hi Kurama. When did you show up?" Daphne asked after Kit had given her rather enthusiastic greeting.

"Oh, somewhere around 'I fought for him,' I think."

Daphne nodded absently before realizing that Kurama had probably come up to the room to spend some time alone with Kit, and she was kind of in the way of that. "Okay. Since I'm sure y'all want to spend some time alone and everything…I'm gonna go now." With that being said, she waved at them and left the room.

Kurama had just managed to turn towards Kit and was about to give her a proper 'hello' when Daphne stuck her head back into the room. "Sorry for interrupting y'all, but do you know if Hiei went with Genkai and Yusuke to that dojo thing, Kurama?"

"Yes Daphne…I think he went," Kurama replied with an impatient ring in his voice.

"Shit," was all Kurama and Kit heard in response as Daphne disappeared from the door.

"Finally," Kurama said as he leaned down to give the girl who'd stolen his heart a kiss.

Daphne was walking randomly around the temple, trying to find something to do since she didn't have anyone to hang out with or talk to at the moment. Her cell-phone battery was dead yet again, Kit was with Kurama, Kai was at her job in the arcade, and Hiei was at some stupid dojo with Genkai and Yusuke. She wasn't desperate enough to spend time with Kuwabara, and Yukina was busy cooking. "Damn, this sucks…there's nothing to do," she muttered under her breath as she quickly averted the area where Kuwabara was trying to 'tan'. (Jacqie: Probably thought a tan would help him get a girl…okay I'm being mean…but I couldn't resist putting that in there…lol) Daphne was walking by the greenhouses when she saw that the door was open a crack. "Kurama didn't lock the greenhouse…I bet I could find something to do in there," she murmured to herself as she headed towards the door.

Daphne looked furtively around, and, seeing nobody, she pushed the door all the way open, bolted in, and shut the door firmly behind her. 'Wow. Check out all these chemicals. Where the heck does he get some of these? I can't even pronounce the names on some of these bottles.'

Daphne wandered around, checking out Kurama's collection, occasionally picking up interesting concoctions. There were test tubes of all different sizes and beakers of all different varieties. Biology classes suddenly came rushing back to her.

"Hey," she said to herself. "I wonder if I can remember...Yeah, here's some potassium nitrate...Awesome. Now where's some, um..what kinda alcohol was it again? Oh, yeah, denatured...Here we go."

Soon she had a small violet-colored fire going. "Cool," she complimented herself. She walked around the greeenhouse for a moment, purple fire burning cheerfully by a small candle that she had found and placed into a candlestick. She was reluctant to relinquish her lovely creation. It wasn't long before she came across the "cute" plant that had tried to eat Kit.

"Hello, there, Mr. Flower," she examined it. It seemed harmless to her. Like it was sleeping. She shouted more profanities as the plant tried to bite her. Now she was angry...that plant needed to die. Surely, killing it would do them all a favor...She couldn't imagine why Kurama needed it. Her eyes wandered to the flame she clutched in her hand.

Smirking, she tried to apply the flame to the flower's roots. Just as it touched, the plant attacked again. Daphne let out a shriek and dropped the candle. The flames that clung to the flower sizzles as they turned to smoke. Daphne scowled, muttering curses at the plant as she walked away to take her mind away from the experience.

"Sodium?" Daphne read a label that caught her attention. "Why does he need salt down here? Hm..." She pocketed the small bottle and walked around some more. She didn't notice that there was potassium permanganate under the table that the plant was resting on. Or that the flame was still burning...

Her wanderings took her beside the sink while she examined the bottle of sodium Its contents looked pretty strange...For some odd reason, her feet decided upon that moment to trip over air, and as Daphne tumbled to the ground, the sodium parted from her hand, landing in the sink. The bottle broke. Seconds later, Daphne stood up and saw a charred ceiling, mouth open in an "Oh. My. God. I am in SO much trouble..." expression. "Kurama's gonna kill me..." she worried aloud. Then she smiled, relieved. "But not if he doesn't know I did it!"

As she walked back by the plant, a small, open bottle of magnesium, which had fallen from a shelf from the force of either her fall or the minor explosion, or both, was rolling towards her earlier accident. She decided not to pick it up, by instinct alone remembering a Chemistry lesson...

"Potassium permanganate is often used by greenhouses to treat plants. When burned, it produces pure oxygen," her teacher astounded them with the trivia.

"I heard magnesium and oxygen are a dangerous combination," a boy at another lab table said.

"This is true," the teacher confirmed. "In making fireworks, that combination is very useful. But I advise you to avoid it if you don't want to hurt yourself. Chemical reactions should not be used as playthings, especially if you don't have the proper knowledge to use them."

Daphne's mind realized what was going on, and she ran out of the greenhouse/lab as quickly as her legs could take her. When she was halfway down the hallway, she heard a large explosion. She looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. So it was just the lab. The rest of the temple was okay.

Kurama was outside instructing Kit, demonstrating a particularly useful attack very slowly and explaining each movement. Then he stopped and instructed Kit to try to mimic what he had just showed her. Kit attempted to copy the complicated movements, but she lost her balance, toppling over and landing on Kurama. She grinned apologetically as she tried to get up, but he held her in place, bringing her lips to his.

Suddenly, he heard the explosion coming from...his lab!

He instantly stopped what he was doing and got up, dusting himself off, while staring in the direction of the sound. Before he could go investigate, however, Daphne came running up to them.

"Daphne, what just happened?"

"Kurama, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Daphne scolded him as he and Kit exchanged confused glances. "You should know better than to keep dangerous materials just lying around!"

"Daphne..." the fox growled, realizing what had occured. "I specifically told you to STAY OUT of the lab!"

"Well, I did. Sorta. It's a really funny story," Daphne assured him.

"I'm sure," Kurama said sarcastically, crossing his arms. "And it had better be good," he warned.

"Well, see, I was looking for something to do since Hiei wasn't around...Shut up, Kit! I know what you're thinking! (Kit had tried to suppress a snicker.)...Anyways, I wanted to review my Biology. And your greenhouse door was open. Well, that STUPID PLANT THINGY tried to eat me!"

Kit gave Kurama an "I-told-you-so" look.

"So I tried to kill it," Daphne continued. When she saw Kurama's horrified face, she explained, "It was self-defense! I swear!"

Kurama sighed. "Continue."

"Well, I didn't kill it. It destroyed my purple fire! So I just was kinda lookin' around. Why do you even have salt in your lab? It belongs at the kitchen table. It especially doesn't belong in your lab if it can blow up a sink."

"Oh no...That was PURE SODIUM, Daphne!" Kurama told her.

"Well, we're cutting back on the boys' salt intake," Daphne concluded, then went on. "But that wasn't the biggie."

"What was 'the biggie'?" Kurama played along, impatient.

"You shouldn't leave flammable explosive components lying around in your greenhouse," Daphne chastized him.

"What happened?" Kurama's temper was getting the better of him, and he was struggling to keep it under control.

"Your lab kinda went...boom!" Daphe replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kurama rubbed his temples to ease the headache she was causing.

"Which chemical composition was it?" Kit finally broke her silence and asked.

"Potassium Permanganate plus Purple Fire equals Oxygen. Oxygen and Magnesium don't like each other. So Oxygen plus Magnesium equals BOOM!" Daphne startled everyone else by shouting the last word.

"Ah. I see," Kurama finally said.

"So you're not mad at me?" Daphne asked hopefully.

"Mad at you? No," He replied, perfectly calm. Then his eyes flashed angrily. "I'm furious! You probably destroyed everything in there - a lifetime of work! And unfortunately for you, Hiei isn't here!"

Kit tried to restrain and soothe Kurama, who protested violently while Daphne took advantage of his diverted focus and slipped away.