Carol of the Bells


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Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. I only own my crazy characters.


Tori frowned. Her head and arm were throbbing like hell. It took her a moment before she realized that her eyes were closed. With great effort, she finally was able to open her eyes.

She was back at Kuwabara's house. Glancing down at her arm, she noticed that it had been neatly bandaged.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake," a voice said from beside her. Kurama was sitting beside her bed with a book in hand. "How are you feeling?"

Tori slowly sat up, wincing slightly. "I feel like someone ran me over multiple times by a train."

Kurama chuckled slightly. "That is to be expected. You did receive a nasty bite from that Makai bat."

Tori glanced at her bandaged arm. "So, how long until I am fully healed?"

Kurama frowned. "I gave you the antidote as quickly as I could. Given the degree of the bite, I would say about a week before you are feeling like you're old self."

"A week!" Tori groaned as she collapsed into her bed again. "I can't stay house bound for a week."

Kurama smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be too bad."

Tori frowned as she sat up. "Wait, where's Sira?"

"After I convinced her that you wouldn't die, she said something about wanting to be productive."

The smell of cinnamon filled Tori's nostrils. "Oh my gosh! She's making cinnamon buns!"

Tori quickly stood up only to realize a second too late that her legs wouldn't support her. Kurama caught her easily.

"Careful," Kurama said as he forced her to lean on him. "We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself anymore.

Tori's heart was fluttering like crazy. She mentally scolded herself. There was no way she was going to let herself develop a crush just because he had caught her. "Thanks," she said sheepishly.

As they walked down the hallway, Sira's voice rang out. "Okay, they're done."

"Finally," Yusuke yelled.

"Hey, leave one for me, Urameshi," Kuwabara added.

Kurama and Tori entered the room to see Kuwabara and Yusuke cramming their cinnamon buns down their throats while Sira stared at them with one eye twitching.

Spying, Kurama and Tori at the door, Sira smiled. "Oh hey, glad to see you're up. Why don't you two grab some cinnamon buns?" She eyed Kurama and Tori curiously.

Tori sent her a death glare before saying, "How do I know those are safe? You might have put some mind control potion in it."

Sira shook her head sadly. "I told you, I'm not planning to take over the world anymore. I realized I needed to make my goal more realistic."

"Oh?" Tori raised an eyebrow.

Sira nodded. "Yep, I'm going to take over Disney World."

If Kurama wasn't supporting her, Tori would have face vaulted. "Yeah, that is definitely more realistic." She sat down in one of the chairs and grabbed a cinnamon bun. "Mmm, cinnamony."

Kurama took one as well. "You must be quite the chef if you can make these."

"Yeah, they're delicious," Kuwabara added.

Sira laughed as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Actually, I am a horrible cook. I only know how to make peanut butter sandwiches, cinnamon buns, toast, and coffee."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You drink coffee?"

"Nope, I hate it but I do know how to make it."

"And it is so good," Tori said. "You should make some for your poor crippled friend."

"You're not crippled, you're injured," Sira corrected. "Big difference."

There was a loud knock at the door. Finishing his last bite, Kuwabara answered the door. When he returned, Hiei was with him.

Sira's demonic grin returned. "Hello midget!"

"Sira," Tori scolded, "That's not very nice."

Sira rolled her eyes. "Oh fine, hello vertically challenged person." She held a plate of cinnamon buns in front of his face. "Would you like a cinnamon bun?"

Hiei's eye twitched for a second before he glared. "Get those disgusting things out of my face before I slice your hand off."

"Man, somebody is touchy today," Sira murmured as she set the plate back on the counter. Hiei turned his attention to Kurama. "I need to speak to you, fox, alone."

Kurama nodded as they both headed outside.

"I wonder what they're talking about," Tori wondered.

"We should spy on them," Sira remarked.

"Oh, like on Alias," Tori's eyes sparkled, "I want be like Syd."

"Everyone wants to be like Syd. She kicks butt and gets Vaughn," Sira said.

Kuwabara leaned towards Yusuke and whispered. "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?"

Yusuke shrugged. "Beats me."

The two demons returned both wearing blank expressions.

"That was quick" Tori remarked.

Sira shrieked as she grabbed her head. Glaring at Hiei she hissed, "Jerk."

A smirk appeared on Hiei's face before he flitted away.

"You okay?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes, though Hiei's a complete prick." She glanced over at the plate of cinnamon buns and smirked. One was missing.


A week passed slowly for Sira and Tori. There wasn't much to do at the house besides eating, watching TV, and sleeping. So when, Yusuke and Kurama came over the following Monday, you could imagine that they were surprised at the girls' change in behavior.

Tori was sprawled out on the couch, her head hanging off the couch slightly as she casually flipped through channels.

"What's wrong with her?" Yusuke asked, slightly amused.

"So…bored…" Tori mumbled as she flipped through another channel.

"They both have been stuck in the house all week," Kuwabara said.

Crashing and banging came from down the hallway.

Kurama and Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"She doesn't have a marble notebook and when she can't write her story ideas down, she gets really cranky." Tori sat up and let out a sigh. "I want to go out!"

"Yeah, but you need to rest some more," Kuwabara said with frown. He winced as he heard more crashing. "Though, it might be a good idea to get Sira out of the house for a little bit." Another loud crash resounded from the recesses of the hallway. "Or at least what's left of it."

"If you can get her out," Tori said, "She's determined not to leave me alone in this house."

"Then I'll stay with you then," Kurama said nonchalantly. "I have some reading I need to catch up on anyway."

Tori fell of the sofa in surprise.

Yusuke and Kuwabara burst out laughing.

"Are you okay?" Kurama asked as he stifled a laugh.

"Uh, I'm fine," Tori said with as much dignity she had left. "I'll go find Sira."

Tori trudged toward her room. "I'm coming in so don't throw anything at me," she said as she opened the door.

Sira sat in the middle of her bed positively fuming. "Did I mention," Sira said, her face bright red. "That this dimension sucks."

"Many times," Tori sat on the edge of her bed. "The guys offered to take you out for a little fresh air."

Sira frowned. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself. You'll be driven insane from boredom."

"That's the thing," Tori said as she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, "Kurama said that he would stay with me so I won't be alone."

Sira cocked her head to one side, "Can you handle him by yourself?" Before Tori could protest she added, "Don't think I didn't notice that little bit that happened last week."

Tori let out a sigh, "Geez, Sira, you read too much into everything. Trust me I'll be fine."

"Fine, I'll go." Sira glanced at her friend. "But when you fall in love with him and we get sent back to our dimension, don't come crying to me."

"Sira!" Tori yelled as she threw a pillow at her.


Once they had finally forced Sira to leave, Tori and Kurama returned to the couch.

"You know," Tori murmured, "You really didn't need to stay with me."

Kurama shrugged. "It really isn't much trouble."

Tori glanced at the title of the book in his hands. "Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, eh? Are you trying to relive you're days as a criminal?"

"You've read it?" Kurama asked in surprise.

Tori smirked. "Both Sira and I read it last year in our AP English class. I thought it was really good."

Kurama smiled. "You are one of the few. Most people find his work rather dull."

"Well, I do think the first 150 pages are a little long-winded," Tori admitted, "But the whole concept of seeing the murder through the killer's perspective is really interesting. It shows that there is sometimes a unique reason why a crime is committed. Though Raskolnikov's reason was kind of weird."

Kurama chuckled slightly. "Yes, I do agree with you on that."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes.

Kurama glanced over at Tori. She had a sad thoughtful expression as she stared at the wall. "You're missing your home, aren't you?"

Tori blinked a couple of times before glancing back at Kurama. "What? Am I an open book to you? No, pun intended, of course."

"No," Kurama said, "I just had a feeling."

Tori sighed as she stared at her feet. "Yeah, I miss my home. It's only two weeks till Christmas. Knowing my mom, the house would be cluttered with Christmas decorations."

"So Christmas must be rather important in your family," Kurama said.

Tori laughed. "Are you kidding? Both Sira's family and my family are pretty much Christmas. We go crazy insane with decorations, presents, movies, food, singing, etc. It's practically in our blood." She let out a sigh. "Now, there's a good chance neither one of us are going to have it this year."

Unsure of what to do, Kurama put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

Tori shrugged, "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's not like it's your fault we're here." She let out a sigh as she smiled. "This topic is depressing. I think we definitely need a change in discussion."


An hour later, the others returned.

"Lookie what I bought you!" Sira sang as she dropped something in Tori's lap.

Tori let out a gasp. "You got me a drawing pad!" She squealed with delight as she hugged the pad. "I'm…so…happy…"

"And that's not all," Sira said as she held something else out for Tori.

Tori squealed once again as she snatched the item from her. "Forest green nail polish. I can paint my nails!"

"Tell me that I am a maniacal genius," Sira said proudly.

"You are a maniacal genius" Tori replied.

"Thank you," Sira said as she took a bow.

"I'm glad to see that Sira is back to normal," Kurama said as he approached Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Yep, once she bought a marble notebook. She was the happiest person in the world," Kuwabara remarked.

"I swear, I think she's bi-polar," Yusuke said as he shook his head, "One minute she is ready to kill everyone while the next she is happy and wanting to buy presents."

Two days had passed before Tori was finally free to leave the house. In celebration for this momentous occasion, Sira and she decided to go back to the mall they had visited previously. Since Yusuke and the others were busy attending to their own matters, they were forced to figure out where it was on their own. After forty-five minutes, they finally reached the mall.

"Wow," Sira panted, "That took a lot longer than I thought."

"We could have asked Shizuru for directions but no, you said you knew how to get there," Tori said sarcastically.

"Well, you know that I have a horrible sense of direction so it's your own fault for letting me talk you into it." Sira said cheerfully. "So, where do you want to go first?"

"Let's just browse until we find something interesting," Tori said. She let out a sigh as she let the background Christmas music flow through her ears.

Hark how the bells.

Sweet silver bells.

All seem to say.

Throw cares away

Christ…mas…is…here…

Bring…ing…good…cheer…

Tori frowned. "Sounds like they are having trouble with their stereo."

"That's not the only thing they are having trouble with." Sira said, her voice shaking slightly. "Look at the people."

Tori gasped. Like the music, the people had slowed down as well. "What's going on?" She breathed.

"So you are not affected by time inconsistencies," a deep male voice said from behind them. "How interesting."

Both girls whirled around. Hanging upside down from the edge of the second floor was a giant bat. Its face was human with glowing red eyes and long white hair. It eyed them curiously.

"Who the hell are you?" Sira demanded.

The creature cocked its head to one side. "My, you have a temper for one so little. My name is Akatsuki." He stared at Tori intently. "So, you were the one who was bitten by my minion."

Tori clutched her arm in pain. She couldn't understand why it was hurting so bad.

"Are you alright?" Sira asked.

"Fine," Tori hissed, "my arm hurts like hell, though."

Akatsuki made a clucking sound as he shook his head. "I don't see why they want both of you so bad. You're just humans." Before either could react, Akatsuki swooped down and wrapped its claws around Tori's shoulders. Tori screamed as she was hoisted in the air. Akatsuki flew through the glass ceiling sending shards flying everywhere. In an instant, he was gone.

Everything sped up to normal pace around Sira but she failed to notice. At that moment, she felt as if the world had stopped. Tears trickling down her cheeks, Sira slumped to the ground. "Oh my god," she whispered.


Lights aura: End of the chapter!

Amu: Once again, a cliff hanger.

Lights aura: Anywho, a little funny tidbit, Sira's cooking abilities are actually mine. Supposedly, I can make really good coffee but since I hate coffee, I'm not sure if this is true.

Amu: (shakes head) You really need to learn how to cook.

Lights aura: (nods) Yeah, Hopefully I will learn, eventually. Anyway, please READ and REVIEW!