Ride like the Wind
Chapter 14
So comes the full moon…
"Hey, it's Shuichi and Taco!" Yusuke cheered and he patted the cat on the head like he was a dog. The cat hissed and bit his hand. ("It's Paco, you bastard…") "Ack! Make 'im let go! I HATE YOU TACO!"
"Um, Yusuke, you his name is Paco, right?" Shuichi corrected him.
"Whatever. I was just off by one letter anyway…" Yusuke shoved his hands in his pockets. Come to think of it, he hasn't seen Hiei in a while. Oh, crap! What if he drove him to suicide! No! I shouldn't think about things like that! Hiei is not suicidal! …Even if he did say he saw John die right in front of him and loved him like a father and probably wanted to go with him and acted like a whiny little bitch all the time just to piss everybody off… No! Bad Yusuke! Bad! Must... Think... Of something retarded to get me off the subject! Tacos! Yes! Tacos! I… I think I've regained composure.
Shuichi cocked his head questioningly. "Are you feeling all right?"
"…Hiei didn't happen to commit suicide did he…?"
"W… What?"
"You have a lot of herbs!" Yusuke changed the subject to save himself from admitting his overactive imagination often screwed him up. "Are you a health nut now…?"
"Hiei has a fever. I just wanted to get him something so he feels better. Funny. I thought he would have gotten over it by now…"
"A pothole! In an action-packed fanfic like this!"
"If that's what you wanna call it."
"Wait a sec… Fire demons get fevers? Next you're gonna tell me Ice Maidens get colds. And you're gonna make him eat all that? I know Hiei eats a lot, but goddamn!"
"Not all of it. And you don't eat it; you drink it in tea… I also got some of this for myself. I've been feeling a little…" Pause. "…Under the weather lately."
Yusuke sighed in his head. Man, this guy. I swear if they get married… Wait, do they allow that here…? They act like this:
"Hey, I'm gonna be on a business trip. You better take care of the house or I'll come over here and slaughter you and burn thee remains and bury you in the backyard," the Hiei-husband-guy-person-thing growled as he stood in front of the door with a suitcase that was almost twice his size.
"Okay, dear! Have fun! Love you!" the Shuichi-housewife-er… house-husband…?-replied as he... Er, she wiped her-or his-hands on his or her apron. And not just any apron. It was a frilly pink apron. He, arg… She added on a bright smile.
"Yeah, well, I hate you!"
The brightness lost its color. Sadness aura, sadness aura…. Shuichi went back to cooking the freak of nature breakfast which contained a dried up toad, a peach pit, pancake batter, a paper clip, cafeteria food, chewed gum, and that creepy-ass kid from that one Stephen King book.
Long silence.
"Okay. I love you. Only a little."
At that moment, Shuichi cut off his finger. "OMG! Yay! Time for your goodbye kiss!"
"ACK! SHUICI, YOU JUST SLICED YOUR FINGER OFF! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Hiei ran away, dragging his monster suitcase away with him.
What the hell am I thinking…? Yusuke laughed a little at his daydream.
"I'm glad you find feverfew funny…" Shuichi replied, noticing the demon slayer had tuned out.
"Feverfew…?"
"I gotta go." Shuichi stopped right when he ran a few steps. "Tonight's a full moon. This could mean chaos here. A demon slayer like you should watch their back if they don't want to get killed."
"Is it me or are you making less and less sense?"
"Forget what I said."
---
"Hiei, what'd I tell you about getting out of bed?" Shuichi asked the older man the way a mother would scold their child if they didn't clean up after themselves.
"Would you knock that shit off?" Hiei growled. "I'm not going to work since I know you'll be a bitch about it. I'll turn into a vegetable if all I do is lay around in bed all day waiting for my fever to go away. And while I'm still talking, it's just a damn fever! I feel way better right now! Would you quit getting all pissy about it!"
"I'm not doing it annoy you! I know that if you work you'll get worse. And that extra stress over Yukina isn't helping!"
"Well, sorry for having to help put food on the town's tables."
"Ugh…" Shuichi ran a hand through his hair irritably. He turned away from Hiei and started chopping something up for dinner. "If you wanna go out, then go. …Hope you get a heatstroke."
"You just told me to go back to bed. Make up your mind, you fag!"
Oh, that hurt. Really. Shuichi sliced his finger in half at that moment, rage burning inside him. "And what's that make you?" He placed his bleeding finger on Hiei's nose. "You kissed a fag, then."
"You know you're bleeding…"
"I know that!" He smeared the blood all over Hiei's face.
Hiei stared at the red head like he was crazy. "…Yeah… And you know that I'm bi, right?"
"…Okay, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well… I go both ways but I still lean more towards the girls." And with that being said, he walked out like he was on a mission.
Long silence. "AUGH! MY FINGER HURTS LIKE HELL!"
Shuichi, you realize that…
Youko, don't start.
Then let me out. Now. But don't start checking me out while you're away.
Youko, shut up.
Hiei happened to be listening to this telepathically. Either I was right about Shuichi being a demon or the kid's got "another Shuichi" in there. But if there's another in there, then why's there an aura…? But… Doesn't he have a human mother? No, he never said anything like that. So did that guy accuse Shuichi because she's a demon…? No, can't be. If Yusuke and Kuwabara never sensed it, why would an ordinary human be able to…?
Hiei shook his head and scratched his rear as if showing what he thought of that. Whoever this Youko Kurama is, he better not be another one who kills people. Youko Kurama… Like the legendary bandit… Hm…
---
"Rinku! The circus is back in town!" Jin cheered, his ears pointing out. "I've always wanted to go to one! Can we go? Can we! Can we! Say yes! Say yes!"
"Circus? What's 'at?" Rinku asked cocking his head the same way he did whenever he didn't understand something. (It was once joked that he did it to roll his brain over. "If the knowledge isn't on this part, I'll just see if the other side knows the answer.") He put the bananas the man at the inn told him to get rid of down.
"They have shows and animals!"
"Okay, what makes you say it's in town?"
"I saw a gorilla! It has to be from the circus!"
"Gorilla?" Cocks head.
"It has orange hair and black eyes and he's got white skin and a cute little gorilla face!"
Disappointment. He must mean the exorcist guy. He just noticed him just now? "Believe me, Mr. O'Riley, You don't wanna see him."
"Aw… No circus…? And what'd I tell you about calling me Mr. O'Riley! It makes me sound old… You don't call Hiei Mr. Jaganshi…"
"He doesn't deserve the title." Long silence.
"Quick, Rinku! Gimme a banana!"
"Wha… Why?"
"Just gimme one!"
"Don't tell me you're gonna feed that retard!"
"Com'on! Why not? I mean, it's good karma! The gorilla will come back in a time of need and save us!"
"Not that crap again." Rinku crossed his arms and frowned.
"It's not crap! It's just like if you rubbed Hiei's belly you'll get good luck!"
Gasp! "Really?"
"Yeah! Like the little Buddha thing Touya carries around! Only this time you have to endure a fight to the death to touch his belly depending on the mood he's in."
"Cool! I wanna try!"
"Cost you one banana."
Rinku threw one to Jin and ran away.
Jin flew to Kuwabara who was grumbling something under his breath. "Ho, there gorilla man! Wanna banana?" Jin held it out to the exorcist.
"What!" Kuwabara cried with insult. "I'm no gorilla! Go away! I was thinking about the full moon until you came along!"
"Aw… I guess I gotta eat it. No use wasting good food. Hate bananas." He started peeling it.
"You gonna eat that?"
"No. You can have it!" Smile. It's just that I never knew gorillas could talk.
"Bananas are my favorite…" I know a demon's gonna get us. I have to be on my toes if I wanna get to my goal. If only I could fit in my pa's shoes…
Shishi and Suzaku, two fishermen who worked together, were watching the whole thing.
"That's low if he has to go to an exorcist of entertainment," Suzaku grumbled under his breath.
"Really low," Shishi added.
---
"Hey, Hiei!" Rinku waved his arms around as he ran to the older man who appeared to be pouting on the porch. "I hafta hurry 'cause the penguin and Ruka'll be ma if I'm late for dinner."
Hiei stared at him. "What's the rush?"
"Well, I'm gonna need you to stand up…"
"Aren't you a bit young to be pulling that crap?"
"Wha…?" He shook his head. "Come on! Just stand up!"
"Fine." He shot up.
Rinku reached up Hiei's shirt and started rubbing Hiei's stomach, earning himself a stare like he was a psychotic pervert. "You have nice abs."
Hiei smacked him. "Rinku, what the hell!"
"Ow… Jin told me that if someone rubbed your belly that person'll get good luck!" Rinku glanced at the horizon. "Crap! Sunset! I gotta go!"
Hiei sighed. Only Jin would come up with crazy ass crap like that. Maybe I should kill him.
Shuichi burst through the door, half breaking the damn thing off the hinges. "It's sunset!"
"Holy shit, kid!" Hiei screamed. "What's your problem! The sunset ain't goin' nowhere."
"I wanted to watch it. So… I gotta go."
"Okay, what's wrong with going on the roof? You aren't that heavy."
"I need to get herbs before sunset."
"You have enough already."
"Fine. I promised to meet a girl before sunset."
"Just to prove to me you're not gay. That's a good one."
"Would you get over that?" He ran away.
Gotta get my gun. Hiei walked into the house.
---
"Small town. I doubt there's anything I can take. This is boring. How was I able to stand this crap?" the fox demon growled. He had silver hair that shone in the moonlight and fell a little more than halfway down his back. He had large ears that poked through his hair and a matching fox tail. His slightly narrow golden eyes were cold and pierced anything they looked at. He was pale and had a little muscle… This was Youko Kurama.
"Don't you move, Youko Kurama!" a rough voice called to him.
Is that… Is that the energy of a mouse…? Youko turned around to see Kuwabara. Oh, that's just the exorcist. My bad.
"A strong demon like you… Heh heh heh… Must be my lucky day…"
I never realized his voice was so annoying. Please shut up! He looked like someone was scratching a chalkboard.
"So the stories about you are true. (Oh, goddamn you!) Silver hair like moonshine. Cold golden eyes. Seven feet tall. (What, did they tell you my shoe size, too?) Exorcists have been after you for years. Now I've found you."
Oh, god! He's trying to be poetic! Somebody just shoot me now!
Yusuke ran to the exorcist. "Kuwabara! Shut up! And another thing, don't take him lightly!"
"The demon slayer's right. That is… If you don't wanna die," Youko said with a smirk.
"You're dead, fox!" Kuwabara charged a small bottle of holy water in his hand when he was caught in grass that wrapped around his legs. "What…? I... I've seen this before. Wait. You can't be…"
"Shui… Shuichi?" Yusuke gasped. He gathered some courage to take a step closer to the fox. "You can't be. He's human…"
A gunshot was heard. Youko glared at the one who fired the gun. It's that fool Hiei .Better go. And he walked away at his fast pace.
Yusuke was frozen with fear. Hiei, you idiot! Don't point that at him! It's Shuichi! Can't you tell!
"Urameshi! Get me outta this grass!" Kuwabara screamed. "It's tightening… It's... Getting… Hard to… Breathe…"
Yusuke was torn between trying to stop Hiei and saving Kuwabara's life. He watched Hiei ran after Youko as he pulled out a blade he carried in his pocket, an old habit. Don't kill Kurama, Hiei. If you're not over John yet, you're never gonna get over Shuichi.
---
"Hey!" Hiei yelled as he fired at Youko. "Stop right there, Youko! …Or should I say Shuichi Minamino!"
Youko stopped and turned around. "So you've known all along. Well, congratulations. You finally did something intelligent."
"You… How the hell are you still here?"
"Simple. I'm standing."
"I mean, how are you still alive! You're supposed to be dead!"
"Am I really? Who told you that lie? I was shot by a hunter but I never died. So I tell you what happened. I was shot so I ran to Human World to find a body. Shuichi's mom was the perfect one. She was gonna have a baby and at the time, it still had no real soul yet. I basically merged with that soul. But as you can see, we didn't complete merge together. The soul was developing but not quite."
"Why didn't you go back?"
"Why didn't you if you always complain about humans?"
"You first."
"I was going to leave when I got my powers back but that didn't work. Shuichi's soul was okay with leaving until that day. We, or he, was six. Well, he was doing something stupid for school and knocked a jar over when he was getting something off a counter or something. Don't really remember. Well, we fell and just when we thought we were gonna die. His mom saved him. And we found out how attached we really were to her when she fell ill. Happy?"
"I did go back. It sucked. Everywhere I go. Always so many morons. That good?"
"Not at all."
"Get over it. Yours wasn't better. Why were you hanging around so close to Human World?"
"I was searching for treasure. I've heard there was the purest light here. I wanted to see it."
"Light…" Hiei sighed. "I found it. I was about to kill myself as I felt my breath cutting off, I saw light. Before I reached it, Koenma cut the rope. So your search for your light's over. It's not found in life, but in death…"
Death…? No… But still… "I should've known. It would have already been taken if… What a damn disappointment." Youko shook his head. "Well, on that note…"
"Do me a favor though."
"What?" Youko was starting to feel irritated. I hate this guy so much that I want to…
"Kill me."
"What?"
"Kill me. I want to see the light again."
"You're a bigger retard than I thought. I thought you were a toy but…" He shrugged. "You're not any fun if you confuse yourself like that." With that being said, his silver hair turned back to the usual blood red. And the cold gold eyes changed back to the warm emerald eyes.
"…I guess you're right…" Hiei fainted.
"Death… I knew it couldn't be paid." Mother… "Hiei, I told you not to get up, but do you listen…?"
---
Meanwhile…
Jin and Rinku stared at the now freed Kuwabara.
"You're a crappy gorilla, you that?" Jin asked.
"Shut up! I'm not a gorilla! What made you think I am!" Kuwabara screamed.
"You look like one."
"I'll exorcise you!"
"I'm going back to bed." Yusuke walked away. Except now I'm dreaming about suicidal Hiei tacos.
End chapter 14. And goodnight, blue baboon.
Notes:
1. Yusuke's daydream- I couldn't figure out whether Kurama should be a boy or a girl in there so bear with me… Also, yes, they could get married. I'll tell you they just never chose to.
2. Shuichi cut his finger in half but it'll be fine in the next chapter. Plothole!
3. Anything that looks like "this" is spoken in another language. It's understood that everyone else must speak Spanish in here, but Hiei and Kurama speak in English. This is the crap that happens when you don't research this kind of stuff.
4. Shuichi will be called Kurama now! Yay!
And that's it. I know the end must fell rushed, but it worked out. You probably think this is all action. But actually it's different. It goes from action to romance and a little back at action again and then it goes more into history. You'll figure out what I'm talking about later in the fanfic.
Reviews are appreciated! (Sorry I haven't replied yet. I'm going through an email change. By the way, if you wanna have a chat my AIM's mooglymoog92 at aol dot com. And YIM is mooglymoog92 at sbcglobal dot net. Add in correct symbols.)