The next morning, Kurama got up even earlier than Hiei. By the time Hiei awakened, blinking his eyes blearily, he could hear the shower running. In fact, he figured, the shower might have been what woke him up, because when he looked outside, he could see that it was barely light out.
Hiei turned over in bed and tried to get a little more sleep, but it was impossible. Kurama soon stepped out of the shower, one towel around his body, the other around his hair, as usual, and headed over to his dresser. Hiei yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Did you need to get up at this hour?" he mumbled.
"Yes," Kurama said promptly. "It's a long ride to the school that's hosting the competition. And I need to be perfectly prepared. We had a 'dress rehearsal' of sorts yesterday, and the uniform looks better on me than I thought it would. You'll be dressing in my school colors, I trust?"
"What are the school colors again?"
"Blue and white, with a hint of gold."
"Does it look like I have anything in blue or gold?" Hiei snapped. "I've got my white scarf. That's the best I can do."
"Yusuke told me that he and Kuwabara had good outfits, at least," said Kurama. "I told Kuwabara he couldn't wear his blue school uniform, but he said he had something else."
"Is Chizuko coming?"
"Naturally." Kurama smiled. "So is Aratani. In fact, everyone agreed to come. There's a lot of pressure riding on me now."
Hiei couldn't go back to sleep, so he got up to take a shower, too. When he was finished, Kurama was wearing a bathrobe and styling his hair into curls.
"You're wearing curls?" said Hiei. "Why?"
"It's a sign of school spirit," Kurama replied. "Chizuko told me that the cheerleaders with longer hair will often wear curls—if they don't have curly hair already—and tie it with a blue-and-white ribbon. It's rather cute, isn't it?"
"If you say so," said Hiei, looking at the curly ribbon on Kurama's dresser.
After Kurama's hair was curled, a bunch of curly red ringlets bouncing around as he moved, perfectly sculpted and fitting his face, he took off his bathrobe and started getting dressed. Hiei hadn't actually seen the cheerleaders' uniform before, but he had to admit, "Sakura" really did make it look good. It was two pieces and consisted of a blue-and-white pleated skirt with gold trim, a blue-and-white crop top with the kanji for Kurama's school emblazoned on the front, and blue socks with gold trim that reached up to his knees. Hiei helped Kurama tie the ribbon into his curly hair. Kurama reached into a drawer at the bottom of his dresser and pulled out a set of blue-and-white pom-poms, along with a pair of white high-heeled boots that went up to his knees.
"Boots?" said Hiei doubtfully. "Isn't it going to be difficult to perform in those?"
"We don't wear them to actually do the routines," Kurama explained. "They're just for the ceremonial parts of the competition. I've got my gym shoes in the shoe closet downstairs, and my mother even got me some blue-and-white laces to go with them." He put on the white boots and stood up, his hands resting on his hips, the pom-poms at his sides. "Well? How do I look?"
"Honestly?" Hiei grinned. "Like the other schools don't stand a chance."
…
Kurama was definitely nervous for the competition, but just seeing how much faith Hiei and his mom had in him helped a lot. He felt a little too queasy to eat breakfast, so he packed some snacks in his messenger bag that he could eat on the bus if he got hungry. Kazuya and Shizuru would be driving all of their friends (Kurama was grateful to have so many friends and family that they would need two separate cars to fit them all), but Kurama would be riding the bus with the other cheerleaders.
Kazuya would be taking Shiori, Kokoda, Aratani, Chizuko, and Hiei, as well as dropping Kurama off at school. Chizuko and Aratani arrived together just as Shiori was trying to persuade Kurama to at least eat a bit of toast. They were both decked out head-to-toe in the school colors. Chizuko was wearing a white skirt with a blue tank-top, and Aratani was wearing blue leggings with a long white sweater. Even their faces were painted, and both of them had blue-and-white ribbons in their hair. Chizuko kept her hair permed, so it was already curly, but Aratani's normally stick-straight black hair was curled as well. Kurama assumed she'd let Chizuko do it, because leaving Aratani with a hot hair tool couldn't possibly amount to anything good.
"Sakura!" they screeched, running forward to embrace him, and soon enough, all three of them were caught up in a big group hug. Hiei stood waiting on the porch.
"Hello, girls," said Kurama with a grin. "I see you spared no detail with your school spirit."
"Woo! Meiou Private Academy for the win!" Chizuko cheered, snatching Kurama's pom-poms and tossing them in the air. Aratani made to catch them, but she miscalculated by about two feet and would have fallen face-first into the grass if Kurama hadn't caught her at the last second.
"Thanks, Sakura," she said gratefully. "Go Penguins!"
"Penguins?" said Hiei.
"They're our school mascot," Chizuko explained. "Aratani, you know the school cheer, right?"
Aratani grinned. "Let's do it!"
Chizuko picked up Kurama's pom-poms, handed one to Aratani, and the two of them chanted: "Widdle-waddle woo, widdle-waddle wee! We're gonna widdle-waddle all the way to victory!"
"Goooooo, Penguins!" Chizuko finished, shaking her pom-pom in the air.
"This is positively surreal," Hiei commented as he came to join the three of them on the lawn.
"What do you mean?" Aratani asked. "We're just showing our school spirit, Hiei!"
"Yeah, I don't see you wearing any blue or gold," Chizuko added. "Don't you want to support Sakura?"
Kurama thought Hiei was going to mention his white scarf, but he actually looked a little ashamed of himself as he shrugged.
"I don't have anything blue or gold," he admitted.
"Well, the important thing is that Sakura propels our school to victory," Aratani reminded them.
"I don't think we have to worry about that," said Hiei. "You saw her perform the Meiou Monster, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes," said Aratani. "She's already immortalized now."
"I'm going to see the Meiou Monster now too," Chizuko said, her face alight with excitement. Kurama appreciated that she was doing her best to be happy for him, especially because he knew she wished she were the one competing instead. At least her sprain was looking better. She probably wouldn't be able to rejoin the cheerleading squad for a couple of months, but at least it didn't look like she was having much trouble walking anymore.
They had to wait for Kazuya and Kokoda to be ready to go, but after that, Shiori beckoned for the other six to get in her new minivan, which just fit them all. Kazuya drove, with Shiori riding shotgun. Kurama and Kokoda sat in the middle seats, while Hiei was sandwiched between Aratani and Chizuko in the backseat.
Chizuko insisted on drilling Kurama on all the school cheers, and some of the other passengers decided to join in, so that by the time they reached the school, the entire car was singing, "Widdle-waddle woo, widdle-waddle wee! We're gonna widdle-waddle all the way to victory!" Even Hiei was singing it, albeit a little reluctantly, and probably for Chizuko's sake.
Everyone wished Kurama good luck, and with his stomach still feeling sick, he made his way to the school, where the cheerleaders were filing onto the bus. Chizuko looked wistful as she waved goodbye.
…
"I always liked cheerleaders," said Yusuke, climbing out of Shizuru's car. It wasn't new like Kurama's mom's car, which he already saw in the parking lot of the host school. The ride had taken about an hour, and he was starving, but at least he looked sharp in his blue T-shirt and crisp white pants. Kuwabara had actually dressed like a penguin, since Kurama's school mascot wouldn't be coming to the competition, but it was supposed to be a surprise. Shizuru had been driving the rest of the gang, and they all poured out as if the old minivan was a clown car. Kuwabara seemed disappointed that Yukina couldn't make it, but the rest of them pointed out that the situation would have been a little difficult to explain, anyway.
"This must be where we go in, everyone," said Shizuru, who was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white button-down shirt. Everyone followed her into the building, which was packed to the brim with not only cheerleaders from many different schools, but all the friends and family that had come to support them. The first person Yusuke saw that they knew was Hiei.
"Hey! Hiei!" he shouted, noticing that Hiei was holding hands with some girl he'd never seen before. She was pretty enough, with curly, dyed-blonde hair, perfect makeup, and school spirit gear up to the wazoo. "Who's your girlfriend?"
"None of your business, dickhead," said Hiei, turning around. Yusuke couldn't help but laugh as he waded through the crowd. Keiko and Kuwabara were right behind him; people moved out of the way when they saw the giant penguin coming through.
"Come on, introduce us," Yusuke insisted, but Hiei and the girl were already looking at Kuwabara.
"I didn't think it was possible, fool, but you look even more ridiculous than usual," Hiei commented. "This isn't Halloween, you know."
"Are you the school mascot?" asked the girl, looking confused. "Petey the Penguin? I thought he wasn't coming."
"Exactly!" said Kuwabara gleefully. "I'm the substitute school mascot, here to cheer Sakura on!"
"Maybe you need a little refresher on the cheer, then," said the girl. "Ready? Widdle-waddle woo, widdle-waddle wee! We're gonna widdle-waddle all the way to victory!"
"Um…right," said Yusuke. "Have you seen Sakura and the others?"
"I'm not sure where Sakura is because she came in with the other cheerleaders," said the girl. "But the rest of us are nearby. Hey, Aratani! Get over here!"
"Oh, hi!" another girl greeted him as she came to stand next to Hiei and the girl who was with him. "I remember you! You're the one I punched when we were doing self-defense last Tuesday."
"You punched someone?" said the other girl. "The only thing I've ever seen you fight is social injustice."
"Well, I did hurt my hand," she admitted. "Anyway, your name is Yuki, right? You probably don't remember my name—"
"Sure I do," said Yusuke without thinking. He remembered her not from Tuesday evening, but from all the times Kurama had spoken about her. But he knew Kurama wouldn't want her knowing he spoke about her so much. So he decided to just pretend he remembered her from self-defense. "And you're Aratani?"
"Yep!" Aratani grinned. "Aratani Fujisaki. And this is my best friend, Chizuko." She giggled. "Chizuko is Hiei's new girlfriend."
"Oh really," Yusuke teased, drawing out the word. Hiei glared daggers at him, but that only made it funnier. Messing with Hiei never got old. "Well, watch out, Chizuko. He's a little gremlin. But the thing is, while he's got this edgy act going on, he's really just the sweetest little—ouch!"
"Unlike Aratani, my hands don't hurt when I punch you, Yuki," Hiei said coolly. Chizuko seemed to understand that it was all in fun (sort of), but Aratani looked a little frightened again. Yusuke hadn't forgotten how, when she had come to Kurama's house for them to teach her self-defense, Hiei's idea of a lesson was launching a sneak attack from up in a tree.
"Let's just go watch the competition," she suggested, her eyebrows knitted together slightly. "I'm sure Sakura could use our support during her routines."
…
Kurama was slipping on his new gym shoes when he heard Ichika's voice. Along with every other Meiou cheerleader in the locker room, he turned to look at her. She was wearing a slightly different uniform to distinguish her as the captain.
"All right, girls, listen up." Ichika's voice was like a bullhorn. "Today we're going to be the best we can be. Sakura has the Meiou Monster, I have a routine I'm doing on my own, and we have two routines we're doing together. Remember that you're representing our school, and we want to win that charity, so it's important that we rise to the occasion."
"Fight, team, fight!" the other cheerleaders chorused. Ichika looked pleased with herself, and Kurama could see why so many cheerleaders were eager to stand where she stood. She had more than earned her captain position.
"And what are we gonna do?" Ichika prompted.
"WIDDLE-WADDLE WOO, WIDDLE-WADDLE WEE! WE'RE GONNA WIDDLE-WADDLE ALL THE WAY TO VICTORY!"
"Yeah!" Ichika punched her fist in the air. "All right, girls! We're about to be announced!"
"And now," came an announcer's voice from the stage, "all the way from Mushiyori City, Japan…let's give a great big welcome to the Meiou Penguins!"
Starting with Ichika, all the girls ran out single-file onto the stage, waving their pom-poms to wild cheers from the audience. Kurama never thought he would be onstage in front of a roaring crowd, wearing a cheerleader's uniform and holding a pair of pom-poms, but honestly, at least in this type of competition he didn't have to worry about being maimed or killed. He didn't have to worry about running out of demonic energy. He didn't have to worry about anyone immobilizing his arms and legs or beating him up while he was unconscious. And the chances of having to insert a killer plant into his bloodstream to save his life were pretty slim. The routines he'd learned were fairly easy for him; in fact, the first one they were doing rather reminded him of Hiei's plan back when they were fighting the Saint Beasts and they had to get Yusuke up to the window.
Kurama was one of the cheerleaders in the middle of the pyramid, so after some of the others were firmly planted on the floor, he hopped up on their shoulders. Ichika passed him to be the one on top.
Then they started on the cheer:
"Penguins, penguins, we're blue, white, and gold! Penguins, penguins, we leave you ice cold! Penguins, penguins, we make your team freeze! Penguins, penguins, we'll beat you with ease!"
Ichika jumped, did a twirl in midair, and landed gracefully to the floor in the splits.
"We're number one!" she cheered, and shook her pom-poms.
Of course, the routines got more complicated after that. Kurama had to show off a fair bit of all the acrobatics he'd learned, but since he was actually one of the most acrobatic cheerleaders on the squad, he found it doable, and it was actually kind of fun. Once he got a little more used to this new body, he was able to not only excel at, but actually enjoy doing athletic things. It was nice to be able to compete and perform in front of others without having to fear for his life.
Once the routine was over, Kurama went to see his friends and family in the audience.
"Sakura, darling, you were wonderful!" said Shiori, handing him a bouquet of roses. "I know I'm not supposed to give these to you until the end of the competition, but you just did so well—"
"You were always my biggest fan, Mother," said Kurama, giving her a kiss. "Thank you so much."
Aratani and Chizuko swarmed Kurama next, followed by the rest of their friends. Kurama noticed, though, that Yusuke wasn't looking so great, so he beckoned for his friend to speak to him apart from everyone else.
"Are you all right?" Kurama asked, setting one hand on Yusuke's shoulder.
"It doesn't matter," said Yusuke. "I've dealt with worse."
"That's doesn't mean you need to suffer," Kurama said firmly. "What's the matter?"
"My stomach hurts," Yusuke mumbled, rubbing his lower abdomen.
"You're sick?"
"No…it's not that." Yusuke's cheeks turned red. "Listen, I've been living off that Midol stuff since Thursday night. You got any?"
"I'm afraid not, but I've got Advil." Kurama pulled a bottle of pills out of his messenger bag and handed it to Yusuke. "Take two of these. You can wash them down with the free water bottles they have in the lobby. And I would also recommend a trip to the bathroom."
"I don't have gas."
"This time of the month can contribute to gastrointestinal distress," Kurama explained. "You'll feel better."
"All right, all right," said Yusuke. "You know, this PMS shit is so bad, sometimes I wish my period would just come already so I can get it over with."
"Yes, I understand," said Kurama. "Good luck."
"Yeah, I'll need it," said Yusuke. "I'll be suffering in the cafeteria bathroom if you need me. See ya."
After Yusuke left, Hiei went to stand next to Kurama and elbowed him.
"What?" said Kurama.
"I think Yusuke might be right about someone doing this to us on purpose," said Hiei.
"What makes you say that?"
"See that?" said Hiei, pointing to the group of cheerleaders that was scheduled to go onstage next. "That is no accident."
"You've got to be kidding me," said Kurama.