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That was beyond terrible. Anyway, as I was balancing two trays on each arm with surprising precision (Pop had already threatened me with my life for breaking a whole butt-load of dishes), a boy who looked about my age walked into Pop Taylor's Ice Cream Shopp�. He carried himself with such precision and such grace that I didn't see the group of followers trailing closely behind him until all of them entered and sat down at the booth that my group usually sat at. Yes, at this point, I was already referring to them in a possessive form. This group held themselves like a group of supermodels, noses in the air and chins up, as if they were balancing something on their face and if they moved, it would fall. The one who walked first sat at the head of the table with his back rim rod straight. He was obviously the leader. I hesitantly walked up to this group, keenly aware of my untied shoes and my sloppy hair. Groups like this did that to you. They weren't anything like my group, rambling and laughing and shouting their minds out� oh no, they were much more sophisticated than that. "Welcome to Pop Taylor's!" I said, plastering a fake smile on my face. Okay, so I was uneasy. For some reason, they reminded me of Inuyasha's brother. Kind of� well, all of them were slightly effeminate. The girls were epitome of girls, and the boys looked as if they wanted to be girls. Except one, but I'll explain him later. The boy with a long braid looked me over, gauging to see if I was 'cool' enough to speak to them. I guess I didn't make the cut, because his slightly interested look turned calculating. It was almost as if he could see how much money I had in my pockets�which, at the moment, was a measly ten bucks. Hey, it was my first day. What makes you think I'd get a pay check yet? "I'll be your waiter. My name's Kagome and�" "Cut to the chase," the leader said, throwing me a haughty look. "You must be new here, if you don't know who we are." I wanted to sock Mr. Supermodel in the face. "Really, Naraku," the girl to his left admonished in a silky voice. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's no need to get on the poor boy's case." She flashed me a scintillating smile, then ran her long fingernails against the length of Naraku's arm. The look she was giving me turned predatory. "What Naraku was trying to say is that we already know what our orders are. I'll have a salad." I nodded, writing down their orders on the small notepad that Pop had armed me with. All their orders were light and grease free�well, except the meek boy that sat to the side of the braided boy. Let me tell you about this boy. He didn't fit in at all with this group of supermodels. His beady eyes that were magnified by thick glasses were always darting back and forth expectantly and� he wasn't exactly what one would call 'slender'. In fact, he was rather� round. Another thing about this boy was his lack of hair. It didn't look like he shaved his head� no; his head was smoother than that. He was like Charlie Brown, with exactly four strands of hair combed to the side as if to hide a bald spot. Or in this case, a bald head. "I'll� I'll have a double decker cheeseburger with extra onions," the meek boy informed me. I scribbled the order down. "And... and a large chocolate malt and a medium pizza." The people at the table shared a slightly disgusted look (well, all but the boy with the braid), then turned unanimous looks at� well, the braided boy. "Really, Manten," the braided boy admonished. "All that grease might make you break out." But instead of making fun of the boy, or calling him disgusting, or giving him a disgusted look, he just smiled, then turned to me. My opinion of him tentatively rose higher. "I'll have a cheeseburger, but with no onions or tomatoes. Oh, and a large Coke, please." Manten smiled uneasily, seemingly glad not to be ragged on by the other boy. I was slightly confused, though, as to why he didn't rag on him� "Hmmph," the pretty girl said. "You should speak, Hiten. Cheeseburgers are so unhealthy." Hiten smiled chillingly at the girl. "You're mistaken. You see, I'm getting the same amount of nutrients as you are from your salad with my cheeseburger� if you have dressing on your salad. So, Kagura, I would refrain from commenting." It was my turn to smile uneasily, and I turned to the last person ordering. Then paled. Lounging at the end of the table was Yura of the hair, playing cats cradle and observing me with a smile that suited the game she was playing. Catty. Meeeeow. Chapter Eight: Cat and Mouse By Clara Yura did the intricate twist with her hands, and the strings became limp. She never took that feline smile from her face, and she never, not for one moment, turned away from me. "I'll take the Caesar salad, please," she said. She didn't blink. I wondered how long it would be before she blinked again. Someone could only go so long without blinking before their retinas dry and their eyes fall out. Or maybe that's just me. I'm not a dictionary. Bite me if you think I was going to be the first to break the staring contest. I smiled falsely and nodded at her, then wrote down her order without looking at my pad. When I looked at it later, I would notice that her order overlapped 'Naraku's'� but let me tell you something. I didn't care. As it turned out, I was the first one who was forced to take my eyes from her. I didn't want to, but I could feel Pop's curious gaze at the back of my neck, and in the fear of being yelled at or sent to do dishes, I made a hasty retreat to my safehold. The kitchen. I, of course, didn't miss the predatory remark that escaped from her fanged mouth. "Well well well. This should be fun." * I stayed crouched behind the counter (much to Pop's amusement), until some member of the group called for me or until their food came. Pop could probably tell I was thinking about doing something nasty to their food, because every time I happened to pass her, she gave me this strict warning look. In all, me waiting on this group became like a storybook. There was a middle, there was an end, and in between there was a plot that went from stage one to stage a billion, then finally to the climax. Let's start with stage one. Stage one: I brought them their drinks. I balanced the heavy tray nimbly, dodging around tables and people and, surprisingly, Professor Myouga. Let me tell you, he turned up in the weirdest places. "Hello, Kagome," Myouga greeted with practiced grace. "I didn't know you worked here." "Yeah, new job. I didn't know you ate here." So I was delaying serving our new antagonists. Bear with me; they were scary. "I used to teach Pop when she came to St. Bernard's." I blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked� well, one more time. Can you sense my confusion here? "Uh� did Pop get a sex change, or something�?" "Waiter?" Hiten called, sounding slightly bored. Professor Myouga laughed a hearty laugh, shaking his head. "No, no. I worked at St. Bernard's School for Special Girls before I worked at the boys' school. Would you believe that Pop excelled in literature? She would have made a wonderful author. I wonder what caused her to pursue business in culinary?" I was surprised. Pop didn't exactly come off as the 'writer' type to me. "Waiter!" His voice became more insistent. "I did not know that!" I continued, ignoring Hiten. My arm was starting to get tired. Professor Myouga's eyes darted toward the group and he sighed. "Kagome�" was all he said, but I got the picture. "All right, all ri�" "WAITER!" I high-tailed it back to their table, before they complained to Pop. Frowning at Hiten, even though he was the only one (besides Manten), who's presence I could stand, I carefully set the tray on the table that no one was sitting at and served each person their drinks. Yura smiled eerily at me, then took her drink and sipped from it. Then frowned. "This isn't the drink I ordered." Automatically, I grabbed her drink. "I'll get you another one," I murmured, then quickly started to walk off. "Remember, I ordered a Dr. Pepper!" she called to my stiff back. I didn't acknowledge her, and continued to walk. Stage two was when I returned with Yura's drink. Kagura was observing me with a now reinterested look. "You seem to be awfully familiar with Yura," Kagura idly said as I sat the drink in front of the aforementioned. "Are you two, perhaps, going out?" Yura laughed uproariously at that, and I blushed slightly. "No, no. I'm single." I quickly reassured her. Kagura looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned. "That's good! That means you're free for grabbing!" Wow. Talk about digging yourself even deeper. Yura, for some reason, thought this was even funnier. Stage three consisted of two parts: me serving this odd group, and Inuyasha and the others deciding they were hungry. This was the climax. They entered Pop's right when I was balancing the food on my left hand. I almost dropped the tray. I wish I did. Sango took one look at the direction I was heading, then got this really ugly expression on her face. The others followed her gaze, and their reflections mirrored hers. Naraku's group saw mine, and their faces turned evil and grimacing. I stood in the middle of these groups, highly out of place. "Uh, hi you guys�" I greeted, shifting from foot to foot. My, this tray was heavy� "Hello, Kagome," Sango greeted in this monotonous voice. Here's where I became more uncomfortable. Sango never sounded monotonous. I glanced at Miroku. He knew everything. Involuntarily, I took a step back. Miroku looked positively murderous. "Here, Kagome�" Miroku said, his voice saccharine sweet. "Let me help you lighten that tray of yours." He cleared the distance we had between ourselves in two steps, grabbing the refill of the chocolate malt Manten had ordered. He smiled viciously, then turned it upside down over Hiten's head. Oh boy. I watched in horrified fascination as glops of the sweet liquid dropped from the cup and into Hiten's lovely hair. No one in the vicinity moved� they just stared. I turned my head marginally to glance at Pop. She was shaking her head with a slightly tired look on her face, implying that she most likely got this a lot. You know when you're watching a movie and you really love the special effects, you press pause and then fast forward and everything moves in slow motion? Or how about when the movie does that itself for you, and then focuses on this one solitary object (in this case, the chocolate malt being emptied on Hiten), and then BOOM! everything moves at rapid pace again? That's what happened right then. For a moment, everyone was too shocked to move. Then Hiten let out this animalistic growl and launched himself and Miroku's throat. They came sailing into me, and up went the tray. And what comes up must come down, so says the law of gravity. And since the tray and its contents still followed this law, pizza and burgers and salad came raining down on us like a colorful blizzard. I got doused in orange soda, and as attractive as Inuyasha was, half of a burger did not suit him well. I let out a small yelp and quickly scrambled to my feet, dancing away from the brawling boys and unsuccessfully trying to clear the sticky solution from my eyes. I blinked repeatedly, able to clear my eyes just in time to see Inuyasha catch Naraku in this beautiful tackle. Customers everywhere were shooting to their feet and quickly rushing from the restaurant, throwing wadded up bills on the table as they ran. At least they had the decency to pay. I turned to ask Sango just what the hell was going on, but she had just stormed over to Kagura's side and socked her roughly in the face. Yes, people, our sweet and innocent Sango punched someone who wasn't named Miroku. This someone, unfortunately, would not go down with a fight, and mimicked Inuyasha's move by tackling my dark haired friend. Needless to say, my other friends quickly joined this fight, and I privately wondered if what I was watching was a couple of gangs beating the living hell out of each other. If someone took out a knife... "Hey!" I shouted over the mayhem. "HEY! Listen to me!" Of course, that didn't stop them. I glanced at Pop again, thanked the lord that she wasn't calling the police, then launched myself at the two nearest brawlers. Somehow, I successfully pried Miroku and Hiten apart, and somehow I successfully kept them apart. I think it was the accusing glare I shot at both of them, because lord knew I wasn't strong enough to hold either of them, let alone both. "Listen, you guys, if you want to fight, TAKE IT OUTSIDE!" I shouted the last part, sounding more than a little 'annoyed'. "If you destroy anything, do you REALLY want to be working here with me for Pop?" I think my statement sunk in rather well, because all twelve some brawlers sprung away from each other guiltily. All of them gave me a sheepish but defiant look, well, all besides Naraku. He was supporting a rather unattractive puffy eye, and I bet ten bucks that it was going to turn into a black eye by tomorrow. Standing up to my full height (an amazing 5'4"! Thrill!), I looked down at them in the way my mother looked down at me when I did something wrong when I was younger. The defiant look in each teenager's eyes faded away, and they did the whole 'oh-shit-what-have-I-done' turn around. Pop sighed, circling around the counter to give each kid a slightly patronizing look. She sighed again, then folded her arms over her stomach and shook her head. "Thankfully, you boys didn't damage anything. However, you DID probably give the grapevine a big boot to the butt with all this chaos you've created." She frowned. "I won't have you pay for any of these damages.. BUT.." There was that ominous 'but'. "But... that lot of you will stay here to clean up this mess. I'm old, my back isn't what it used to be, and lord knows I cannot deal with this entire mess by myself. Here begins the end of this little story. As everyone spread around to pick up pieces of food and over turned chairs (once in a while dodging offended whaps from the people who had braved the fight to finish their delicacy), I approached Miroku. He was the start of the fight, and I deserved an explanation. So I cornered him into one of the booths and glared with all I was worth. "Explain." Miroku scowled with equal ferocity back at me. "Hiten deserved it." "That's nice. Why?" I asked. "He messed around with Sango's head and body for an entire month, then dumped her for the first woman he saw." My hands flew to my mouth, and all the little respect I held for Hiten fled in a hurry. "He.. he.. he raped her?!" Miroku fell off the table he was sitting on. "Christ, Kag! Don't jump to conclusions! Sango would never let it get that far..." Immediate relief flushed over me, and I kicked him lightly in the ribs. "Thanks for making it sound that way, bud." He groaned and grabbed his ribs. "Clarify." "Ask her yourself." He sounded offended. I didn't mean to kick him that hard. Sighing, I hauled him to his feet, then looked around for Sango. What I saw was Inuyasha dump the remnants of a root beer float on Naraku's head. Is it possible for one story to have two climaxes? * "What happened between you and Hiten?" "That's a long story that I'd rather not get into," Sango said, carefully choosing her words. We were walking away from Pop Taylor's alone and I finally had the chance to talk to her. I waited for her to continue. Nine times out of ten, when a girl says she didn't want to 'get into' anything, they would end up spilling the coffee beans two minutes later. A minute passed. Fifty-five seconds. And five. Four. Three. Sango shifted nervously, eyeing me out of the corner of her eye. I kept waiting, not making use of my vocal chords. Two. And one. Sir, we have connection. "He... basically just played with my heart, led me to believe he really loved me... you know, the whole wishy-washy problems of the average teenager. I didn't expect Miroku to react so violently, though." She said in a rush. Her cheeks turned pink, and she quickly turned her gaze away from mine. "I thought I loved him too. Then he dumped me, and I got on with my life." We walked in silence, me offering my silent sympathy, and Sango silently accepting it. "What about Inuyasha?" I asked after our exchange of sympathy. "Why did he attack Naraku?" "There's a deep seeded hatred between them that no one really knows about except Miroku. Inuyasha doesn't really trust anyone enough to explain this hatred. Maybe he'll tell you one day." "I could only wish he trusted me that much." We continued to walk. "I think part of the reason is also because they're also our rival baseball team, as mundane as that sounds." Well, that explained the two groups' mutual hatred. Yura followed me. I didn't know this until later. We got to the bus stop and I bid Sango goodbye, after warning her to never come visit me again at work. She laughed and told me she'd be there tomorrow, and then she was on the bus and gone. I started walking again. I wasn't entirely sure where I was walking, or why I was walking, but I just was. Walking did a lot for me. It let me think, and I had a lot to think about right now. Unfortunately, the usually fortunate aspect of my walking meant that I was alone. This, at the moment, wasn't exactly what you would call the safest thing. Especially when a single strand of hair appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around my wrist. I let out a small shout of surprise and turned around quickly, my eyes scanning and analyzing the darkened streets. The strand of hair that just attached itself to my wrist ran parallel to the other strand of hair... only this time, it was so much more tighter. I wiggled the tips of my fingers, then yanked on the strand of hair with all my might. Hair grows. Just thought I'd like to share that. I picked myself up again after falling rather unceremoniously on my rear, and to my great and utter SHOCK (notice my sarcasm, here), Yura appeared. She grinned at me toothily. "How.. how.." I started, my eyes huge. I was a little scared, okay? "HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO THAT?! I mean, make the hair grow and stuff.. and how come no one else can see it? I mean, man.." Okay, so when I'm scared, I babble. Yura blinked at me a couple times, then frowned. "You can see it? Weird. My daddy's a scientist, and he made this awesome little invention for me." She held up a comb. "Inside of it has about a mile long length of 'hair', all coiled up in this miniaturized spindle. I just press this little button, and hair shoots out from the teeth of the comb. The hair's not real, though. It's made out of a material stronger than that." She paused. "Why you can't see it is because it was dipped in an invisible ink. Nifty, huh?" "And.. how do you control the hair?" I was a bit dumbfounded. Something didn't exactly ring true to her story, and by the way she quickly spat out the next few words, I knew she was lying about something. Hey, I was a big fat liar myself, so I was practically pro when it came to seeing if someone else was lying or not. "That's none of your damn business!" Hm. I was in a messy situation. Obviously, this girl was a couple cookies short of the dozen, and she had me ensnared in this weird.. 'hair' thing. What would I GIVE for a huge thing of scissors right now.. So we were standing there, a couple feet apart from each other, me examining Yura thoughtfully, and Yura thinking about what she would do with me. I idly wondered if she was going to kill me. "You know.." Yura said, smiling suddenly. "I know everything." I turned a nice pasty color. Hey, you would too. I mean, give me a BREAK! Two people find out about my... 'crossdressing' in one day! If Miroku told her... "A-about wh-what?" I stammered out, taking a step back. The hair followed. "You're a girl." Oh. My. Lord. "H-h-how.." I blinked, then shook my head rapidly. "You're full of shit." "No, YOU'RE full of shit. Walking around like a boy when you're so damn obviously a chick." Someone needs to call 9-1-1. I think I just had a heart attack. "Y.. you haven't told anyone, have you?" Yura shook her head, and that cat-like smile reappeared on her lips. "No, no, and I don't think I will. I think I'll keep you as my own little secret. More fun that way." Oh dang. I now had an insane girl that was in my rival group have bribe material on me. I do believe, Watson, we could call this 'deep-shit material'. * I got to my dorm to Inuyasha sitting on my bed. Boy, today was filled with interesting surprises. Being that I was still in shock about Yura, I hardly blinked at Inuyasha. Instead, I closed my door, then turned around and leaned against it, examining the back of his ebony head. He continued to look at the sky through my window, resting on the palms of his hand. I could sense an aura of tiredness around him, and no, I'm not some insane Jackie Chan man and could read aura's or something. I could just.. well, tell he was tired. "Hey," I greeted. I couldn't exactly keep the small tremble from my voice. "Why are you sitting the.." CRASH! Inuyasha ended up flat on his face. "Oh damn! I'm sorry, man!" Quickly, I rushed to his side and hauled him to his feet. How the hell could I forget that happened to him when I said 'sit'? What a way to ruin a moment. "Dumbass!" Inuyasha grumbled, but a bit half heartedly. He brushed the dirt from his nose and glared at me. Then sighed. "I guess I deserved that, though. Hey, Kag." "Hm?" "Look, I'm sorry about today at Pop's.." he started, still frowning. "But me and Naraku have a kind of.. history between us." I waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. Well, that proved that HE wasn�t a girl. I had to chuckle at myself at that. Boy, was I a moron sometimes. I sat beside him on my bed. "It's no prob." "The other's are sorry, too. They're a bit to broken and stuff to walk all the way to your dorm, though, so Miroku sent me." I shook my head in faint disbelief. I loved Miroku sometimes. "Hey.. Kagome..?" His voice sounded so curious and he was looking at me so intently that my heart skipped a beat. Don't tell me.. don't tell me HE knew too..! "..Y-yeah..?" Miroku wouldn't have told him, would he have? "...What's..." he paused, then looked over to the bed beside mine. "What's wrong with Hojou?" Oh. Ahahahaha. I looked over at Hojou's bed, then grinned triumphantly. The other boy was curled up on his side, half his face covered with a thin sheen of sweat. The other half of his face was buried in the pillow that I had coughed all over. Revenge... was SO sweet. .:end chapter eight:. Author notes: I'm not sure if I will be including oni's or youkai to this story. I'm not sure if Yura's an oni or youkai. The last book I read was 'The Fight Club' by Chuck Palahniuk. I LOVE that book.. This chapter is dedicated to Elly and Zo. |