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A Little Laughter	By : UKImouto Category: Yuyu Hakusho > General Views: 2397 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
I sacrificed a few night�s
sleep to get this one done, now that school is officially back in session. I am
indeed actually enjoying the majority of my classes. Three of four ain�t bad,
ain�t bad at all. Don�t be surprised to see a little of my Meteorology or
Sociology lessons seep into my tale�I tend to do that.

I would like to thank my
new reviewers, and the old, again for supporting my story. I would like to
reiterate that this story is not an autobiography. Although this is based on
myself a great deal, and on many of my own demons, several things have been
exaggerated beyond their actual scope in reality.

Thank you to Risk Draka
and Jessi Jaganshi for their excellent words of encouragement, I truly
appreciate them.

Just to let ya�ll know, my
parents are both still alive and neither
of them were entirely like the mother and father described by Rei. This is,
again, an exaggeration of Rei�s condition. My father was military (and gone for
hell�s days on end) but he rarely fights with my mother (in fact, rather avoids
her like the plague�my mum can bark any man down). My mother is almost the
exact opposite of the woman described as Rei�s mom, as powerful and outspoken
as any person I�ve ever known.

And later, I will describe
my brothers, Matsu and David. In this story, David is dead (as is the dad) and
Matsu is�well, you�ll find out. But, anyway, David in real life is a sweet lil
angel of a 12-year-old, loves YYH as much as I do (we attempt to write fan fics
together, because he�s dyslexic). And Matt�^^;; I�m actually kinda scared of
him, so let�s not get into him.

Disclaimer: I don�t own
YYH or any of the music presented here. Some of the story is based on true
events.

Chapter 10: Home?

�You realize I�m
disappointed in you, Rei,� Kamiya-san said as soon as I entered his office,
Shuichi on my heels. We didn�t even have to drag another chair in this time�I
guess they were expecting him this time. I sat in the comfortable black chair
and smiled toothily at the doctor.
�Do the words �I�m in
hell� mean anything to you?�
�Rei, I realize that
you�re mother�s death is very hard on you��
�That ain�t the worst of
it,� I said, chirping cheerfully. �I just found out that every single last one
of the people who died in my life, really died without any help from my demons.
Isn�t that something?�
Kamiya-san blinked slowly.
�Well, that is a bit of news. How did you come to that conclusion, Rei?�
I stuck my tongue out at
him. �I�m not telling.�
�Rei�� He said, his tone
warning.
�My demons told me so,� I
said brightly. Kamiya-san sighed, placing his hand delicately to his forehead.
�At least that is one
delusion banished,� he muttered under his breath. I hadn�t been meant to hear
it, but I had. He smiled as he lifted his head up. �You are making progress,
Rei, whether or not you believe it.�

Oh, I believed it, all right. And it had nothing to do with him, which made me
so happy I felt like bouncing in my seat. One little thought entered my mind to
halt all smiles.
�But�wait a second��
�Hm?� Kamiya-san looked up
from where he was taking notes.
�If my demons didn�t kill
those people�and definitely not my mother�then who the hell killed my mom?!�
�The police are
investigating it now, around the clock, Rei,� Kamiya-san said, placing a hand
on my shoulder. I tensed under the touch and drew back against the armchair.
Kamiya-san, not noticing that the touch was irritating me more instead of
soothing me like he�d planned, continued on anyway. �They will find out who
murdered your mother. In the meantime, you will still have my care and you will
live, so long as they permit, with Shuichi and his family.�
I nodded, still rigged
against my seat. I hated being touched
by other people. It was something that had dredged into me since the day
Michael and Sevon died. I couldn�t take the fact that my demons would hurt
anyone I got close to. Even though I now knew that to be false, I still
couldn�t stop the cringe from Kamiya�s touch.
�I�I guess I can be�I
guess I can tolerate that,� I said, shrugging his hand off my shoulder and
curling my feet into the seat. �Can I go now? I still�� I glanced off to the
side, opposite from where Shuichi sat silently. I still had to get my things
from my room in the house. Shuichi had brought what things I had packed
already, but he couldn�t know what things I wanted.
No one knew me well enough
to know what I wanted.
I don�t even know half the
time what I want. I want so many things, and yet I thought for the longest time
that I simply couldn�t have them. I wanted to draw my demons out, draw them on
paper, let other people see them. I wanted people to know my
resident demons as well as I knew them.
But�I�d always been
terrified of the consequences. Who would die next? Would they kill me? The
simple fact that Dirken had little more control over my waking life than any
normal spirit was a revelation. One I would need to get used to and, slowly,
try and begin the cycle of trust again.
Trust and friendship.
Oh, gods,
what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Kamiya-san sighed and
gained his feet. �I believe it would be best if Minamino-san accompanied you to
the house. I will contact the police. They will allow you inside, but you
mustn�t take any more than what you need right now, Rei.�
I cocked my head to the
side, questioning.
�The house will be yours,
of course, once the police have combed it for evidence and cleaned it up.�
I swallowed hard, but
nodded all the same. A house. The entire thing was mine. What the hell was I
gonna do with a house? I mean, live in it, sure, but I hadn�t planned on
staying here forever. I wanted to move to America one day. Live in Orlando, and
work at Disney, maybe. Or maybe I�d draw for a manga company. I�d stay here, in
a nice little apartment all to myself, and close myself out from society to
just draw all day long.
Draw all day long.
I sighed inwardly,
dreamily, at the wonderful idea.
And yet, there was
something missing to my perfect picture of my life. Something not quite there
that I needed. I needed it. I didn�t know quite what it was, though, so I had
no way of placing it anywhere in my perfect little vision.
Shuichi startled me from
my thoughts. I hadn�t even realized that we�d boarded the bus again, headed for
my house. He hadn�t spoken; I hadn�t spoken. We were in a comfortable silence
that I would have allowed to go until we had long reached and left my house
again.
I guess Shuichi hadn�t
planned on that at all.
�My mother agreed that you
will live with us until your house has been cleaned up some,� he said.
�Kokoda-kun will move into my room with me and you can have his room.�
I shook my head fervently.
�No, no, I don�t want to displace anyone! I�ll sleep on a futon in the living
room.�
�My mother will not allow
that, you know.�
�I�m stubborn enough for
your mom,� I said, crossing my arms.
Shuichi chuckled. �I will
surely like to see you try and argue her down on this sort of thing.�
�Is that a challenge?�
�If you wish to take it as
such.�
I growled. �I hate these
stupid games of yours! Talk normal!�
He only laughed as the bus
neared my usual stop. I smiled, too, but it faded as we neared my house. It was
still surrounded by yellow investigation tape. A few inquisitive heads were
trying to sneak a peak into the crack between the torn white curtains. A police
officer shooed them off as the bus pulled to a stop. The officer smiled
toothily at us. It was the same guy who had pulled me back from my mother�s
mangled corpse. Now that I really looked at him, he looked nothing like a
police officer.
His uniform was clean and
pressed to firmly, the creases in his pants way too prominent. He was
middle-aged, but still had all his coarse black hair brushed like a teenager�s
back with some gel or mouse or something. A pair of square glasses slid down to
the very bottom of his tiny nose, his eyes far too large and bright to be fully
Japanese. Had it not been for the badge and all the gear at his waist, I would
have taken him for an American military fellow, dressed for Halloween.
�Sorry to have made you
wait to get your things, but you gave us all a good scare,� the officer said,
smiling broadly. �I�m Officer Jun Hitchcock.�

Yup, definitely a halfling like me. �I�m sorry for my behavior, Hitchcock-san,
I really wasn�t myself��
�Oh, not to worry,
Galis-san, I�m used to all kinds of reactions by now. Although, this is the
first time I�ve had someone barge past all security measures like that.�
I�m sure you could have
used my face as an airplane beacon.
�Well, I�m sure you�d
rather hear how the investigation is going,� Hitchcock smiled and drew his arm
around my shoulder. I cringed away from the contact, my panic-mode on high
alert. Everything in me, even without Michael�s pendant (Shuichi hadn�t
returned it yet), was screaming to get away. Hitchcock smiled easily and let my
shoulders go again, though he seemed more to be searching for the key to the
house than giving me comfort for the way I�d acted. �Right, Galis-san?�
�Er�yeah��
�For the most part, we�ve
got a few clues from different things that the murderer touched around the
house,� Hitchcock said. �We�ve also narrowed down the weapon to several small explosive devices. We haven�t yet been
able to determine exactly how he or she accomplished this, because for the most
part it seems impossible. The wounds seemed to come from inside�which
is, of course, impossible.�
Hitchcock chuckled as he
led the way through the hallway. Most of the glass had been picked up, and the
memorabilia shattered and broken had been thrown away or taken as evidence or
whatever. I had no interest in police detective work, so I had no idea what it
took to do an investigation like this.
I really wanted to take
part in finding my mother�s murderer, but of course, they weren�t going to let
me. Hitchcock and Shuichi both waited outside my bedroom door, just discussing
the finer points of what was going on in my house. I tuned them both out and
started packing my things into the bag that Shuichi had handed me, somehow
miraculously from nowhere.
I packed a few more
clothes, like my winter school uniform and the extra underwear and stuff I
would need. Shuichi had politely pointed out that one of the lady cops had
packed those back up for me when I�d passed out. I grabbed my CD collection�a
small variety of discs that varied from pop and rock to country and oldies.
There were heavy metal discs and punk, gothic and a spattering of American
gospel. I wasn�t choosy on the music I listened to. It was the words that
inspired me. I hadn�t told Shuichi this, but when I was alone on the bus,
supposedly doing homework, I was more likely drawing.
I was drawing the people
on the bus, quickly sketching the buildings and the street as we drove by. I
sketched the street fights that most people ignored, the names and graffiti
etched temporarily on the backs of the seats I sat in.
Those sketch books, my
colored pencils, and my other supplies were what I was really after. That and
the little portfolio of finished pieces that I kept secret, kept safe from
every other prying eye. I glanced out at Hitchcock and Shuichi, and found them
engrossed in conversation. I reached behind the back of my American-style bed
and carefully undid the tape holding the folder there. Smiling, I safely placed
it within the pages of one of my textbooks that I�d forgotten, the math book.
It was big enough that all corners of the folder were secure within the pages.
I shut the bag with a loud click, alerting the two boys to the fact that I was
finished.
�Got everything you need?�
Hitchcock asked.
�Yes. I won�t need to come
back until after the house is clean.�
Hitchcock nodded, smiling.
�That�s good, then, I�ll let the department know.�

He escorted us, almost in a rush, out of the house and locked it up tight.
After almost shoving Shuichi and I under the yellow tape, he tipped his head in
a short bow and left without saying another word.
�D�you get the feeling he
didn�t want to stick around and talk to me?� I asked, shifting the heavy bag to
my other hand. �At first, he was all up in my face, and then once we were in
the house, it was like he was a totally different person.�
�It was very peculiar,�
Shuichi agreed, tilting his head in thought. I sighed and headed back to the
bus stop to wait on the next one. �Rei, you shouldn�t be trying to carry
anything heavy with your feet like that.�
I smirked, throwing back a
grin. �Eh, my feet healed a long time ago, Shuichi. You�ll find I always heal
pretty quick. Dunno why.�

Shuichi sighed. �You only cut your feet a few days ago, Rei, there is no
possible way that cuts like those healed that quickly.�
I shrugged and set the bag
down at the bus stop. I sat down on top of it, careful to keep the majority of
my weight resting on my feet. �Since when are you concerned about my feet,
anyway? Damn hospital nearly pestered me to death about my feet and the nurse
nearly had a heart attack when she saw them. How long was I there, anyway?�
�You were admitted only a
few hours after the incident, and you didn�t wake up until a day and a half
later. When I asked you to go back to sleep, you stayed that way for another
day and a half.�
�Basically, I slept three
days away,� I said, smirking. �Wow, advanced math. When are they gonna let me
start teachin� quantum physics?�
Shuichi chuckled. �I don�t
believe you are quite learned enough for that particular course. Although,
English may suit you very well, Galis-san.�
I nearly fell over. �How�d
you know I was good in English?�
�There are very few
Japanese students who would be able to see the depth and irony of Poe�s The
Raven, the way you did,� Shuichi said. �I
merely assumed.�
�I just don�t see how
anybody could say the raven killed him when the damn bird was still sitting on
the bust of Pallas,� I said. �I mean, there doesn�t have to be a third party.
He could have just killed himself, too, got too nutty by staring at the bird.�
�Then why didn�t you
suggest that solution instead?� Shuichi glanced up as the bus approached, but I
heard the added, though silent, comment that followed.
Instead of drawing attention to yourself and your past?
�I thought the other was
more original,� I said, which was true. Not many people suggested a demon. Of
course, not many people had personal dealings with demons to prompt that sort
of solution, either.
When we got to Shuichi�s
house, Shiori-san and Hatanaka-san drew me aside for discussion of the living
conditions of the household. In the kitchen, as dinner cooked, I argued that I
would sleep in the living room on a futon. Shuichi left oddly sometime during
the conversation, but I hardly noticed it.
Shiori-san and
Hatanaka-san refused to allow me to sleep in their living room, despite all my
arguments. In the end, I relented to sleeping in Kokoda-kun�s room, though I
was furnished with my own futon as Kokoda-kun moved his own to Shuichi�s room.
It was that night that the entire Hatanaka-Minamino family and I sat down at
their kitchen table for all formal introductions and rules and, what I dreaded
most, dinner.
�From now and until you
leave, Rei-chan, you are a part of our family,� Hatanaka-san said, smiling at
me as though he�d just adopted a new daughter. I nodded, trying to fight up a
smile back on my nervous face. �As such, you will need to conform to the same
house rules that Shuichi-kun does. Your curfew is eleven at night, and we wish
to know where you are going and when you will be back. Keep in mind that this
house is full of men, and that you will need to knock before entering any room
but your own.� He chuckled at some inward joke.
I nodded, already trying
to keep up with a truck-load of rules that I had never had to conform to in my
life. My father had never been strict�hell, he�d never been home. He was
American military and was always gone for that and when he was home, he was
fighting with mom or asleep. I�d never had a curfew�I�d never had a reason to
be out late in the first place. Mom usually just knew I was going on another of
my long bus rides because I would get in this sort of mood. I went to school
and I went to my appointments, and beyond that, I was at home, listening to
music.
For everyone else�s sake,
I never listened to music on anything other than a personal CD player.
Sometimes I locked my bedroom door when I wanted to draw�not even my mom knew I
drew. Only the demons.
I even had my own bank
account, where mom had always put a two thousand yen allowance once a week. I
had never used it, except for the occasional CD. I was sure I probably had
enough for a good two years of college in there.
�And you will be assigned
a family chore, of course,� Hatanaka continued. �We usually do the cooking and
cleaning in shifts around here. Shiori and I both work, so I will be sure that
our contact information goes to the school. Am I forgetting anything, Shiori?�
Shiori-san smiled at her
husband and then at me. �Just remember that you can call this home, even when
you move back to your house, Rei-chan. Make yourself comfortable as possible.
Okay?�
I nodded slowly, and
sipped at my green tea. It was plain, without the honey I was used to, but I
drank it politely just the same. So it was a little more bitter�so what? I had
learned to like what was put in front of me, irregardless. Money was tight in
the house, with my mother and I. Or so I had thought. So why had my mother
continued putting my allowance in at the bank? She must have known, getting the
bank statements every month, that I barely even spent five or six percent of it
every year. She�d done it the same way since even before I was born. It hadn�t
been put to my name until I was fourteen, of course, but I�d been allowed to
get whatever I wanted with it.
I�d never wanted anything
but CDs. I got my �art supplies� from a local hundred-yen shop that always
seemed to have it on sale when I came in. Once, I even won a year�s supply of
sketchbooks just for being the six hundred thirteenth customer. Those
sketchbooks had lasted me for nearly four years.
I helped Shuichi wash and
dry the dishes after supper, both of us silent as the others went into the
living room to watch television. After the last dish was dry, I glanced at
Shuichi, questioning where the damp wash towel should go. He led the way into
the room at the very end of the hall, which turned out to be a laundry room.
�Do you remember when I
asked Botan to find out what an Origin demon is, Rei?� Shuichi asked quietly as
he took the small wash towel from me and placed it almost too deliberately in
the basket of white laundry.
�Yeah�why?�
�Tomorrow, several things
are going to change,� Shuichi said, his green eyes narrow against the dim light
of the laundry closet. �I apologize for getting you involved in my affairs. It
appears that part of your suffering is an indirect fault on my part.�
I blinked, confused.
�Wha�Wha�dya mean?�
�It will be explained
tomorrow. For now, go to sleep.�
�Oh, now you order me
around?� I asked, halfway teasing and halfway serious.
�No. It is merely a
request. It is, however, nearly ten o�clock, and we have to rise early for
school in the morning.�
I smiled sheepishly and
nodded. �Okay, yeah.�
He brushed past me, ever
so slightly, as he headed toward the room he now shared with Kokoda-kun. I
stopped at the entrance to my room, and paused briefly. �Um�g�night, Shuichi.�
�Good night, Rei. Pleasant
dreams.�

And I did have pleasant dreams, the pendant absent for yet another night.
***
Some notes:

*Yeah, realizing that the demons really hadn�t killed
Michael was a real revelation when I did realize it. ^^;; Very bizarre day,
that was. I just kinda wandered around until I bumped into me mum and nearly
had my feet rolled over in the confusion. (My real mom is in a wheelchair.)

*I really don�t have any real interest in police
detective work, so beyond what I might have seen in movies, I have no idea what
a crime scene would look like or if someone like Rei would be allowed to
take her things the way she did, even if the place had been searched and taken
in for clues and stuff already. So my descriptions here may or may not be
accurate, and since it is in Japan, a step away from the American police
depictions we see in movies, I can�t be sure if anything is really accurate any
more. >_<

*I really do heal very quickly. A cut like the ones Rei got
on the bottom of her feet would likely be completely healed within two weeks;
Walking within three days is nothing.

*Since we have very little idea of what Kurama�s life at
home is really like aside from his �perfect student� image, I decided to juggle
around with some of my own experiences with families like the Hatanaka-Minamino
household. Rules set down would be the first thing I would think of for a house
that came together with two stepbrothers from either side and a widowed woman
and I�m going to assume that Hatanaka was a widower. A white-collar man like
him would most likely want order and cleanliness, and would want to immediately
integrate a person like Rei into his home. Shiori, being considered kind and
generous, would most likely be the obedient sort of wife. Sooo�what yeh see is
just my speculation. ^^;; Is what I�m trying to say.

*My own mother kept a bank account for me, adding twenty
dollars to it once a week for several monthss and then leaving it alone. When I
came into it, it had only about a thousand dollars in it. XD Soooo�if someone
put that kind of money into a bank account for a child even before it was
born�and put it in every week like that�I would say there would be�21000
dollars, approximately. So Rei prolly has just a little under 20000 bucks all
ready for her. ^^;; Or so my math says, maybe I�m doin� this wrong�

*Did anyone catch the name on that cop?

*O.o I don�t think I emphasized enough that Shuichi kept
Michael�s pendant from her.

*And YES, �tomorrow� things will be changing very,
very rapidly for Rei-chan. Again, I want to also emphasize that Rei is in no
way, shape, or form unique beyond the fact that she has those really weird
dreams and demons. ^_^;;
- 9
- 10
- 11
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A Little Laughter