Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Disease ❯ Chapter 8

This chapter's about the same size, but the two together should make a suitable chapter update.

 

Robin's alarm clock went off the next morning, waking her. Reaching out a hand without opening her eyes, she turned it off and went back to sleep. Five minutes later, it went off again, this time more insistently. Growling, she turned it off and sat up.

 

“Whoever invented the alarm clock deserves to be shot,” Robin muttered darkly as she dragged herself out of her warm bed and out into the cold. Shivering, she hurriedly pulled on the school uniform and got ready for the day. When she was ready, she grabbed her bag that was now filled with schoolbooks that Michael probably put in there since she most certainly didn't. She passed Michael on her way downstairs and entered the kitchen. Moving mechanically, she got breakfast together and set the table. By the time she was done, Michael was practically dragging an owl-eyed Kagome to the table and sat her in a chair.

 

“Eat,” he commanded, pointing to the eggs on her plate.

 

Obediently she picked up her chopsticks and put the food in her mouth. Satisfied that she would keep going, he sat himself down and started on his own meal. Robin watched them both eat as she prepared something that would save so Sota would have something before he went to school. Finishing this, she joined the rest of her family and ate her own breakfast.

 

“I'm not used to getting up this early,” she said to Michael as they ate. “I don't think I like it very much.”

 

He chuckled. “You and me both,” he replied. “And I think we can count Kagome in with us. What do you think?”

 

Kagome growled and kept eating, which caused her two breakfast buddies to laugh. They finished at were out the door with Michael pulling at them the whole time. They weren't used to rushing, so it fell to Michael to make sure that they got to the right place on time.

 

School seemed to drag. They were welcomed back by their teachers and friends, and had to say that they were too sick last week to come to school. They all lapped it up except Yusuke and Kuwabara, who knew better since they'd stopped by while they were gone. Since they were so far behind, they asked Keiko to help them to catch up. They would've asked Yusuke and Kuwabara, but they probably didn't know what was going on, either, so they asked the smartest kid in class, Keiko Yukimura. Yusuke didn't look too happy about that, but that was only to be expected, since they had gone out until recently, when she started going out with Tanner.

 

Lunch didn't come quickly enough. They all grabbed their bentos and sat under their tree. As soon as they sat down, the boys started interrogating them, or rather, Robin, since Kagome was looking very out-of-it.

 

“Okay, where were you two last week?” Yusuke demanded. “We know you weren't sick because we stopped by almost every day.”

 

“We were in the Feudal Era,” Robin replied. “Kagome wanted to visit a friend of hers, and since it took so long to find them, we stayed a while, then came back yesterday.”

 

“Why didn't you tell us that you'd be gone that long? Hiei was almost going crazy, but he couldn't go after you because he was doing some work for Koenma. We couldn't go after you because we wouldn't even know where to begin looking. Hiei's the only one who's actually used that portal-thingie so we don't even know if it would let us through.”

 

“Oh hush,” Robin said. “I know it would let you through. Hiei fell through it accidentally, so there's no reason it wouldn't let you through unless someone blocked it. Now as much as I would like to talk with you all day, I need to eat while I still can.”

 

The boys fumed as she turned her attention to her food and refused to talk. Michael watched their attempts with amusement, and Kagome just ignored them. The bell signaled the end of lunch, and they all trudged back inside to their classes. After school, Keiko and her boyfriend Tanner walked home with them so they could help them catch up. Yusuke and Kuwabara chose to be conspicuously absent because of this. Upon arriving at the Sunset Shrine, they hiked up the stairs and started working. Tanner chose to help Robin because she needed more help in science and Japanese while Keiko helped Kagome with math and English.

 

Robin groaned when she saw the problem Tanner wanted her to work. “Not another ICE table,” she pleaded. “I'm so tired of ICE tables.”

 

Tanner only laughed. “This is your weakest point, so you need to work on it,” he said, not giving in to her pleas.

 

“Fine, fine,” she grumbled and turned her attention on the hateful ICE table problem.

 

~*~

 

“Kagome, the square root of three is not a rational number,” Keiko repeated. “It keeps going on and on, so it's an irrational number.”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I don't see how it's not rational,” she complained. “The calculator stops, so why doesn't the number?”

 

“If you tried to solve it out on paper, the number would keep going,” Keiko explained patiently. “The square root of four stops at two, so it's rational, but the square root of three doesn't, so it's irrational.”

 

Kagome thought about it, and it clicked what Keiko was trying to say. “I get it!” she exclaimed.

 

Keiko clapped her hands. “Finally!” she cheered. “Now let's look at some of these problems.”

 

Six hours later Tanner and Keiko were saying good-bye. Kagome and Robin watched them leave and breathed sighs of relief.

 

“We're caught up,” Robin said, leaning against the doorway. “Thank goodness that wasn't too hard. Now all we have to do is work on the tours and stuff.”

 

“I've been thinking,” Kagome ventured. “We can't always be here to work the tours and stuff, so why don't we hire people to do it for us? I mean, we could do it on weekends, but during the week, it's a bit much to do school and the tours. Do you think Michael would agree to that?”

 

Robin frowned. “He might,” she said slowly. “I think it's a good idea, and I think he will too, but I don't know.”

 

As it turned out, he agreed with them completely. “We've been overworked for nearly two years,” he said. “It's about time we got more help. People might get suspicious about where we're getting the money to pay the workers, though.”

 

“It's from the people paying to view the shrine,” Robin said. “It costs money, and we do get enough from that to pay the workers. It wouldn't be enough to pay them and support us, but Kagome's Hiruseki stones can take care of that. We'll just have to be more careful, that's all.”

 

“I'll put the ad in the newspaper and take care of the hiring process,” Michael sighed. “It seems like I'm doing everything around here, but I can't really trust either of you to do it since you'll most likely botch it.”

 

“Hey!” the girls said indignantly. “How `bout we sit in on some of the interviews,” Robin suggested. “That way we'll be able to do it ourselves since we've seen how it's supposed to be done. This way you'll have some extra time for yourself. What do you say?”

 

“It sounds okay,” he said slowly. “We'll try it. Now I need to work on the ad, so shoo.” They left him to his typing and went downstairs.

 

They had just sat down at the kitchen table when Hiei appeared in the doorway. He had a somewhat sour look on his face, which wasn't all that unusual, but it was more sour than usual.

 

“Is something wrong, Hiei?” Kagome asked.

 

“Tanner was here, wasn't he?” He answered her question with a question of his own.

 

Surprised, Kagome nodded. “Yeah, he and Keiko were helping us catch up with our schoolwork since we've been gone. Why?”

 

He growled. “If it's all the same to you, I'd rather he not come here more than necessary.”

 

“Why?” Robin asked. “He seems to be nice, and he was a great help to me.”

 

“He can't know that you know about me. He's King Yama's Spirit Detective, and he knows that I'm supposed to be watching you. He's also looking for the source of energy that keeps coming here. The well and Kagome,” he informed them at their confused looks. “If he finds them, then he'll probably destroy them. Then, for good measure, he might destroy this entire place and everyone in it.”

 

“He wouldn't!” Kagome gasped.

 

“If he thought it would eradicate a threat, he would. From what I've seen he isn't nearly as willing to fight as Yusuke and he isn't bloodthirsty, but he'll get the job done.”

 

“Well, he helps sell things when the tours are going on,” Robin pointed out. “I don't know if we can just say that he can't help anymore. I mean, we need all the help we can get at the moment.”

 

“Weren't you just talking about hiring people to work this place?” he asked them.

 

“Yeah,” Robin answered, “but that doesn't mean that students can't work here. We'll just be more careful from now on. How's that?”

 

From the expression on his face, he didn't like the idea very much, but he didn't say anything more on the matter. Instead, he turned and stalked up the stairs.

 

“We'll just be extra careful,” Kagome said, watching Hiei's retreating form. She suddenly felt very tired. Yawning, she stumbled back to the table and put her books away. “I need to go to bed,” she told Robin, who was looking at her with concern. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

 

~*~