Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Jaganshi ga Boku no Nagaisu ni Iru! ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

*-*-*

Jaganshi ga Boku no Nagaisu ni Iru!

*-*-*

There is a Jaganshi on My Couch!

*-*-*

She was a normal young woman until a Jaganshi stumbled across her door mat. H/OC Romance and slight Humor

*-*-*

"It's quite simple really . . ." and Masshiro continued talking about how he took apart computers for a living and put them back together even better than before.

'If I had an ichi-en-dama for every time he said that . . .' she thought to herself. 'Don't let the good looks fool you, girls,' she thought to herself, sarcastically.

How she had ever gotten the first date with him was beyond her. He had silky black locks that fell to the middle of his back and light brown caramel eyes that any teenaged girl wouldn't hesitate to melt into. At the average height of 5'7" - for a Chinese guy he could have been tall, she wouldn't have known though - and not overly muscled, Masshiro was a teenaged girl's brokenheart waiting to happen.

She was a full 4'9" and had no hope of getting any taller. Her black hair went to her chin - she never did anything with it, she brushed it in the morning and was off. Startling light blue eyes gazed out of her sockets; she had gained them from a French grandmother so she was told.

Tsukimi struggled not to sigh or look at the clock. It would have signalled to him that she didn't want to stay with him. Which was true, but Masshiro seemed like her last chance to get married, and have a family and kids and all of that nonsense. It wasn't that she didn't like the guy.

'Hell, he's funny, intelligent, gorgeous, and he's in college. He's thinking of becoming a doctor for the love of Kami! What's wrong with me?! Why don't I like him?!' She already knew why though.

Shikkoku Masshiro was duller than a doorknob. For other young women he wouldn't have been so boring, but for some reason, Tsukimi didn't look at him like that. Not anymore. After she had gotten to know him, Masshiro had become more of a friend than a lover. Sure, they were still under the guise of boyfriend and girlfriend - much to the chagrin of every girl that got a glance of him - however, Tsukimi was seriously thinking of dumping him.

Nevertheless, 'Last chance. Last chance,' kept dancing provocatively in her mind. Was this really who she was going to spend the rest of her life with? Shikkoku Tsukimi. That didn't sound as nice as it did a year ago.

She had tried everything short of sleeping with him. Though she loathed to do so before getting married, Tsukimi thought that it might be the thing to jumpstart her side of the relationship again. However, what if she ended up back where she was now when their first child was just reaching elementary? How traumatic for her unborn child! What was she to do?

It was simple. Hekigan Tsukimi was not happy. So . . .

She was going to dump him.

Tsukimi finally did sigh, slowly and silently. Yet, Masshiro noticed the small movement, "Tsukimi-chan, what's the matter, are you not feeling well?"

"You know . . . I feel fine. Never better." She stood. Tsukimi was going to be decent about it, she wouldn't make a scene in this lovely restaurant, "Masshiro-kun, can we go home right now though? I am kind of tired."

Masshiro nodded - and like a gentleman - paid the bill for their food, escorted Tsukimi out of the restaurant on his arm, and walked her home.

Just before entering her apartment, she turned sharply to stand in front of him, "Masshiro-kun, we have to talk."

"All right, Tsukimi-chan. What is it?"

His smile was a little disarming, and because of it, she almost didn't continue, "Masshiro-kun, I don't think that this is working out. You and I . . . we just aren't meant for each other."

"What?! Tsukimi-chan! I love you and I would-!"

She pressed her finger to his lips to silence him, "But I don't love you. I'm not happy, Masshiro-kun. Please don't make this any harder than it already is. I hope . . . that we can still be friends?" She smiled nervously up at him.

He sighed, "Tsukimi-chan . . . I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything, Masshiro-kun. Think about it, and when you know what you want to say, call me." Her smile was no longer so nervous, "Then we can talk."

*-*-*

Ichi-En-Dama - One Yen Coin

Kami - God

*-*-*

"Shimatta, shimatta, shimatta!" Tsukimi jumped about on one foot as she struggled to put a shoe on the foot in the air. "I'm going to be late!"

Once again, Tsukimi was happy that she lived on the bottom floor. If she had lived above anyone, they would have been shouting at her. She was, actually, especially lucky. It was a new apartment complex, and - though it was rather unnatural here in Tokyo - very few people had come to fill up the empty apartments.

In fact, her building had only her and a handsome young man that lived on the third floor. His name was Minamino Shuuichi, and he was quite the enigma. He was charming and polite, and he was going to a great college, however, he had the strangest company. He tended to be seen with two other young men whom had been known for starting fights in their youth. Urameshi Yuusuke and Kuwabara Kazuma. They still looked as if they were going to start whipping out fists. A woman that Tsukimi talked to in the small laundry mat in the complex said that she had seen another young man often climb up to Minamino's balcony. Which was pure ludicrous! That had seemed too far fetched to be anything other than trying to push Minamino down.

She smiled to herself. It was just her and the sexy Minamino Shuuichi on the third floor. Bloodred locks, emerald orbs . . .

Tsukimi looked at the clock: 8:38.

"Kuso!" If she was late one more time, it was going to be her hide.

Tsukimi smiled, and waved at Minamino as she ran past him. He called after her, chuckling, "Late again, Hekigan-san?!"

"No more than usual, Minamino-san! Sorry, but I can't talk right now!"

"I understand completely!" He laughed.

Her part-time job at the local Burger World and her job as a small manga artist's assistant were the only things keeping Tsukimi in her apartment. They were her safeguards. If she lost either for very long, Tsukimi was screwed. She had two months at the very best, if she lost them, and right now she was barely decent.

*-*-*

Shimatta - Damn it

Kuso - Shit

*-*-*

"You're fired, Hekigan. I'm sorry, but this is the sixth time that you've been late this month."

"I . . . I understand, sir."

Tsukimi sighed and left Burger World.

Now what? Look for another job? Maybe, she could ask Enken Yoyo, the small manga artist, if she could get some extra for a few more hours. He was tight with his money, but most manga artists were. It wouldn't hurt to ask. If he said, 'no,' then he said, 'no.' She couldn't do anything about that.

When she reached her apartment complex she ran into Minamino. Literally. She looked up into the eyes of Minamino. Tsukimi had fallen when she had bumped against his form. It seemed that he had been reading a school book, leaning against the wall of one of the complex buildings like he always did in the morning. It seemed that he had been in the same spot that he had been that morning when she had passed him. Which, of course, hadn't been too long ago.

"Are you okay?" He asked, lending her a hand. She took it, and surprisingly - what with his small frame and all - he helped her up with one pull, and very little effort.

"Yes, yes, I'm alright." She dusted her bottom, which she had landed on. She blushed, "A little sore, but I'm okay."

"What are you doing back so early? Did you forget something?"

"No, I . . . I got fired."

Minamino's eyes widened, "Oh."

"I was late one too many days."

"I'm so sorry." He said after a pause, "You've still got that thing with the manga artist though, right? You won't need to worry for a while at least."

"Yeah, but I'm still going to need to find another job soon."

Just as she entered her apartment, the phone rang, "Moshi moshi?"

"Tsukimi-kun? It's Yoyo. Enken Yoyo."

"Enken-san? To what do I owe this honor?"

"This isn't much of an honor, Tsukimi-kun. Ah . . . Tsukimi-kun, I'm going to have to let you go."

"What?! Why?!"

"I'm sorry, Tsukimi-kun, but the companies aren't buying the manga anymore. I'm going to shut down for a while. If I ever start up again though, you are the first one that I'll call, Tsukimi-kun. Sorry. Bye."

"Shimatta!"

*-*-*

Moshi Moshi? - Hello? (For the telephone only)

*-*-*

It probably wasn't the best thing that she should have done, given the circumstances, however, she was beyond caring at that point. Tsukimi had been beyond caring just before Enken had hung up.

She went drinking.

Tsukimi had grown apart from her friends of high school, and the few friends that she had now weren't the type to go out carousing with her when she was low. She went alone. There were only two major things that happened while she was out drinking.

The first being that she became the number one at Dance Dance Revolution. It had started out as a dare by her new 'best friends:' Yuu-chan and Ku-chan - she never managed to say their names correctly and just said the first syllable. Tsukimi thought that she might have seen them from somewhere but didn't remember and didn't care. However, it turned out that while the sober Tsukimi was a terrible dancer, the unsober Tsukimi was the best thing that ever hit the floor.

The second actually didn't happen until she got home. Tsukimi, was smart enough - she was more likely pretending to be tough - to walk home instead of hitching a ride with her new 'best friends' at 1:24 A.M. When she got home, there, lying on her door mat, was a body. Too stunned to scream, Tsukimi stared at it for about three minutes while the information was being processed. After she *completely* understood that there was a body on her door mat, Tsukimi opened the door, walked inside, closed the door, and went to sleep when she fell on the floor with a dull thump.

*-*-*

Two hours later, when she awoke, she was much more sober.

Remembering the body as she stretched, she groaned, and hoped that it was just her imagination or that it had woken up and left. She opened the door, and the body was still there. It didn't seem like it had moved an inch. She lightly poked it; it was still warm, so it wasn't dead. Either that or it hadn't cooled completely. She poked it harder to try and awaken it. When the body didn't stir, she roughly kicked it, but there still wasn't any reaction. She frowned.

It had long black hair that was either standing up on end or was just long, and had fallen in that position when it had fallen. Tsukimi brushed back the wild mane, and realized that it was a young man, about her age. He had a bandana wrapped around his forehead, and his right arm was wrapped in a bandage. He also had some white hair. She turned him over, and noticed that the white hair framed a star-shaped cluster of more black hair just above his forehead. He wasn't that much bigger than her, and thus probably didn't weigh much more than herself.

Tsukimi looked at the body, and then looked at the couch not too far from the front door and the body. Repeat.

After she had gotten the body onto her couch, she went into the kitchen. Tsukimi had become hungry. When she returned to the living room with a satisfied belly, she noticed that the body was now standing, and staring at her with the biggest eyes that she had ever seen. Red eyes.

She also faintly noticed that his hair was in a flame-like shape.

He growled, and his deep voice cursed, "Kisama!" He ripped the bandana off of his forehead, and revealed a third eye. It began to glow, but did nothing else. When he did nothing, Tsukimi raised an eyebrow. He growled even lower. "Shimatta! One of your kind! I . . . I shouldn't have-"

Then he fainted. Apparently, he had used up all of his energy just standing.

Two red eyes, and a third violet eye. Either she was still drunk, and he had colored contacts and a tattoo that had got caught in the light and seemed to glow or there was a youkai in her living room. She walked cautiously over to his body, and lightly kicked it. When he didn't move, she knelt to look at the third eye - which she noticed - had closed. Gently, Tsukimi felt along the third eye, almost not believing the soft third eye that she felt underneath the eyelid, instead of hard skull.

'So . . . I have a youkai - an unconscious youkai - in my living room . . . what do I do? Call the exterminator or something?' She shook her head at her foolishness. 'An exorcist more likely, but . . . . . . you 'shouldn't have' what, Jaganshi?'

Yes, she recognized the Jagan after a little thought. Her mother had used to tell her stories about the Jagan, and those that possessed them. Jaganshi. They had scared her the most when she was little. A Jaganshi could control a ningen mind quite easily, and thus she had been afraid that a Jaganshi would take control of her, and make her eat oatmeal raisin cookies - that had been the worst thing that her child mind could imagine at that age. He was obviously too weak to take control of her mind at the moment though.

''Shouldn't have' shown me your Jagan? . . . Must have been a fight of some kind.' Nothing else that came to mind seemed to be the reason for why his Jagan didn't work on her. 'You got all tuckered out, huh?'

She sighed, and lifted him back onto the couch. It wouldn't have been polite to leave him on the floor. It was silly to think that, but when she was confused, Tsukimi became exceedingly polite. And right then, Tsukimi was more confused than she had ever been before.

'Would anyone believe me, anyway?' As she curled up into one of the chairs, and stared at him, Tsukimi tried to think of what to do about the Jaganshi on her couch. Soon, she fell asleep.

*-*-*

Kisama - You bastard! (dignified)

Youkai - Demon

Jaganshi - Master of the Evil Eye

Jagan - Evil Eye

Ningen - Human

*-*-*

She squinted at the rays of the morning light showering on his prone body, and realized that his hair wasn't actually black, it was the darkest blue that she had ever seen. It must have been from being a youkai or something. Tsukimi brushed her fingers through his hair, and also noticed that his hair was more thick than stiff, and it was soft, not brittle. He sighed, and tried to get closer to her hand. Which made her jump ten feet away.

When he grumbled under his breath, and didn't stir again, she waited a full half hour before breathing at a normal pace.

The only good thing about that was that it had scared her enough to rid the hangover pains for that half hour.

'I still don't know what to do about you, Jaganshi.' She thought to herself.

Tsukimi walked silently into the kitchen, hoping to find something to fill her stomach. She only found a couple slices of bread, and enough meats, veggies, and condiments to make two sandwiches.

Great, she was jobless, and her fridge wasn't up to par. She ate one, and - hoping to not have another repeat of earlier that morning - entered the living room to set the other sandwich on the coffee table beside the Jaganshi. She knew that it wasn't a cucumber or anything like that, but she was desperate. Hopefully, while she was out looking for a newspaper, and shopping for groceries and a job, he would wake up, eat the sandwich, reconsider taking control of her mind, and leave. After that, Tsukimi could forget that any of this had happened. Maybe after a while, she would think that this was all just a bad dream or hallucination of some kind because she had been drunk or something due to her hangover.

She took an aspirin, and made a shopping list before going out. 'I think that I'll just get a newspaper, and go get some food, and not do any interviews or anything like that. I don't think that I'd be able to sit through an interview with a hangover. That would be plain stupid.'

On her way out, she passed Minamino who was leaning against one of the complex buildings. Only this time, he wasn't reading. Urameshi Yuusuke and Kuwabara Kazuma were talking with him in low voices.

He waved at Tsukimi, "Are you going to go look for another job?"

"Two jobs now," she stopped to chat for a moment. It wasn't like the Jaganshi would wake up right away, eat, and then leave. Every minute probably counted. If possible, she would spend half of the day in Tokyo, check back at noon, and if he was still there, she would go see a movie or something.

"Oh no! What happened to being Enken-san's assistant?" Minamino's emerald eyes flashed with worry.

"The manga wasn't selling anymore; he quit."

He patted her shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Hekigan-san. Maybe you won't be plagued with such bad luck in these jobs."

"I hope so." She sighed. "I'm getting a little sick of all of this bad luck. Ever since I dumped Masshiro all of these bad things have been happening to me. If this keeps up, I'll be dead next weak."

Urameshi laughed, "That's what you said last night."

Tsukimi paled, 'Yuu-kun and Ku-chan!'

Kuwabara laughed with him, "You should have heard her last. She was talking about how the ground was going to swallow her or how her childhood nightmare was going to come true . . ." Kuwabara's voice got low and creepy, as if telling a ghost story, "A Jaganshi would come for her in the middle of the night, take control of her mind . . . and make her eat oatmeal cookies!"

Urameshi burst into laughter again.

She muttered under her breath, "One of them almost came true . . ."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Urameshi scratched the back of his neck uneasily, and the other two were staring at her.

"Ah . . . I almost fell into an open manhole last night, when I was walking home."

Minamino smiled, "Hekigan-san, you should be more careful."

She shrugged. Urameshi's smile became wider, "Speaking of Jaganshi, where is that guy?"

"What do you mean?" Tsukimi asked.

"Oh . . . we have this friend . . . um . . . he's a . . ."

Minamino took up where he left off, "He's an expert in Mythology, and things like that."

"Yeah! Yeah! That's it. I was just trying to think of the word." Urameshi said, nodding like a fool.

Minamino then looked Tsukimi up and down. She tried not to squirm. What was he thinking? "You know what, Tsukimi-san? I think that I might have a job for you."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she almost jumped up and down for joy, "Really?! What?!"

"You see, Gifu died a couple months back, and now Okaasan is looking for a smaller house to live in, but she wants to live in that big house of hers for another year. She can't possibly keep the whole thing clean by herself. Maybe Okaasan will hire you to help her keep the place tidy, and maybe also to keep her company."

"Oh, that's wonderful! Sorry about your gifu though. I didn't know."

Minamino shrugged, "I didn't know him very well, but Okaasan loved him, so I was all right with it. I moved out of the house about a year after they married. Shuuichi, my stepbrother, moved out two years after that. He lives in Kyoto though, so he can't help out, and I'm in college. All I have time for is my job, and my studies."

"Oh this is so cool!"

"Come on!" Urameshi said, taking a hold of her arm. "We can go talk to his hahaue right now. It's the weekend, she's not working now."

*-*-*

Gifu - Stepfather

Okaasan - Polite form of 'mother'

Kaasan - Semi-polite form of 'mother'

Hahaue - Form of 'mother'

A Note on the Cucumber Thing: In Ancient Japan, people used to carve names of loved ones into cucumbers, and throw them into a river where it was rumored that a Kappa lived (a water demon that drowned anyone that passed.) I don't remember what the Kappa would do with the cucumber, but it was supposed to appease it or something, and it would leave the people's names etched onto the cucumber alone.

*-*-*

"Why don't we go see a movie?" Yuusuke suggested.

"Okay, that sounds great!" Tsukimi said. "Let me get my coat. It's in my apartment."

She was now working as a sort of maid for Shuuichi's kaasan. On the weekends she would come over from noon to whenever she finished cleaning. It might not have been what she had in mind, but at least she would last a bit longer in her apartment. Surely, long enough that she would find suitable replacement jobs.

When she walked into the house, she stopped to stare. The sandwich was gone, and so was the Jaganshi. She breathed out. Tsukimi had forgotten about the youkai. She listened for a moment - she almost expected the Jaganshi to pop out of thin air, and take control of her mind. When she heard nothing out of the ordinary, she went into the closet next to the front door, and retrieved her coat. It had gotten chilly outside, and she didn't want to get sick.

*-*-*

Tsukimi sighed in happiness. She had a new job that would help pay the bills for a while, she had made some new friends, and there wasn't a Jaganshi in her apartment! Tsukimi twirled around the room, and as she passed her couch, she threw her coat on it. 'There is a coat on my couch! Not a Jaganshi! A coat!' She thought gleefully.

She opened the door to her bedroom, and nearly had a heartattack. "Kuso!"

A Jaganshi was unconscious on her bedroom floor. It seemed as if he had just collapsed. Tsukimi chewed a nail thoughtfully. She lightly kicked the Jaganshi, and, once again, he didn't move. She sighed in frustration, and dragged him back onto her couch.

She put the coat away, and went into the kitchen before remembering that she hadn't gone shopping because she had been so busy. However, the Jaganshi might want something to eat if he woke up during the night, so Tsukimi rummaged through the cupboards and the pantry, and found a box of cookies that she hadn't opened yet. She had only bought them a week or so ago, so they were still good. She opened them up, set them on a plate, and put the plate on the table beside her couch and her resident Jaganshi.

She scowled slightly at his sleeping form. She hadn't put the bandana back on his forehead, had she? No, he must have put it on when he woke up. She slapped her forehead, and then had an amusing image of the Jaganshi slapping his own forehead, and hurting his Jagan. She giggled at the thought. Did he have a problem like that? He looked rather young, he might not have gotten used to the Jagan, and slapped it every once in a while, and regretted it afterwards.

Giggling, Tsukimi crawled under the covers of her bed after kicking off her shoes, and soon fell asleep.

*-*-*

When Tsukimi woke up the next morning, she felt as if she should have remembered something. Walking out into the living room, she knew that it wasn't the Jaganshi because that was the first thing that she had thought of when she woke up. What was she supposed to remember?

She took a cookie and ate it, thinking and staring at the Jaganshi on her couch. It had something to do with the Jaganshi somehow. Whatever it was. Maybe . . .

'Wait a minute, why is this guy so exhuasted? He doesn't look hurt at all except for the big bandaid on his arm. Just tired.' She let that sink in, and then she said dryly, "So, a Jaganshi is bumming out on *my* couch . . . Lazy ass."

Tsukimi's eyes then trailed to the bandage around his right arm, and winced. How big of a wound was it anyway? She gingerly felt along the arm, but she didn't feel anything wrong with it. It wasn't broken, there wasn't a splint of any kind on it. It didn't feel bruised or as if his arm had been torn open or anything. So why did he have a bandage on it?

'Loser,' she thought ruefully.

Climbing into her favorite chair, she picked up a book on the coffee table, and read it.

*-*-*

At noon, she left for Shuuichi's kaasan's house. Shiori greeted Tsukimi with a smile, "Tsukimi-chan, come on in. You look flustered, dear. What's wrong?"

Shiori was a lovely woman, kind and generous. Tsukimi was quickly considering her as a second mother.

"I'm just a bit tired," she tried not to think of the Jaganshi.

Shiori asked, "Would you like some tea to help you relax?"

"No, thank you."

Most of the two hours spent there had been a tour of the house since she hadn't gotten a chance the day before. The last twenty minutes, they were in the kitchen, just getting to know each other.

After that, she went shopping, carried her groceries home, put them away, and poked the Jaganshi's stomach. She snorted, "No wonder you're so skinny! You don't eat!" He hadn't eaten anything but that sandwich yesterday morning. The cookies hadn't been touched.

She rolled her eyes at his unanswering form. Tsukimi shook her head, 'Why bother? He's not going to answer. I'm just wasting my breath.'

She sighed, and looked around. Tsukimi certainly didn't want to be caught hanging around if he woke up again. When she had been reading that morning, she wasn't able to concentrate on her book because all she could think about was how he would likely take over her mind if he woke up. He would be much more rested the next time, and she might not be so lucky. This was what was going to kill her at the end of the week! She looked at the clock, 'Well, at least I have a whole week ahead of me to do with what I want before dying.'

Just then the phone rang. The Jaganshi turned over so that he faced the backrest of the couch. Tsukimi muttered under her breath, "Don't you dare wake up, Jaganshi. I still have till the end of the week and I'm not giving that up for anything." She picked up the phone, "Moshi moshi?"

"Tsukimi? It's Yuusuke."

"Yuusuke-kun, you're a life-saver!" He probably was saving her from some terrible fate.

"I know," he laughed. "What's wrong?"

"I have nothing to do! Actually, I have plenty to do, but I really don't want to be in this apartment."

"Why not?"

"I feel like there's a Jaganshi on my couch that's about to wake up, and make me eat oatmeal raisin cookies." Tsukimi stuck her tongue out at the Jaganshi. It felt strange to blurt that out; it was true, after all.

Yuusuke chuckled, "Well then, come over to my place. I want you to meet Keiko and Yukina."

"Oh? Who are they?"

"Me and Kuwabara's girls. So, what do you say?"

"That sounds great. Your place, right?"

"Yup."

"Where is that?"

Soon after Yuusuke had given her the directions, Tsukimi grabbed her coat, and headed toward Yuusuke and Keiko's apartment. She was greeted by a young woman with dark brown hair that was pulled up in a loose bun, "Oh, you must be Hekigan Tsukimi. Come in. My name is Yukimura Keiko."

"Hey!" Yuusuke called from somewhere in the apartment. "Is that you, Tsukimi?"

"Yeah!"

"Come on in, and meet the rest of the gang!"

Kuwabara was lounging in a chair, and a young woman with mint green hair was sitting beside the chair talking with him. She stood when Tsukimi entered, "Konnichiwa, I am Yukina. Hajimemashite, Tsukimi-kun. Kazuma-san has said so many nice things about you."

She had red eyes, and mint green hair. 'It's dye and color contacts. She looks normal. And the blue-haired woman . . . that's dye too.' "Hajimemashite, Yukina-kun."

"I'm Botan, Tsukimi-chan. Kuwabara was right. You *are* really short." The blue-haired woman said, bowing slightly.

Kuwabara laughed, "She's probably shorter than the shrimp."

"The shrimp?" Tsukimi asked.

Shuuichi answered, "Yes. Our friend, the Mythologist. He's very short. Only a couple inches taller than you."

Tsukimi tilted her head to the side while looking at Botan, "Are you Shuuichi-kun's girlfriend?"

"No, we're both single, but . . ." Botan sidled up to Shuuichi, kissed his cheek, and giggled at Shuuichi's blush. "I do that whenever I want."

*-*-*

Konnichiwa - Good afternoon

Hajimemashite - Nice to meet you

*-*-*

She had spent the night at Yuusuke and Keiko's apartment that night. It was partially to give the Jaganshi time to recuperate and leave, but it was mostly because she had wanted to. However, now, she was getting nervous for some reason. Tsukimi had breakfast, and quickly excused herself from their home.

When she reached her apartment, the Jaganshi was laying in her hallway. The cookies hadn't been touched.

She felt his cheeks, and realized that he was burning and sweating, so she dragged him into the bathroom. Blushing furiously, she undressed him, and set him in the bathtub. She turned on the faucet, and felt the water, putting it at a nice temperature that wasn't warm, and wasn't cold. She kept the bandaged arm out of the water, wrapping it in a plastic bag just in case it got wet. After all, she wasn't sure what was wrong with his arm; she didn't want to mess it up.

Tsukimi took a sponge, and washed away the sweat and grime that she found on his body. She sighed, "You are much more trouble than you are worth . . . What am I saying? I didn't even pay or ask for you! Jaganshi, you owe me big time."

She growled, and then her face became even redder as she sponged around his nether regions while looking away. His hand shot out, and grabbed her hand, "You felt it . . . you came back . . . to . . ."

She squeaked pathetically, and froze as her baby blues met his ruby reds. He decided at that moment to faint. He had been sitting up by himself for those few moments. So, when he went slack, he slipped into the water; all of him. Tsukimi snapped out of her stupor, and yanked his head out. He had woken up, and was hacking up water. The Jaganshi placed his hand on her shoulder to steady himself with his plastic covered hand. He stared at it for a long time before looking at her, his eyes more awake than before, "What the fuck is on my arm?"

"A . . . a plastic bag to . . . to . . . to keep your bandage . . . dry."

"Ah," the Jaganshi said. He finally looked down on himself, noticed he was naked, and pushed Tsukimi away, "Gah! I'm nude!"

Tsukimi's blush turned a thousand fold more red, and turned away, "You were burning up and sweating. I thought that you needed to be cooled."

He growled, "Whatever . . ."

"'Whatever?' 'Whatever?!'" Hekigan Tsukimi snapped. She turned around to yell at him, "Temee! Loser! I was helping you, and you say 'whatever?!' I won't accept less than what I deserve! And I *deserve-!*"

"A beating!" The Jaganshi fumed, and he leapt on her. The two skidded across the bathroom tile, and Tsukimi's head bashed against the door, "You should be flogged! Whipped until you can't even feel the pain anymore! You . . . should . . . be . . ."

Then he passed out again, the Jaganshi's head resting just below her breasts. She groaned slightly. 'Things can't get any worse. No, wait for it . . .' she was blacking out from the hit on the head, finally.

*-*-*

Temee - You bastard

*-*-*

Tsukimi awoke a half hour later to find that the Jaganshi was no longer treating her as a pillow. His pants were also gone. His boots, shirt, and the plastic bag that she had used to cover his arm were still there though. She rubbed her aching head, and went into the living room. He wasn't on the couch - the cookies still hadn't been touched. She walked into the kitchen. He wasn't in the kitchen. However, it looked like a war-zone. He had obviously decided that he didn't want any cookies, so he had scrounged through her kitchen. Tsukimi cleaned his mess, slapped a peanut butter and jelly sandwich together, and went to her room.

There, on her bed, was the Jaganshi, curled up in a tight ball on the side of the bed that she usually slept in. 'Like a kitten . . . a very big kitten. No wait . . . a panther cub,' she nodded decisively, and sat on the other side of the bed, eating her sandwich.

He looked so content coiled in her blankets. It seemed a shame to move him, but she wanted to be able to sleep by herself that night. She didn't want a Jaganshi hogging the covers all night after all. She didn't want a Jaganshi in her bed! She rubbed her eyes. Especially not a Jaganshi that didn't seem to know how to say 'thank you.'

'What did he say that I deserved? A beating? That's no way to say, "Thank you for feeding me, and worrying about me when my temperature rose, and for not sending me to the *freak show!*"'

Tsukimi sighed, "Fucker. Stupid-ass-cock-sucking-mother-fucker." She sighed again, "This doesn't work as well when you're sleeping, Jaganshi . . . Why did you pick *my* abode to ruin? Shimatta, Jaganshi, I just . . . when you wake up next time when I'm around, could you at least tell me your name? Anything?" Tsukimi snorted, "You can't answer me. What am I thinking? . . . Well, sweetheart, I'm going to take a walk. I hope that when I'm back that you're on the couch where you belong. Wait a minute! That's *my* couch!"

There was a knock on the door, "Tsukimi-kun?! Are you okay?! I thought I heard shouting!"

Kurama! That had been what the others called him. A couple minutes with them had made her start calling him that too. She called to him, "It's just the T.V., Kurama-kun!"

"Just making sure! Could you turn it down a bit though?! I'm studying!"

"Gomen nasai, Kurama-kun! I'll turn it down!"

"Arigatou!"

She listened for Kurama's steps to fade before turning back to the Jaganshi, "Jaganshi, I'm going for a walk. A very long walk."

*-*-*

Gomen Nasai - Sorry

Arigatou - Thank you

*-*-*