fic prompt: responses part 1
Aug. 4th, 2007 02:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onemuseleftA long, long time ago, in a journal entry far, far away - or back in April. Whichever. - I asked for fic prompts. Well, now I'm answering them. :P
Some of these were answered in the comments of that post, most of them are brand new.
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rin_sakaguchi:
TMNT, Donatello, love
Love is Father, furry and warm and cuddly, who gives them hugs and warm baths and lets them win sometimes when he play-wrestles, which Raphy never ever does.
****
Winter, spent in a curled ball beneath piles of blankets, wrapped up in a cocoon of safety and warmth. Back when Raph hugged back and Leo didn't mind if you used him as a pillow.
****
Waiting patiently, if not quietly, for Splinter to come back from a food run Topside and getting a sick feeling in his tummy as the hour hand passes the time Splinter said it would and still he has not returned, leaving them to sit and wait and think too much about all the bad things humans might do if they caught him. The way his tummy flips over when Splinter returns with not just food but toys as well and knowing that he was only late because he wanted to bring them something special. Mostly it's knowing that he'd give up all the toys in the whole world if it meant never ever having to feel that way again.
****
The way Leo beams with pride when Donnie masters the bo, the way Mikey's eyes light up when Donnie builds him a new toy, the way Raph crows with delight when Donnie shows him the shell cycle.
****
The first time April threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek, delighted as he was to find someone she could talk to who would understand and challenge her in a way the others couldn't. It was they way she could touch him without seeming to notice that his skin wasn't as smooth as hers or the way she would drum her fingers on his shell as she leaned over his shoulder and studied the computer screen. It was the way she treated him just like his brothers did and for that he thinks he loved her more than a little bit.
****
Watching Mikey grow in ability and confidence until he can keep Raph and Leo both on their toes and take them both out in a fight. It's watching Mikey earn the title of Battle Nexus Champion not through luck and chance, but through determination and skill. It'ss why Mikey won, and why they always knew he'd win, even when he was losing.
****
Working in the lab with Leatherhead, geeking out over things his brothers can't pronounce, changing the way the world works or at least the way they understand it. It's the chance to put ideas and theories out into the world that could one day save lives and make the world better.
It's working inthe lab with Leatherhead, watching his best friend become something more than the animal he was born as, and something more than the mutant he was made into.
****
It's waking up after the Outbreak stole his mind and sense of self, and knowing that his brothers sacrificed too much to bring him back. It's knowing that they'd do it again and again and again and never regret it, no matter what it ended up costing them. It's knowing he'd do the same and be grateful for the chance.
****
Those weeks training with the Tribunal, and becoming part of something more.
It's also Adam, who never blinked in the face of them, who jokes with him and teams up against Raph and Mikey. It's the way Adam touches his arm or his carapace or his plastron, not in the casual, careless way that his brothers and April do, but with a focus and intent that make Don's hands tremble.
It's those same weeks, watching Raph and Joy take on the world and love every minute of it, wondering when (if) Raph will ever notice that Joy wants him.
****
The sensation of seeing the future and realizing that he has a place in it and a hand building it.
****
The nights when Raph drags him, protesting and indignant, out of the lab and up above ground and they spend all night at Casey's getting ever so slightly wasted on expensive whiskey and cheap beer, playing pool or darts, and passing out on the couch. The nights when Leo asks him to join him on a training run and they end up camped out beneath the bridge out to the junkyard, pitching rocks into the river and trading thoughts. The nights when Mikey challenges him to an all-night video game winner-take-all doom-a-thon tournament for total domination of the Earth. He loves working in the lab, but he looks forward to these nights too.
****
Watching over the years as April and Casey flirt, bicker, argue, fight, break-up, make-up, rinse and repeat a dozen times until they finally get it right. Love is listening to Casey's three thousand different proposal rehearsals until April finally pops the question herself. Love is helping Raph throw Casey a bachelor party and throwing April a bachelorette party and being happy for both of them because no one could be better for each other than they are. Because at some point April became his sister and Casey became his, well, adopted step-brother born out of wedlock or something, and they're his family.
It's the wedding, a small private ceremony held in private on a Tuesday evening the week before everyone else thought it would be. There's a blind priest and only a couple dozen guests including the Turtles, Leatherhead, the Justice Force, Professor Huneycutt. Friends from the outer fringes of society who could never have attended the formal ceremony. And Casey's mom, who never seemed to find her son's friends the least bit unusual. Raph was Casey's best man, and Don was April's. Splinter gave the bride away.
April and Casey call it their real wedding, and that's the day they celebrate as their anniversary years later, not the date of the larger wedding that Saturday.
****
Holding Splinter's hand when he dies. And being there, weeks later, to hold Raph when he finally lets himself cry.
****
It is when April and Casey name their daughter Monet "so she'll fit in with her uncles".
****
Building O'Neil Tech from the ground up, starting with nothing but an idea and the knowledge that it can work, will work, if they want it to badly enough. It takes years before they get it right, but the journey is a trial of fire of sorts, and the three of them come out of it in one piece, stronger and closer than they were before. Smarter and sneakier, too. Donatello knows more about business finance than he ever wanted to, and he's glad they decided to let Casey and his mom handle most of that.
****
It's the pride he can barely contain when Mikey presents him with the first of many acceptance letters from a publishing company.
****
Teaching three-year-old Monet to read and write and do basic math. She's so much like her father, with thick, curly black hair and bright blue eyes, but the spark of curiosity and intelligence in those same eyes is all April.
Being the one Monet comes to as she gets older and needs answers or to test her ideas, or just some reassurance that the world doesn't make sense to anyone else either. Raph is her favorite uncle, but Donatello is her confidant and, in later years, the one she wants to grow up to be.
****
It's the way the rouch concrete scrapes his skin raw and the sound of the a katana whistling through the air, stopped abruptly against an aluminum baseball bat. It's when he blinks blood out of his eyes and sees blue jeans and motorcycle boots standing between him and the Foot soldiers who ambushed him. It's Casey's voice calling for backup as he tosses insults at the ninja surrounding him. It's knowing that his brother's are coming for him, that they'll always come for him.
Even if they get there too late.
yashakizu:
Okay, I'm not sure if you really wanted Raph/Don slash or if you just wanted Raph and Don interacting together, but I went with the idea of the former. This is pre-slash more than anything else. I've never written TMNT slash before, believe it or not. ^_^
This snippet ended up being an epiloque to the fourth season, with references to several episodes, including The Return of Savanti Romera Parts 1 & 2 and Adventures in Turtle-Sitting and Good Genes Parts 1 &2. Basically, there was time travel, and Donnie got really, really sick and almost died in the season finale.
donatello/raphael, museum
"I can't believe you actually want to come back to this place." Raphael's words echo a little in the cavernous exhibit hall and he winces internally and lowers his voice, ducking his chin so his mouth is muffled by the scarf he's wearing to obscure his face. "I mean, after last time."
"I only got to see part of the display," Donatello says. Donnie, soft-spoken on the best of days, is practically murmuring and his voice is soft and private; no one would be able to overhear him even if they were only standing a few feet away. "We were only here for a few minutes before Savanti Romero attacked."
Raph supposes that's fair enough, considering the only reason they'd been in the museum in the first place that night was because Don had never outgrown the stage where he was fascinated with dinosaurs. "Bro, we spent three months trying not to be eaten by the real thing, and you're getting all fascinated over a museum display?"
Donatello shrugs, but he finally looks away from the skeleton he was studying. "Personal experience has only heightened my interest in the subject."
Nothing to say to that, because Raph'd figured as much. Spending twelve weeks living in the jungle, hiding from T-Rex and wrestling with dilophosaurs or whatever, eating giant fish for dinner and learning how to skin their dinner to make hides for a tent had guaranteed that Raph, Mike and Leo never wanted to hear or see a dinosaur again. Mike had even trashed his Jurassic Park collection after getting back to the present. But Donnie. Donnie thought it was all some big field trip.
Donatello leaves both hands resting on the metal barrier surrounding the skeleton display. "You didn't have to come," he points out. And if Leo had said that, Raph woulda gotten pretty pissy, but coming from Donnie it's not a complaint or jab or reprimand. It's just Donnie stating the facts and, beneath that, offering Raph a way out.
It's not often Raph can catch Donnie being wrong, but this is one of those times. Raph had to come, even if Donnie himself didn't think so.
He crams his fists in the pocket of his jacket and shrugs, looking away. "Yeah, whatever, braniac. Someone's gotta be here to drag your tail home, or you'd probably be here all night."
Donatello grins at him behind his scarf and sunglasses. "The security guards would kick me out eventually."
One of the animatronic displays across the room roars and jumps out at a couple of kids. They shriek and jump, then collapse into giggles when they realize what happened. The security guard is frowning at them, but Donatello grins and nudges Raph in the side. "Chickenosaurus, hmm?"
Raphael can feel a blush creep across his face and he's happy for the disguise. "That thing could take anyone by surprise." He ignores the smirk on his brother's face and points at a random display. "What's that?"
Donnie graces him with a look of fond exasperation. "That's a sea turtle."
"I-" Raph turns and actually looks at the display. "Oh. Right. Big sucker, inn't he?"
"Sea turtles can reach astonishing proportions," Don says. He very obviously restrains himself from going into greater detail but sets off toward the display. Raph follows him. Giant turtles are way cooler than some old moldy T-rex bones any day of the week. "The leatherback sea turtle can be as long as seven feet long and five feet wide, weighing as much as thirteen hundred pounds at maturity. They don't actually have shells, as a matter of fact, but a series of thin bone plates beneath the skin on their backs."
"They're endangered, yeah?"
Donnie nods. "All sea turtles are, to one extent or another. The leatherback is at a higher risk than some others, though." He leans over the display plaque and rubs his fingers over the engraved words, even though Raph doubts they can tell him anything he doesn't already know. Donnie grimaces, then turns his head to the side and sneezes.
Later, it will be a source of personal pride for Raph that he didn't just grab Donnie and haul him out of there. As it was, he couldn't stop himself from grabbing Don's shoulder in one hand and reaching for his shell cell with the other.
Donnie coughs and sniffles, then makes a face. "Eugh."
"You feelin' all right, bro?" Raph squeezes Don's shoulder. "Need me to call Leatherhead?"
His brother blinks at him in surprise, then Donnie's eyes narrow slightly and his hand comes up to grip Raph's wrist. "Dust, Raphy. The display was dusty. That's all."
Relief kicks Raph in the back of the knees even as he pries his fingers lose from Don's shoulder. "Oh. All right then."
Don doesn't let go of his wrist. There's a long moment - well, it feels long anyway, but Raph's heart is still skipping beats - where they just kinda stare at each other. Raph's remembering the last time they were there, when Donnie'd been battling a cold that wouldn't go away, only a couple days (or months, if you take time travel into account) before his brother's health began to spiral and Donnie had gotten sicker and sicker until eventually Bishop's Outbreak virus had left him shaky and nauseous and weak. And then after that, when the virus had stripped away Don's mind and personality, left him a rabid beast with no awareness of who he was - or of his family - and the long three days they'd spent bargaining with the devil for Donnie's last chance, even when none of them had really believed it would work.
Raphael remembers every fucking second of those three days, but Don doesn't remember any of it. Which makes the moments like this a little awkward.
Moments like this are why Raph couldn't let Don come up here to the musuem by himself, why Mike follows Donnie to the junkyard hunting for supplies, why Leo tags along whenever Don wanders off to talk techno with April. It's why they don't let him work on the van by himself at night, why someone's always in the mood to stay up and watch the Late, Late Show when Don's pulling an all-nighter in the lab and why he hasn't had to do a solo patrol in the five weeks since he came back. They can't stand to let him out of their sight yet. Raph can't stop forgetting that they left him behind once and almost lost him - never mind that he'd been with April, his subconscious won't let him forget that Don succumbed to the virus while his brothers were an entire city away, too far to know what was happening to him, too far to get to him in time to help.
But Donnie's still got ahold of Raph's wrist, and his fingers are steady and his grip is firm. His eyes are a little too knowing, and Raph knows, he knows, that they're driving Donnie insane with all the smothering they're doing, but he still can't quite get himself to stop.
Donnie squeezes his wrist and slips his hand down to hold Raph's, just for a second. "I'm all right." He grins and tips his head forward so he can look at Raph over the rim of his sunglasses. "I'm glad you wanted to come tonight."
Raph can't make himself let go of Don to save his own life, as if, just for that moment, everything depends on holding on as tight as he can. Donnie doesn't try to pull away and Raph ducks his head and resolutely does not blink away tears. Shit. He didn't cry when Donnie was fucking dying, but a sneeze in a dusty museum is making him all weepy.
"Dinosaurs," Raphael says finally, and if there's an edge of anger in his voice it's not aimed at Donnie and they both know it. "Can't get enough of 'em."
Donatello snorts and slaps him on the shoulder. "If that's true, I'd be happy to rig up one of those animatronic deinonychus displays for your bedroom."
"Try it, braniac," Raph retorts, balance temporarily restored, at least until the next time something makes him remember. "Try it and I'll tell April about your little crush."
It's good to see Donnie blush bright red and sputter in outrage. It's even better when Don's hand tightens around his one last time before he lets go.
Don's all right. They're all all right.
Even fucking dinosaurs aren't gonna cast a pall on that.
sidara:
Supernatural, Sam and Dean, wound
"Let go, let go, damnit, Dean let me-" Sam gives up on coaxing and pries Dean's fingers loose by force. It's harder to do than it sounds; Dean's clutching at the hole in his side as if he could hold his blood in by pure force of will and both their fingers are slick with it. "Let me see. Dean."
"Shit." Dean's voice is breathy and shocked. "Shit. Did you see that? That thing's got fingernails like fencing sabers."
"I saw." Sam finally manages to get Dean's hands away from his side. "God, Dean. We need to get out of here."
Dean laughs breathlessly. "No shit! I don't think we can just walk out the front door, Sammy."
"There is no front door anymore, Dean." Sam shrugs out of his coat and pulls his shirt off over his head. It's not exactly cold in there, though it is an odd sort of damp, and Sam's skin crawls at the sudden exposure. He folds it as neatly as he can with one hand and presses it against Dean's side, biting his lip as his brother groans in pain. "It vanished, remember?"
"This place sucks." Dean slumps against the wall, his skin pasty white and sweat beading on his forehead. Shock is hitting him hard and soon the bloodloss will knock him off his feet. "We have to stop taking jobs we find on Internet message boards. Gonna get us killed."
The shirt is already soaked and Sam can feel Dean's blood slowly seeping through. That's too much to lose so quickly. "I think you're right, man. In the meantime, mind coming up with a plan to get out of here?"
"You're the smart college boy." Dean's eyes are fluttering a little and his breathing is starting to get uneven. "You come up with the plan. I'll rescue the babe this time."
"There is no babe." No babe, no front door and a monster with three legs, one arm and sword-like fingernails that could extend and retract at will. Their cell phones weren't getting a signal, none of the phones in this god-forsaken ghost town worked, the Impala had died as soon as they hit downtown and despite the fact that almost 3700 people were supposed to live in this little town, they hadn't seen a soul since arriving that morning. Getting out of the house was only their first problem. Getting Dean out of town and to a hospital would take forever on foot. "If you wanted to stop bleeding, that could help."
Out in the hallway, something starts screaming. It sounds like a woman, but they'd fallen for that trick once already.
Sam's fingers are starting to cramp and Dean isn't looking at anything anymore, his eyes drifting shut and his mouth slack. "Sammy."
The door shakes as the creature starts pounding on it. Sam frantically glances around the room, looking for anything that he could use to barricade the door. There is a dresser on the far side of the room, a big one that looks to be made of solid wood. It might reinforce the door just long enough for - for something. He isn't sure about part two yet.
"Dean." Sam grabs one of Dean's hands and places it back over the almost worthless compress. "Press down, okay? I'm going to go block the door. Slow that thing down."
"Won't work. It can make things disappear. Front doors. Four thousand people." Dean laughs a little. "God, this job sucks. Sammy. Go out the window."
"We're on the third floor, Dean. You think you're up to playing Tarzan?"
"That'd make you Jane, little brother. Leave me a gun. Go out the window. Get help."
"There's no help out there, Dean." And bullets don't work on that thing in the hallway. They'd already figured that out.
Dean moves surprisingly fast for a man in shock, wrapping his fingers around Sam's arm and shoving him. "Go. Out. The. Window."
The door is rattling on its hinges and Sam has the distinct feeling that the thing in the hallway is teasing them. Trying to scare them. That it could have gotten in on the first try but it wanted them to know it was coming. "No. We've got the guns. Let me barricade the door and-"
"There is something wrong with this whole town." Dean's head rolls against the wall and he's glaring at Sam. "I'm not getting far like this. Get out of here and get help-"
"There is no help!" Sam wrenches Dean's hand away from his arm. "And if you think I'm just going to wander off on my merry way while that thing finishes turning you into swiss cheese you are fucking out of your mind."
"Supposed to be so fucking smart," Dean gasps. "Sammy, this place is wrong, this whole place and you gotta get out. Can't die here. Can't-" he shudders a little and doesn't finish, but Sam knows.
"You're not going to die here." The door is starting to splinter and Dean can't keep his eyes open anymore. The guns are worthless against this thing. "Dean. Dean."
His brother goes limp and his hand slips away from the wound in his side. Sam covers it with his own hands again, presses down. They can't die here. Dean can't.
Half the door splinters inward and the creature sticks its eyeless head through and screams again. Sam hunches over Dean's body, presses down as hard as he can on the wound and feels something like desperation build in his chest until he thinks he could explode. He closes his eyes, presses his face to Dean's hair and whispers his brothers name as the creature knocks the rest of the door away and lunges into the room.
Dean's blood feels like ice on Sam's hands.
sidara:
Animorphs, Jake/Marco, well-fucked
"Marco looks well-fucked," Tobias observed cheerfully over a glass of orange juice.
As far as conversational gambits went, that was more Rachel's type of line - or Marco's for that matter. Tobias tended to be a bit more oblique unless he was trying to get your goat.
Jake eyed Tobias over his own mug of coffee.
Tobias grinned. "I'm just saying." He made a vague gesture with his right hand.
Jake sputted and laughed into his coffee. "You're not seriously trying to make me jealous?"
"Nah." Tobias grinned. "Just observing a fact. You were out of town for, what, almost two weeks, yeah? And Marco's his usual self. Then this morning, right around the time you would have been getting back, all of a sudden he's a Calvin Klein model."
"Do not let him hear you say that." Jake shook his head. "I mean it, Tobias. I'd hate to have to testify before a jury that you deserved being brutally murdered."
"Just tell me this, Jake. Did you, or did you not, have sex in a supply closet this morning after getting back from London?"
"Not," Jake said flatly. He knew Tobias could see the truth of it in his eyes.
"Huh." Tobias swirled his orange juice in his glass. "The research lab then, huh?"
Jake grinned. "Two-way mirrors."
Tobias laughed. "Kinky. Marco's a bad influence on you."
jenjinn:
FMA, Ed, cow
"Cows," Havoc said.
Mustang found himself glancing over, along with the rest of his team, because after three days of uneventful travel, anything that wasn't a dirt road was incredibly fascinating.
A half-dozen cows were grazing a short distance away from the road. There was no fence to indicate that they were driving by a farm. The cows themselves just looked up and moo'ed at the sight of the car.
"Cows," Fullmetal said from the backseat.
Mustang glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He'd heard Fullmetal refer to murderers and rogue alchemists with more warmth in his voice. "What have you got against cows?"
Fullmetal glared back at him. The younger man was wedged against the side of the car, looking distinctly uncomfortable with Fury crushed against his side. "Cows are stupid creatures," Fullmetal said finally.
"And they produce milk," Havoc said.
Fullmetal actually bared his teeth and growled. Mustang twitched. "Milk, Fullmetal? Are you afraid of milk?"
jenjinn:
YYH, Yuusuke, tampons
"Grocery shopping?" Kuwabara asked. "How utterly domestic of you."
"Yeah, whatever." Yuusuke kicked the door shut and wrestled the two bags of groceries toward the apartment's small kitchen. "You could help."
"Big bad demon lord needs my help with a bagful of-" Kuwabara peered into one of the bags. "Carrots and tampons? Tampons, Urameshi?"
"Shut up."
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"They're for Keiko, all right?" Yuusuke swatted at the cigarette and ignored the dirty look it earned him. "Your fat ass is in my way. Move."
"Keiko-chan?" Kuwabara didn't budge from hispalce in the kitchen door. "Keiko-chan?"
"She's a girl, you know."
"Don't tell a twenty-five year old woman that she's a girl," Kuwabara said absently. "You'll get dumped again. And speaking of dumped, when did she take you back? And why didn't you tell me, huh?"
"She hasn't taken me back. Yet. I'm just." Yuusuke gestured at the bags absently. "Preparing."
Kuwabara frowned at him but glanced over the bags. Vegetables and fruits. Perfumed soaps, scented candles. Napkins. "Huh. Preparing?"
"She said I had to grow up a little." Yuusuke glanced at the bags and shrugged. "I had to be willing to think of her a little. And not just when she was around. So maybe if I start now, while she still hates my guts... I dunno. It was a stupid idea."
"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "It's certianly half-assed." He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket and tapped a fresh one loose. He doesn't light it, because he's supposed to be quitting. "But it's a good start." He grins a little and offers a cigarette to Yuusuke, who doesn't hesitate to light it. "And we can work on the rest, yeah?"
His friend grinned at him and blew a smoke ring toward the bags. "Like you're any better at this than I am."
Kuwabara shrugged. "If you mean I've never had a woman dump me for being an immature, thoughtless moron, you're right. But I know your fiance pretty well. She doesn't hate you. So you've got half the battle won already."
"Yeah?" Yuusuke tipped his head to the side.
"Mind reader," Kuwabara reminded him cheerfully. "Anyway, Keiko-chan and Shizuru like to gossip so I've heard pretty much all the dirt there is to hear. She doesn't hate you. But she is determined to make you beg a little."
Yuusuke made a face. "I can do that."
deathgod02:
Mag7, vin/ezra, gin
Ezra was a man who could hold his liquor. Beer, whiskey, wine - drinks Vin ain't heard of, even - and Ezra could match and beat a man three times his size. When Miss Darcy Porter had gotten married to that banker from St. Louis last spring and the whole town had been invited to the reception, Joasiah'd been down on the floor singing church hymns after three glasses of the bubbly champagne and even Chris and Buck - two men with experience at holding their liquor if ever Vin had met one - had gotten silly. But Ezra outlasted them all.
Which ain't to say Ezra never got drunk. Vin'd seen him tipsy and relaxed after a particularly good job, when the seven of them were all together in the saloon or out at Chris' place. Or sometimes when it was just the two of them, Ezra listening to Vin's attempts at reading aloud from one of JD's tattered dime novels, both of them laughing their tails off at the horrible story and the gin bottle nearly bottomless.
Gin seemed to knock Ezra's feet out from under him faster than anything else. Either that, or the company lowered Ez's defenses faster than the booze.
Vin was rather hoping for the latter.
m_a_foxfire:
YYH, Atsuko/Yukina, car chase
"Hang on, Yukina-chan!" Atsuko twisted the wheel hard to the right, cackling madly as the car briefly went up on two wheels. The alley was narrow, and Atsuko swore as she lost a side mirror against the wall of the building on the left.
Yukina squeaked slightly as the car scraped along the wall, sparks shooting up outside her window. "They're still following us, Atsuko-san."
"What?!" Atsuko twisted in her seat to peer out the back window. "Oh for - how did that car even fit in here?"
"They seem to be gaining," Yukina observed. "Shall I do it again?"
Yukina grinned at her, bright teeth and brighter eyes and Atsuko had to force herself to pay attention to her driving. "Let 'em have it."
Yukina turned in her seat to face the rear of the car and gestured with one hand. The air in the car chilled briefly, then the car behind them spun out on a very unseasonable patch of ice and smashed sideways into the wall.
"Ricochet," Yukina said mildly and Atsuko laughed and stepped on the gas.
The larger car bounced off the walls of the alley a few more times before spinning to a stop. Atsuko broke free from the far end of the alley, cutting off traffic and nearly mowing down a police officer.
Yukina clapped her hands over her mouth as the cop jumped out of the way. "Gomen ne!" she called out through her window. She paused. "Oops."
"Yukina-chan?" Atsuko hit the brakes and swung the wheel to the left as she tried to avoid a parked car. "What is it?"
"I think that was Kazuma-san." Yukina peered over her shoulder. "Yes. That was definitely Kazuma-san we just nearly ran over."
"Oops." Atsuko said sheepishly. "He's all right?"
"I believe so." Yukina gave her a reproachful glance and Atsuko found herself slowing down almost without meaning to.
"All right, all right." Atsuko flipped on the turn signal and eased the car off the sidewalk and back into the street. "We'll go the speed limit the rest of the way. Unless they catch up with us again."
"Why were they so angry, Atsuko-san?" Yukina asked. "Did you do something to them?"
Anyone else, even her son, would have sounded accusatory. Yukina was just interested. "That's a long story." Her cell phone was ringing in her bag. "Yukina-chan, do you mind?"
The little Koorime fished out her phone nd flipped it open. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "This is the phone of Urameshi Atsuko, who is unable to speak with you at the moment. May I take a message? Oh! Hello, Yuusuke-san!"
Atsuko groaned.
"Ah! Is Kazuma-san all right? I didn't think we hit him... Good!" Yukina covered the phone with one dainty hand. "Yuusuke-san says to tell you that Kazuma-san is giving you five minutes to get off the streets before he calls in an APB."
"Tell those two brats to stop checking up on me!"
Yukina beamed. "Anyone else would have shot at us, Atsuko-san."
Atsuko grumbled under her breath. "Fine, fine."
"Also, he says to tell you that Kazuma-san says he is going to have a hard time explaining three frozen gunmen and that you owe him big time."
Atsuko reached out and snagged the phone. "Ne, Yuu-chan. Tell your boyfriend that covering up for gangsters and then demanding restitution is a time-honored tradition. I admire his forward-thinking. Ask him if he wants to be on the payroll."
"I am not going to ask Kuwabara if he wants to join the Yakuza, Ma." There was a brief pause in which Yukina and Atsuko exchanged a grin. "And he is not my boyfriend!"
Yukina burst into giggles as Atsuko flipped the phone shut on her son's indignant shouts.
Some of these were answered in the comments of that post, most of them are brand new.
rin_sakaguchi: TMNT, Donatello, love
Love is Father, furry and warm and cuddly, who gives them hugs and warm baths and lets them win sometimes when he play-wrestles, which Raphy never ever does.
****
Winter, spent in a curled ball beneath piles of blankets, wrapped up in a cocoon of safety and warmth. Back when Raph hugged back and Leo didn't mind if you used him as a pillow.
****
Waiting patiently, if not quietly, for Splinter to come back from a food run Topside and getting a sick feeling in his tummy as the hour hand passes the time Splinter said it would and still he has not returned, leaving them to sit and wait and think too much about all the bad things humans might do if they caught him. The way his tummy flips over when Splinter returns with not just food but toys as well and knowing that he was only late because he wanted to bring them something special. Mostly it's knowing that he'd give up all the toys in the whole world if it meant never ever having to feel that way again.
****
The way Leo beams with pride when Donnie masters the bo, the way Mikey's eyes light up when Donnie builds him a new toy, the way Raph crows with delight when Donnie shows him the shell cycle.
****
The first time April threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek, delighted as he was to find someone she could talk to who would understand and challenge her in a way the others couldn't. It was they way she could touch him without seeming to notice that his skin wasn't as smooth as hers or the way she would drum her fingers on his shell as she leaned over his shoulder and studied the computer screen. It was the way she treated him just like his brothers did and for that he thinks he loved her more than a little bit.
****
Watching Mikey grow in ability and confidence until he can keep Raph and Leo both on their toes and take them both out in a fight. It's watching Mikey earn the title of Battle Nexus Champion not through luck and chance, but through determination and skill. It'ss why Mikey won, and why they always knew he'd win, even when he was losing.
****
Working in the lab with Leatherhead, geeking out over things his brothers can't pronounce, changing the way the world works or at least the way they understand it. It's the chance to put ideas and theories out into the world that could one day save lives and make the world better.
It's working inthe lab with Leatherhead, watching his best friend become something more than the animal he was born as, and something more than the mutant he was made into.
****
It's waking up after the Outbreak stole his mind and sense of self, and knowing that his brothers sacrificed too much to bring him back. It's knowing that they'd do it again and again and again and never regret it, no matter what it ended up costing them. It's knowing he'd do the same and be grateful for the chance.
****
Those weeks training with the Tribunal, and becoming part of something more.
It's also Adam, who never blinked in the face of them, who jokes with him and teams up against Raph and Mikey. It's the way Adam touches his arm or his carapace or his plastron, not in the casual, careless way that his brothers and April do, but with a focus and intent that make Don's hands tremble.
It's those same weeks, watching Raph and Joy take on the world and love every minute of it, wondering when (if) Raph will ever notice that Joy wants him.
****
The sensation of seeing the future and realizing that he has a place in it and a hand building it.
****
The nights when Raph drags him, protesting and indignant, out of the lab and up above ground and they spend all night at Casey's getting ever so slightly wasted on expensive whiskey and cheap beer, playing pool or darts, and passing out on the couch. The nights when Leo asks him to join him on a training run and they end up camped out beneath the bridge out to the junkyard, pitching rocks into the river and trading thoughts. The nights when Mikey challenges him to an all-night video game winner-take-all doom-a-thon tournament for total domination of the Earth. He loves working in the lab, but he looks forward to these nights too.
****
Watching over the years as April and Casey flirt, bicker, argue, fight, break-up, make-up, rinse and repeat a dozen times until they finally get it right. Love is listening to Casey's three thousand different proposal rehearsals until April finally pops the question herself. Love is helping Raph throw Casey a bachelor party and throwing April a bachelorette party and being happy for both of them because no one could be better for each other than they are. Because at some point April became his sister and Casey became his, well, adopted step-brother born out of wedlock or something, and they're his family.
It's the wedding, a small private ceremony held in private on a Tuesday evening the week before everyone else thought it would be. There's a blind priest and only a couple dozen guests including the Turtles, Leatherhead, the Justice Force, Professor Huneycutt. Friends from the outer fringes of society who could never have attended the formal ceremony. And Casey's mom, who never seemed to find her son's friends the least bit unusual. Raph was Casey's best man, and Don was April's. Splinter gave the bride away.
April and Casey call it their real wedding, and that's the day they celebrate as their anniversary years later, not the date of the larger wedding that Saturday.
****
Holding Splinter's hand when he dies. And being there, weeks later, to hold Raph when he finally lets himself cry.
****
It is when April and Casey name their daughter Monet "so she'll fit in with her uncles".
****
Building O'Neil Tech from the ground up, starting with nothing but an idea and the knowledge that it can work, will work, if they want it to badly enough. It takes years before they get it right, but the journey is a trial of fire of sorts, and the three of them come out of it in one piece, stronger and closer than they were before. Smarter and sneakier, too. Donatello knows more about business finance than he ever wanted to, and he's glad they decided to let Casey and his mom handle most of that.
****
It's the pride he can barely contain when Mikey presents him with the first of many acceptance letters from a publishing company.
****
Teaching three-year-old Monet to read and write and do basic math. She's so much like her father, with thick, curly black hair and bright blue eyes, but the spark of curiosity and intelligence in those same eyes is all April.
Being the one Monet comes to as she gets older and needs answers or to test her ideas, or just some reassurance that the world doesn't make sense to anyone else either. Raph is her favorite uncle, but Donatello is her confidant and, in later years, the one she wants to grow up to be.
****
It's the way the rouch concrete scrapes his skin raw and the sound of the a katana whistling through the air, stopped abruptly against an aluminum baseball bat. It's when he blinks blood out of his eyes and sees blue jeans and motorcycle boots standing between him and the Foot soldiers who ambushed him. It's Casey's voice calling for backup as he tosses insults at the ninja surrounding him. It's knowing that his brother's are coming for him, that they'll always come for him.
Even if they get there too late.
yashakizu: Okay, I'm not sure if you really wanted Raph/Don slash or if you just wanted Raph and Don interacting together, but I went with the idea of the former. This is pre-slash more than anything else. I've never written TMNT slash before, believe it or not. ^_^
This snippet ended up being an epiloque to the fourth season, with references to several episodes, including The Return of Savanti Romera Parts 1 & 2 and Adventures in Turtle-Sitting and Good Genes Parts 1 &2. Basically, there was time travel, and Donnie got really, really sick and almost died in the season finale.
donatello/raphael, museum
"I can't believe you actually want to come back to this place." Raphael's words echo a little in the cavernous exhibit hall and he winces internally and lowers his voice, ducking his chin so his mouth is muffled by the scarf he's wearing to obscure his face. "I mean, after last time."
"I only got to see part of the display," Donatello says. Donnie, soft-spoken on the best of days, is practically murmuring and his voice is soft and private; no one would be able to overhear him even if they were only standing a few feet away. "We were only here for a few minutes before Savanti Romero attacked."
Raph supposes that's fair enough, considering the only reason they'd been in the museum in the first place that night was because Don had never outgrown the stage where he was fascinated with dinosaurs. "Bro, we spent three months trying not to be eaten by the real thing, and you're getting all fascinated over a museum display?"
Donatello shrugs, but he finally looks away from the skeleton he was studying. "Personal experience has only heightened my interest in the subject."
Nothing to say to that, because Raph'd figured as much. Spending twelve weeks living in the jungle, hiding from T-Rex and wrestling with dilophosaurs or whatever, eating giant fish for dinner and learning how to skin their dinner to make hides for a tent had guaranteed that Raph, Mike and Leo never wanted to hear or see a dinosaur again. Mike had even trashed his Jurassic Park collection after getting back to the present. But Donnie. Donnie thought it was all some big field trip.
Donatello leaves both hands resting on the metal barrier surrounding the skeleton display. "You didn't have to come," he points out. And if Leo had said that, Raph woulda gotten pretty pissy, but coming from Donnie it's not a complaint or jab or reprimand. It's just Donnie stating the facts and, beneath that, offering Raph a way out.
It's not often Raph can catch Donnie being wrong, but this is one of those times. Raph had to come, even if Donnie himself didn't think so.
He crams his fists in the pocket of his jacket and shrugs, looking away. "Yeah, whatever, braniac. Someone's gotta be here to drag your tail home, or you'd probably be here all night."
Donatello grins at him behind his scarf and sunglasses. "The security guards would kick me out eventually."
One of the animatronic displays across the room roars and jumps out at a couple of kids. They shriek and jump, then collapse into giggles when they realize what happened. The security guard is frowning at them, but Donatello grins and nudges Raph in the side. "Chickenosaurus, hmm?"
Raphael can feel a blush creep across his face and he's happy for the disguise. "That thing could take anyone by surprise." He ignores the smirk on his brother's face and points at a random display. "What's that?"
Donnie graces him with a look of fond exasperation. "That's a sea turtle."
"I-" Raph turns and actually looks at the display. "Oh. Right. Big sucker, inn't he?"
"Sea turtles can reach astonishing proportions," Don says. He very obviously restrains himself from going into greater detail but sets off toward the display. Raph follows him. Giant turtles are way cooler than some old moldy T-rex bones any day of the week. "The leatherback sea turtle can be as long as seven feet long and five feet wide, weighing as much as thirteen hundred pounds at maturity. They don't actually have shells, as a matter of fact, but a series of thin bone plates beneath the skin on their backs."
"They're endangered, yeah?"
Donnie nods. "All sea turtles are, to one extent or another. The leatherback is at a higher risk than some others, though." He leans over the display plaque and rubs his fingers over the engraved words, even though Raph doubts they can tell him anything he doesn't already know. Donnie grimaces, then turns his head to the side and sneezes.
Later, it will be a source of personal pride for Raph that he didn't just grab Donnie and haul him out of there. As it was, he couldn't stop himself from grabbing Don's shoulder in one hand and reaching for his shell cell with the other.
Donnie coughs and sniffles, then makes a face. "Eugh."
"You feelin' all right, bro?" Raph squeezes Don's shoulder. "Need me to call Leatherhead?"
His brother blinks at him in surprise, then Donnie's eyes narrow slightly and his hand comes up to grip Raph's wrist. "Dust, Raphy. The display was dusty. That's all."
Relief kicks Raph in the back of the knees even as he pries his fingers lose from Don's shoulder. "Oh. All right then."
Don doesn't let go of his wrist. There's a long moment - well, it feels long anyway, but Raph's heart is still skipping beats - where they just kinda stare at each other. Raph's remembering the last time they were there, when Donnie'd been battling a cold that wouldn't go away, only a couple days (or months, if you take time travel into account) before his brother's health began to spiral and Donnie had gotten sicker and sicker until eventually Bishop's Outbreak virus had left him shaky and nauseous and weak. And then after that, when the virus had stripped away Don's mind and personality, left him a rabid beast with no awareness of who he was - or of his family - and the long three days they'd spent bargaining with the devil for Donnie's last chance, even when none of them had really believed it would work.
Raphael remembers every fucking second of those three days, but Don doesn't remember any of it. Which makes the moments like this a little awkward.
Moments like this are why Raph couldn't let Don come up here to the musuem by himself, why Mike follows Donnie to the junkyard hunting for supplies, why Leo tags along whenever Don wanders off to talk techno with April. It's why they don't let him work on the van by himself at night, why someone's always in the mood to stay up and watch the Late, Late Show when Don's pulling an all-nighter in the lab and why he hasn't had to do a solo patrol in the five weeks since he came back. They can't stand to let him out of their sight yet. Raph can't stop forgetting that they left him behind once and almost lost him - never mind that he'd been with April, his subconscious won't let him forget that Don succumbed to the virus while his brothers were an entire city away, too far to know what was happening to him, too far to get to him in time to help.
But Donnie's still got ahold of Raph's wrist, and his fingers are steady and his grip is firm. His eyes are a little too knowing, and Raph knows, he knows, that they're driving Donnie insane with all the smothering they're doing, but he still can't quite get himself to stop.
Donnie squeezes his wrist and slips his hand down to hold Raph's, just for a second. "I'm all right." He grins and tips his head forward so he can look at Raph over the rim of his sunglasses. "I'm glad you wanted to come tonight."
Raph can't make himself let go of Don to save his own life, as if, just for that moment, everything depends on holding on as tight as he can. Donnie doesn't try to pull away and Raph ducks his head and resolutely does not blink away tears. Shit. He didn't cry when Donnie was fucking dying, but a sneeze in a dusty museum is making him all weepy.
"Dinosaurs," Raphael says finally, and if there's an edge of anger in his voice it's not aimed at Donnie and they both know it. "Can't get enough of 'em."
Donatello snorts and slaps him on the shoulder. "If that's true, I'd be happy to rig up one of those animatronic deinonychus displays for your bedroom."
"Try it, braniac," Raph retorts, balance temporarily restored, at least until the next time something makes him remember. "Try it and I'll tell April about your little crush."
It's good to see Donnie blush bright red and sputter in outrage. It's even better when Don's hand tightens around his one last time before he lets go.
Don's all right. They're all all right.
Even fucking dinosaurs aren't gonna cast a pall on that.
sidara: Supernatural, Sam and Dean, wound
"Let go, let go, damnit, Dean let me-" Sam gives up on coaxing and pries Dean's fingers loose by force. It's harder to do than it sounds; Dean's clutching at the hole in his side as if he could hold his blood in by pure force of will and both their fingers are slick with it. "Let me see. Dean."
"Shit." Dean's voice is breathy and shocked. "Shit. Did you see that? That thing's got fingernails like fencing sabers."
"I saw." Sam finally manages to get Dean's hands away from his side. "God, Dean. We need to get out of here."
Dean laughs breathlessly. "No shit! I don't think we can just walk out the front door, Sammy."
"There is no front door anymore, Dean." Sam shrugs out of his coat and pulls his shirt off over his head. It's not exactly cold in there, though it is an odd sort of damp, and Sam's skin crawls at the sudden exposure. He folds it as neatly as he can with one hand and presses it against Dean's side, biting his lip as his brother groans in pain. "It vanished, remember?"
"This place sucks." Dean slumps against the wall, his skin pasty white and sweat beading on his forehead. Shock is hitting him hard and soon the bloodloss will knock him off his feet. "We have to stop taking jobs we find on Internet message boards. Gonna get us killed."
The shirt is already soaked and Sam can feel Dean's blood slowly seeping through. That's too much to lose so quickly. "I think you're right, man. In the meantime, mind coming up with a plan to get out of here?"
"You're the smart college boy." Dean's eyes are fluttering a little and his breathing is starting to get uneven. "You come up with the plan. I'll rescue the babe this time."
"There is no babe." No babe, no front door and a monster with three legs, one arm and sword-like fingernails that could extend and retract at will. Their cell phones weren't getting a signal, none of the phones in this god-forsaken ghost town worked, the Impala had died as soon as they hit downtown and despite the fact that almost 3700 people were supposed to live in this little town, they hadn't seen a soul since arriving that morning. Getting out of the house was only their first problem. Getting Dean out of town and to a hospital would take forever on foot. "If you wanted to stop bleeding, that could help."
Out in the hallway, something starts screaming. It sounds like a woman, but they'd fallen for that trick once already.
Sam's fingers are starting to cramp and Dean isn't looking at anything anymore, his eyes drifting shut and his mouth slack. "Sammy."
The door shakes as the creature starts pounding on it. Sam frantically glances around the room, looking for anything that he could use to barricade the door. There is a dresser on the far side of the room, a big one that looks to be made of solid wood. It might reinforce the door just long enough for - for something. He isn't sure about part two yet.
"Dean." Sam grabs one of Dean's hands and places it back over the almost worthless compress. "Press down, okay? I'm going to go block the door. Slow that thing down."
"Won't work. It can make things disappear. Front doors. Four thousand people." Dean laughs a little. "God, this job sucks. Sammy. Go out the window."
"We're on the third floor, Dean. You think you're up to playing Tarzan?"
"That'd make you Jane, little brother. Leave me a gun. Go out the window. Get help."
"There's no help out there, Dean." And bullets don't work on that thing in the hallway. They'd already figured that out.
Dean moves surprisingly fast for a man in shock, wrapping his fingers around Sam's arm and shoving him. "Go. Out. The. Window."
The door is rattling on its hinges and Sam has the distinct feeling that the thing in the hallway is teasing them. Trying to scare them. That it could have gotten in on the first try but it wanted them to know it was coming. "No. We've got the guns. Let me barricade the door and-"
"There is something wrong with this whole town." Dean's head rolls against the wall and he's glaring at Sam. "I'm not getting far like this. Get out of here and get help-"
"There is no help!" Sam wrenches Dean's hand away from his arm. "And if you think I'm just going to wander off on my merry way while that thing finishes turning you into swiss cheese you are fucking out of your mind."
"Supposed to be so fucking smart," Dean gasps. "Sammy, this place is wrong, this whole place and you gotta get out. Can't die here. Can't-" he shudders a little and doesn't finish, but Sam knows.
"You're not going to die here." The door is starting to splinter and Dean can't keep his eyes open anymore. The guns are worthless against this thing. "Dean. Dean."
His brother goes limp and his hand slips away from the wound in his side. Sam covers it with his own hands again, presses down. They can't die here. Dean can't.
Half the door splinters inward and the creature sticks its eyeless head through and screams again. Sam hunches over Dean's body, presses down as hard as he can on the wound and feels something like desperation build in his chest until he thinks he could explode. He closes his eyes, presses his face to Dean's hair and whispers his brothers name as the creature knocks the rest of the door away and lunges into the room.
Dean's blood feels like ice on Sam's hands.
sidara: Animorphs, Jake/Marco, well-fucked
"Marco looks well-fucked," Tobias observed cheerfully over a glass of orange juice.
As far as conversational gambits went, that was more Rachel's type of line - or Marco's for that matter. Tobias tended to be a bit more oblique unless he was trying to get your goat.
Jake eyed Tobias over his own mug of coffee.
Tobias grinned. "I'm just saying." He made a vague gesture with his right hand.
Jake sputted and laughed into his coffee. "You're not seriously trying to make me jealous?"
"Nah." Tobias grinned. "Just observing a fact. You were out of town for, what, almost two weeks, yeah? And Marco's his usual self. Then this morning, right around the time you would have been getting back, all of a sudden he's a Calvin Klein model."
"Do not let him hear you say that." Jake shook his head. "I mean it, Tobias. I'd hate to have to testify before a jury that you deserved being brutally murdered."
"Just tell me this, Jake. Did you, or did you not, have sex in a supply closet this morning after getting back from London?"
"Not," Jake said flatly. He knew Tobias could see the truth of it in his eyes.
"Huh." Tobias swirled his orange juice in his glass. "The research lab then, huh?"
Jake grinned. "Two-way mirrors."
Tobias laughed. "Kinky. Marco's a bad influence on you."
jenjinn: FMA, Ed, cow
"Cows," Havoc said.
Mustang found himself glancing over, along with the rest of his team, because after three days of uneventful travel, anything that wasn't a dirt road was incredibly fascinating.
A half-dozen cows were grazing a short distance away from the road. There was no fence to indicate that they were driving by a farm. The cows themselves just looked up and moo'ed at the sight of the car.
"Cows," Fullmetal said from the backseat.
Mustang glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He'd heard Fullmetal refer to murderers and rogue alchemists with more warmth in his voice. "What have you got against cows?"
Fullmetal glared back at him. The younger man was wedged against the side of the car, looking distinctly uncomfortable with Fury crushed against his side. "Cows are stupid creatures," Fullmetal said finally.
"And they produce milk," Havoc said.
Fullmetal actually bared his teeth and growled. Mustang twitched. "Milk, Fullmetal? Are you afraid of milk?"
jenjinn: YYH, Yuusuke, tampons
"Grocery shopping?" Kuwabara asked. "How utterly domestic of you."
"Yeah, whatever." Yuusuke kicked the door shut and wrestled the two bags of groceries toward the apartment's small kitchen. "You could help."
"Big bad demon lord needs my help with a bagful of-" Kuwabara peered into one of the bags. "Carrots and tampons? Tampons, Urameshi?"
"Shut up."
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"They're for Keiko, all right?" Yuusuke swatted at the cigarette and ignored the dirty look it earned him. "Your fat ass is in my way. Move."
"Keiko-chan?" Kuwabara didn't budge from hispalce in the kitchen door. "Keiko-chan?"
"She's a girl, you know."
"Don't tell a twenty-five year old woman that she's a girl," Kuwabara said absently. "You'll get dumped again. And speaking of dumped, when did she take you back? And why didn't you tell me, huh?"
"She hasn't taken me back. Yet. I'm just." Yuusuke gestured at the bags absently. "Preparing."
Kuwabara frowned at him but glanced over the bags. Vegetables and fruits. Perfumed soaps, scented candles. Napkins. "Huh. Preparing?"
"She said I had to grow up a little." Yuusuke glanced at the bags and shrugged. "I had to be willing to think of her a little. And not just when she was around. So maybe if I start now, while she still hates my guts... I dunno. It was a stupid idea."
"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "It's certianly half-assed." He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket and tapped a fresh one loose. He doesn't light it, because he's supposed to be quitting. "But it's a good start." He grins a little and offers a cigarette to Yuusuke, who doesn't hesitate to light it. "And we can work on the rest, yeah?"
His friend grinned at him and blew a smoke ring toward the bags. "Like you're any better at this than I am."
Kuwabara shrugged. "If you mean I've never had a woman dump me for being an immature, thoughtless moron, you're right. But I know your fiance pretty well. She doesn't hate you. So you've got half the battle won already."
"Yeah?" Yuusuke tipped his head to the side.
"Mind reader," Kuwabara reminded him cheerfully. "Anyway, Keiko-chan and Shizuru like to gossip so I've heard pretty much all the dirt there is to hear. She doesn't hate you. But she is determined to make you beg a little."
Yuusuke made a face. "I can do that."
deathgod02: Mag7, vin/ezra, gin
Ezra was a man who could hold his liquor. Beer, whiskey, wine - drinks Vin ain't heard of, even - and Ezra could match and beat a man three times his size. When Miss Darcy Porter had gotten married to that banker from St. Louis last spring and the whole town had been invited to the reception, Joasiah'd been down on the floor singing church hymns after three glasses of the bubbly champagne and even Chris and Buck - two men with experience at holding their liquor if ever Vin had met one - had gotten silly. But Ezra outlasted them all.
Which ain't to say Ezra never got drunk. Vin'd seen him tipsy and relaxed after a particularly good job, when the seven of them were all together in the saloon or out at Chris' place. Or sometimes when it was just the two of them, Ezra listening to Vin's attempts at reading aloud from one of JD's tattered dime novels, both of them laughing their tails off at the horrible story and the gin bottle nearly bottomless.
Gin seemed to knock Ezra's feet out from under him faster than anything else. Either that, or the company lowered Ez's defenses faster than the booze.
Vin was rather hoping for the latter.
m_a_foxfire: YYH, Atsuko/Yukina, car chase
"Hang on, Yukina-chan!" Atsuko twisted the wheel hard to the right, cackling madly as the car briefly went up on two wheels. The alley was narrow, and Atsuko swore as she lost a side mirror against the wall of the building on the left.
Yukina squeaked slightly as the car scraped along the wall, sparks shooting up outside her window. "They're still following us, Atsuko-san."
"What?!" Atsuko twisted in her seat to peer out the back window. "Oh for - how did that car even fit in here?"
"They seem to be gaining," Yukina observed. "Shall I do it again?"
Yukina grinned at her, bright teeth and brighter eyes and Atsuko had to force herself to pay attention to her driving. "Let 'em have it."
Yukina turned in her seat to face the rear of the car and gestured with one hand. The air in the car chilled briefly, then the car behind them spun out on a very unseasonable patch of ice and smashed sideways into the wall.
"Ricochet," Yukina said mildly and Atsuko laughed and stepped on the gas.
The larger car bounced off the walls of the alley a few more times before spinning to a stop. Atsuko broke free from the far end of the alley, cutting off traffic and nearly mowing down a police officer.
Yukina clapped her hands over her mouth as the cop jumped out of the way. "Gomen ne!" she called out through her window. She paused. "Oops."
"Yukina-chan?" Atsuko hit the brakes and swung the wheel to the left as she tried to avoid a parked car. "What is it?"
"I think that was Kazuma-san." Yukina peered over her shoulder. "Yes. That was definitely Kazuma-san we just nearly ran over."
"Oops." Atsuko said sheepishly. "He's all right?"
"I believe so." Yukina gave her a reproachful glance and Atsuko found herself slowing down almost without meaning to.
"All right, all right." Atsuko flipped on the turn signal and eased the car off the sidewalk and back into the street. "We'll go the speed limit the rest of the way. Unless they catch up with us again."
"Why were they so angry, Atsuko-san?" Yukina asked. "Did you do something to them?"
Anyone else, even her son, would have sounded accusatory. Yukina was just interested. "That's a long story." Her cell phone was ringing in her bag. "Yukina-chan, do you mind?"
The little Koorime fished out her phone nd flipped it open. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "This is the phone of Urameshi Atsuko, who is unable to speak with you at the moment. May I take a message? Oh! Hello, Yuusuke-san!"
Atsuko groaned.
"Ah! Is Kazuma-san all right? I didn't think we hit him... Good!" Yukina covered the phone with one dainty hand. "Yuusuke-san says to tell you that Kazuma-san is giving you five minutes to get off the streets before he calls in an APB."
"Tell those two brats to stop checking up on me!"
Yukina beamed. "Anyone else would have shot at us, Atsuko-san."
Atsuko grumbled under her breath. "Fine, fine."
"Also, he says to tell you that Kazuma-san says he is going to have a hard time explaining three frozen gunmen and that you owe him big time."
Atsuko reached out and snagged the phone. "Ne, Yuu-chan. Tell your boyfriend that covering up for gangsters and then demanding restitution is a time-honored tradition. I admire his forward-thinking. Ask him if he wants to be on the payroll."
"I am not going to ask Kuwabara if he wants to join the Yakuza, Ma." There was a brief pause in which Yukina and Atsuko exchanged a grin. "And he is not my boyfriend!"
Yukina burst into giggles as Atsuko flipped the phone shut on her son's indignant shouts.
