To Be Me

Chapter Twenty-One

Taree woke up right before dawn stretching, she was pressed against a warm body. Yusuke was still sleeping soundly, so she eased out of bed. She wasn't sure how he would react to her after last night. Quickly pulling on a pair of shorts, tanktop and her socks and shoes; out the door she went. A nice morning run was what she needed to stretch her sore muscles. Going down the stairs as quietly as possible, a gasp escaped her. Laying on the couch was Kagome in Hiei's arms, they looked cute together. Okay so it looked like she was going on her run by herself. No need to wake the two lovebirds. From the sounds of it Kurama and Mai weren't up yet either.

She unlocked the door, the deadbolt echoed through the silence. She sighed in relief when no one woke. The sun was starting to rise as she took off down the street. A few people were outside getting their morning papers, they smiled as she ran past.

Hiei opened his eyes when the deadbolt sounded. He waited for the girl to step out before getting up. The fool girl was going off alone again, at least she was trying. The fire youkai slid off the bed trying not to wake up Kagome. She moaned, said a few incoherent words and rolled over. He grabbed his cloak and headed out the door.

Taree continued to run, enjoying the feeling of enlightenment. She needed some time to think about last night. It had been totally unexpected and wonderful. What was she going to do now? Yusuke had a girlfriend, a girlfriend he'd had sex with earlier the same night. She did what she said she didn't mind, she'd just accepted someone's left overs. Not that she thought of him that way, anything but. He got on her nerves, was a total pain in the ass and he didn't really like her. He would probably regret last night as soon as he woke up. Deep down she knew that was the reason she'd left. She wouldn't have been able to lay there and watch him wake up with regret in his eyes. It would have hurt, more than she was willing to admit.

Her feet hitting the ground echoed as she contemplated her options. She really didn't have many, her hands were tied. She liked him, cared about him but he wasn't hers. He belonged to someone else, he loved another girl. She was nothing more than a nuisance to him, last night a total lack of control on his part. Maybe he had wanted to try something new, she hadn't helped matters either. But she wasn't someone to lie or not speak her mind. She wanted him, wanted to be more than someone he had to protect.

'Maybe I should turn around and ask Hiei his opinion.' She could just imagine what he would say. Probably call her a fool for giving herself to a man that didn't really want her. He could have at least asked to tag along dammit, then again it was almost like having a faithful dog trailing behind her. 'I'm sure he wants to get back to Kagome, lets see how long it takes before he gets impatient and turns around.' She turned down the main highway, a nice long run was just what she needed.

Kagome rolled over again and found empty space. Her eyes snapped open, she yawned stretching her arms. 'He's gone.' She quickly got up and slipped on her discarded shorts. Her panties screamed at her, the neglect. Did these people really have something against panties with hearts and flowers? She was kind of glad he was gone, it gave her time to collect her thoughts. A good run was what she needed, maybe Tar would want to go.

She walked up the stairs, Kurama and Mai were inside his room speaking. She ended up at the bedroom door and knocked. A minute later Yusuke opened the door in a pair of boxers, looking rather irritated. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up. I just want to ask Taree to go on a run with me."

"Sec, she must be in the bathroom." He yawned and knocked on the bathroom door. When no answer came, he tried the knob. "She's not here, have you looked downstairs?"

"Yeah, she's not down there." Kagome turned around and almost smacked into Kurama's naked chest.

"What's the problem?"

"Taree isn't here." Kagome went back down the stairs, yelling. Calling out but no one answered. "Outside maybe?" She opened the front door noticing it was already unlocked. She became worried when she couldn't spot her outside. "Where did she go?"

Kurama searched for any sign of Hiei, he wasn't here either. "Hiei is gone also, I don't think we need to worry. My guess is she left and he followed her. He will see to her safety. Let's see about some breakfast, I'm sure they will be back soon."

Taree saw the bridge coming up and smiled, she had to give it to the small man. He stayed right behind her the whole way out of sight. She'd been running for over an hour, the others were sure to be up by now. They'd both probably miss breakfast but what the hell. She could wait till lunch and Hiei could go bite the head off a few chickens. The metal echoed, clanging as she ran along the side.

A few cars honked at her but she kept her eyes forward. Bunch of horny old farts, like they had a chance. She was starting to sweat big time, her top becoming drenched. She was halfway across the long bridge when she decided to take a breather. Climbing on the railing she sat on the edge, looking down at the water below. There wasn't much current, the water was almost still. It looked peaceful so she gazed down at the blue surface. If she had to guess, she'd say she was a good four hundred feet up. The wind blew blowing her long ponytail forward.

Looking up, she spotted Hiei high on one of the beams. He was looking off into the distance towards the way they'd came. 'Probably thinking about Kagome.' She sighed, maybe she should head back. Just because Yusuke wouldn't want to be around her this morning, there was no need for her to keep Kag's man away from her.

A hissing sound caught her attention and she gazed over the edge. She couldn't see anything, so she slid down to the other side. Her hands grabbed the railing as she gazed down over the edge. Something was calling for help, instinct told her it wasn't a person. It was coming from right under her down at the bottom, her guess something was holding on to one of the support beams. But how was she going to get down? She looked up at Hiei, he wasn't paying any attention to her. So much for asking for his help. If she jumped she'd die. If the fall didn't kill her the sudden impact into the water would.

Her thoughts ran wild, she had to get down there. Maybe if she put a barrier around herself and went feet first. Either way the barrier would protect her when she hit the water. Well here went nothing, she released the railing and called forth a barrier. Feeling it in place, she took another step. A car slammed on its brakes, honking it's horn as she stepped off the edge.

Hiei looked down at hearing the car hit the railing and honk its horn. He looked down and looked for the girl. A man got out the vehicle and ran over to the edge.

"She fucking jumped." He was gazing over the edge.

'Kurama, the girl just killed herself.' He leapt down and landed beside the man.

Kurama watched Yusuke interact with Keiko to see what he would do. The fox could still smell the lingering hint of sex as Yusuke stood at the bedroom door. It hadn't even taken a full night for something to happen. He could see the worry and anxiety etched on the boy's face. It got worse when the doorbell rang, while they were preparing breakfast.

Keiko came by, saying something about checking on him. She kind of invited herself to breakfast and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Yusuke looked like he was ready to bolt at the slighest sound.

"Where's the other girl and Hiei?"

"They left earlier, probably to go on a morning run knowing Taree." Kurama told her.

"Really, that's nice. They do kind of make a cute couple."

Yusuke glared at her as did Kagome. Kurama tried not to laugh at their obvious displeasure. It was actually silly of Keiko to assume they were a couple on that fact alone. "Sorry to inform you but they aren't a couple. Though I'm sure Taree would have gotten a laugh at that comment."

The fox got up to place his plate in the sink, it crashed to the floor when Hiei's voice entered his mind. 'Kurama, the girl just killed herself.' It took a second for it to register, 'What?'

Everyone turned to stare at him, they didn't know Kurama liked to talk to himself. The fox shook his head, 'Are you sure?'

'Yes the idiot just jumped over four hundred feet while I wasn't paying attention. Unless, she can fly, she's dead. I'll go down and check just to be sure.' The link was severed.

He turned to the others, not sure if he should say anything yet. He wouldn't tell them their friend was dead unless Hiei knew for sure.

"What's wrong?" Mai saw the worry on his face.

"I'm not sure yet, I can't say anything until Hiei contacts me again."

"Hiei?" Kagome placed her fork done. "Is he with Tar, did something happen to her? Tell us now."

"Kurama?" Yusuke raised his voice, making Keiko jump in her chair.

"It may be nothing. He just said she jumped off the bridge, he's going to check on her now." Kurama hoped they were satisfied with that answer.

"There is only one bridge near here, that's the one down the highway but that's over four hundred feet high. She couldn't have jumped off that one." Keiko informed them.

"I'm well aware of it Keiko." Kurama saw worry plastered on their faces.

Hiei made his way down and landed on a cement block sticking out the water. He scanned the area and spotted her. Laughter erupted from his chest, the fool was alive. To make matters worse she was swimming to one of the metal support beams. Why had she jumped?

Tar reached the beam the voice was coming from, her hand grabbed the metal. She lifted herself out the water, pulling her body up on the beam. It only took her seconds to find what she was looking for. A snake was sitting on the beam curled up, trying to stay on the metal. If she had to guess, it was about two feet long. A cut about three inches in legnth was across its body, it's head picked up as it sensed her.

"Are you hurt?" A frown crossed her face, seemed it was picked up by a bird about to become dinner. She struck at the bird while over the water, almost drowning. "Let me take you home, patch you up. Don't worry I won't hurt you. It might hurt your injury when I pick you up but I promise as soon as we get home I'll fix you up." She slid across the metal taking her time not wanting to scare the serpant.

Hiei heard her talking and saw the reptile, 'She's fine, I'll be bringing her home shortly.' He waited until the girl had the thing cradled in her hand before calling out. "I'm going to carry you home, tell that damn thing to behave. Or I'll remove it's head."

Kurama sighed, "She's fine, they will be here shortly."

"Did he say what happened?" Kagome asked.

"No, I'm sure they will tell us when they get here." He sat down on the chair, that could have been bad. Damn Hiei for making him worry for no reason. Not to mention the others. Mai and Kagome got up to start cleaning up, anything to take their mind off what they'd been told.

"She wouldn't really commit suicide would she?" Keiko blurted out.

Yusuke tried to get his heart to calm down. Had she tried to kill herself over what happened last night? Surely she didn't hate him that much. Their dislike for each other was obvious but not worth killing herself over. It's not like she cared enough to do it. His nerves were shot for the day. He didn't like how he'd felt at hearing Kurama speak those words. It had almost been like the time he'd thought Toguro had killed Kuwabara but different. Why would it bother him that much, if she had just died? He barely knew her and he didn't really like her.

"No, Keiko." Kurama saw the look on Mai's face, hopefully Keiko would drop the subject.

Ten minutes later the front door opened and laughter filled the apartment. "Come on Hiei, she's cute. She thinks you are adorable."

"Get that damn thing away from me. We are here now get away before I tear her head off." He growled.

"You wouldn't dare, I promised her I'd take care of her." Tar stuck out her tongue, "You big meanie. Come on, sweetie lets go get you patched up." She turned to see Kurama gawking at her, "Oh sorry about gettting your floor wet. Do you have anything to clean out this wound?"

"What the hell is going on?" Kurama demanded. They were all worried about the girl and she comes in laughing. The others stopped behind him.

"Oh my is that a snake?" Keiko took a step back.

"Hn. Seems she decided to jump off the bridge to save the damn thing." Hiei took off his cloak.

"Next time make she's dead before you contact one of us dammit." Yusuke yelled at him.

Hiei watched her walk up the stairs, he heard a smack and turned to see Mai standing over the fallen boy. Served him right, "It was a mistake, she jumped."

"You asshole." Kagome delivered a kick to his legs.

"What the fuck did I say? I was just saying that he should make sure before worrying us for nothing." He stood up and glared, he hadn't said anything wrong.

"I'll go up, I'm sure she'll be looking for the first aid kit." Kurama found her in the bathroom, looking under the counter. "I have a first aid kit in my bathroom if you want to use it."

"Great," She picked the snake off the floor, it wrapped itself around her small arm. It constricted around the flesh, holding on tight. "You don't mind if I keep her do you? I'll make sure she stays out anyone's way."

"I don't mind, as long as it behaves." He handed her the box.

"She." Tar placed the snake on the floor getting it to stretch out. "She's not an it." She cleaned the wound, not worrying when the snake hissed. Wrapping the gauze around the body, she was officially patched up. "There you go, now I just need to name you. How about Baby?" The forked tongue shot out. "Baby it is."

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