The Beast Underneath: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Magic Isn't so Complex

        "Atool! Kiria metaphorical magic!" Malice exclaimed, bounding through the front door of Kiria's apartment.

        "What," Axel practically shouted as her eyes snapped open from where she was lying on the couch.

        "She doesn't know what she's talking about, Axel, calm down," Kiria soothed as she entered the door. She pointedly looked at Malice and said, "Kiria not metaphorical magic. Kiria literal magic."

        "Okay!"

        "Well, in any case... can I inspect your bags?" Axel asked, eyeing them all up. Shizira set the bags she was carrying down, and then gripped the boxes Malice had abandoned outside the door, grabbing and pulling them slowly into the apartment.

        "Axel, it's fine. Don't mind it, she just heard that phrase somewhere."

        "Yeah," Shizira agreed, grunting as she made the final yank that dragged the heavy boxes inside. She pushed the door closed and then sat on the floor, simply focusing on trying to breathe properly.

        "Alright," Axel complied as she grabbed one of Kiria's bags and dug through it to her protest. "You're lucky I don't know what half this stuff is, so I can't tell if they're drugs or not."

        "Axel, we did not get any drug-related items!" Kiria specified for the umpteenth time, staring furiously at her sister. 

        "Alright, alright. I'm not saying you did, I just wanna look in here." Axel pulled all of the boxes out and set them on the coffee table, one after the other.

        "I'll help you set up the tiny herb garden," Shizira added. "And help you organize everything properly. Good thing we stopped at that retail store and got an organizing bin for you."

        "Atool~," Malice said, leaning over the couch and squishing herself in a hug against Axel's back. "Hi."

        "Hello to you, too, Malice," Axel replied, blinking and wondering what had brought that on.

        "She missed you Axel, quit with the face," Uria added as the three spirits sat on the couch. Raviel had been oddly quiet during this entire thing, that was for sure.

        Shizira stood up, carrying a plastic bag and gesturing for Kiria to follow. She gently placed all her stuff back in the bag and followed after, taking the tray of plants with her. 

        "First things first, where do you want your plants?" Shizira began, inspecting the room with a bit of a smile.

        "Ah... how about we put them on the windowsill?" Kiria suggested, gesturing to the strip of wood along the bottom edge of her window. Shizira narrowed her eyes and nibbled on a lip.

        "Got any bits of wood and nails? Or maybe something with glue, anything you'd like as a sideboard to keep them from falling, really."

        "I've got some duct-tape and cardboard."

        "Colorful duct-tape?"

        "Yep."

        Fifteen minutes later, a cardboard ledge was attached to the window, held in place by a long strip of rainbow-duck duct-tape. Shizira carefully lined the tiny pots along the windowsill, edge to edge, and then together they pressed each plant into a pot. They crumbled the accompanying dirt a bit to fill the inside, but otherwise they were fine. All shapes and colors stood together, standing out alongside the patterned barrier.

        "I bought you an herbal book that tells you how to tend to specific plants, as well as their uses and representations," Shizira explained as she withdrew an organizing cubby from a bag labeled with a generic dollar-store insignia. She unpackaged the item, connecting the plastic pieces to reveal dozens of tiny drawers on one half and a set of shelves on the other. She yanked the adhering strips off the back, and pressed it against the back wall with the bottom directly against Kiria's desk-top.