Meeting the Youko

Summary:

A young woman named Anna moves to a college town and finds herself mixed up in a robbery investigation. The mastermind and king of thieves, Youko Kurama, takes her as captive to the demon world. Are his intentions pure…Or has he chosen to subjugate her as an example to his fellow thieves.

At long last Anna could sigh with relief as she set her books down at her front door. She gazed around the undecorated white walls of her new apartment and stretched her arms out above her before turning to lock the door and head into her tiny, but efficient kitchen. Pouring water into a worn-in tea kettle, Anna glanced out of the kitchen into the apartment she had been so lucky to come by.

Less than a month before semester would begin, Anna had received notice that she had finally been accepted to the university. Quick arrangements had been made, and Anna had worked out a living arrangement with an elderly couple to rent an upstairs apartment in exchange for tending to the yard and house. Her new dwelling, all though only about a half hour's walk to campus, skirted dense woods which her landlords, the Pirston's, owned. She smiled to herself, and settled down with a hot mug of tea to flip over the local newspaper.

Anna twisted her finger into her dark hair and gazed down at her tea to her reflection. In the tint of the liquid, her eyes looked almost black, a stark difference from their actual emerald green color. Sore muscles reminded her to take the next few days easy as her body adjusted to running over the hilly topography of the sleepy college town. Sipping her tea, Anna read over a few of the headlines before spotting a crime bulletin detailing a break in to a local jewelry shop. Her curiosity peaked; she furrowed her brow as the newspaper reported the theft of only a couple of items; one ruby bracelet, and a matching necklace studded with onyx. She looked over the picture and noted that all though quiet beautiful, the necklace and bracelet were plain compared to what the small jewelry store most likely boasted. How odd that a thief would go to the trouble to break into a store, and only steal one or two items when there were many more, and many more expensive pieces to choose from.

Her phone rang beside her, causing Anna to jump and spill the near scalding tea over her hand. Cursing, she answered the phone.

" Hello?"

"It's Mrs. Priston, Just wondering how you are settling in." Mrs. Priston was a kind-faced woman, married to an old military officer who had retired but still enjoyed firing off a few rounds with his hunting rifle in the back yard. Mrs. Priston had assured Anna that this would not take place at night, but noted that Mr. Priston winked as his wife said this.

"Very well, but I wish I could summon the moving genie to help me unpack all of these boxes. When did I get all of this stuff?" Anna heard Mrs. Priston chuckle over the phone and mutter something about wanted to summon her own moving genie to get rid of some of her husband's guns. "Would you like me to get started on any house-work tomorrow?" Anna asked.

"No, No, not yet. But we'd love you to plant some roses we got the other day at the market. Do you have a good set of gloves?"

"Of course," she lied, "I'll get them in tomorrow and tend to anything else you can think of. Can you make a list?"

"Sure, but don't worry about working too hard right now. Why don't you take your jog tomorrow in the woods out back…they back up to the historical park. That place has been there for over 200 years." Mrs. Priston went on to say.

"Sounds like a plan, I would love to see what the town has to offer. It might be nice to get away from pavement for a little while and hit a dirt trail." Anna said as she walked into the bedroom and stripped her clothes for bed.

Mrs. Priston yawned, and found an abrupt way to end the conversation. Anna wondered if she had stayed awake just to make sure she had gotten in safely. They were very nice people. Plugging her phone into the charger, Anna yawned herself and settled into bed, spent from the day's move and more than ready for sleep.

The dawn greeted her by sending a warming ray of sunlight through her bedroom window. Stretching with an almost cat-like grace, Anna quietly went about her morning routine. A note had been shoved from under the front door detailing a list of responsibilities her new landlords wished for her to tend to. Among the first was a trip to the grocery store complete with money and a list of items the Pristons had detailed.

"Morning run will have to wait." Anna said to no one in particular.

After dawning a pair of blue jeans and an old grey T-shirt, Anna put her long hair into a pony-tail to keep it out of the way. Without even checking herself in the bathroom mirror, Anna was on her way to the center of town.

The street sides were picturesque, with hanging flowers on every other light post and the locally owned and operated businesses with their own window planters every so often. All in all, this hamlet was rather cozy, and oddly welcoming for such a small town. Anna supposed they would have to be, seeing as the student body most likely provided them with a great percentage of their income during the school year.

As Anna approached the local market store with grocery list in hand she heard a shrill cry and laughter coming from one of the stores beside her. A woman ran out, her purse clutched to her chest, but open and pouring out its contents. The woman didn't seem to care. She was older and dressed in a kind of business-casual way so Anna assumed she was retired and enjoying a shopping day; or at least had planned to enjoy a shopping day. Looking closer, Anna spied a great streak of crimson flowing down the back of the older woman's jacket. As other street-goers stopped to gawk at the commotion, the older woman tripped and leaned backwards to scuttle into the street and away from the store she had just exited. Passersby screamed as they noticed the trail of viscous red liquid painting the ground when the woman scooted away.

"Miss!" Anna shouted, not sure how to react. She dropped her grocery list and ran across the street to where the woman sat cowering. From inside the store, the laughter could be heard again. It sounded forced, like whoever it was didn't actually find anything funny, but felt some strange need to fill the silence. Anna placed a hand on the old woman's shoulder in attempt to get her attention, and in reaction, the woman shrieked and pulled the hand she was balancing on back to try and smack her attacker away.

"Hey, it's all right. I'm Anna. Can you tell me where you're hurt?" Anna furrowed her brow in concern but the woman never met her eyes. Paled in obvious fear, the older woman screamed again as a shadow appeared in the doorway. Anna stepped forward and braced her feet, prepared to react in a second's notice. An awful mix of a laugh and cry spewed out from the shadows as a man lunged forward towards both Anna and the terrified old woman beside her. Reacting quickly, Anna spied a broom resting against a trash bin. Bracing the bristle-end against her foot, Anna aimed the tip of the broom to the man's chest. As if it had been planned, the man lunged strait into the broom handle, knocking himself back and gasping for air. At least with the wind knocked out of him, he wouldn't start the crazed cackle again.

As the man collapsed Anna noticed a few bits of red around his fingers and on his clothes. Odd that the woman should bleed so much, but her attacker would be relatively clean by comparison. Looking down, but cautious about trying to touch the frightened woman again Anna asked, "Miss, can you tell me what happened? Are you okay?"

Frazzled but calming now that the threat was over, the woman motioned to her chest. It was then that Anna noticed that the way the crimson flow wasn't at all like blood…it was too thick and dried too quickly. "Paint?" Anna breathed.

Men in EMT uniformes rushed forward to grab and hoist the woman up on a stretcher. Checking vitals indicated that the woman was stable, but her breathing hadn't slowed from the trauma of being chased by a demented shop owner. Anna hoped that her heart was not taking the same restless approach.

"Miss, did you see what happened?" A uniformed officer had finally arrived on scene and seemed bound and determined to play the intimidated authority figure.

"I heard her yell and ran over to help. The man you see there," Anna gestured as two more EMTs picked the shop owner up onto a stretcher, "ran wildly out of the shop and attempted to jump at her." Anna knew that she would most likely have to tell this story around a hundred more times, so there was no reason to expand too much right at the moment.

The Police officer grunted and scribbled down some notes as he muttered something about taking down witness information. As Anna spouted off her new address to the policeman, she looked down at her now red palm. "Perhaps you should come with me." The man eyed her suspiciously, frowning all the while. Anna frowned right back.

"I'm afraid I have errands to run today; maybe I can pay you a visit later on in the day? " Anna stated in a firm but deceptively sweet voice.

The officer shook his head. "We'd really appreciate if you came to make a statement now, Miss." The man took the initiative to grip Anna's arm in an attempt to convince her to step over to the police car. "Someone will take you home after we get your statement." He tried to sound convincing.

Anna started to say something about having to get her landlords requests completed but as she stuck her hand into her jean pocket, she realized that not just the list was gone but the money too. "Damn." She whispered, earning a raised brow from the policeman and his mumbling, "Won't take too long." In the assumption the complaint was over having to go to the station.

Resigning herself, Anna slumped her way to the police car and mentally kicked herself for losing the Priston's grocery money. Shooting her gaze back to the scene where her morning had suddenly turned wild, Anna's eyes widened as she realized that the store in question was the very same as from the crime bulletin. "Eclectic Collections" as the store was called, had lost two pieces of jewelry, and its owner had lost his mind.

"I'm telling you, I have no idea who that old woman is, and I don't know a Mr. Tanaka." It had been hours since Anna had arrived at the police station. Her stomach growled it's irritation at having not eaten since breakfast but the policeman ignored the noise pollution.

"You have to understand Miss…what did you say your sir name was again? Ah, never mind. It's just strange that a young girl, "The leading officer eyed down at Anna's chest before continuing," I mean…young lady, would be able to take down a grown man, especially while said man is under the effects of intoxicants." As it turned out, Mr. Tanaka was the owner of "Eclectic Collections" and was currently being held under guard in the hospital under suspicion of drug use. During the course of the interrogation, Anna determined that in a fit of insanity, Mr. Tanaka had attacked the poor old woman with a paint brush just as she asked him the price of a set of ear rings. This resulted in her being streaked in deep red paint, Mr. Tanaka's reddened fingernails, and Anna being caught "red-handed" after having touched the victim's shoulder.

"Mr. Tanaka was off-balanced when he tried to jump at us. All I had to do to defend myself was put the broom in his way. I really didn't take down anyone… just inconvenienced an attack." Anna stated, hoping that the finality of her voice would convince the questioning officer. "Besides, I couldn't sit and watch while some guy tried to frisk an old woman."

"Look Miss… Anna, you say that you had only just gotten to the scene before Mr. Tanaka sprang out of his shop, but you ended up covered in more paint that he did." The policeman eyed Anna from across the table, setting his coffee down with an authoritative clink as he prepared to make his accusation.

"Because I tried to touch her to get her attention…" Anna started but was cut short.

The officer laid his hands flat on the table in what was supposed to be an attention grabbing gesture. In the pose, Anna thought, he looked somewhat akin to a sphinx. "It seems you might have been there before you're telling us. Mr. Tanaka is an upstanding citizen; he's not likely to get drunk or otherwise unless it's not his choice."

Anna frowned and nodded her head forward slightly, looking up at him with narrowed emerald eyes. "So, what you mean to say is that you think I planned to drug some shop owner just to watch the mayhem?" Her voice was low and as menacing as she could muster. It had not been a good morning, but throwing in an accusation like this one made the events earlier pale by comparison.

"Well miss Anna," The officer started, "Are you aware that a bit of jewelry was taken from the shop not two days before? And I see from your records that you just got to town real recently." His voice was slurred in a way typical of the south. Normally, Anna found that accent charming, but at the moment she wished he would choke on his coffee. "Now, I don't mean to say you have anything to do with that, but…"

The policeman eyed her in a way that said, "I absolutely think you had something to do with it." And in an outrage, Anna's mind couldn't think of the obvious flaws in his logic. Why would he just assume a college-bound co-ed would have anything to do with a robbery, let alone an attack on a stranger? Was he so eager to close the case in his quiet little district that anyone whom he could blame would provide him an out? After all, there were witnesses that watched Anna touch the old woman's shoulder right?

"Haven't you talked to anyone else? They would have seen me heading to the grocery store." At this point, Anna sounded flustered and desperate. Initial outrage had given way towards the strong desire to just go home. She would just have to explain to the Pristons why she didn't get their groceries later.

"All anyone else is saying is that they heard a scream, and then watched you beat Mr. Tanaka with a broom handle while you crotched over the victim. No one has said anything about you calling for help when Mr. Tanaka jumped at you and no one saw you going to the grocer's. It's like you were there all ready." It was clear that all though the officer was trying to make his accusation fit together, very little of it was based on evidence. None-the-less he seemed sure of himself, as if he had been looking for the jewelry thief for years and following this lead was as close to finding the culprit and missing jewelry as he had ever come. Did he actually believe that Anna was responsible?

"May I ask you if you are actually going to charge me with anything?" Anna asked.

"Not today." The officer smiled lightly, and then narrowed his eyes in an almost hungry fashion. It was a promise that this would not be the last time Anna would see him.

Anna was finally free of the police station, or at least she was outside of it. Rather than to ask one of the officers for a ride home, she had opted to just walk. As it turned out, she still had a few hours of daylight and felt guilty about losing the Priston's grocery money. She called them and was able to get a quick list together over the phone. Fortunately the town was small, so she only had a bit over a mile to go to get to the grocery store, and about a half mile to get home from there. As Anna rounded the corner to make it the last block to the market, she reflected back on the day's events.

It seems that she was quickly becoming immersed in a robbery investigation she knew nothing about. All though Anna had regarded the town as welcoming, it was now apparent that her initial assessment had been somewhat off the mark. While the bulk of the town seemed accepting, clearly the police officers were quick to blame outsiders. How ironic that her rushing to help someone had resulted in her being under suspicion of both a random attack and somehow being linked to a random theft. Quietly, Anna began to wonder how random all of the day's events actually were. She looked over her shoulder, and sighed as she realized that this would have to become a new habit of hers. She was not going to be surprised again.

With a bit of luck, Anna was able to buy all of the Priston's desired foods out of pocket. Not only would she have been embarrassed to say she lost their money, but she didn't want to start out a relationship looking untrustworthy. They had been kind to her, and were understanding about her being late with their errands. She smiled that the day left her enough time to cook the Priston's dinner and finish with a jog in the dense woods outside of her new home. As Anna laced up her running shoes, she quickly drank a glass of water before bounding out of the door, more than ready to work off some stress.

If Anna had thought the hilly street sides had been a tough running terrain, she was seriously out of shape here in the forest. She had only been out for about 20 minutes or so, but all ready she felt like she had run a marathon. Thinking back to the conversation she had had with Mrs. Priston the day before, she had expected to see the historical park by now. Instead, the trail seemed endless but that didn't matter to Anna. It was beautiful out in the woods. And she smiled in relief as she realized that the buzz and lights of the town could no longer be detected this far from civilization. Anna looked at the path ahead of her to check it for debris. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath to fill her senses with the smells of the wild, and promptly tripped.

Anna crashed forward in an utterly unladylike fashion. Her hind-end high in the air and chest smashed against the trail before her, Anna was very happy no one was here to see her. She rose up to rest on her elbows and coughed out the dust she inhaled in her fall. Tucking her legs underneath her, Anna looked around with a dear-in-headlights expression until she noticed what she tripped on.

A shiny object which caught the light even in the darkness of the forest gleamed red. Anna was mesmerized, and foolishly curious. She got up, drawn to the object as if it had called her name. As she reacted to the thrall of the shinning red gem, Anna ignored the blood dripping down her forearms from the scraps collected from the fall. It was a bracelet inlaid with a deep red ruby, and one that Anna instantly recognized. This was the very same from the picture in the newspaper. Anna only half noted that while she had thought the newspaper's picture showed a beautiful, but boring piece, this one was magnificent. Perhaps some things you need to see in person to appreciate, Anna thought. She crouched down to pick up the bracelet. And as her fingers just barely touched the gem, Anna screamed.

Her wrist was burning and she looked in horror to see the bracelet lift itself off of the ground to slide forcefully onto her wrist. As she gasped and tried to claw off the cursed jewelry it tightened, superheating and shrinking to burn its image into Anna's naked wrist. Just as Anna thought she would feint from the pain of the bright hot metal burning her flesh it stopped, and the bracelet disintegrated before her eyes. As Anna gripped her wrist to her heart she fell back, to see the image of someone above with features so striking she could never forget.

Cold golden eyes gazed at her passively, as if her pain merely bored him. His hair blew across his face, so the tall man brushed the strands away from his eyes. It was at that moment that Anna registered his non-human features. His fingertips were adorned with claws instead of blunt human nails. His eyes were an impossible shade of gold and his hair was as silver as winter wind. Most notable however, were a set of pointed fox-like ears stationed to hear any move Anna would make. It was terrifying to think that even if this figure's expression was only slightly bemused, his attention was so perfectly tuned to her that she doubted he missed even one of the heart beats. She giggles slightly, as if thinking that she had finally lost her mind and fell into sleep as she heard footfalls walking away from her.