PROLOGE
A curly-blond-haired girl of 15 gazed outside her hotel room window at the gloomy evening. It had been raining since this morning, and had refused to stop. Hopefully she could get outside tomorrow. She had delayed her search long enough. Her red eyes ventured over to the portrait hanging on the wall. She had put it up as soon as she arrived. She felt alone and unprotected with it lying in a box. It was a picture of a boy, 15 like her, with long, beautiful, red hair and green eyes you could lose yourself in. He sat on the edge of a grassy cliff, overlooking the beach. The sunset was in the background. Whoever the artist was was exceptionally good, the blond girl thought. She looked at the caption at the top of the portrait. It read "Youko Kurama, a.k.a. Shuuichi Minamino."
CHAPTER ONE
The same girl walked along a street of Sariaski the next morning. Today was sunny and warm. She wore a white shirt and a matching jean skirt and jacket. She turned a corner into a marketplace. Everyone seemed to be looking at her. She pretended not to notice. She looked around to see if he was nearby.
"Are you looking for someone, young lady?" She looked up into the face of one of the shopkeepers. She was so startled she almost fell over backwards, but she caught her balance just in time.
"As a matter of fact, I am," she replied when she recovered from the shock. "Have you seen a red-haired, 15-year-old boy by the name of Shuuichi Minamino?"
"Yes, actually, I have. He just passed by here with a couple of friends." He pointed down the street to indicate the direction they took.
"Thank you, sir."
"Your welcome." But the girl had already disappeared into the crowd.
She walked while searching the heads of the crowd. Finally, she located him by the fountain. As the shopkeeper had said, he was standing next to two other boys, one in blue and one in green. The one in green had short black hair and brown eyes. The one in blue had orange hair. Anyone could see that he was the stupidist of the group. She snorted. She didn't and couldn't respect idiotes. She was far enough away from them that they couldn't hear her, and would only notice her if they looked purposely in her direction. Perfect, she thought. Her hand went into a bag hanging around her shoulder. When in came out, it was gripping a bomerang. She held it up to Shuuichi for a few seconds, and then threw it straight at his head.
* * *
"So, what do you want to do now, guys?" Yuske Urimeshi asked Kuwabara and Kurama.
"There's nothing much left," stated Kuwabara. "We've already been to the arcade, pizza place, ice cream shop, movies, my house . . . and um . . . and-"
"Just give up, Kuwabara. You're never going to list them all." Yuske started laughing, and Kurama joined in.
"He is right, you know," Kurama said.
"Stop making fun of me, you guys!" yelled Kuwabara. But they just kept on laughing. Suddenly, Yuske stopped and narrowed his eyes.
"Don't look now, Kurama, but there's a boomerang headed straight for you," he said. Kurama's eyes widened slightly as he quickly turned around. The boomerang barely missed squaring him in between the eyes. It turned around (as they're supposed to do) no more than an inch from his face and sailed in the opposite direction.
"Wow, that was close," said Kuwabara.
"A little too close in my opinion."
"How'd they do that? The person who threw it, I mean."
"It's a simple matter of calculation once you know the centripital force and air resistance," said a voice. Yuske, Kuwabara, and Kurama looked and saw a girl around their age with curly-blond hair and eyes the color of blood walking toward them. In her hand was the bomerang. Yuske heard Kurama do a mixture of a gulp and a gasp. He turned to look at him. Kurama had the look of extreme surprise. Yuske turned back to the mystery girl, confused. By now she had stopped, because she was close enough to have a normal conversation. She was staring at Kurama, but bear no expression.
CHAPTER TWO
"Who ar-" Kuwabara started to ask.
"So, you think you can just leave me and not expect me to follow?" the girl asked Kurama loudly.
"No!" he argued. "I . . . it's just that . . . I mean . . . ."
"Can't explain it? Or just don't want to admit it?" She was pratically yelling now.
Yuske and Kuwabara stood totally confused a few feet away. While the girl complained to Kurama, they had their own conversation.
"Do you have any idea of what's going on?" asked Kuwabara. "'Cause I sure don't."
"Nope," Yuske answered. "All I can tell is that they know each other and Kurama never told us about her."
"That wasn't very nice of him. But why didn't he?"
"I don't know. It might have been because he was too embarassed to tell us."
"Huh?"
"I he told us he knew a girl, we would automatically jump to conclude that she was his girlfriend like people always do."
"Mmm, I guess you're right."
Pause.
"I don't think she's human," said Kuwabara.
"Why do you say that?" asked Yuske.
"No one has eyes that color! She's probably half-demon or something."
"What!? Kuwabara, you're cr-" The sound of a young girl crying made Yuske stop in mid-sentence. He and Kuwabara slowly peered over to Kurama and the blond girl. Indeed, it was her. She was crying so hard you would have thought someone just died. They tightly had their arms around each other. Kurama looked very sympathetic. Yuske and Kuwabara gasped in amazement. "That's definately something I thought I'd never see." Kurama noticed they were staring at him, and blushed. He wispered something in the girl's ear. She nodded and slowly let go. She pulled a hankerchief out of her bag to wipe the tears from her eyes. Yuske and Kuwabara walked over to them.
"So . . . What's been going on over here?" Kuwabara asked with a grin.
"Sorry about that, Kurama," the girl said, ignoring Kuwabara's question. Her face was clear of tears now.
"Don't worry about it," replied Kurama. He stared down at the ground.
"Is anybody listening to me!?" yelled Kuwabara. "Hey, wait a second! You called him Kurama!" He looked at the girl suspiciously. She looked back at him, slightly confused.
"What? That's his name, isn't it?" she asked Kuwabara.
"Ya, but . . . you're not supposed to know it!"
"I think what Kuwabara is trying to say," Yuske butted in, "is how come you don't call him Shuuichi like everybody else? And who are you anyway?"
"She's Sarani Wiltika," Kurama answered for her, suprising everybody. He looked up as he spoke. "She met me as Kurama, not as Shuuichi."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense . . . But, could you just explain it anyway?" Sarani giggled at this. Kurama smiled.
"Of course. Let's just sit down somewhere."
"There's a fast food place just down the street." Kurama and Sarani nodded and started walking off. Yuske and Kuwabara followed after them.
CHATPER THREE
"So, Yuske," Kuwabara wispered as they were walking. "That was sure a mood swing."
"What do you mean by that, Kuwabara?" asked Yuske.
"I mean the girl, Sarani, or whatever Kurama said her name was. She was yelling at him at first, then suddenly, she was hugging him."
"I know what you mean. It looked a lot like he dumped her or something."
"But if that was the case, he wouln't hug her like that."
"He probably felt sorry for her." Yuske looked away. He couldn't talk to Kuwabara. He was too buzy thinking. The case between Kurama and Sarani was incredibly confusing. What did she mean by "you think you can just leave me" (refering to Kurama)? Why were they hugging like that? Was she really his old girlfriend? And was she truely a half-demon? Hopefully they would explain it all when they arrived at the restaurant.
Luckily, they were allready there. The group sat down at a table after purchasing snacks. Yuske and Kuwabara gave Kurama questioning looks.
"So?" Yuske asked. Kurama and Sarani grined.
"It was about two years ago, in Makai"-Yuske and Kuwabara raised their eyebrows-"at a turnamount," explained Kurama. "I had told my mother I was at a special camp in Tokyo. I had made it all the way to the final round - it was a very easy, one-person team, turnamount. Unfortunately for me, so had Sarani."
Yuske barely stopped himself from squirting his drink out his nose. Kuwabara almost choked on the cheeseburger he was eating. "You mean your a fighter!?" he exclaimed/asked Sarani. She nodded calmly.
"But I never heard of any girl fighters - except for the one in the Demon Triad," Yuske put in.
"That's why I had to pretend to be a boy in order to get in the turnamount," said Sarani. "No one would take me seriously. Not even Kurama." He slowly nodded in agreement. "When my true identity was revealed, he refused to fight me. But I wasn't about to attack someone if they weren't going to attack me back. It just wasn't fair."
"The crowd became annoyed at our standstill," Kurama continued. "We had to run very far away to avoid being killed by the guards. We chose to stay together untill we could get out of their reach. That way, it would be harder for them to defeat us. During this time, we got to know each other and became friends - or whatever you call it. When the time came when we could go separate ways, we didn't want to. But I had to get back home, or my mother would be worried. I didn't tell Sarani about my mother or my life in the human world, and I didn't have the chance. For right as I was about to explain it, we were attacked by some ferocious animals. By the time we killed them off, I was allready late in getting back home. I had to leave, so I did while her back was turned."
Everyone just sat and looked down for a few moments.
"I was wondering why you had to leave so urgently," Sarani finally spoke up.
"I still have a couple more questions," said Yuske.
"Shoot," Kurama told him.
"First, it was because you were in Makai that you said your name was Kurama?"
"Right. That is afterall what every other demon knows me as."
"Okay. Secondly, are you two boyfriend and girlfriend, or not!?" This caused Sarani and Kurama to start laughing.
"Actually, I've never really analyzed it that carefully," said Kurama when he stopped. "But, if you wish you may say it is that way." Yuske grined a satisfactory smile.
"I have a question too," Kuwabara put in suddenly. "Sarani - right? - what were you doing in Makai in the first place if you aren't half-demon?"
"I am half-demon," she answered. Kuwabara and Yuske now bear the suprised look of "really!?" on their faces. "Well, actually, more like a third. But its practically the same thing."
"Oh my gosh, look at the time," said Yuske suddenly. "I was supposed to meet Kayko at her house 10 minutes ago! Guess I'd better get going."
"Me too," agreed Kuwabara. "My mom probably's expecting me home for dinner." They all got up to leave.
"Wait!" said Sarani. "Before you go, you have to tell me your names."
"Oops. Sorry we forgot to do that. I'm Kazuma Kuwabara and he's Yuske Urimeshi."
"Okay. Thanks. See you later, then."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye."
CHAPTER FOUR
"Yuske . . . Yuske! Yuske!!!!!!" Atsuko shook her son vigurously to wake him up. He sleepily sat up and held his head.
"Cut it out, mom, I'm awake allready," he told her.
"You'd better be, because you're going to be late for school if you don't hurry and get ready." Yuske slowly got up and pulled his school outfit on after his mom left the room.
"Just great," he complained. "Why'd I have to sleep in today?" Today there was a big test in history. He, of course, didn't study one bit for it. Still, taking it at all gave you more than a zero. He grabbed a slice of toast on his way out the door. Dashing to school, he crashed into Kuwabara.
"You slept late too?" Yuske asked.
"Ya, my alarm didn't go off," answered Kuwabara. They ran off to school together.
Later, right after school, they were sitting on a bench right outside the school when Keiko came up to them.
"Hey, Yuske. How did the history test go?" she asked politely.
"Not very good," Yuske answered.
"If you don't start studying, your going to fail."
"So?" Keiko snorted. "Fine, then. Do you want to grab a sandwich at the deli?" Before Yuske could answer, a familliar voice spoke from a few meters away.
"Hey guys!!" it said. They looked and saw Sarani Wiltika coming towards them. "I'm glad I found you."
"Oh, hi Sarani," greeted Kuwabara. "Why aren't you with Kurama?"
"He's school dosen't get out for another hour." She noticed Keiko and smiled. "Who are you?"
"Oops, we forgot intruductions again," Yuske answered for her. "Sarani, this is Keiko, and Keiko this is Sarani. Kurama introduced us to her yesturday." He leaned over to Keiko's ear and added in a wisper: "Don't worry, she allready has a boyfriend." Keiko looked relieved at this, so she smiled.
"Oh, hi," she said to Sarani. "Would you like to join us? We were just about to get some sandwiches at the deli."
"Sure," answered Sarani. The group set off. While they were walking, Sarani had to stop to retie her shoe. "Go ahead. I'll catch up in a sec." While she was tieing, some older boys from Sariaski High came up to her.
"Excume us, young lady," one of them said. "We were just wondering is you had any money on you." Sarani looked up at them. She raised her eyebrows.
"I always do," she told him. "But I'm going to give any to you."
"Because we really need some cash. See, we ran out buyind lunch, and we need to call a couple cabs." Then, the others noticed the bullies.
"Sarani!" Yuske yelled back. "Do you need any help?"
"Don't worry," she called. "I can handle these losers."
"Who you calling a loser!?" another of the bullies asked.
"You." Faster than you could blink an eye, she lifted up her arm and punched him under the chin so hard he went sailing. Yuske and the others gasped in astonishment. "Anybody else want to try?"
"No, no, no, that's allright." All the other bullies dashed away. Sarani walked toward her group with a smug expression.
"Wow, you never said you were a really good fighter," said Kuwabara.
"Thanks," Sarani said. "Sorry, but I didn't think it was that important. I dosen't matter anyway, let's just go. I'm starving."
CHAPTER FIVE
That evening, Kurama and Sarani were hanging out together. They didn't know it, but Yuske and Kuwabara were secretly following them. They were curious to see what Kurama and Sarani were going to do.
"Would you like to go to a restaurant for dinner?" Kurama asked her.
"Okay," she replied.
"Do you care which one?"
Sarani giggled. "Silly, you forgot that I don't know this town. Is there somewhere just a little fancy, but not too much?"
"Yes, actually there's one just down the street." They held hands while they walked. She would look up into his eyes, then quickly stare down at the ground, repeatedly.
At the restaurant, after ordering, they talked or at least tried to. Yuske and Kuwabara got a table nearby.
"So, what have you been doing the past year?" asked Kurama.
"Looking for you," answered Sarani.
"I didn't know I was hard to find."
"Well, first I had to look all over the demon world. Then, when I found you weren't there, I had to look all over the human world."
"How did you find out I lived here?"
"Some demon told me you went by the name of Shuuichi Minamino in the human world. I went to the birth certificate office and got them to look you up and tell me where you lived."
Kurama smiled. "How did you persuade them?"
Sarani made a sinister grin. "I have my ways." They both laughed. The waiter came and served them their food. A few moments of silence passed.
"Kurama . . ." Sarani spoke up.
"Yes?" Kurama replied.
"I love you." Before he could say anything, she leaned over the table and kissed him on the lips.
"Sara . . ." he said after a minute or so. "I cannot escape loving you." This time, he leaned over and kissed her.
THE END
A curly-blond-haired girl of 15 gazed outside her hotel room window at the gloomy evening. It had been raining since this morning, and had refused to stop. Hopefully she could get outside tomorrow. She had delayed her search long enough. Her red eyes ventured over to the portrait hanging on the wall. She had put it up as soon as she arrived. She felt alone and unprotected with it lying in a box. It was a picture of a boy, 15 like her, with long, beautiful, red hair and green eyes you could lose yourself in. He sat on the edge of a grassy cliff, overlooking the beach. The sunset was in the background. Whoever the artist was was exceptionally good, the blond girl thought. She looked at the caption at the top of the portrait. It read "Youko Kurama, a.k.a. Shuuichi Minamino."
CHAPTER ONE
The same girl walked along a street of Sariaski the next morning. Today was sunny and warm. She wore a white shirt and a matching jean skirt and jacket. She turned a corner into a marketplace. Everyone seemed to be looking at her. She pretended not to notice. She looked around to see if he was nearby.
"Are you looking for someone, young lady?" She looked up into the face of one of the shopkeepers. She was so startled she almost fell over backwards, but she caught her balance just in time.
"As a matter of fact, I am," she replied when she recovered from the shock. "Have you seen a red-haired, 15-year-old boy by the name of Shuuichi Minamino?"
"Yes, actually, I have. He just passed by here with a couple of friends." He pointed down the street to indicate the direction they took.
"Thank you, sir."
"Your welcome." But the girl had already disappeared into the crowd.
She walked while searching the heads of the crowd. Finally, she located him by the fountain. As the shopkeeper had said, he was standing next to two other boys, one in blue and one in green. The one in green had short black hair and brown eyes. The one in blue had orange hair. Anyone could see that he was the stupidist of the group. She snorted. She didn't and couldn't respect idiotes. She was far enough away from them that they couldn't hear her, and would only notice her if they looked purposely in her direction. Perfect, she thought. Her hand went into a bag hanging around her shoulder. When in came out, it was gripping a bomerang. She held it up to Shuuichi for a few seconds, and then threw it straight at his head.
* * *
"So, what do you want to do now, guys?" Yuske Urimeshi asked Kuwabara and Kurama.
"There's nothing much left," stated Kuwabara. "We've already been to the arcade, pizza place, ice cream shop, movies, my house . . . and um . . . and-"
"Just give up, Kuwabara. You're never going to list them all." Yuske started laughing, and Kurama joined in.
"He is right, you know," Kurama said.
"Stop making fun of me, you guys!" yelled Kuwabara. But they just kept on laughing. Suddenly, Yuske stopped and narrowed his eyes.
"Don't look now, Kurama, but there's a boomerang headed straight for you," he said. Kurama's eyes widened slightly as he quickly turned around. The boomerang barely missed squaring him in between the eyes. It turned around (as they're supposed to do) no more than an inch from his face and sailed in the opposite direction.
"Wow, that was close," said Kuwabara.
"A little too close in my opinion."
"How'd they do that? The person who threw it, I mean."
"It's a simple matter of calculation once you know the centripital force and air resistance," said a voice. Yuske, Kuwabara, and Kurama looked and saw a girl around their age with curly-blond hair and eyes the color of blood walking toward them. In her hand was the bomerang. Yuske heard Kurama do a mixture of a gulp and a gasp. He turned to look at him. Kurama had the look of extreme surprise. Yuske turned back to the mystery girl, confused. By now she had stopped, because she was close enough to have a normal conversation. She was staring at Kurama, but bear no expression.
CHAPTER TWO
"Who ar-" Kuwabara started to ask.
"So, you think you can just leave me and not expect me to follow?" the girl asked Kurama loudly.
"No!" he argued. "I . . . it's just that . . . I mean . . . ."
"Can't explain it? Or just don't want to admit it?" She was pratically yelling now.
Yuske and Kuwabara stood totally confused a few feet away. While the girl complained to Kurama, they had their own conversation.
"Do you have any idea of what's going on?" asked Kuwabara. "'Cause I sure don't."
"Nope," Yuske answered. "All I can tell is that they know each other and Kurama never told us about her."
"That wasn't very nice of him. But why didn't he?"
"I don't know. It might have been because he was too embarassed to tell us."
"Huh?"
"I he told us he knew a girl, we would automatically jump to conclude that she was his girlfriend like people always do."
"Mmm, I guess you're right."
Pause.
"I don't think she's human," said Kuwabara.
"Why do you say that?" asked Yuske.
"No one has eyes that color! She's probably half-demon or something."
"What!? Kuwabara, you're cr-" The sound of a young girl crying made Yuske stop in mid-sentence. He and Kuwabara slowly peered over to Kurama and the blond girl. Indeed, it was her. She was crying so hard you would have thought someone just died. They tightly had their arms around each other. Kurama looked very sympathetic. Yuske and Kuwabara gasped in amazement. "That's definately something I thought I'd never see." Kurama noticed they were staring at him, and blushed. He wispered something in the girl's ear. She nodded and slowly let go. She pulled a hankerchief out of her bag to wipe the tears from her eyes. Yuske and Kuwabara walked over to them.
"So . . . What's been going on over here?" Kuwabara asked with a grin.
"Sorry about that, Kurama," the girl said, ignoring Kuwabara's question. Her face was clear of tears now.
"Don't worry about it," replied Kurama. He stared down at the ground.
"Is anybody listening to me!?" yelled Kuwabara. "Hey, wait a second! You called him Kurama!" He looked at the girl suspiciously. She looked back at him, slightly confused.
"What? That's his name, isn't it?" she asked Kuwabara.
"Ya, but . . . you're not supposed to know it!"
"I think what Kuwabara is trying to say," Yuske butted in, "is how come you don't call him Shuuichi like everybody else? And who are you anyway?"
"She's Sarani Wiltika," Kurama answered for her, suprising everybody. He looked up as he spoke. "She met me as Kurama, not as Shuuichi."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense . . . But, could you just explain it anyway?" Sarani giggled at this. Kurama smiled.
"Of course. Let's just sit down somewhere."
"There's a fast food place just down the street." Kurama and Sarani nodded and started walking off. Yuske and Kuwabara followed after them.
CHATPER THREE
"So, Yuske," Kuwabara wispered as they were walking. "That was sure a mood swing."
"What do you mean by that, Kuwabara?" asked Yuske.
"I mean the girl, Sarani, or whatever Kurama said her name was. She was yelling at him at first, then suddenly, she was hugging him."
"I know what you mean. It looked a lot like he dumped her or something."
"But if that was the case, he wouln't hug her like that."
"He probably felt sorry for her." Yuske looked away. He couldn't talk to Kuwabara. He was too buzy thinking. The case between Kurama and Sarani was incredibly confusing. What did she mean by "you think you can just leave me" (refering to Kurama)? Why were they hugging like that? Was she really his old girlfriend? And was she truely a half-demon? Hopefully they would explain it all when they arrived at the restaurant.
Luckily, they were allready there. The group sat down at a table after purchasing snacks. Yuske and Kuwabara gave Kurama questioning looks.
"So?" Yuske asked. Kurama and Sarani grined.
"It was about two years ago, in Makai"-Yuske and Kuwabara raised their eyebrows-"at a turnamount," explained Kurama. "I had told my mother I was at a special camp in Tokyo. I had made it all the way to the final round - it was a very easy, one-person team, turnamount. Unfortunately for me, so had Sarani."
Yuske barely stopped himself from squirting his drink out his nose. Kuwabara almost choked on the cheeseburger he was eating. "You mean your a fighter!?" he exclaimed/asked Sarani. She nodded calmly.
"But I never heard of any girl fighters - except for the one in the Demon Triad," Yuske put in.
"That's why I had to pretend to be a boy in order to get in the turnamount," said Sarani. "No one would take me seriously. Not even Kurama." He slowly nodded in agreement. "When my true identity was revealed, he refused to fight me. But I wasn't about to attack someone if they weren't going to attack me back. It just wasn't fair."
"The crowd became annoyed at our standstill," Kurama continued. "We had to run very far away to avoid being killed by the guards. We chose to stay together untill we could get out of their reach. That way, it would be harder for them to defeat us. During this time, we got to know each other and became friends - or whatever you call it. When the time came when we could go separate ways, we didn't want to. But I had to get back home, or my mother would be worried. I didn't tell Sarani about my mother or my life in the human world, and I didn't have the chance. For right as I was about to explain it, we were attacked by some ferocious animals. By the time we killed them off, I was allready late in getting back home. I had to leave, so I did while her back was turned."
Everyone just sat and looked down for a few moments.
"I was wondering why you had to leave so urgently," Sarani finally spoke up.
"I still have a couple more questions," said Yuske.
"Shoot," Kurama told him.
"First, it was because you were in Makai that you said your name was Kurama?"
"Right. That is afterall what every other demon knows me as."
"Okay. Secondly, are you two boyfriend and girlfriend, or not!?" This caused Sarani and Kurama to start laughing.
"Actually, I've never really analyzed it that carefully," said Kurama when he stopped. "But, if you wish you may say it is that way." Yuske grined a satisfactory smile.
"I have a question too," Kuwabara put in suddenly. "Sarani - right? - what were you doing in Makai in the first place if you aren't half-demon?"
"I am half-demon," she answered. Kuwabara and Yuske now bear the suprised look of "really!?" on their faces. "Well, actually, more like a third. But its practically the same thing."
"Oh my gosh, look at the time," said Yuske suddenly. "I was supposed to meet Kayko at her house 10 minutes ago! Guess I'd better get going."
"Me too," agreed Kuwabara. "My mom probably's expecting me home for dinner." They all got up to leave.
"Wait!" said Sarani. "Before you go, you have to tell me your names."
"Oops. Sorry we forgot to do that. I'm Kazuma Kuwabara and he's Yuske Urimeshi."
"Okay. Thanks. See you later, then."
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye."
CHAPTER FOUR
"Yuske . . . Yuske! Yuske!!!!!!" Atsuko shook her son vigurously to wake him up. He sleepily sat up and held his head.
"Cut it out, mom, I'm awake allready," he told her.
"You'd better be, because you're going to be late for school if you don't hurry and get ready." Yuske slowly got up and pulled his school outfit on after his mom left the room.
"Just great," he complained. "Why'd I have to sleep in today?" Today there was a big test in history. He, of course, didn't study one bit for it. Still, taking it at all gave you more than a zero. He grabbed a slice of toast on his way out the door. Dashing to school, he crashed into Kuwabara.
"You slept late too?" Yuske asked.
"Ya, my alarm didn't go off," answered Kuwabara. They ran off to school together.
Later, right after school, they were sitting on a bench right outside the school when Keiko came up to them.
"Hey, Yuske. How did the history test go?" she asked politely.
"Not very good," Yuske answered.
"If you don't start studying, your going to fail."
"So?" Keiko snorted. "Fine, then. Do you want to grab a sandwich at the deli?" Before Yuske could answer, a familliar voice spoke from a few meters away.
"Hey guys!!" it said. They looked and saw Sarani Wiltika coming towards them. "I'm glad I found you."
"Oh, hi Sarani," greeted Kuwabara. "Why aren't you with Kurama?"
"He's school dosen't get out for another hour." She noticed Keiko and smiled. "Who are you?"
"Oops, we forgot intruductions again," Yuske answered for her. "Sarani, this is Keiko, and Keiko this is Sarani. Kurama introduced us to her yesturday." He leaned over to Keiko's ear and added in a wisper: "Don't worry, she allready has a boyfriend." Keiko looked relieved at this, so she smiled.
"Oh, hi," she said to Sarani. "Would you like to join us? We were just about to get some sandwiches at the deli."
"Sure," answered Sarani. The group set off. While they were walking, Sarani had to stop to retie her shoe. "Go ahead. I'll catch up in a sec." While she was tieing, some older boys from Sariaski High came up to her.
"Excume us, young lady," one of them said. "We were just wondering is you had any money on you." Sarani looked up at them. She raised her eyebrows.
"I always do," she told him. "But I'm going to give any to you."
"Because we really need some cash. See, we ran out buyind lunch, and we need to call a couple cabs." Then, the others noticed the bullies.
"Sarani!" Yuske yelled back. "Do you need any help?"
"Don't worry," she called. "I can handle these losers."
"Who you calling a loser!?" another of the bullies asked.
"You." Faster than you could blink an eye, she lifted up her arm and punched him under the chin so hard he went sailing. Yuske and the others gasped in astonishment. "Anybody else want to try?"
"No, no, no, that's allright." All the other bullies dashed away. Sarani walked toward her group with a smug expression.
"Wow, you never said you were a really good fighter," said Kuwabara.
"Thanks," Sarani said. "Sorry, but I didn't think it was that important. I dosen't matter anyway, let's just go. I'm starving."
CHAPTER FIVE
That evening, Kurama and Sarani were hanging out together. They didn't know it, but Yuske and Kuwabara were secretly following them. They were curious to see what Kurama and Sarani were going to do.
"Would you like to go to a restaurant for dinner?" Kurama asked her.
"Okay," she replied.
"Do you care which one?"
Sarani giggled. "Silly, you forgot that I don't know this town. Is there somewhere just a little fancy, but not too much?"
"Yes, actually there's one just down the street." They held hands while they walked. She would look up into his eyes, then quickly stare down at the ground, repeatedly.
At the restaurant, after ordering, they talked or at least tried to. Yuske and Kuwabara got a table nearby.
"So, what have you been doing the past year?" asked Kurama.
"Looking for you," answered Sarani.
"I didn't know I was hard to find."
"Well, first I had to look all over the demon world. Then, when I found you weren't there, I had to look all over the human world."
"How did you find out I lived here?"
"Some demon told me you went by the name of Shuuichi Minamino in the human world. I went to the birth certificate office and got them to look you up and tell me where you lived."
Kurama smiled. "How did you persuade them?"
Sarani made a sinister grin. "I have my ways." They both laughed. The waiter came and served them their food. A few moments of silence passed.
"Kurama . . ." Sarani spoke up.
"Yes?" Kurama replied.
"I love you." Before he could say anything, she leaned over the table and kissed him on the lips.
"Sara . . ." he said after a minute or so. "I cannot escape loving you." This time, he leaned over and kissed her.
THE END
