Title: Puppets and Their Masters

Rating: PG-13

Summary: HieiOC, OCOC, KuramaOC, YusukeKeiko. Kira was a normal girl, in a normal world. Or so they thought. Yuri, het, all that good stuff.

Okay people, sorry that I haven't been updating. ; Life just got in the way, that's all. Okay...so...on with the story!

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"Who would like to answer this math problem? How about Kira?" the teacher practically spat.

Shirakeru Kira looked up from her book and rested her stormy grey eyes on the teacher, who stared back expectantly. A small sigh escaped her lips as she got up from her seat, her long brown hair swinging behind her as she made her way to the front of the classroom. She studied the problem, then quickly got to work on it. When she had finished, she sat back down, choosing to ignore the stares her classmates were giving her.

Today she had chosen to wear a black tank top and baggy black pants with some chains, and some black arm socks. On her neck was a chain necklace with a small silver heart locket on it, the words too faded to be deciphered. A small aquamarine decorated the bottom tip. The edges appeared rusty, like it had never been opened in a long time. Kira absentmindedly fiddled with it, turning back to her book.

She paused a moment to look over across the room at her friend, Mina, who was sketching something on her notepad. Kira chuckled to herself, her friend had always done that, and Kira couldn't help but stare at her as she did it. Her chuckle died as memories resurfaced, memories of the two of them, and how Mina was currently mad at her, and she couldn't blame her. She shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts and resumed her book.

The shrill sound of the bell woke her from her trance, and she quietly put the book down on top of her stuff and walked out, pretending to yawn so that Mina would get in front of her. She had always liked people that she knew to be in front of her–so she could talk to them with her eyes, cheesy as it sounds, and tell them everything that she wished to say aloud. Today was no different than the rest, it seemed guilty looks were becoming her favored ones.

She watched as Mina chatted with their friend, Chii (I'm just making up names from anime show now...how pathetic am I?), and then went off to her locker. Kira hurried to her next block, Language, so that she could talk to their other friend, Rita.

"I hate French," were the first words out of Rita's mouth. Kira grinned.

"Don't we all?"

"Not really."

"...Oh well then. I do!" Kira grinned like the klutz she was.

Rita shook her head at her friend's antics. Sometimes Kira was just too damn idiotic.

"...Want a sugar cookie?" Kira asked, watching boredly as their teacher put in a DVD to some lameass movie about a kid and a magic pair of shoes. She looked at her friend, who nodded enthusiastically, before reaching into a bag of cookies and pulling one out for Rita, and one for her.. "Since I haven't tried these, you get to be the taste tester."

They happily munched on sugar cookies until the movie was over, and by then it was five minutes until the bell. When the bell rang, they hurried to lunch to get their spots. Kira waited patiently for everyone else to get lunch and gather around the table. They aimlessly chattered as Kira drew in her sketchbook.

It wasn't a minute later when Kira heard her friends fall silent. She looked up, curious. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked upon the reason why they were now silent. Or, perhaps, the person.

"T...Tanin..." Kira whispered, staring with shock at the girl. Tanin had strange navy blue hair that came to her shoulders. She held a calm, wise expression in her unnatural deep purple eyes. She wore a navy blue shirt and jeans. "What...?"

"You promised to wait for me, and now I've come to you," Tanin said in a light, feathery voice.

"But...I never thought..." Kira trailed off. "I...I'm sorry, you just look so different without your kimono..."

"Did you not say that if I found a way, you would wait for me to accomplish it? I have, after such a long time," Tanin started walking towards Kira.

"Who the hell is she?" Rita asked.

"She..." Kira said, not taking her eyes off of Tanin, "is a ghost, if you will. She came to me in my dreams, a while ago... She said that she would find a way to come to the human world, and I guess she has."

"Why so hesitant to tell them the whole story, Kira?" Tanin whispered, leaning inches from Kira's face. "I'm sure they'd love to hear it, ne koi?"

"Koi?" Everyone stared at Kira, who averted her eyes.

"We best talk about this in a place less populated..." Kira said. "Follow me..."

With that, she led them away outside, her head bent. She was sure this would take a lot of explaining, and now she was sure that Mina hated her. After a long silence, Kira spoke up.

"I...have to tell you something..." she began, wincing. "I...remember how I always wanted to be a fox demon and had a strong affection for foxes...?" She waited for their nod before going on. "I'm...sort of a fox hanyou...And...a long time ago, I mated this...girl...Tanin...but she died, and I had to move here...And...well...she became a ghost and...well..."

Everyone stared at her like she had grown three heads. She winced as Mina walked away without a word. She knew she shouldn't have kept this from her...

"So, koi, miss me?" Tanin grinned. Kira sighed and ran a hand through her hair frustratedly.

"Tanin...I...have to talk to you..."

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...I suck ass. I really do. Read and review, though you probably agree. Just no flames, okay?