Disclaimer: I dun own anything except Kaze.
By the way, sorry it's late.
Chapter Two.
Duke Devlin, 'creator' of Dungeon Dice Monsters, aka Kuronue, Guardian of Sakura's Star and all-round hot Youkai Thief, stalked his way through the busy Domino City back alley market place that had been dubbed by those who knew of it and/or plied their trades there, 'Whore Street', neglecting to take into consideration that it was, in fact, several streets connected by dark alleys where some of the cheaper prostitutes took their clients.
However, sex was not what he was in this part of town for, however delightfully corrupt he found it. He was here because of some rumours that a virgin kitsune, a silver no less, was in the area. Not virgin as in a virgin, but in the old European term that meant they were in the community but not of it, standing alone and apart. Any grudges and alliances that they had before declaring themselves virgin were null and void; otherwise they lost the position of virgin.
Right now, Duke was weaving his way through the scantily clad throng following the very distinct but always faint scent of a silver fox which, by some defence mechanism, was made to be almost unnoticeable unless one knew what to actually smell for. Duke knew what he was following because of his long partner- and friendship with the silver kitsune Youko Kurama as Kuronue.
Despite the brief but heart-wrenching sorrow that always came when he thought of the now dead thief, Duke strode on, ignoring the propositions he always got when he entered this part of town. Dodging a drunk who tried to pull him into a kiss, Duke jogged the last few meters to the dinky run-down apartment building the scent led into were he paused, considering his choices.
He could; a) enter a building were a mirage of demons varying in strength and species were gathering, b) he could wait out here for the fox to come out with the horny drunks trying to grope him or c) he could forget this here mission and go looking for either Joey Wheeler or Tristan Taylor and bug the hell out of them via the 'Serenity Excuse'.
If he went in, he would have to change form to Kuronue and risk being recognised, thus ruining his chances of being thought of as dead, but he would be able to pull weight and get the mission over with quicker. If he stayed out here, he risked being molested and attracting the attention of some passing demon with the pretty little body of his. He knew, it'd happened before. The last reason was made null and void as he'd told his Mistress that he'd do it tonight over the phone and both Joey and Tristan were out of town for some Duel Monsters tournament.
Duke sighed, opened the door and walked into the building.
As he suspected, the hallway was empty. Filthy but empty. Duke gathered the power that triggered the transformation out of his false form and, in a flash of pink and yellow light, shifted form to the thief Kuronue. The chimera smirked, strode down the hall to the basement door at the end and entered, shuddering slightly at the anti-human wards.
He put a slight sway in his hips as he left the stairs and entered the spacious but crowded youkai bar. He glanced around the room from the bottom step in a quick scan in the hopes that he'd get lucky on the first time round.
No such luck.
On his second round of the room, and having found out that nearly everyone in the room wanted to get the silver on their ship, Kuronue noticed a common red kitsune sitting in the north side corner, nursing a glass of yarahbar and smirking as he watched the youkai become increasingly irritated by the silver's failure to appear.
Suspicious and mildly amused by this cliché trick, Kuronue moved closer to the red kitsune and sniffed the air, well aware that there was no way in hell he'd be able to see through a kitsune's glamourie. The scent confirmed it and he moved towards the disguised silver kitsune purposefully.
The kitsune looked startled for a moment when he realized that the tall chimera was walking straight towards him, but it passed as the implications of the situation occurred to him. The kitsune grinned, sat back and stretched, yawning, as Kuronue pulled out the chair with the wall behind it and sat down.
Kuronue smirked back, pleased when unease flickered for a second in those false green eyes. "You should really do something about that scent."
The kitsune grimaced slightly, but tried to salvage the situation. "I don't know what you mean."
Kuronue, who had been scanning the room, turned his violet gaze back to the kitsune and glared, allowing a bit of his youki to travel into it, causing the kitsune to shiver. "Don't bother trying to pussy-foot your way around the subject. I know what you are, you know what I am." He paused a moment, considering, before he amended "Mostly." The false rusty fox ears flicked forward in interest, but he didn't interrupt. "I have a job proposition for you. You don't have to agree, and I won't let everyone know who you are if you don't. As a guardian, I can't guarantee any jobs you may be asked to do if you do take it, but I can guarantee that your time spent with us will be interesting. You will get power, money, experience, and possibly sex if you agree. If you don't, I'm out of here. You have to decide now, because I have other things I want to do tonight."
The kitsune looked insulted, but not enough to lose interest. "Any idea what will be expected of me, if I choose to accept?"
Kuronue blinked and flexed his cramping wings slightly. "Could be anything from running errands to household chores to theft to fighting to waging war on the ants massing in the closet. Last week, the Lady had me doing eight loads of laundry. You get food and board out of it, but you have to contribute to the chore schedule."
The kitsune flicked his ears a few times, his tail twitching and his eyes unfocusing as he considered it. He refocused and grinned cheerfully. "When do I move in?"
"How long would it take you to get your things?"
In answer, the kitsune lifted and dumped a canvas pack on table.
Kuronue stood and stretched. "Let's go then. They should be at the club by now."
The chimera glided across the room, the kitsune padding close behind. Just before they reached the stairs, a red-head of indeterminable race bumped into him.
Kuronue whipped around and snarled. "Watch it!"
The red head focused on the chimera's face with his green eyes, and paled.
Kuronue, however, didn't notice, and moved on, hoping to dump the kitsune off on one of the others as soon as possible.
"What's your name, anyway?"
"Kaze."
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