Disclaimer: I don't own YYH.

KnK: Thanks to D101 for the review. Kei and a jealous Kurama amuse me to no end. lol. Also, I meant to break this into two chapters, but they were both too short, so I stuck them together.

Chapter Ten - Valentine's Day/ He Was Right, Dammit

"Oi, Morita!" I said, waving him over as he entered the classroom. He grinned, walking over.

"What is it, Ari-chan?" he said, looking smug as he sat at his desk beside me. I laughed, glancing to Kurama. His ears pricked, but he didn't turn around. I bent, and took the package out of my bag. It was a plain black box with a red ribbon, and I handed it to Kei without a blush.

"Morita, please except my chocolates."

"Ah! Thank you! I bet they're delicious," Kei said, his grin widening.

"You're welcome." I said, and my eyes drifted to Kurama. I reached down into my bag again, my fingers touching the silver box that held the chocolates I made for him. I didn't know if I could actually give it to him. It was so nerve-wracking to make an open declaration of love like that for me. I know he didn't love me, regardless of whether Ren thought he did or not.

"Minamino," A girl walked slowly up to Kurama's desk, blushing as she held up a box. "Minamino, will you please accept my chocolates?" He turned to face her, and for a split second, he glanced back at me. I blushed heavily.

"What business is it of mine, Kurama? Accept them if you want," I thought to him, looking away.

"Thank you, Matsuura-chan." He smiled, taking the box. "I treasure your friendship,"

*

Throughout the day, during breaks and lunch, as well as club activities, Kurama had received almost thirty boxes of chocolates, and he'd accepted all of them. I couldn't help but be a little annoyed. There was no rational reason to be, but I couldn't help myself. If I gave him my chocolates, he would accept them, but not because he had any feelings for me, but because he accepted them all.

"Sachi, is there something on your mind?" Kurama said. I shrugged, unwilling to discuss it. It was kind of embarrassing. "Sachi," he said, his voice softer. Blushing, I stopped walking. It wasn't too much farther to my house, so afterwards, I could make a run for it if I thought I needed to.

"I know you already got a lot," I said, blushing harder, and dug the box out of my bag. I looked down, tentatively holding it out. "But I made these specially for you. So please accept them," I closed my eyes, unable to even look at him. Gently, I felt his hands on mine, taking the box.

"Sachi, thank you," he said. I opened my eyes slowly, my cheeks coloring.

"If you say 'I treasure your friendship', I'll fucking punch you," I said lightly. He laughed, tucking the box in his school bag, and not the bag he's gotten at school to carry his chocolates, I noted, secretly pleased.

"I didn't expect to get any from you, that's all." he said. He paused, his hand still rummaging in his school bag before finally pulling out a small box. "Here," I looked at the box, then back to him, confused.

"What is it?" Kurama seemed to ignore me, and continued walking.

"Kurama," I ran to catch up with him. "What is it?" I smiled, watching as he kept his eyes ahead.

"Chocolates,"

"You made these for me?" I said, looking back to the box. That was a surprise.

"No, my mother . . . She was making some for Hanataka, and there were some extra." He paused, scratching his cheek with one finger, his cheeks a light pink. "I know how you said that in America the girls receives the chocolates, so I thought you might enjoy them."

"Thank you! You know, I've never had homemade chocolates before."

"That's surprising. No one has given you chocolates on Valentine's Day?" The way he said it made it sound as if he was merely making conversation, but I could hear an undertone of curiosity.

"Nope. I was never dating anyone on Valentine's day before. Generally, it's only a couples' thing, and they're always store bought." I said. Kurama coughed lightly, stopping at the gate to my house.

"Of course, the customs would be different."

"The thought's the same, so it doesn't matter." I smiled, shyly leaning against the gatepost as I met his eyes. He smiled back at me, and reached up as if to touch my cheek, then rethinking it, reached higher and placed it on my head. Gently, he stroked my hair, and I was suddenly tempted to kiss him. Not necessarily on the lips, although that's what I wanted. I blushed, leaning forward, brushing my lips against his cheek. It wasn't an electric shock, or fireworks. It was a gentle heat that got warmer the longer I kissed him. But I stepped back almost immediately, my face completely red.

"Sachi-" His cheeks were pink. I laughed, embarrassed.

"We're even now." I said.

"Even?"

"Yeah, even. That time a couple weeks ago, before you killed that demon?" I said. "You kissed me," He blushed harder, and looked away.

"That was- that was -impulse," I giggled, stunned to have him say that. Maybe I was psychic, after all.

"This was impulse too. And so is this," I said, stepping forward. His eyes widened, and he stepped back.

"Sachi-" I laughed, shaking my head as turned back towards the house.

"I'll see you later,"

For the past week, things had been mostly uneventful. Yoshiuki continued to do nothing, which lead Kurama and I to think that he didn't know that one of his underlings had found me. I was restless; something needed to happen. I was really starting to get sick of this constant stasis. Even Kurama had started ignoring Kei's interest in me, which made things even more boring.

"Oi, Ari-chan, guess what my cousin gave me?" Kei said, sitting beside me.

"What?" I couldn't keep the boredom from my voice.

"Sound a little more interested, will you?" he said, pouting. I sighed, hiding a smile, and turned to him, clapping my hands together.

"Morita, what exciting, interesting thing did your cousin give you?" I said, my eyes sparkling. Kei laughed.

"That's a little too interested . . ."

"Just tell me!"

"Hah, all right," He paused, pulling an envelope out of his breast pocket. "Two tickets to the Rainbow concert this weekend, front row. You want to come?"

"Really?" Rainbow was a popular band that had come out of Tokyo a few years before, and I loved the lead singer, Hideki's, voice. "You want to take me?" I said, excitedly.

"You like them, right?" Kei said, anxious.

"Yeah I like them. But are you sure you want to take me? I thought you liked-"

"Shut up, Ari!" Kei blushed, his eyes flicking back to Matsuura Ryoko, who sat a few seats away. "She's cool, but she has shitty taste in music."

"And she'd say no anyway, right?" I grinned at him.

"She likes Minamino too. Every girl in this school has it for him. Even you." he said, almost accusingly. Embarrassingly enough, I blushed.

"That has nothing to do with anything! Besides, I don't like him just because he's pretty," I said petulantly.

"Why do you like him then?" The question froze me. I glanced nervously to Kurama, who was reading. He seemed to ignore me, but I could tell he was listening.

"Do you really want me to go into detail?" I said dryly, thankfully keeping my voice level. Kei groaned, leaning back.

"Whatever. You want to come or not?"

"I'll come. But-"

"It's not a date," Kei said, in unison with me. "You know how many times I hear that?" He grumbled. "It's not fair, I can never get a date! I don't understand how Minamino doesn't have a girlfriend. He could have any girl in school he wanted, but he always rejects them."

"Shuuichi has his reasons." I said, looking at him.

"You know what they are?" I shrugged, looking back to Kei.

"I have an idea."

*

"Sachi," Kurama sat on the couch, watching me steadily. "This isn't a good idea."

"Why the hell not?" I grumbled. Not even five minutes ago, he'd shown up, and when I told him I was leaving to go to the concert with Kei, he only frowned, and walked in anyway.

"I'm not supposed to leave you alone. Who knows when Yoshiuki could-"

"Yoshiuki isn't going to do anything. He hasn't done anything for nearly a month. He doesn't know where I am." I said, impatiently. "I'm going, and you can't stop me."

"I can't?" he said, simply raising one eyebrow as he stood. "I am stronger than you, Sachi. I have a greater control of my power than you could hope to have after the amount of training you've undergone. If I want you to stay put -which I do- I can make you." His eyes were a deep, steely green, and coupled with his stern expression, and his words, made my stomach pitch. But I ignored it, taking a precautionary step back.

"I think you're overreacting a little. The concert is two train stops away, and I'll be with Morita the whole time."

"Which is even more reason not to go." I bit back my laughter. Was he showing his jealousy that openly now? "Do you think he could protect you if something did attack you? Do you think that you could protect him?" I hadn't been expecting that, but I went immediately on the defensive. Even though I knew he had a very good point.

"It's a non-issue anyway, since nothing's going to happen." I said angrily. There was a knock on the door, and I turned quickly away to answer it. "I'll see you later, Kurama."

"Sachi!" he called after me, but I ignored him. I stopped at the stairs, surprised to see Ren standing there, as if transfixed.

"Wh- what name did you say?" she said, almost as if she'd seen a ghost. I frowned.

"Yoshiuki. I found out that he was the demon that brought me here." Kei knocked again. "See you later, I'm going to a concert with a classmate. Take care of Kurama, will you?" I said with a laugh, and slipped out the door before she or Kurama could stop me.

*

"That was awesome," I said, walking with Kei from the last train stop. Today had gone perfectly, not problems at all. There was maybe a ten minute walk to my house, and then I could tell Kurama 'I told you so'.

"I know! I can't believe Hideki touched my hand!" Kei said excitedly, holding it up.

"Don't tell me you're never going to wash it again."

"I don't think I will." He grinned, and I laughed. I started to say something, but before I could, a demon appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and rushed me. I jumped back, narrowly avoiding its claws.

"Kei! Get out of here!" But he was frozen in place, staring as the demon ran after me again. Kurama was right. Why did he have to be right? I thought, somehow dodging as it swiped at me again. It was all I could to not to get myself hurt, there was no way I could protect him too.

"Wh-what the hell is that thing, Sachi? Why is it attacking you?" he shouted, his voice cracking.

"Sachi? You're the girl then," It hissed as it finally scored its claws against my side. How did it know my name? I felt heat drip down my side, I didn't have to look to know it was my blood. I gritted my teeth and jumped back.

"I'm fucking done, now!" I shouted, and punched it squarely in the face as it approached me again. It barely made a difference; I heard it laugh as threw my arm down, slashing the skin. I tried punching it again, but this time it merely dodged, throwing me to the ground.

"Stop fighting, girl, or I might have to hurt you. Yoshiuki'll be mad then," It laughed, then paused, and there was a split second of nothing at all before blood began to dribble on me, and its head dropped off. I blanched, disgusted as it rolled to touch my hand. I tried to sit up, but stopped at the pain. Apparently, the demon had gotten me deeper than I'd thought. I looked around, trying to see who had saved me. I stopped, staring, as I saw Hiei calmly cleaning his katana not even two feet away from me.