This chapter is entirely from Kuram's point of view. It uses the same system as the Kassie's do. itlics is the demon, normal is the.

Purple and Darkside now know Saiko's secret! Congrats.

Saiko: What?

Now run for it!!

Saiko: Neko, you little twit.

Meep! (scrambles away) enjoy the chapter!!

Today hadn't been a very good day. I close my eyes and lean against the headboard. How on earth had that gone horribly, horribly, wrong? Inside my head, Youko was screaming, pitching a royal fit. And I mean royal. He was seated elegantly on a chair, legs crossed, and his expression restless and fuming endlessly. Very dignified. He'd had worse ones. More…violent ones. At least he wasn't throwing anything around.

That idiot wench! How dare she say things like that! Poisoning a poor impressionable mind like that! Kassie doesn't know any better, she's believing the lying little cat demon! How can she do that?!

Youko stood now, pacing with his clothes swaying on each turn.

Women. Gah! Women who are manipulative little skanks, and then the women who don't know any better! They're all a mess! And to think you were actually going to tell her-

Does that matter? Why would Kasumi tell her something like that?

Why do you think? She's a lying little minx. What should we expect from a cat demon?

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of what drove her to do that.

Other than her nature? She doesn't trust people like me, and I believe, by extension, you. She doesn't want her host to get hurt, is what I think, she's using to justify it. Can you believe how presumptuous that is??

I was quiet in response for a moment. Youko. I think we should go talk to Kasumi. That seems to be the only way to solve this.

Solve this? Oh there are a couple ways that I would like to solve this. In short, I think it'd be easiest to just cuff the girl to the nearest horizontal object and knock some sense into her.

Youko!

What? She needs it!

I don't think that's the only reason. You're sweet on her.

Where did you pick up that?

Well, Yusuke nad Kuwabara have been around a lot.

I think Saiko is where you picked that up.

Regardless of where…are you?

Are you on Kassie?

No comment from either. For only a moment. In any case, how do you know Kasumi will be out?

Kasumi mentioned that she has Kassie take switchative before she sleeps. I thought that was fair.

Fair? Then how come I don't get switchative every night?

Because you aren't as trustworthy.

And that witch is??

Point taken.

Which reminds me... Is Koenma still working on nullifying the switchative?

Yes, he is. He said he's close too. Now, about Kasumi…

The fox put a fist into one hand with a smack. I'll talk to her. She'll just blow you off.

Regrettably it was true. I finally stood, and headed toward the cupboard with my store of switchative. A gulp later, the silver mist shrouded the room, and then I was gone, and the kitsune stood in my place

--

I glanced at the clock. Nearly one in the morning Surely, the woman would be asleep by now. All the better. Easier to beat her upside the head when she was asleep to start with. Devious? Sure. Did I care? Not in the least.

I crept up the stairs as quiet as I could be in my tameless fury. Kasumi had gone too far. Turning me down,. I could accept that. Kind of. Not well, but I could handle it. Interfering with Shuuichi and Kassie was uncalled for! After all the work we'd put into getting those too on more intimate terms, she ruins it with a total lie! I had words for her.

Now…Now, don't go too far.

Too far? –SHE- went too far, okay? I won't surpass her. I don't think.

That's not very comforting.

In any case, I was too mad to stop. I opened her door silently and strolled over to the window bed. Empty. The day bed was empty too. Where was she? There was a light in the bathroom. I slipped in there, opening the door with total silence. There she was, brushing out her hair, a wicked grin on her features. As if she had a plan. A plot. She didn't even realize he was here, even when he showed up in the mirror. His pale hands had already locked on her shoulders before she started with a groan.

"Give it up, Youko." She said with a grin that seemed unfazed. She actually went back to brushing her hair. "Whatever you're after, you aren't getting it."

My grip tightened on the soft flesh of her shoulders. Demonic women could be very pretty, or very scary. Kasumi fell into the former category for sure. And her choice of apparel only highlighted her curves. "I'm after you…"

"Well of course, I knew that. What else would you be after."

She turned amethyst eyes in the mirrors to meet his downturned golden ones. He chuckled a little. "…I'm after you to stop telling lies to impressionable young humans."

Kasumi looked a little surprised. "What lies?"

"About Shuuichi's feelings for your lovely young host."

"Where is the lie in that? I'm saving her from heartache." She tensed beneath my grip. It was easy to tell. Gracefully my thumb traced the edge of her shoulder. If I unnerved her enough…

"Heartache? Why, because you were burned, you think she'll be too?"

"I know she will be. And just because Shuuichi is human, he's still got you, and therefore he can't be trusted."

I looked at her shocked. "I can't be trusted?"

She ran with that, wriggling her shoulders, trying to free them from my hands. Unsuccessfully. "Of course not. You're a kitsune. You're seductive, and manipulative. You're trying to throw me off with your gentle touch. Get me to concede. I'll protect Kassie as I see fit. If that means making her think Shuuichi hates her, I will go there." Now my grip had to be painful. She cringed a little, face contorting temporarily in a hiss. "Let go of me, Bandit."

"Only when you stop telling lies."

"You idiot. Let me go now! Or face the consequences…"

Consequences? How did she intend to inflict those? "Kasumi. You're hurting Kassie more than your saving her."

"Then tell her I'm lying." He growled, sharp nails digging in.

"She won't believe me. Or Shuuichi."

She chukled. "Exactly…" One graceful but deadly hand touched his, and the touch surprised him into releasing her shoulder. It hadn't been a threatening touch but a loving gentle one like they had once shared. "I'll save her from heartache yet. And nothing you can say will stop me."

My hands clenched into fists.

"You'll have to prove to her that you two aren't passively friends, and that you aren't going to hurt her. Good luck with that. Now go. I'm going to change and you have no business here while I do that."

I growl a little, grasping her tail hard in my hands, thought gently playing with the tip to ease the pain. "For now, Kasumi. For now. We will prove you wrong. -I- will prove you wrong. And when I do…" I released her tail, stroking her cheek softly, and giving her hair a lingering pet.

And then I left. Just walked out. Not too far of course. I slipped into Sen's room. The monkey boy was sleeping like a log. Kasumi was going somewhere. And I was going to follow her there. Time to get down to the bottom of what was going on. Did I trust her? Nope. Who would after all this?

About half an hour later, I heard the bathroom door open, and the nthe swish of curtains. That was when I moved back toward her room. I couldn't hear anything… that was odd. When I finally opened the curtains, there was no one, only a slightly open window. We'd be checking the tapes again, but first…I saw her figure on the sidewalk across the street, making a beeline in a certain direction. Putting the curtains back where I found them, I slipped out of her room again. I would follow her. And boy, she better have a good excuse.

--

What I found surprised me. Kasumi made right for a night club. And one with a suitably dark aura about it. Partially demonic, but mostly…vampyric. Kasumi was associating with leeches? That would explain why she didn't worry about steering Kassie into that dark alley. At least that had backfired. My fur stood on end as I picked the lock on the door and slipped in. Kasumi was lying down on a couch, idly chatting with a tall dark… he seemed familiar. I'd only caught a flash of him in that alley, but I was certain, after a few moments, this was the man who'd caught Kassie in the alley.

"Alright, Kasumi. I've been holding off all day."

"Fine, Fine, hold your horses. She'll be out in a second. I still can't believe how much you enjoy her."

The man chuckled, his lithe frame shaking with the sound, and with his anticipation. "You never could appreciate good vitae, Godmother." Godmother? "She tastes sweet and tangy at once, so light I think if I would let it, it could float. Potent, thankfully. I don't have to take much at all. In fact, if I took too much, it would be possible I could actually get intoxicated."

The traitor actually looked surprised. "I had no idea one could alter a human's blood so much and so well just by co-inhabiting, Adrian. Perhaps it's a good thing you don't get much."

The man, Adrian apparently chuckled darkly as he watched her pull out the vial of switchative. "Indeed. If I got drunk, who knows what I might do. I might just keep little Kassie here with me permanently."

Kasumi waved a finger at him. "You wouldn't dare. You'd bring the whole Reikai down on your head, because of her sitters."

Adrian waved it off. "Of course…of course…" He didn't seem convinced. Never the less, Kasumi was taking a sip of that opaque liquid that held them enslaved. The next thing seen was a really limp Kassandra. Limp? What? Oh…she was asleep.

Shuuichi was freaking out. Insisting that I charge in there and save her now. This was very disconcerting for him. Especially when the man leaned down, and pressed his mouth to Kassie's throat. I had never seen Shuuichi so stressed. Or so angry. And I meant that. The man seemed to be taking great pleasure inhis task, even unnecessarily stroking her cheek, and holding her hands. Perhaps that was what really was infuriating my human.

I can't believe Kasumi would do this! Bartering Kassandra for what? Shelter from us? How is this man going to protect her. Now he was pacing in something I might call fury. If she gets hurt…

Well, she is still sleeping.

Imagine that. She's a meal to a vampire and she's still sleeping. Geez, that girl would really sleep through anything.

The idiot vampire finally pulled away. I could see even from my hiding place that he took his time cleaning the wound. It would heal, and we all knew it. Tomorrow, it wouldn't be there… would it? I made a note to check. Adrian, I assumed was supposed to put some more switchative in, and reverse it, but he hesitated. I was about ready to spring to the rescue,as cliché as that sounds, when it was a grinning Kasumi instead of a out cold Kassie on the couch. Apparently, he'd gotten around to it. I settled deeper into my hiding place.

Some time later, Kasumi walked over to the rail and peered down. Adrian followed.

"So, Adrian, how is your new barkeep coming along?"

"Oh? The girl? She's fine. She knows her stuff, shows up on time, cleans up after herself, and keeps her mouth shut. Unfortunately, she also keeps to herself."

Kasumi laughed at him. "Unfortuantely for you, Good show for her."

He pouted. "Oh come now. If I wanted to, even you would fall for my charms. I don't understand why she is able to resist." He even tried to envelop Kasumi in his arms, only to find himself gracefully avoided.

"I can, so why couldn't she?"

"Because you are a sourpuss."

"No, I'm just wary now. Fool me once, shame on you..Fool me twice, or, more than that… shame on me. I'm not letting it happen again. That girl down there probably has a good reason for shrugging you off. Let her be."

There was a low hiss. I wasn't sure who it came from. "Don't tell me what to do, Kasumi Raiyami. I'm dangerous when provoked." Kasumi laughed in response. A light sound. Careless, and reckless.

"As. Am. I."And then she trounced out of the room, leaving a fairly furious vampire in her wake. I glanced down to the floor, watching the same barkeep Kasumi had been watching , assuming that was the one they were talking about. Odd looking thing. Something seemed off. Something also seemed very familiar. In an odd way. The aura was familiar, but not the face. And it was only half familiar. Veeeery odd.

Who was that she was talking to? I look a little closer, pointing the figure out to my poor stressed out human. It appeared she was talking to…Teleia-sensei? Why would she be talking to the Parenting class teacher. She didn't go to Meiou. A better question would be what's her reasoning for being here at a closed club, chatting with the barkeep. Very odd.

I slipped out of the rafters and back out the way I came in- unnoticed. Much to think about, and much to try to prove. I knew Kasumi got out of the house, but why didn't we catch her on tape?? Tomorrow would be fun…Damage Control.