Chapter 21

Kai pushed against the cold wind, wrapping her jacket tighter around her body as she moved rebellious strands of hair out of her face. In the stranded park a street light shone on a bench were a lonely figure sat waiting for her.

Aoi was Tatsuya's best friend, and that's made Kai weary of this meeting.

"So what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she sat down beside him on the bench, cutting through the small talk.

Aoi chose to stare at his feet with an uncomfortable look on his face as he fiddled with the zipper of his jacket. "It's about Tatsuya..." he finally said after a minute of awkward silence between the two.

Kai's body stiffened at the mention of his name but she would be lying if she said she was surprised. "What about him?" her voice grew harsher, the memory of the incident very fresh in her mind.

"Don't be mad at him…you know it wasn't really him. He's been having a rough time lately trying to get clean. I know he didn't mean for that to happen." Aoi almost begged.

"Then why are you here apologizing for him?"

"Would you have answered if he was the one to call?" Aoi asked, raising his eyebrow.

Kai remained silent, they both knew the answer to that question.

"I'm not saying you should be friends or anything…But it'd make the whole process easier if he knew you don't hold a grudge against him." He turned his head to look Kai in the eyes with a hopeful look.

Kai sighed, biting on her lower lip as she tossed Aoi's words around in her head. "Look," she finally said, "I know you're his best friend but you really shouldn't be the one asking for my forgiveness. I don't care what shit he's going through right now. He was the one to get into that whole mess and he's old enough to wipe his own ass." She swallowed the lump in her throat before speaking again. "What he did…I was really scared back there Aoi. I didn't know what he was going to do." Exhaling a long breath she stood up. "I just don't want him anywhere around me ever again and I don't know why you bother with him."

"People have different reasons to love the ones they do" he said with a bitter smile on his lips.

Kai stared at him, the realization finally dawning on her. "Good luck with that." She said, her voice sincere. "Maybe I'll see you around."

Kai pulled the zip up hoodie closer to her body before walking away, leaving Aoi once again all alone.

--

"She actually broke the stereo?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, looking wide eyed at Kurama.

The latter nodded, relief washing over his body in slow waves now that he was far enough from what turned out to be one very crazy girl.

"And I thought Kai was kidding about Aine being a basket case" the tall man breathed out. "Well it's a good thing you got out when you did. It's gonna be a bith trying to avoid her at the wedding though…" he added.

The door bell went off one, two, three times before Kuwabara stood up from the couch.

Kurama leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes exhaling slowly. Was she always that crazy? And if she was, why didn't he notice it earlier?

"…His fucking best friend!" a fragment of a semtence reached his ears and he didn't need to think twice about the identity of it's owner.

Soon enough his other sences became aware of Kai's presense in the apartment, her light perfume mixed with her natural scent and the smell of rain water. Opening his eyes he saw Kuwabara and Kai walk into the living room. Kai's hair was disheveled by the wind and small rain drops fell to the floor from her soaked clothing and hair.

"Just my fucking luck for it to start raining just as I'm a block away from your place." she muttered, slapping Kuwabara on the arm as his shoulders shook from silent laughter.

"Hi Shuuichi." she smiled at him gently, her tone making Kurama wonder if maybe the crazy factor was what attracted him to certain women. Although Kai didn't seem like the type who would chop you to pieces and keep you in the fridge.

"I'm going to take a shower now. See you in a few." she said, turning on her heel and walking to the bathroom.

--

The hot water cascaded down her back warming up her frozen body. With her forehead against the wall Kai breathed in and out slowly, trying to slow down her erratic heart beat. How did he do that to her? Just a glimpse of him or the tought of his touch, of his smile, sent small waves of shock through her entire body evey time.

Sucking in another breath she realised she didn't take any clothes with her. Turning off the water she reached for the towel and wrapped it closely around her body.

"Kazuma!" she yelled, sticking her head slightly out of the door.

The only person she saw in the living room was a very amused looking Kurama.

"He's picking Shizuru up." the red head said, his eyebrow cralwing upwards at how flustered Kai looked and a small smile taking over his mouth.

"Shit." Kai whispered. She was considering staying locked in the bathroom until her brother and sister returned, but that thought seemed awfully stupid to her. Biting on her lower lip she held the towel closer to her body before opening the door and stepping out of the bathroom with as much dignity as she could muster up.

Kai dissapeared behind the door to Shizuru's room without hearing Kurama choke on his tea. This couldn't be healthy, he mused as he wiped the liquid from his chin. It was hard enough on him to control his wandering thoughts when she was fully clothed, but her walking out in nothing but a towel that barely reached mid thigh brought on a whole new set of problems for the fox demon. His pants didn't quite fit him right any more, and was it just him or did the room suddenly got hotter. Someone in the Reikai must be having the time of their lfe watching him squirm.

When she was fully clothed (luckly for her Shizuru didn't mind Kai borrowing her clothes) Kai stepped out to the living room, a slight blush gracing her cheeks.

"So how was the big dinner with Aine?" she asked as nonchelantly as she could after sitting down on the other side of the couch.

Kurama remained quiet for a while, not sure if he should tell her the whole story. "I ended it." he finally said and had to hide the smirk that was threatening to appear at the look of pleasant surprise on Kai's face.

It was harder than she thought, pretending that the news didn't make her want to break out in a victory dance right in the middle of the living room.

"Oh." she said, instead of squealing with joy. Not knowing what to do with all the energy that suddenly appeared in her body, she stood up adburptlu from the couch. "Are you hungry then?"

Kurama looked at her weirdly for a moment before smiling. "I could eat. Kuwabara keeps the take out numbers by the fridge." he said, nodding with his head in the direction of the kitchen.

Putting her hands on her hips Kai tilted her head slightly to the right. "Are you suggesting that I can't cook Minamino-san?" she asked, glaring at him playfuly.

"Oh gods no. What do we have on the menu then chef Watanabe?"

"Give me a minute." she said before skipping away.

He was defenetly attracted to crazy, Kurama thought as he shook his head before standing up to follow Kai into the kitchen.

Giddy barely began to describe what Kai was feeling as she rummaged around the fridge, pulling out the thing she would need to cook a decent meal.

Softly humming to herself she walked to the counter, opening ine of the cupborads to find a bowl for the salad. Standing on the tips of her toes she tried to reach the bowl, cursing Kuwabara in her head for putting it on such a high shelf. She took in a sharp breath when a warm, and hard she quickly noticed, chest pressed against her back.

"You know you could have just asked me to get it." her face turned scarlet as Kurama's breath carresed her neck.

After setting the bowl on the counter, he leaned on it, sucsessfully trapping her body from eveery direction their bodies oh so closse.

Kai was in no way innocent, but being so close to him physically made her knees feel like jello.

"Thanks." she whispered, waiting for him to step back so she could begin to breathe properly again.

Oh how he loved seeing her blush like that, knowing he was the one to envoke that reaction. But standing so close to her made the master of patience and self restraint fight a harsh battle against himself. Finally taking a step back he heard her suck in a shaky breath before she quickly moved away from him.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kurama watched her with a smirk as she moved around the kitchen, avoiding looking at him as hard as she could.

--

Spending time with her family was one of the things Amaya missed the most about the Makai. Walking around the familiar gardens of her childhood home she felt at ease, now that she knwe she could trust the Reikai Tentei enough to keep Kai safe until her retrnshe could really relax.

"Cousin, I'm glad to see you back."

Turning around to the source of the voice she smiled gently. "Takeo. How have you been?"

Matching his strides to his cousin's Takeo joined her on her walk.

"Good, though I'm afraid that father has fallen ill." his gray eyes focused on the lilies floating in one of the small lakes as they came to a halt in front of a small stone bench.

"So the rumors…" Amaya began as she sat down, pulling on her fingers until little knack sounds came out.

Takeo nodded but remained standing.

"What do the healers have to say?"

Takeo was about to speak when he heard footsteps approching from a small distance away.

"Amaya, you're back from Ningenkai. Your mother must be thrilled." A tall aging man with his graying black hair and smooth voice stepped out of the evening shadows.

"Uncle Jiro. She's as glad as I a to be back home." Amaya bowed slightly to the man.

Jiro nodded in approval. "Shouldn't you be with Motaro-san?" he directed his question to Takeo.

"We were done with today's lessons uncle." Takeo said with an uncertain smile. Jiro was doing everything he could these days to keep him busy, probsbly trying to distract him from th thoughts of his dying father.

"Very well. I must attend to some buisness now, I expect to see you both at dinner tonight. Your mother planned a feast to celebrate your return Amaya." Jiro turned away, not waiting for their response.

"I don't know how much time he has left." Takeo picked up their previous conversation from the same place they left it. "He won't let anyone aside from Kiri-san get close to him."

Standing up Amaya put a hand on her cousins arm. "Then maybe we don't even have a reason to worry."

Grey eyes stared at her, sad and scared, reminding her of his sister. They are so alike, she thought to herself as she held Takeo much like she did Kai whenever she was upset, too bad they will never meet.

--

The elderly woman known as Kiri walked into the rooms she shared with her mate. Fujita was meditating out on the veranda and the only sound that disturbed the main room's peace was the bubbling of one of her concotions i the far corner of the room.

Not wanting to disturb her mate, Kiri sat down by the fire with a quiet sigh. Makoto's condition was getting worse with each passing day and all she could do for him now was ease the pain as life slowly escaped out of him. He seemed oddly peaceful since Amaya returned home though.

She was wrried though about the future of the clan after his passing. Is Takeo strong enough to fight for his birth right as the head of the clan if needed? Even if he is, he is still so very young, too young to know how to play the vicious games of dominance and power.

Rubbing her forehead she ket her eyes travel outside the open window and focus on the red moon hanging in the night sky.

Gods help them all, they will need it.

Heya, so sorry for the lack of updates! I'm expiriencing some technical difficulties at the moment (my computer died).

Hopefully the next chapters will be coming soon (or at least as soon as this month as I'm highjacking my friends computer.)

x's&o's