"What happened?" Hiei demanded, stopping one of the waiters.
Before the waiter could say anything, the owner of the restaurant – donned in another set of clothes now – came out raging about "that low class plebeian" to anyone that would listen. Many people in the room nodded sympathetically at the rich owner.
"How dare him curse and throw food at me!" the owner uttered. "Me! He's just a low class plebeian. If it wasn't for the gods, he wouldn't even be able to step into this restaurant!"
Kurama and Hiei exchanged looks at owner's words.
Yusuke's work?
No doubt about it.
Kurama frowned as the owner continued ranting. I don't like the way he's talking about Yusuke.
Hiei tilted his head, gesturing to the owner with a malicious smirk. Let's stop him then. I never did like him anyway.
Kurama shook his head with an amused smile. You're going to make his life miserable.
"Hn," Hiei said. No one insults us and gets away with it.
Kurama quirked his eyebrow. 'Us', huh?
Hiei gave Kurama an annoyed look, followed by a quirk of his eyebrow. Stop nitpicking and like you're not going to take revenge. You're even more vindictive than I am.
The corner of Kurama's lips curled, and a sharp glint appeared in his eyes. Of course. He gestured to the ranting owner with the tilt of his head. Shall we?
Together, Hiei and Kurama sauntered to the owner.
"And – Oh," the owner said, immediately stopping his diatribe against Yusuke in favor of serving the two gods. "Lord Kurama, Lord Hiei. You're leaving already?"
"Have you seen our companion?" Hiei asked, straightforward as always.
The owner flushed deep red with anger at the mention of him. He made admirable efforts to calm himself down. "Your companion, my Lords, has just left. He created a chaos in his wake too!"
"How?" Hiei demanded, his words sharp and cutting. Kurama let Hiei talk as he evaluated the owner's words and contemplated what he should do to him.
"He – He ordered the kitchen staffs to stop all their work to make him takeout. I just knew it wasn't for my Lords, and he dared order the most expensive dishes in the restaurant. That plebeian was most likely planning to put the tabs on my Lords, but I stopped him from leaving."
Kurama and Hiei exchanged a look.
His words are truthful.
And it sounds like something Yusuke would do. Dumping the bill on us is such a childish act.
It's something Yusuke would think of, although telling the staffs to stop their work just for him is a little farfetched. The owner must have altered the story.
Of course. Hiei shook his head. Mortals.
"Then he dared throw the food at me and run! How dare him!" the owner quickly controlled his anger and looked back at the gods. "Of course, my Lords, I know his actions are no fault of yours."
"That's perceptive of you," Kurama said, finally speaking up. His charms were activated to their highest level. "But what happened must have incurred a great loss for your restaurant."
"Y-yes," the owner said as his face flushed. He was probably reconsidering his sexuality right now as he watched Kurama smile softly as though the god had no idea what kind of effect he had on the people in his surroundings. The whole restaurant all stopped to watch Kurama, suddenly mesmerized.
Kurama suddenly straightened, breaking the owner and everyone in the surrounding out of his spell. They dared look disappointed. "I apologize for causing problems here," Kurama said, his eyes down-casted and his voice soft and sincerely regretful. The mortals were lulled right back into Kurama's trap as they unconsciously shook their head upon seeing Kurama's 'distress.' "We'll just pay for any loss your restaurant has sustained."
"No!" the mortals cried out as one. Then as though recalling where and who they were, they all turned to the owner, who had the sole say over such things. He appeared to have fallen for Kurama's trap hook, line, and sinker.
He shuddered as he came back to his sense enough to be speak, but not enough to think with a clear mind. "It's an honor to serve my Lords and like I said, your companion's actions are no fault of yours."
Hiei rolled his eyes. The owner barely managed to tack on the 's' in Lords to include Hiei.
"So… we just need to pay for the dishes we ate here?" Kurama asked, his voice hypnotizing. "That's all?"
"Free," the owner said, quickly changing his planned discount to free. "Everything you order would be free."
"Everything?" Kurama said, gazing into the owner's eyes.
"Yes, certainly," the owner quickly uttered.
"But I still want to order some take out," Kurama uttered softly, as though he had a dilemma that he had no idea how to solve.
"Take anything you want," the owner said.
Kurama's charms suddenly dropped and everyone in the room started, as though they had just woken from a deep dream.
"As the god of life, I thank you for your meal and this service you provided," Kurama said, a glint entering his eyes. "I'll remember this."
No doubt what Kurama meant was that he would remember the owner insulting Yusuke and speaking against him.
"Ah, ah," the owner said as he finally came back to his senses. His mind rapidly calculated the loss he sustained and realized that the number would make a dent in his wallet. Seemed like he wouldn't be able to buy that priceless vase smuggled from Runsica to Ehendel this month. "I'm happy to sever," the owner muttered sadly. "What is it that Lord Kurama wants to takeout?"
"Everything that my companion ordered," Kurama said, his voice sharp as he revealed his true goal. The owner's head shot up and his eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Seeing as you prevented him from taking what I consented him to take."
"My Lord!" the owner immediately protested. "I didn't prevent him! He threw it at me!"
"You dare imply that I'm lying?" Kurama said, his eyes dark.
"N-no," the owner said, quickly backtracking. "But! There may be some sort of misunderstanding, seeing as my Lord was not there to witness the scene."
"No, I wasn't there," Kurama agreed pleasantly. "But I know my companion, my lover" – the room gasped, but Kurama was too furious to care – "well enough to know that he wouldn't do half of the things you said."
Of course, it went without saying that the other half of what the owner said was correct. No one voiced that out or even thought about it at that point, however, too intent they were in trying to wrap their mind around the fact that Lord Kurama declared someone his lover.
Although common for immortals to bed mortals, immortals rarely take those they bed seriously and only considered it as a way to pass time. They may call the mortals their favored one, but for an immortal to call a mortal his lover would imply something more than a passing fancy.
"L-lover?!" the owner croaked out. "That low class –!"
"It will do you well to not to insult Yusuke anymore," Hiei said, dark gaze boring into the owner as his energy swirled in the air with a warning. "You don't want two offended gods on your hand."
The owner gapped. "E-even Lord Hiei?" the owner said.
"Yes," Hiei growled. "He's both of our lover. Now stop gaping and go prepare our takeout. Then, you can point us in the direction of where our lover went and we will go and never come back."
The owner fainted.
Hiei casted a look at the people around them.
"Right away!" they chorus and in a flash, they scram to comply with Hiei's order.
Xxx
"Latest news, everyone! Just now the god of life and the god of the Underworld had just admitted to have taken a mortal lover."
Xxx
"Yusuke, the latest gossip is circulating around at a fast pace," Sakyo commented as he watched Toguro and Yusuke spar in one of their empty rooms. From the sound of loud impact of skins and grunts, anyone in the surrounding would be wondering just what the two people were doing within the walls of the brothel.
Yusuke stumbled for a second at the statement, caught by surprised. Toguro saw an opening and took it, swinging out a lightening quick punch. Yusuke quickly stepped back, but the side of Toguro's punch caught his face.
Yusuke winced and jumped back, creating a distance between Toguro and himself. "Wait," Yusuke said, bringing a hand to his face. It stung. "It's enough of beating for today."
Yusuke turned to Sakyo, who raised an eyebrow at him upon seeing the scowl Yusuke was directing towards him. "And you," Yusuke said. "Why the fuck did you come in here to distract me?
"You're not as good as you think if you can't even handle a little distraction, Yusuke," Sakyo said calmly, lighting a cigar.
"You know that's true," Toguro interjected before Yusuke could protest. Yusuke swallowed his words. "But normally you wouldn't lose focus when someone talks to you. As I recall, you commonly shot insults towards people while simultaneously fight, so what's so different this time?"
Sakyo let out a puff of smoke and turned to look at Yusuke knowingly. "Maybe because of the subject?" Sakyo said with a glint in his eyes. "My employees gossip often and loudly when they have time, don't they?"
"Shut up," Yusuke grumbled, plopping down on a seat.
"I should just announce that you are here and open the doors of the brothel for people to watch for a fee as your lovers storm in. That'll be dramatic, for sure," Sakyo said with a smirk.
Yusuke gapped. "Don't you dare, Sakyo," Yusuke warned. After a pause, he added, "And they're not mine."
"That's not what they said," Sakyo said. He glanced at Yusuke. "Instead of feeling so confused, why don't you just go confront them?"
"Easy for you to say," Yusuke answered with a scoff. "It's not your life that's a mess now."
"True," Sakyo said. "But acting like a coward is not your usual way."
Yusuke's head shot up at the word 'coward.' "I'm not –!"
"They've been searching for you since this morning; soon they'll reach here. Why don't you go meet them instead?"
"And say what? Confess my undying love towards them?" Yusuke exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Why not? They've essentially did that already, didn't they?"
Yusuke hesitated.
Xxx
"My lords," a figure said as Hiei and Kurama walked past him. "May I have a moment of your time?"
"I'm afraid we're busy at the moment," Kurama replied without a pause.
"Even if it's about Yusuke?"
Hiei and Kurama paused to look over at the cowled figure leaning against a wagon. Upon seeing their attention, the figure stood up straight and drew his hood back, revealing the face of a middle-aged muscular man.
"I work for Sakyo, the man who helped you in court," the man said. He indicated who it was by drawing a straight vertical line down his right eye.
Hiei looked at Kurama and Kurama nodded in confirmation. He remembered him.
Kurama turned back to the mortal. "What does he want?" Kurama asked. "And what does he know about Yusuke?"
"Yusuke just agreed to meet you," the man said. He gestured to the wagon behind him. "If you would please? It'll save you time walking around the whole city."
"Why is he with you?" Hiei said with narrowed eyes. His energy unfurled from close to his side.
"I assure you he is there of his own will," the man said, eying at the area in front of Hiei briefly. He can't see Hiei's energy, of course, but he could certainly feel it.
"And how do we know if you speak of the truth?"
"You don't. Will that stop you from potentially reaching him?"
The other man's eyes peered at him.
Hiei scoffed at the thought and without answering, simply climbed into the wagon with Kurama by his side. Then, he flared his energy and the mortal unconsciously took back a step.
The message was clear. Try anything and you'll regret it.
"Well?" Hiei said, looking at the mortal.
The mortal's eyebrow twitched with irate, before he silently climbed aboard as well.
The wagon started to move.
