Nakoruru: Well, I'm doing this chapter alone. You guess will notice that my favorite muse is not around, and that's a good thing. So on to the next chapter without snide comments by the pyromaniac muse. Oh, but let me get all my thanks out the way.

Anime Princess, thanks for liking the story, I get out the chapters as fast as I can. The chapters should all be out soon, if you want me to email you about them; nyx, I'm going to keep going as long as this story shall permit me. Thanks for liking it so much also; Shea, I couldn't let Yusuke get nailed like that, cause Kuwabara would not have let him live it down, and Yusuke would have killed me if I had. I can't die yet, sorry. ^ ^;;

Darkside of the Moon, of course to your statement. Cause I'm going to do a bit of it in Raye and Kurama's chapter, but it's a bit obvious that Hiei's feeling things he doesn't want to; Cair, thanks for saying it's a good story, everyone's always telling me that!!; Kayla, glad you enjoyed the chapter cause it was fun writing it; ^ ^ Silver Caladan, I'm committing you to my institution. I think you may need it. Coming soon will be Hiei and Serena's chapter too. And finally, Native16, thanks again for the review and as I promised the next chapter! Now on with the story mina-san! ^ ^

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Chapter 10

Across town, from the events that happened in the last chapter, Raye and Kurama were at the art museum looking at some paintings. Raye smiled at Kurama, who was studying a painting. "This is definitely an interesting piece, don't you agree, Raye?" Kurama turned a jade eye on her, seeing her nod at his remark.

"Sometimes I like to come to the museum with Amy, it relaxes me. Oh, do you want to see something?" Raye smiled.

"Yes, I would love to." Kurama let Raye drag him to another place in the museum, until they were standing in front of a picture of a starlight sky, with a huge moon suspended over a misty castle. In the mist, a figure could be seen making his way towards the castle. "This is an amazing piece of work."

"It's one of my favorites actually. It's called Oh, Starry Night." (Yes, like the song that Raye song in one of the Sailor Moon R episodes.) Raye looked up at the male beside her. "I keep imagining that a beautiful princess is in the castle waiting for her prince to come for her after a long wait. It's silly, but sometimes I come here and imagine that I'm that princess, waiting for her prince. Silly isn't it?" Raye started to laugh softly, when Kurama cocked his head to the side, looking at her.

"No, I don't believe there's anything silly about that. It's wonderful that you have a dream of falling in love. I'm sure that one day your prince will come," he smiled.

*I wish that you were my prince.* She wanted to say out loud, but she couldn't. Of course over the time she had first met him, she had fallen in love with him, but she didn't know how he felt about her. Would he only say that she was a dear friend to him and that he couldn't return her feelings? She also had to take into account that very soon he would be leaving her dimension forever. Telling him that and having him leave would not ever be easy, and she wanted to avoid that.

"Raye?" Kurama touched her shoulder lightly, sensing the disturbance within her. "Are you. . .okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine." Raye produced a smile but knew it could not fool him. He pushed her head up to look him in the eye. She knew that those magnificent green spheres of his would look into her soul and see what she could not say. She wanted to break his stare, but she couldn't. If revealing everything about herself meant staring into his eyes forever, she would do it. Finally, Kurama broke the stare.

"You don't have to say anything right now. You can tell me later. So, where do you want to go next?" Kurama smiled down at her, lightly pushing a few strands of hair behind her ear.

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"Earth to Serena, are you in there?" Andrew waved a hand in front of Serena's face as she stood outside of the arcades, staring blankly into the glass. Serena snapped back to reality, producing a halfhearted smile for him.

"Oh, sorry, Andrew, I didn't see you there. Guess I'm a bit more of a space case than usual. Were you saying something to me?"

"I was wondering if everything was fine. You had a real downed look on your face. That's not you at all. Did you have a fight with Darien or Raye?" Andrew inquired.

"No, it's not Darien or Raye. It's something else." Serena couldn't tell him about it, even if she wanted to. She didn't think she could tell the other girls either. They had their own problems to deal with. She lowered her eyes from him, her mind going back to the dark haired male with ruby eyes that somehow had captivated her heart. What was it about him that she couldn't stop thinking about? She wished she knew the answer.

"Serena?" Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder, worried about the young girl. "You know you can always talk to me if you need to. I'm here for you, okay?"

The pig tailed girl looked up at the smiling male. "Andrew. . .thank you. If I need to talk with you, I will. But I think I can handle it." Serena walked away from the male, unaware that a pair of eyes was watching her from atop a building.

"What am I doing? Why am I following her? Baka. . ." Hiei turned away from the sight and bleeped off. He wasn't like the rest of them, he would never be.

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"Kurama, look at this! Isn't it so amazing?" After the art museum, the two continued their date, finding their way into a jewelry store after walking around for ten minutes. Kurama turned from where he had been looking at a few rings, to where Raye stood pointing into a display case. Kurama walked over towards it, looking inside.

Raye pointed to the object she had been awing at. A silver-chained necklace that had a garnet stone encased in a thin lining of silver around it. The garnet stone was cut into the shape of a heart that was about one inch in diameter. Kurama glanced at Raye, seeing how her eyes sparkled at the sight of the piece of jewelry.

"Oh, I see that you've noticed my favorite piece." The saleslady came over to where the two stood and smiled at them. "It is a wonderful item isn't it?'

"Oh, yes. It's so beautiful," Raye said, still gazing upon the necklace. "It must cost a lot."

"Not really. We're actually having a special this week on it. Maybe you can talk your boyfriend into buying it for you," the woman grinned to Raye. Raye's face lit up like wildfire.

"No, he isn't my boyfriend! You're mistaken!" Raye exclaimed.

"Oh, well, you already seem like a couple. He seems like he's a nice young man. Better snag him before someone else does!" the lady winked. Raye's mouth nearly dropped to the floor as she looked up at Kurama. She couldn't believe that this woman would say something like that in front of him. Kurama glanced at Raye, seeing how embarrassed she was. He grabbed Raye's hand and begun to pull her away from the lady.

"That you for your help. We should be going," Kurama smiled brightly.

"Come back anytime. Our sale will still be going on if you decide to get the necklace for your soon to be girlfriend," the lady chimed as the two teens headed out the door. Once outside, Kurama couldn't help but laugh.

"What is so funny, Shuuichi Minamino?" Raye scolded lightly, still quite embarrassed by the incident, and growing a bit angry that he found it funny.

Kurama shook his head, wiping away the tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes. He gave Raye his most innocent look, but found that she was still very upset with the whole thing. "I'm sure the lady meant no harm. You shouldn't take offense to it. I think she was complimenting you."

Raye looked up into his sparkling jade eyes, and knew she couldn't stay mad with him for too long. With a sigh, the raven-haired girl pouted, lightly reaching up to playfully bop him on the head. "How can anyone stay mad with you when you're always so nice and sweet?" Raye shook her head, then smiled. "Where are we going to next?"

Kurama cocked his head to the side once again. Raye reveled in how his hair moved in such a fashion that it seemed like a curtain around his head. "How about we catch a movie?"

"I would love that!"

"Then to the movies it is." The two headed off in the direction of the movies, but along the way, they found Serena sitting by herself, thinking. Raye could sense something from her leader that wasn't normal. Raye walked over to Serena and placed a hand on her shoulder. The blue eyed girl looked up at Raye with a wide shocked look on her face, which softened moments later.

"Oh, Raye, I didn't see you there, I'm a bit spacey today. Sorry." Serena gave her friend one of her usual carefree looks. She looked over at Kurama and waved. "So, how are you enjoying your date? She hasn't ran you up a wall yet, has she?"

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Raye glared at Serena.

"Oh, looks like it's my time to go. See you guys later, I'm outie!" Serena got up from the bench and ran off. Leaving Raye to fume. She turned to Kurama and stared at him with a hot look.

"What was she going on about? What did she say to you?" inquired Raye.

"It was nothing that you should worry about. She was just teasing you. She told me to watch out for your temper. But I told her that I wouldn't worry. Your temper is tamed compared to Hiei's or Yusuke's. You are sweet tempered." Kurama walked over to the girl and lightly kissed her on the forehead. The girl's face went up in a flash of crimson.

Her frown softened until it vanished. "Fine. Let's go."

Raye enjoyed her time with Kurama that day and realized the more time she spent with him, the more she found to like about him. After the movie they grabbed a milkshake at the local shop. While she was there, she found out more about him that she hadn't known. Like how he had been a legend amongst all the youkai in the Makai, and that when he had arrived in the Ningen Kai, his heart had been like ice.

She discovered that in the Ningen Kai, he had been a hard child to raise for his mom because his father had died when he was still young. Raye listened as he told her that over time he learned about life and love, and how when he was going to leave, he couldn't because she had fallen ill. Kurama had became partners with Hiei and another demon in order to get a mirror called the Forlorn Hope in order to save his mother's life because he had felt he had caused her to fall ill. He had been willing to sacrifice his life in order to save her, but Yusuke had helped in out, and the mirror had granted his wish without taking his life.

*He is so wonderful. He's kind, compassionate, understanding, handsome, honest, whole hearted, and intelligent. He is a prince. I just wish he were my prince.* Raye sat through dinner thinking. Occasionally she answered a question that her grandfather posed, or to agree or disagree with something. *Why did he have to come from another dimension? And to think, we would have never met if he hadn't lived in the Ningen Kai.*

"Raye, are you in there?" Her grandfather waved a hand in front of her face.

"Oh, what did you say?"

"I said that dinner is over. You should finish eating, your food is getting cold," he said.

"Oh!" Raye looked down at her half-eaten dinner, and gobbled down the rest. "Thanks gramps. That was good. I have to get going." Raye hopped up, and went to find Kurama. After searching for a few minutes, she realized that he wasn't around, and went to her room. On the way there, she met Hiei sitting where he could see the evening sky. She noticed that he was deeply in thought. "Um, Hiei?"

The ruby-eyed male shifted one of his eyes to her for a second. "What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering. . .have you. . .seen Kurama around anywhere?"

"Kurama said he had to go do something, he didn't tell me what, and I don't pry," Hiei replied, turning his attention back to the sky. Raye wanted to kick him in the back of the head, but advised against it. The last thing she needed was for him to call out his dragon thing and incinerate her temple.

"Okay, thank you." Raye turned from the brooding male, and went to her room. Raye went to work on her schoolwork she had to do, but couldn't get Kurama out of her head. The way he moved, talked, and interacted sent every nerve in her body on fire. After a frustrating hour and a half, she gave up the idea of working and lay on her bed. About that time, there was a knock on her door. "Come in."

"Raye," Kurama stuck his head in her door with a smile. "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to do my homework, but I couldn't. Where did you go off to earlier?" Raye asked.

"I had something to do, not much," replied Kurama. "It's really nice out here, why don't you come out? Maybe that will help you clear your head."

"Maybe." Raye got up from where she was, and walked out the door. Kurama stood under the moon, looking up at it. Raye stood back watching the scene for a moment, thinking how princely he looked. His hair was highlighted with the moon's light, playing with the lights and shadows in his hair. His eyes seemed to shimmer with their own life as he turned to smile at her.

"Are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to join me? The night really should be spent with someone rather than alone," he said. "Come on." He held his hand out to her. Raye finally broke the trance she had fallen in and walked out into the moonlight with him.

"Kurama, have you. . .have you ever thought about what you want out of life?" Raye questioned quietly.

For a long minute, Kurama thought about it, then responded. "Happiness. For those around me."

"What about for yourself? Have you ever thought about falling in love or getting married? I want to be a bride one day," admitted Raye.

Kurama turned to Raye, his eyes shining as bright as the moon. "I've never thought about love, until now." From his pocket, Kurama pulled out a box and handed it to Raye. "Open it." The girl obeyed, nearly dropping the box once she saw what was in it. "Over the time that I've been here, I've found that you've captivated my heart more. I love everything about you, Raye. And even though I shall be leaving tomorrow night, you shall be in my heart for an eternity. I wanted to give you something that will remind you of me."

"Kurama." Raye wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. She felt tears in the corners of her eyes, but she did nothing to wipe them away as they rolled down her cheeks. "I will never forget you, not in a million years."

"So tell me. Am I that prince you were dreaming about?" smiled Kurama.

"Yes, I think you are." Raye pulled him closer, kissing him on the lips. She breathed in his scent, which was like sweet roses. Raye wanted to stay like that forever, but the moment of romance turned into one of worry.

"Raye! Raye, where are you!" Chad came around the corner as Raye and Kurama parted from their kiss.

"What is it, Chad?" Raye inquired, a little bit angry that her moment was interrupted. "This better be important."

"Serena's mother just called here looking for her. She said that Serena isn't home yet."

"What?!"

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Nakoruru (laughing like a maniac): Mwahahahahahahaha!!! I'm so evil, I know. But that was the best place to stop at!

Rinka (shaking head): You should be ashamed of yourself.

Nakoruru (jumping a bit): What are you doing here?

Rinka: To make sure that things are fine. I heard Blazer wasn't here to supervise you. So I came. Have a problem with that?

Nakoruru: Nope, I'm fin to leave now anyway. Okay everyone, you know the routine. Review me, flame me, praise me, or discourage me, it's your call to tell me about this chapter. Chapter 11 should be out this week, I promise you that. I've really been slipping, but not anymore! See ya in the next chapter hopefully!!