"Neon!" Fuuko said in surprise, looking at the owner of the voice who was in the doorway, wearing the usual domestic clothes.
Neon didn't look the slightest bit unnerved. "I repeat, just what do you think you're doing in here?"
"What do you think, Sherlock?" Fuuko shot back. "Of course I was reading in here. It is, after all, a library. Why, is that illegal?"
"As a matter of fact, it is, Kirisawa." Neon said bravely.
Fuuko took the book in her hand and started walking towards the shelf where she first got the large book. "Jeez, I never saw that coming." She said sarcastically, placing the book back in its proper place. "No reading in the library indeed. Well, miss Neon, you should have put a sign or something. You people ever heard of things such as 'locks'?"
If Neon was affected by Fuuko's sarcasm, she didn't show it. "Well, there was absolutely no reason for us to put locks or signs in rooms because before you and your queer family came here, people were all smart enough to know where they could and could not be in."
Fuuko rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Neon, whatever. If that's the only reason you could come up with right now to bug me, I suggest you get on with your low and pathetic life and worship his ever so egotistic Kurei because I am in absolutely no mood to get into a cat fight with you." Here, she started walking towards the door, with the full intention of leaving Neon in the library.
Suddenly, Neon looked smug. "Don't try to be mean to me, Fuuko," she started, holding up her hand close to her eyes, as if looking for dirt underneath the nails. "Or I might do something horrible to your parents in Tibet. Accidentally, of course."
Fuuko stopped dead in her tracks, eyes narrowed. "What?" is the only word that escaped her raspy throat. So Neon was one of Kurei's trusted men that was supposed to 'guard' Fuuko's parents. Fuuko wondered quietly who was the second one her parents are trusted to for a second. Of course, the question was pushed back into her mind because anger was starting to fill her.
Neon continued to look smug and conceited. "Yes, I was one of the two that was chosen to look after your parents," she was saying. "My counterpart, if you are wondering, is none other than Raiha."
Fuuko felt like a huge burden was lifted off of her shoulders and she smirked. Fuuko, despite of herself, smirked. Now it was her turn to look smug while Neon looked somewhat perplexed. "Well, then, in that case, I have nothing to worry about, have I?" she asked. "I mean, we all know that Raiha is one honest ninja and doesn't put a toe out of line. He is one hundred percent honest to Kurei so I can sleep peacefully at night knowing that nothing illegitimate will befall my parents." With that, she started walking towards the door again.
"Don't be too sure, Kirisawa, don't be too sure." Neon said.
"Is that a threat, my dear Neon?" Fuuko asked mockingly. "It seems to me that Kurei only chose you on this mission to get rid of you. Pity, it seems like he doesn't even trust you with your simple task. He even ordered Raiha to baby-sit you in Tibet." Here, she smiled widely.
Neon was looking down at a particular part of the floor, fists clenched in what Fuuko could only guess as anger. Fuuko passed her with no arguments whatsoever.
After walking a few paces past Neon, Fuuko turned back to her in a mocking voice. "Oh, and Neon," she said with a very fake smile. "Could you get me some kind of souvenir from Tibet?"
"Now, now, Fuuko," a voice started from behind her. "That's not nice."
Fuuko's hair stood on end as she turned to the voice behind her.
"R-Raiha!" Fuuko gasped.
"Yes, silly," Raiha said with a smile. Fuuko felt the heat come up to her face. "Who else did you expect?"
Fuuko looked down at the floor. "Nobody, actually," she said truthfully. "I never really expected that someone was behind me."
Neon gave a loud 'Humph' and stalked away from us. Raiha shook his head. "Really, she could be such a child sometimes!" he explained.
Fuuko could only nod. "What brings you here anyways?"
Raiha smiled weakly and placed a hand at the back of his head. "Well, actually, I came here to look for you."
"Really?" Fuuko was perplexed, blush on her cheeks turning a slightly darker shade. "Why?"
"Well, it is already time for dinner," Raiha responded. Fuuko's face contorted to an expression of full surprise. Raiha's statement was confirmed by the grandfather clock on the side of the corridor. "And besides your parents are beginning to worry about you. I'm beginning to worry, and so is Master Kurei. You have been gone for a great three hours, you know that?"
Fuuko blushed an even deeper shade of pink. "Oh, I am truly sorry then," she started as they started to walk towards the kitchen. Fuuko was now confident that this time, that this trip around the house will not lead to her lost somewhere way over her destination. Raiha was tight there beside her, after all. "I really didn't mean to make everybody worry about me. I just got caught up in a book over there in that library."
"You've been to that library?" Raiha asked, obviously surprised.
Fuuko fidgeted. "Well, yeah," she started. "I mean, there was no sign or anything that says it was off limits. So I went inside and browsed over some books until I found one particular book and I guess I was just so absorbed with it that I didn't even notice Neon go in."
"And am I correct by saying that she told you that the library was off limits in a not-so-nice way?" Raiha asked, chuckling.
"Well, yeah. That's kind of how it happened." Fuuko said truthfully. She didn't know why, but she felt kind of . . . safe around Raiha. "It was nothing, actually. I held my own pretty well, I guess."
Raiha frowned. "You mean to tell me you beat Neon in one of her verbal assaults?" he asked in a tone that resembles awe. "Wow. No one but Kurei has ever had the pleasure of having the last word in an argument with Neon."
"Really?" Fuuko asked, totally surprised. "Well, it is no wonder after all. Neon is totally in love with your Master. Maybe that's why she was, and is, so angry with me."
Raiha chuckled again.
They walked in silence after that when suddenly Fuuko stopped walking. Of course, Raiha stopped walking too.
Raiha tilted her head to the side and his eyes reflected an unspoken question.
"Do you know why I am here?" asked Fuuko suddenly.
Raiha sighed and looked at her straight in the eyes. "I thought Kurei-sama had already told you about this. After all, you do deserve to know. Well, honestly, he is doing this - - "
Fuuko interrupted him in mid-sentence. "I know, I know that already. I'm in here to 'participate' in an experiment of his involving the fuujin. And my parents are sort of being held hostage until the experiment is over, to secure my rightful behavior while in your captivity. I know that already. What I am asking is why exactly Kurei doing this?"
To her utter surprise, Raiha smiled. "Well, to tell you frankly, he is just intrigued."
"Intrigued?" Fuuko repeated dumbly. "Intrigued in what?"
"Actually, he is intrigued with," here Raiha took a deep breath. "You know, I will get in trouble for this if Kurei-sama ever found out that I told you. But actually, he is intrigued with you and the fuujin. Well, mostly you, anyway. He already posses each and every book there is in this world about the madogous, as you have seen inside that library. So I highly doubt that there is much he doesn't know about the fuujin."
"Intrigued? Kurei? With me?" Fuuko said, and then afterwards, burst out laughing. "Why the hell would that snobbish spoiled brat be fascinated with me?"
Raiha frowned slightly. "Hey, Kurei is not snobbish." He looked thoughtful. "Spoiled, maybe, but snobbish, most definitely not. And what is so funny about him being fascinated by you? For your information, a lot of people are actually intrigued by the great Fuuko Kirisawa, you know."
After Fuuko had straightened herself out, they had resumed their walk. "I'll be sure to tell Kurei that you think he is spoiled," Fuuko teased. Raiha looked mortified. "Just joking. But really, why would he be intrigued with me?"
"Do you know that Kurei-sama and I watched all of the fights?" he asked, though he did not wait for an answer. "Well, during the bouts, he often commented on your fighting potential. This is just a secret, but he actually thinks that your pride and your loyalty to your friends deserves to be marked worthy of the name Uruha."
Fuuko stared at Raiha, dumbstruck. Raiha only smiled. Finally, she found her voice once again to speak. "Um, thanks?" she asked uncertainly. "I think."
"Believe me, Fuuko, that is one high praise coming from any Uruha," Raiha said. "And to think that it came from the head of Uruha himself is the highest of all highest honors. As far as I can remember, only two people were given the same fortune. And I think you are officially the third."
Once again, an uneasy silence washed over them. It was Raiha, who first broke the silence.
"The Dining Room is just around that corner," he started, pointing at the corner only a few steps away from them. "Your family and Kurei-sama is already there, waiting for you."
Fuuko stopped walking again. "Look, I know the deal about you guarding my parents in Tibet," she started, not really meeting Raiha's eyes. "Could you just promise me that you will look after them and make sure that they will be alright?"
Raiha smiled. "Of course Fuuko," he responded. "I promise that Neon will do nothing to them. That is if you promise me that you will do everything Kurei wants and that you will follow his orders. Because I clearly can't keep my promise if you do something that will force Kurei to order me to . . . do something to your parents. So, is it a deal?"
Fuuko nodded sadly and was surprised when Raiha was holding out his right hand, pinky finger sticking out. She smiled genuinely upon seeing this and wound her pinky finger against his. After they both nodded, smiling, they resumed to their walk towards the dining room where they had separated their ways.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
