A/N: Oh my GOD! O_O This story, which hardly EVER gets reviewed, got four within two hours of posting for the last chapter and ten total! Four! I have one-shots that get less than that in twenty-four hours!

Yes, I'm desperate for feedback, but I am so happy. T-T

And answering a question or two: I refer to Syaoran as Li because that's what most of the other characters call him, save Sakura and now Ruri and Hari (plus it's faster to type and easier for my spellchecker to deal with). "The Skin I'm In" is on temporary hiatus, but I should be updating it soon- I've got like six or seven other multi-chapter fics to work on too, so I'm afraid that it's been a bit neglected lately. No yuri either so far or planned, though Tomoyo is of course still in love with Sakura. And I didn't really intend to play Li as crushing on Touya, but it would be cute, wouldn't it? Hm . . .









"Destroying Something Beautiful"









Kokuyo was not a happy demon. His girlfriend was being stubborn and dragging him through the streets to track down Kohaku. Personally, he'd rather leave the bubblehead to her own problems. Unfortunately, if he ever wanted laid again, it seemed he'd have to play along for now.

Damn though, he hated hide and seek.

"I'm bored," he said finally, seriously terrifying Koryu, who took the opportunity to hide in Hisui's robes. He remembered quite well what had happened the LAST time Kokuyo was bored . . . that mess had taken a week to straighten out.

"I'll make it up to you later," Hisui promised sweetly, smiling up at him.

"How do you expect to do that?" he asked grumpily.

"By doing something nauuughty," she sing-songed uncharacteristically, stepping ahead of the other two and swishing her hips. Kokuyo nearly fell over. "So, will you help me find Kohaku?" she asked.

"You know I can't say no to that," Kokuyo growled.

"You can't?" Hisui blinked innocently back at him. "Why ever not?"

"See, THIS is what ya get for dating an Angel Master," Koryu grumbled as the former angel sashayed off again. "Sweet poison."

"At least it's a nice way to die," Kokuyo murmured, eyeing Hisui's retreating rump.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Koryu muttered, smacking his own forehead. "You've lost your mind," the chibi-demon accused.

Kokuyo ignored him in favor of trailing after Hisui. Disgusted, Koryu shook his head and headed back the way they'd come.

"I am going HOME," he said sulkily, turning the corner and promptly crashing into a sweetly smiling man, sending the other's notebooks flying (and landing, unfortunately enough, atop poor little Koryu).

"Hello," the man said in amusement as he gathered up his fallen papers and the abused chibi nursed a killer headache. "Having fun?"

"What the hell?!" Koryu squawked, glaring up at himthe man and his companion "You just steamrollered me! How much fun is THAT?!"

"I don't know; how much?" The man looked honestly curious.

Koryu just . . . stared.

"Humans," he muttered finally.

"You ARE alright though?" a woman's voice broke in, and Koryu focused on the man's companion for the first time. Pretty face, long hair . . . Floating "body."

"You're dead," he said stupidly.

"Yes, quite!" She beamed at him. "My name is Kinomoto Nadeshiko, and this is my husband, Fujitaka. I'm terribly sorry about this- I was talking to him, so he didn't even notice you and now look what's happened!"

"But he DID see YOU." Koryu raised an eyebrow as she nodded. "Clarify, please?" he requested dryly.

"It's a magician thing." Nadeshiko giggled. "No big deal."

"Riiiight . . . " Koryu said slowly, giving Fujitaka a suspicious look. The man just smiled at him. Well, he could sense a decent aura off him, so that made sense. Still, there was something odd about these two . . .

"I'm so relieved that you're alright!" Nadeshiko chirped.

"Can we get you anything?" Fujitaka queried, helping the stunned chibi to his feet.

Oh yeah. They acted happy to meet him.









0: )









Kudo Shuichiro was tired. It had been a long day, with several unpleasantly complicated operations, one of which had ended very, very badly.

He'd had to tell her parents. He'd had to tell her boyfriend.

The young doctor sighed and leaned back against the door to That Girl's room. She was dying. He didn't like it, but he couldn't change it. The operation that was supposed to SAVE her life was the very thing that was costing her it. But there had been no way to know that she'd have such a violent allergic reaction to the sedatives he'd used.

Yet the operation had been a success. A fantastic, textbook success. Until, that is, he'd stitched her up and the seizures had started.

And he couldn't forget, not for a second: if he'd used any other anesthetic . . . she would have lived.

"Sir?" a gentle voice prodded as a hand reached out to touch his shoulder.

Shuichiro slowly lifted his face to see a pale young man standing before him with a concerned look on his face.

"Oh!" the young man exclaimed, his eyes widening as he adjusted his glasses. "To-ya?!"

"Eh?" Shuichiro blinked at him.

"Oh, I'm very sorry," the man apologized, bowing quickly. "It's just, for a moment I half-thought- well, never mind that. My name is Tsukishiro Yukito."

"Kudo Shuichiro," the doctor replied quietly, giving him a curt nod.

"Um . . ." Yukito smiled and scratched his cheek for a moment, then asked, "Sorry, but are you alright? You seemed a bit out of it there."

"The girl in the room behind me is dying," Shuichiro replied bluntly, too worn out to be properly polite.

"Oh." Yukito paused. "Did you know her?"

"Not really." Shuichiro closed his eyes and laid back against the door again. "I just killed her."

"Oh." The boy palled considerably. "Oh dear . . . " Something in his voice made Shuichiro open one eye to look at him. Which was rather lucky for Yukito, because that was when he fainted.









* tbc . . . *









. : tenshi kakkoi : .