All right, then. It's about time that I got the next chapter of this thing up. Thanks for the positive reviews about my romance-I never pride myself on the mushy stuff.
Time seemed to slow for Kurama as Hiei said the three words.
"Karasu isn't dead." Kurama smiled at the news. His lover was safe-for now.
"If he isn't dead then he'll come after Kurama," Yusuke said, his arms crossed as he stared at Koenma. Kuwabara and Hiei were silently bickering over something-Kurama could hear their furious whispers but had no desire to decipher them. The demi-god mumbled something that might have been, "I know" while Kurama winced. News of his very sudden relationship with Karasu had spread (A/N: excuse the cliche) like wildfire.
"We need to protect him," Botan mumbled weakly from the corner. Koenma sighed, Yusuke nodded, and Hiei and Kuwabara's fight suddenly stopped as the two looked about the room at everyone. Koenma put his chin down onto his desk, folding his arms across his face as if he were preparing for some kind of impact.
"I can't spare any oni," he mumbled. "They're all trying to clean up the other messes that Karasu made." The room went tense, except for Kurama, who stepped forward.
"It doesn't matter," Kurama said. "I can protect myself."
"Like you did before?" Hiei asked. "Fox, that didn't look like you were protecting yourself." Kurama winced and dismissed the cutting remark as Yusuke nodded in agreement with Hiei.
"I should be getting home," Kurama said. "My 'kassan's going to be worried about me."
"Kurama!" Koenma yelled. "Stay here until we're sure that you're safe!" Kurama ignored him and continued walking. Koenma fell back into his chair with a grunt as the rest of the gang stared after the kitsune.
"That didn't work," Kuwabara said, pointing out the obvious. Hiei walked out of the room after Kurama. Koenma opened his mouth, ready to say something, but thought better of it.
"I should know better than to tell a youko what to do," he said.
Kurama wasn't sure when Hiei caught up to him in the Ningenkai. All he knew was that Hiei was suddenly on his bed, apparently asleep as Kurama shuffled through the makeup work his mother had gotten for him while he was gone.
"It's a good thing I told 'kassan I'd be gone for a while," he said. Even though he made no indication that he was talking to Hiei, the fire youkai opened one lazy eye and surveyed the kitsune. "Why are you here? I didn't think that Koenma'd send you, with as much as you're in the Makai."
"Hn," Hiei said. Kurama knew Hiei was ready to talk, so Kurama sat and looked straight at him. "You sound like you suddenly don't care if you're protected or not." Kurama shrugged, an unusual gesture that showed Hiei how unnerved he really was.
"Karasu'd get past you all," Kurama said slowly.
"If," Hiei said, providing the link to the next phrase, knowing the kitsune had more to say.
"He comes for me," Kurama said. "Hiei, I don't know if he'd come for me. Not that you care. You'd rather see him not come." Kurama sighed and pulled out a pencil, ready to start on his homework.
"You're right," Hiei said. "I don't want to see him come. Kitsune, he'd hurt you, you know." The pencil skidded across Kurama's paper, leaving a thick black line.
"He loves me," Kurama whispered, knowing he sounded like some love-sick schoolgirl in a cliche movie.
"He's playing with you," Hiei told Kurama, eyes narrowing. "As soon as he finds someone else, he'll blow you up and forget about you. Like that ningen saying. . . 'Out of . . .' what was it again?"
"'Out of sight, out of mind?'" Kurama provided. Hiei nodded as Kurama fiddled with his pencil, nervous by this point. Karasu wouldn't leave me, would he? There's no way . . . after what happened. . . .
"Don't fool yourself, fox," Hiei said. Kurama jumped, and saw the Jagan eye glow as he glanced over at the fire youkai. Kurama made a face, obviously not pleased that Hiei had read his mind. "You of all people should know that Karasu. . . . "
"Hiei, shut up," Kurama said, his voice shaking. "Just shut up. Don't talk about what you don't know." Hiei gaped at Kurama's out-of-character words. "You don't know Karasu. You didn't fight with him, didn't get abducted by him. . . . You didn't fall in love with him." There were tears in Kurama's eyes by this point. Hiei stood there, shocked and completely silent.
"Kurama," Hiei whispered.
"Go away," Kurama whispered, folding his arms on the desk and putting his face in them. "Just go away, Hiei. I don't want to talk to you right now." Kurama's words were muffled by his arms, and choked out through tears. When Kurama looked up again, the fire youkai was gone. Kurama stood up and paced for a minute or two before laying down on the bed. Looking up at the ceiling, Kurama closed his eyes and felt more tears squeeze out from then and down his cheeks. "I'm so confused," he whispered. "Hiei has a point, but I can't . . . I don't want to believe it." The kitsune drifted off to sleep, his mind turning over what to think about Karasu.
Meanwhile, in the Makai, another's tears flowed freely as he mourned the loss of his lover. Karasu was sitting with his back against a tree as he thought about Kurama. He loved the kitsune, he really did. It was odd. Usually Karasu would play with someone just long enough to make them think he loved them, then he would kill them before they could die otherwise. But Kurama was different. He acted scared of Karasu at first, trying to push the crow out of his life when everyone else hadn't. He had almost succeeded, too. But Karasu had come back, fully expecting Kurama to reject him again. The kitsune, however, had given Karasu a second chance. Karasu was amazed, and happy. When Kurama had pulled Karasu in for the kiss, Karasu knew that he didn't ever want to let the kitsune go. But he had to, as Hiei had attacked and Kurama was pulled away from him.
"It just wasn't meant to be," Karasu said, portraying the perfect picture of someone who had suffered an emotional blow. He shrugged and fiddled with a lock of hair, trying to bite back another wave of tears. He ignored the sound of leaves moving around him. He heard someone land in front of him, but didn't look up.
"You don't want to live, do you?" It was Hiei, Karasu realized as the fire youkai moved closer to him. Karasu stiffened and shook his head to answer the question. Hiei let out a laugh. "Don't be upset. You were lucky to get as close to him as you did."
"Are you here just to torment me or do you have a reason to talk to me?" Karasu asked, putting his head down and trying to ignore Hiei. The fire youkai's eyes narrowed.
"If you're going to be rude, then I might not tell you why I'm here," Hiei said. Karasu peered up at Hiei, watching even though he did not appear to moving. "Kurama's upset. He didn't want to be taken away from you."
"I knew that," Karasu whispered. His head snapped up as he heard Hiei sigh. "If you want me to go after him, I can't. I'm weak, I was drained of all of my energy after I fought you, and there's sure to be people watching Kurama."
"There's not," Hiei told Karasu. The crow's eyes widened at the news. "Koenma couldn't spare any guards, and I don't feel like protecting Kurama when he's upset like this."
"Why?"
"He doesn't give me any sweet snow," Hiei said. "I'd suggest you visit him before Koenma can find someone to watch over Kurama all the time." A small hope of seeing Kurama bloomed in Karasu's heart. It grew as Karasu watched Hiei vanish, flitting in between the trees.
"Should I?" Karasu whispered. He stumbled to his feet. "I'm coming, Kurama."
Sorry this thing is so short, I wanted there to be another chapter. Plus (I've made this excuse before) I'm coming out of a really serious case of writer's block, so that accounts for a few things (like the fact that some of the characters are totally OOC)
Anyway, I am planning to make a really short next chapter and a sequel about how people react to Kurama and Karasu's relationship, yada, yada, yada. . Any suggestions on the title of the next TCE? (Time changes everything II sounds really cheesy)
Well, please drop me a review.
