Kokoro No Kaitou : Chapter 6
…I just now realized that I haven't had them eat lunch OR dinner yet. Gotta fix that. And guess what? I made another typo. It's 'Characterization' not 'charavterization'. Oops. Damn that HomeSite 4.0 for not having a spellchecker!!
~*~
This time, when I awoke, Youko was in the room. He was on the futon, sleeping soundly with his back to me. I quickly covered my mouth with my hands to stifle my laughter.
He was snoring!
I smiled and sat up, leaning over him so as to see his face. He looked much less menacing when he was asleep. Really cute, like a small child…
And then, he sat up.
I winced in pain and fell back, my hands on my forehead. He was rubbing his forehead as well.
"Damn it, Amaya! What were you doing?!" He demanded.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the pain to go away. "Ow…that hurt! Here I was, thinking you looked so peaceful, and then you crack your forehead against mine when you sit up! Itai…"
He sighed, and I opened one eye. I tried not to laugh as I saw the redness of the place where my head had hit his. "Well, looks like we're both going to have bruises."
He glared at me. "Yours is going to be worse. Remember? Demons heal faster than ningens. I'd say you're going to be purple and blue for at least three weeks, depending on how fast your body heals."
"Great…just great." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "And I'm assuming that you'll only take a day?"
"No. About two or three." He replied. "I'm not some kind of god. I bruise too. It just doesn't last for very long. And it doesn't turn nasty colors." He smirked at me.
I stood up and glared at him. "Oh, shut up. At least we'll both be black and blue for three days. Then I'm on my own."
He stood as well. "Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving."
I nodded and followed him down the hall to the kitchen; I was proud that I was getting used to where things were around here. I smiled when I saw Hiei and Kuronue already there.
"Ohayo, Kuronue, Hiei-san." I said, giving a small bow to Hiei. I hoped that if I was nice to him, then he might like me a little.
"Ohayo, Amaya." Kuronue replied. He did a double take at me. "What happened?"
I blushed. "Well, Kurama and I sort of hit heads this morning."
Youko snorted and sat down on one of the cushions.
Hiei smirked, and looked down at him, his arms folded over his chest. "So, kitsune, I heard that you walked in on her yesterday."
I noticed that Youko colored slightly; I hadn't thought that he would ever be one to blush.
"Shut up, Hiei." He growled back.
"And I heard that she managed to give you a nosebleed." Hiei continued. He seemed to enjoy teasing Youko.
"I said shut up." Youko had crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact with Hiei. He looked very mad.
I still didn't know what a nosebleed had to do with anything.
Hiei looked pointedly at me. "Who would've thought that she'd have a nice body under that baggy yukata? Good enough to give the great Youko Kurama a nosebleed."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Youko yelled, now making eye contact with Hiei as he yelled at him.
I was thoroughly confused now, but Kuronue seemed to be following what was happening- he had his jaw dropped.
He then looked over at me, still with that look of amazement. "Amaya…you gave him a nosebleed?"
I shook my head. "What's wrong with a stupid nosebleed? You're all acting like it's such a big deal!"
Hiei smirked and sauntered over to me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I felt a little uncomfortable, and he gave me a look that told me that (once again) I was being stupid about something.
"When men get nosebleeds, it means-" He started.
"Hiei, don't you dare tell her what that means!" Youko shouted, standing up and pointing a finger at the fire demon beside me.
"-that he was having a naughty thought about a woman."
Youko looked mortified. "Hiei, why'd you have to go and tell her that?!"
Hiei smirked at the kitsune. "Because she has the right to know." He looked back at me. "And seeing as how he never blushes or gets nosebleeds, then it must have been something really naughty."
He let go of my shoulders and pushed me away from him, and I could only stare at the fire demon in shock.
Naughty? As in…sexual naughty? I blushed at the thought. But I wasn't pretty- why would anyone be thinking about me that way? Why- why was Youko thinking about me that way in the first place?
Kuronue cleared his throat, and then tried to give me a smile to clear away the awkwardness of the moment. "Oi, Amaya, do you want to cook us breakfast? Using what I taught you yesterday?"
I snapped out of my daze and looked up at my friend. "That would be nice, Kuronue! I'd love to cook for you all!" I smiled back at Youko and Hiei. The latter looked annoyed, while the former looked embarrassed.
"Hn. I don't trust you to cook my food." He said, eyeing me with scrutiny. "You'll try to poison me."
"I would never!" I protested, putting my hands on my hips and stomping one foot onto the ground.
Kuronue started to snicker, and I glared back at him. "And just why are you laughing, Kuronue?"
He shook his head, then started to laugh even harder. In fact, he was guffawing so hard that he actually doubled over, clutching his sides. Tears of mirth were streaming down his cheeks.
I pouted. "Kuronue…why are you laughing?"
He wiped tears from his eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, only to start laughing again.
Hiei snorted. "He says that you looked like an old married woman, bossing her husband around. He seems to find that amusing."
I turned and glared back at Hiei, my hands still on my hips. "And how would you know?"
"I'm a telepath."
"A tele-what?" I asked, confused again.
"Baka." He snorted.
"She's not stupid, she just hasn't had much experience with the outside world." Youko said, defending me. He turned to me. "A telepath is someone that can read the minds of others, and hear their thoughts. They can also talk to you through their mind."
I nodded. That sounded like it would get annoying after a while…
"It does. Especially when there's a baka like you in the room. I'm trying to block out your stupidity." Hiei said, putting emphasis on the word baka.
Kuronue stopped his laughing and stood, glaring at Hiei as well. "Hey, don't insult her. If you do, you'll have two angry youkai on your ass before you can cry for your mother."
"Baka. I never cry. And I could beat yours and the kitsune's asses any day." Hiei said, an arrogant tone to his voice.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Onegai…stop fighting."
Hiei snorted and sat down on one of the cushions. "Hurry up and make breakfast, onna."
I opened my mouth to yell at him, but decided to let it drop. Kuronue and Youko were right about him. I set about to making what Kuronue had taught me about the previous day- eggs, rice, some pickled vegetables, and some miso soup. I tried my best to remember everything that Kuronue had taught me, but I was pretty sure that I messed up a bit on the miso soup.
When I was done cooking, I set out the food onto the table, and served all three of my male companions. I handed them each a pair of chopsticks, then sat down myself. I smiled eagerly at them as they broke their chopsticks.
Youko took a bite of the fried eggs, as did Kuronue. Both gave me their approval. Hiei just stared blankly at his miso soup.
I looked over at him. "Hiei-san…aren't you going to eat your food?"
He snorted. "I refuse to eat this shit."
I glared at him. "You will try it."
Youko looked slightly surprised, and Hiei's eyes flashed for a split second.
"Fine." He said, taking the miso and eating it.
I must admit, I was thoroughly surprised about how easily he had succumbed to my will. When I got over my shock, I grinned in triumph and served myself some food as well. We all ate in silence after that.
However, about halfway through the meal, Hiei suddenly looked shocked. He got up from the table and spit out his food into the sink. We all stared at him in shock.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the hell was I doing?" He muttered before glaring back at me. "What the hell did you do to me?"
I was confused. "Nani? I didn't do anything! What do you mean?"
He turned and stomped out of the room, leaving us all to wonder what he had meant.
~*~
After breakfast, Youko disappeared into a room near the hot spring, to do something - I don't know what. I went with Kuronue and watched him train, bored out of my mind. He tried to teach me a little about how to use a scythe, but I failed miserably. That was what I spent my entire day doing.
Around dinnertime, Kuronue sent me to fetch Youko from his seclusion. I went to the room, and knocked on the door. When I received no reply, I knocked again. Again, there was no reply, and I decided that I could just go in. I opened the door and entered, taking in my surroundings.
The room was large and expansive, with very high ceilings. Each wall was a bookshelf, housing thousands and thousands of books and scrolls, which I presumed contained magic spells and how to break them.
In the center of the room was a cluster of tables, one of which Youko was sitting at. He was leaning back in his chair, with his feet propped up onto the table. He had a book in his lap, which he was reading very intensely. In fact, he didn't even notice me when I approached him.
I walked up behind him, my hands behind my back, and I leaned over his shoulder. I smiled.
"Ohayo, Kurama."
He yelped and lost his balance on his chair, and I had to quickly step back as he fell back onto the ground along with his chair. He groaned and looked up at me.
I kneeled down beside him. "Daijobu ka, Kurama?"
He propped himself up onto his elbows and glared at me. "Amaya, you scared the shit out of me."
I smiled. "Gomen." I helped him stand, and he righted the chair again.
I picked his book up off of the floor, and dusted off the cover. I took a quick glance at the title of the book before handing it back to him (yes, yes, I know. Princesses aren't supposed to know how to read. However, after much pestering, my father consented to have me tutored well in the ways of reading and writing).
However, this title was strange to me. Why would Youko be reading a book called Symbols: Marks of the Supernatural? What kind of symbol had he been looking up?
He waved a hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my daze.
"I said, 'What are you doing here'?" He repeated.
"Oh! I'm here to tell you that dinner is ready." I replied, a faint blush on my cheeks from embarrassment.
He rolled his eyes. "You gave me a heart attack about that?"
I smiled. "Sorry!"
He started walking towards the door, and I followed him. The rest of the way to the dining hall was silent, mostly with me pondering why my friend had been reading what he was.
Now, every time that I had seen the dining hall, it had been empty and barren. However, when Youko threw open the doors, it was crammed full of youkai. Every table in the great expanse of the room was full of them. Each demon was different- some looked relatively human, while others looked more like animals. Their loud, gruff voices were a loud roar that assailed my ears.
Youko started walking through the middle aisle, and I tried to keep up with him and ignore the calls from the demons at the tables. There were cries of 'ningen wench', 'witch', and various other very rude and insulting names.
When we were right in front of the door to the kitchen, a youkai came up to us.
"Youko-sama?"
Youko looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "What?"
"Well, some of us are wondering why Noh, Kahn and Kin were killed." He said, looking slightly intimidated under the kitsune's gaze.
Youko glanced back at me. "For threatening her."
The demon looked at me, disbelief in his eyes. I squirmed as I also saw the intense hatred that laid in his eyes.
"Sir? For threatening a worthless ningen?" He asked, all humbleness aside.
Youko whirled and picked the demon up by the throat. He crushed the demon's throat in a simple squeeze, and I threw my hands over my ears when I heard the youkai's neck snap like a twig.
The dining hall fell silent, and all eyes were on us. Youko tossed the body away from him and turned back to face the hall.
"Let that be a warning to you all: lay a finger on this girl, and you will face the same fate." He said in a loud voice.
I stared at him in shock. He then turned and opened the door, and I quickly went inside, eager to avoid the stares of one thousand pairs of eyes.
When we entered, Hiei and Kuronue were already at the table, the latter stuffing his face. Youko and I sat down on the cushions, and he served himself some food. I served myself some as well, and Hiei spoke up.
"Oi, kitsune, what took you so long?"
Youko glared. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Hiei. I was reading, and we talked for a minute."
I realized how funny that sounded - the great King of Bandits, locked up in a room all day long, reading a book.
"Coming from the King of Dirty Minds himself." Hiei retorted.
Youko opened his mouth to give a remark to that, then closed it again. Apparently, he had nothing that he could say to that. So, he settled for glaring at the triumphant koorime.
Suddenly, the door flung open and I jumped in surprise. I put a hand over my heart to calm it, then looked up at the three demons that had entered the room. Two were large black onis, and the third squeezed between them was obviously a lower level demon.
One oni said in a gruff voice, "Forgive our intrusion, my Lords. But this demon says that he had to deliver a message."
Youko nodded. "Leave him here. You're dismissed."
The onis nodded and left the room. The lower level demon turned to us. He was a scrawny little thing, with a rather large head. He had skin of light blue, and wore nothing more than a loincloth. He had a nearly bald head, with gnarled teeth. Needless to say, he was quite unpleasant to look upon.
"I come with a message from my Lord. The demon Akira." He said in a raspy voice.
I tensed at the name, and I heard Youko growl lightly.
"What does he want?" Kuronue asked.
"My Lord wishes for the maiden Amaya to be brought to him at the Takahashi Estate. My Lord says that she is not the property of you, and she needs to be returned. My Lord also says that if she is not returned by midnight, two nights from now, then he shall send forth his army to take her by force. The Takahashi army would also be sent forth." The demon said. "In essence, you have until two nights from now at midnight to fulfill my Lord's request for the return of the maiden Amaya."
I felt the blood drain from my face. My father's and Akira's army combined? My father's army alone could trample this place to the ground in an instant! The combined force of both would be absolutely devastating!
Youko growled again, and a plant suddenly shot up from the floor, swallowing the demon whole.
"Well, now what?" Kuronue asked.
Youko glared. "What do you mean, 'now what'? We aren't going to hand over Amaya."
"I'm all for giving her back." Hiei said. "It would solve all of my problems."
Youko glared at him as well. "Hiei! I'm telling you, we aren't going to hand Amaya over."
"So what are we going to do? Go after him?" Kuronue asked.
Youko smirked. "Precisely."
I looked up at him in shock. "You can't! He's too powerful!" I protested.
He looked over at me. "Why are you underestimating me? I'm the King of Thieves, Youko Kurama!"
I glared. "Because, I know that my father bragged of Akira's army - he said that he's taken down a clan of nine-tailed kitsune before. A whole clan!"
Kuronue spoke up. "I've heard about that - it was all an exaggeration."
"Either way, you can't go!" I said, shaking my head. "I'll just go - I don't want any of you hurt on my behalf."
"Glad we agree on that subject." Hiei said, a sarcastic tone to his voice.
Youko stood. "Listen, Amaya. I refuse to be submissive and hand you over to a demon that's only going to eat you anyways. You have to understand - it's mostly a pride thing."
I felt a pang of hurt in my heart that he was only being stubborn about giving me to Akira because it was some kind of macho pride thing.
Youko cracked his knuckles. "Well, let's get to training, boys. We have a big fight coming up."
~*~
Author's Notes: Wai! Another chapter done! This one was rather short, for which I apologize, but the next chapter is going to make up for it! I promise!
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Roseangel9413: Was there too much fluff? I thought it was mostly Youko being protective. Dunno. What do you think about this chapter?
YoukoKurama: Thank you!
psychopath143: More protectiveness in this chapter, ne? I think it's really cute! I want my boyfriend to be protective of me!
Wizardess Gal: Actually, he doesn't have the same problem as Ryouga. I think that got explained in this chapter. Well, like Hiei said, Youko never gets nosebleeds and such. It kind of fits into the whole plot a little later - remember that part, okay? Yeah, I think it's pretty much determined that I am going to do a Youko POV story. It would be a heck of a lot more informative than this story. Because in this story, Amaya has to be present in order to hear something, but if it was from Youko's POV, then more would be explained.
Riyo-Hikaru: Actually, there won't be any kissing for a while. Sorry. You'll have to hold on just a little longer!!
Rhianna Sulumae: Well, like I told Riyo-Hikaru, Youko's POV story will be a lot more informative. Hope you do read it! Thanks for reviewing!
Katie E. : Yes, informative chapters are always good. Thanks for reviewing!!
Japanese Dictionary For This Chapter:
Itai: Ouch!
Daijobu ka: Are you alright?
Onegai: Please
REVIEW!!!!
…I just now realized that I haven't had them eat lunch OR dinner yet. Gotta fix that. And guess what? I made another typo. It's 'Characterization' not 'charavterization'. Oops. Damn that HomeSite 4.0 for not having a spellchecker!!
~*~
This time, when I awoke, Youko was in the room. He was on the futon, sleeping soundly with his back to me. I quickly covered my mouth with my hands to stifle my laughter.
He was snoring!
I smiled and sat up, leaning over him so as to see his face. He looked much less menacing when he was asleep. Really cute, like a small child…
And then, he sat up.
I winced in pain and fell back, my hands on my forehead. He was rubbing his forehead as well.
"Damn it, Amaya! What were you doing?!" He demanded.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the pain to go away. "Ow…that hurt! Here I was, thinking you looked so peaceful, and then you crack your forehead against mine when you sit up! Itai…"
He sighed, and I opened one eye. I tried not to laugh as I saw the redness of the place where my head had hit his. "Well, looks like we're both going to have bruises."
He glared at me. "Yours is going to be worse. Remember? Demons heal faster than ningens. I'd say you're going to be purple and blue for at least three weeks, depending on how fast your body heals."
"Great…just great." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "And I'm assuming that you'll only take a day?"
"No. About two or three." He replied. "I'm not some kind of god. I bruise too. It just doesn't last for very long. And it doesn't turn nasty colors." He smirked at me.
I stood up and glared at him. "Oh, shut up. At least we'll both be black and blue for three days. Then I'm on my own."
He stood as well. "Let's go get some breakfast. I'm starving."
I nodded and followed him down the hall to the kitchen; I was proud that I was getting used to where things were around here. I smiled when I saw Hiei and Kuronue already there.
"Ohayo, Kuronue, Hiei-san." I said, giving a small bow to Hiei. I hoped that if I was nice to him, then he might like me a little.
"Ohayo, Amaya." Kuronue replied. He did a double take at me. "What happened?"
I blushed. "Well, Kurama and I sort of hit heads this morning."
Youko snorted and sat down on one of the cushions.
Hiei smirked, and looked down at him, his arms folded over his chest. "So, kitsune, I heard that you walked in on her yesterday."
I noticed that Youko colored slightly; I hadn't thought that he would ever be one to blush.
"Shut up, Hiei." He growled back.
"And I heard that she managed to give you a nosebleed." Hiei continued. He seemed to enjoy teasing Youko.
"I said shut up." Youko had crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact with Hiei. He looked very mad.
I still didn't know what a nosebleed had to do with anything.
Hiei looked pointedly at me. "Who would've thought that she'd have a nice body under that baggy yukata? Good enough to give the great Youko Kurama a nosebleed."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Youko yelled, now making eye contact with Hiei as he yelled at him.
I was thoroughly confused now, but Kuronue seemed to be following what was happening- he had his jaw dropped.
He then looked over at me, still with that look of amazement. "Amaya…you gave him a nosebleed?"
I shook my head. "What's wrong with a stupid nosebleed? You're all acting like it's such a big deal!"
Hiei smirked and sauntered over to me, putting an arm around my shoulders. I felt a little uncomfortable, and he gave me a look that told me that (once again) I was being stupid about something.
"When men get nosebleeds, it means-" He started.
"Hiei, don't you dare tell her what that means!" Youko shouted, standing up and pointing a finger at the fire demon beside me.
"-that he was having a naughty thought about a woman."
Youko looked mortified. "Hiei, why'd you have to go and tell her that?!"
Hiei smirked at the kitsune. "Because she has the right to know." He looked back at me. "And seeing as how he never blushes or gets nosebleeds, then it must have been something really naughty."
He let go of my shoulders and pushed me away from him, and I could only stare at the fire demon in shock.
Naughty? As in…sexual naughty? I blushed at the thought. But I wasn't pretty- why would anyone be thinking about me that way? Why- why was Youko thinking about me that way in the first place?
Kuronue cleared his throat, and then tried to give me a smile to clear away the awkwardness of the moment. "Oi, Amaya, do you want to cook us breakfast? Using what I taught you yesterday?"
I snapped out of my daze and looked up at my friend. "That would be nice, Kuronue! I'd love to cook for you all!" I smiled back at Youko and Hiei. The latter looked annoyed, while the former looked embarrassed.
"Hn. I don't trust you to cook my food." He said, eyeing me with scrutiny. "You'll try to poison me."
"I would never!" I protested, putting my hands on my hips and stomping one foot onto the ground.
Kuronue started to snicker, and I glared back at him. "And just why are you laughing, Kuronue?"
He shook his head, then started to laugh even harder. In fact, he was guffawing so hard that he actually doubled over, clutching his sides. Tears of mirth were streaming down his cheeks.
I pouted. "Kuronue…why are you laughing?"
He wiped tears from his eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, only to start laughing again.
Hiei snorted. "He says that you looked like an old married woman, bossing her husband around. He seems to find that amusing."
I turned and glared back at Hiei, my hands still on my hips. "And how would you know?"
"I'm a telepath."
"A tele-what?" I asked, confused again.
"Baka." He snorted.
"She's not stupid, she just hasn't had much experience with the outside world." Youko said, defending me. He turned to me. "A telepath is someone that can read the minds of others, and hear their thoughts. They can also talk to you through their mind."
I nodded. That sounded like it would get annoying after a while…
"It does. Especially when there's a baka like you in the room. I'm trying to block out your stupidity." Hiei said, putting emphasis on the word baka.
Kuronue stopped his laughing and stood, glaring at Hiei as well. "Hey, don't insult her. If you do, you'll have two angry youkai on your ass before you can cry for your mother."
"Baka. I never cry. And I could beat yours and the kitsune's asses any day." Hiei said, an arrogant tone to his voice.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Onegai…stop fighting."
Hiei snorted and sat down on one of the cushions. "Hurry up and make breakfast, onna."
I opened my mouth to yell at him, but decided to let it drop. Kuronue and Youko were right about him. I set about to making what Kuronue had taught me about the previous day- eggs, rice, some pickled vegetables, and some miso soup. I tried my best to remember everything that Kuronue had taught me, but I was pretty sure that I messed up a bit on the miso soup.
When I was done cooking, I set out the food onto the table, and served all three of my male companions. I handed them each a pair of chopsticks, then sat down myself. I smiled eagerly at them as they broke their chopsticks.
Youko took a bite of the fried eggs, as did Kuronue. Both gave me their approval. Hiei just stared blankly at his miso soup.
I looked over at him. "Hiei-san…aren't you going to eat your food?"
He snorted. "I refuse to eat this shit."
I glared at him. "You will try it."
Youko looked slightly surprised, and Hiei's eyes flashed for a split second.
"Fine." He said, taking the miso and eating it.
I must admit, I was thoroughly surprised about how easily he had succumbed to my will. When I got over my shock, I grinned in triumph and served myself some food as well. We all ate in silence after that.
However, about halfway through the meal, Hiei suddenly looked shocked. He got up from the table and spit out his food into the sink. We all stared at him in shock.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the hell was I doing?" He muttered before glaring back at me. "What the hell did you do to me?"
I was confused. "Nani? I didn't do anything! What do you mean?"
He turned and stomped out of the room, leaving us all to wonder what he had meant.
~*~
After breakfast, Youko disappeared into a room near the hot spring, to do something - I don't know what. I went with Kuronue and watched him train, bored out of my mind. He tried to teach me a little about how to use a scythe, but I failed miserably. That was what I spent my entire day doing.
Around dinnertime, Kuronue sent me to fetch Youko from his seclusion. I went to the room, and knocked on the door. When I received no reply, I knocked again. Again, there was no reply, and I decided that I could just go in. I opened the door and entered, taking in my surroundings.
The room was large and expansive, with very high ceilings. Each wall was a bookshelf, housing thousands and thousands of books and scrolls, which I presumed contained magic spells and how to break them.
In the center of the room was a cluster of tables, one of which Youko was sitting at. He was leaning back in his chair, with his feet propped up onto the table. He had a book in his lap, which he was reading very intensely. In fact, he didn't even notice me when I approached him.
I walked up behind him, my hands behind my back, and I leaned over his shoulder. I smiled.
"Ohayo, Kurama."
He yelped and lost his balance on his chair, and I had to quickly step back as he fell back onto the ground along with his chair. He groaned and looked up at me.
I kneeled down beside him. "Daijobu ka, Kurama?"
He propped himself up onto his elbows and glared at me. "Amaya, you scared the shit out of me."
I smiled. "Gomen." I helped him stand, and he righted the chair again.
I picked his book up off of the floor, and dusted off the cover. I took a quick glance at the title of the book before handing it back to him (yes, yes, I know. Princesses aren't supposed to know how to read. However, after much pestering, my father consented to have me tutored well in the ways of reading and writing).
However, this title was strange to me. Why would Youko be reading a book called Symbols: Marks of the Supernatural? What kind of symbol had he been looking up?
He waved a hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my daze.
"I said, 'What are you doing here'?" He repeated.
"Oh! I'm here to tell you that dinner is ready." I replied, a faint blush on my cheeks from embarrassment.
He rolled his eyes. "You gave me a heart attack about that?"
I smiled. "Sorry!"
He started walking towards the door, and I followed him. The rest of the way to the dining hall was silent, mostly with me pondering why my friend had been reading what he was.
Now, every time that I had seen the dining hall, it had been empty and barren. However, when Youko threw open the doors, it was crammed full of youkai. Every table in the great expanse of the room was full of them. Each demon was different- some looked relatively human, while others looked more like animals. Their loud, gruff voices were a loud roar that assailed my ears.
Youko started walking through the middle aisle, and I tried to keep up with him and ignore the calls from the demons at the tables. There were cries of 'ningen wench', 'witch', and various other very rude and insulting names.
When we were right in front of the door to the kitchen, a youkai came up to us.
"Youko-sama?"
Youko looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "What?"
"Well, some of us are wondering why Noh, Kahn and Kin were killed." He said, looking slightly intimidated under the kitsune's gaze.
Youko glanced back at me. "For threatening her."
The demon looked at me, disbelief in his eyes. I squirmed as I also saw the intense hatred that laid in his eyes.
"Sir? For threatening a worthless ningen?" He asked, all humbleness aside.
Youko whirled and picked the demon up by the throat. He crushed the demon's throat in a simple squeeze, and I threw my hands over my ears when I heard the youkai's neck snap like a twig.
The dining hall fell silent, and all eyes were on us. Youko tossed the body away from him and turned back to face the hall.
"Let that be a warning to you all: lay a finger on this girl, and you will face the same fate." He said in a loud voice.
I stared at him in shock. He then turned and opened the door, and I quickly went inside, eager to avoid the stares of one thousand pairs of eyes.
When we entered, Hiei and Kuronue were already at the table, the latter stuffing his face. Youko and I sat down on the cushions, and he served himself some food. I served myself some as well, and Hiei spoke up.
"Oi, kitsune, what took you so long?"
Youko glared. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Hiei. I was reading, and we talked for a minute."
I realized how funny that sounded - the great King of Bandits, locked up in a room all day long, reading a book.
"Coming from the King of Dirty Minds himself." Hiei retorted.
Youko opened his mouth to give a remark to that, then closed it again. Apparently, he had nothing that he could say to that. So, he settled for glaring at the triumphant koorime.
Suddenly, the door flung open and I jumped in surprise. I put a hand over my heart to calm it, then looked up at the three demons that had entered the room. Two were large black onis, and the third squeezed between them was obviously a lower level demon.
One oni said in a gruff voice, "Forgive our intrusion, my Lords. But this demon says that he had to deliver a message."
Youko nodded. "Leave him here. You're dismissed."
The onis nodded and left the room. The lower level demon turned to us. He was a scrawny little thing, with a rather large head. He had skin of light blue, and wore nothing more than a loincloth. He had a nearly bald head, with gnarled teeth. Needless to say, he was quite unpleasant to look upon.
"I come with a message from my Lord. The demon Akira." He said in a raspy voice.
I tensed at the name, and I heard Youko growl lightly.
"What does he want?" Kuronue asked.
"My Lord wishes for the maiden Amaya to be brought to him at the Takahashi Estate. My Lord says that she is not the property of you, and she needs to be returned. My Lord also says that if she is not returned by midnight, two nights from now, then he shall send forth his army to take her by force. The Takahashi army would also be sent forth." The demon said. "In essence, you have until two nights from now at midnight to fulfill my Lord's request for the return of the maiden Amaya."
I felt the blood drain from my face. My father's and Akira's army combined? My father's army alone could trample this place to the ground in an instant! The combined force of both would be absolutely devastating!
Youko growled again, and a plant suddenly shot up from the floor, swallowing the demon whole.
"Well, now what?" Kuronue asked.
Youko glared. "What do you mean, 'now what'? We aren't going to hand over Amaya."
"I'm all for giving her back." Hiei said. "It would solve all of my problems."
Youko glared at him as well. "Hiei! I'm telling you, we aren't going to hand Amaya over."
"So what are we going to do? Go after him?" Kuronue asked.
Youko smirked. "Precisely."
I looked up at him in shock. "You can't! He's too powerful!" I protested.
He looked over at me. "Why are you underestimating me? I'm the King of Thieves, Youko Kurama!"
I glared. "Because, I know that my father bragged of Akira's army - he said that he's taken down a clan of nine-tailed kitsune before. A whole clan!"
Kuronue spoke up. "I've heard about that - it was all an exaggeration."
"Either way, you can't go!" I said, shaking my head. "I'll just go - I don't want any of you hurt on my behalf."
"Glad we agree on that subject." Hiei said, a sarcastic tone to his voice.
Youko stood. "Listen, Amaya. I refuse to be submissive and hand you over to a demon that's only going to eat you anyways. You have to understand - it's mostly a pride thing."
I felt a pang of hurt in my heart that he was only being stubborn about giving me to Akira because it was some kind of macho pride thing.
Youko cracked his knuckles. "Well, let's get to training, boys. We have a big fight coming up."
~*~
Author's Notes: Wai! Another chapter done! This one was rather short, for which I apologize, but the next chapter is going to make up for it! I promise!
Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Roseangel9413: Was there too much fluff? I thought it was mostly Youko being protective. Dunno. What do you think about this chapter?
YoukoKurama: Thank you!
psychopath143: More protectiveness in this chapter, ne? I think it's really cute! I want my boyfriend to be protective of me!
Wizardess Gal: Actually, he doesn't have the same problem as Ryouga. I think that got explained in this chapter. Well, like Hiei said, Youko never gets nosebleeds and such. It kind of fits into the whole plot a little later - remember that part, okay? Yeah, I think it's pretty much determined that I am going to do a Youko POV story. It would be a heck of a lot more informative than this story. Because in this story, Amaya has to be present in order to hear something, but if it was from Youko's POV, then more would be explained.
Riyo-Hikaru: Actually, there won't be any kissing for a while. Sorry. You'll have to hold on just a little longer!!
Rhianna Sulumae: Well, like I told Riyo-Hikaru, Youko's POV story will be a lot more informative. Hope you do read it! Thanks for reviewing!
Katie E. : Yes, informative chapters are always good. Thanks for reviewing!!
Japanese Dictionary For This Chapter:
Itai: Ouch!
Daijobu ka: Are you alright?
Onegai: Please
REVIEW!!!!