Disclaimer: I do not own anything but this idea for a plot and alternate storyline, the characters and places mentioned, except for a few created by me, belong to the creators of either Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter, and any resemblances to people, living or dead, are purely the figment of my, or your imaginations. Oh, and don't sue me; I don't have money, I even have to go to a community college. ^_^
Prologue Part 2
Later that afternoon, Kurama tries to call his mother from his cell phone. However, the object has no power even though the youko is sure that the batteries were freshly charged and good for the next week. He sees a teacher passing by in the hall and decides to ask for help.
"Excuse me, but are there any working phones around here?"
The professor, Kurama believes she teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts or something, laughs before replying, "Muggle electricity and artifacts don't work here, I suggest you read a little more about this school."
On his way to the library, the red head wonders about this school and the many spells placed on it. "You would think a cell phone that worked in Makai would work here too, but I guess that is not true. What else is odd about this school?" He mutters absent-mindedly to himself.
Once in there, Kurama quickly searches the shelves of the very large library, instinctively knowing where the history books are. He finds one that proves to be promising, a new leather bound tome. As he looks for a table to start reading, Kurama spies that beautiful, silky red hair belonging to Michelle. He walks over to her table, leans over slightly and asks casually, "May I sit here, Miss?"
She lifts her head, glancing at him with bright, intelligent blue eyes. He resists the urge to squirm under her intense gaze that seems to peer into his soul. "Of course you may." She smiles politely.
He sits down gracefully, struggling with the impulse to impress her. Kurama opens the book, Hogwarts: A History. After a quick scan, by human terms, the demon finishes absorbing all of the information available in the tome. Michelle looks on with a doubtful expression.
"You couldn't have actually learned anything from that." Again, her eyes pierce into his mind.
"Actually, I learned to speed read when I was thirty. It was most useful as a thief. Five minutes in a library and nobody could figure out what I was researching. Two minutes and I could figure out how to get past any castle's defenses." He just has to brag.
"Really?" Michelle asks skeptically, "Then what's the twenty fourth word on the three hundredth and thirty first page?"
Kurama pauses in thought for a moment before saying confidently, "East." The girl grabs the book and flips through it to find the correct page, and then she stares at him.
"You were wrong," he quirks a brow, "that was the twenty third word, the answer was tower."
The demon gives a disarming smile, "Guess I am not perfect then."
"I hate it when people pretend they are." She smiles back. "So, what kind of demon are you anyway?" Her eyes carry a curious weight, as if there are parts of Kurama that she can't see through.
"Well, I wasn't going to say, because some of the British students might laugh," He begins with a smirk of mock shyness, "but I'm a fox demon. I've heard that the British like to hunt them, so I thought it would be best not to change their misperceptions about the little creatures."
Michelle merely smiles at his joking. "I've heard of foxes, but I've never heard of fox demons, elaborate?" Her curiosity for information, the guiding trait of most Ravenclaws, drives her. Kurama stands up to pick out an aged tome.
"I saw this while I was scanning for the Hogwarts book, you might try to read it." He tosses the large book, an encyclopedia of demons. "It is either too thin to have them all, or too thin to have enough information, so I am not sure if fox demons are in there."
She scans the index, and then looks up with a puzzled look. "It's not in here."
"Try kitsune or youko, they might have it listed under another language." She complies and flips to the correct section.
"Found it." She skims the section silently before noting aloud, "Fox demons and spirits are almost identical to their animal counterparts, and are about as dangerous. Obviously these sub-par demons are far weaker than other canine demons, with the notable exceptions of mother vixens, and the occasional rabid spirit, (see Youko Kurama, under Demonic Thieves). They are well known for their problem solving skills, but are generally as weak as the average human. Just like foxes, many of these demons will choose to mate with the same partner year after year, but they are not always monogamous like humans."
Michelle looks up with her blue gaze. "Rabid?"
Kurama catches himself glaring at the book, "It was written by a human. They rarely get anything right. Most demons are weak, all mothers are fiercely protective of young, they don't mention anything about what real foxes are like, and," he pauses before glaring again, "I was never rabid."
"So, who was he referring to there?"
"Oh, that was myself; however, he never met me. I would have remembered if I had let him..." his soft voice trails off abruptly before resuming, "I mean 'met him' before." She knows that he had wanted to say something else, but does not press the issue.
"So what about the 'Demonic Thieves' section?" She smiles.
"Oh, I used to be a famous thief," he flashes a grin, "I know tales that could chill your bones, make you ill, or excite every nerve in your body."
"Really. And what about this 'voracious sexual appetite'?"
His eyes widen in shock. "You never mentioned that." He accuses calmly as she points to the next paragraph of the book. Upon seeing some of the images on the page, he gently shuts the cover, "Well, it's no wonder that you didn't read it."
"I'm seventeen, it's not like I can't handle it." Michelle blushes when Kurama snorts his reply.
"You are a human; you would never be able to handle it."
He realizes his mistake when the girl glowers at him. "You know I didn't mean it like that." She stalks off without another word, leaving him to wonder why he let himself say that.
Kurama thinks to himself, 'why did I let you say that? Is it because my plan won't allow for the Youko side? Cynicism won't catch her, and aren't I doing this for my youkai self already?' The former thief shakes his head before leaving the library. Shortly afterwards, a mischievous ghost follows after Kurama, a smile on his face.
The next day, Saturday, is the first day of a Hogsmeade weekend. Kurama is in a very grumpy mood. Insisting that they should all check out the town together, Yukina has convinced Kuwabara, Kurama, and all of Kuwabara's Gryffindor friends to go as a group. Let's face it, Kurama scared too many of the Slytherins, so he has no friends.
The walk into the village is very soothing, and his Shuuichi side stops to admire many of the plants along the way. After the tenth time, Yukina starts giggling because he seems to be in a better mood than the last few days. Hogsmeade itself is full of hustle and bustle, and many of the students that had chosen to stay for the holiday. After a short trip to the Three Broomsticks, a treat store, and a few other places, Kurama has managed to fill his pockets and other hidden places with loot. He has also managed to lose Kuwabara and Yukina by stopping in the local bookstore.
As he goes to pick up another book, he purposefully bumps into a red-haired Ravenclaw, though it seems to have been an accident. She glares at him, "You." Kurama decides that he only has a few more chances left to win her.
He blushes slightly, a calculated move, and says shyly, "Michelle? I wanted to apologize for the other day; I'm sorry." In his mind, Kurama is repeating the word "accept" over and over again. Her glare softens slightly, as though she really wasn't mad at him, so he continues by trying to explain his behavior. "It's just that, you remind me of a youko, because of your hair," at least this part is true, and he can smell the wonderful aroma clearly, "and youko hair is really silky, and gorgeous like yours," and the tricky part, "but I have to remember that you are still a human, like I have become, and if I'm not careful I could hurt you. And then you'd hate me." He thinks 'I never realized that I speak so crudely around her, I never use contractions.'
"Really? So is that why you don't look like a fox demon?" She asks, but her eyes are searching for something, sincerity perhaps.
He smiles his casual perfect son smile, "Yeah, if you'd like it, I could tell you my human life's story over one of those butter beer things." As they walked to the Three Broomsticks, Kurama sings a short ditty in his head, 'Ditching my friends, to seduce a girl, that only wants me for what I can teach her, something. Something. Something? How the hell would this go with a tune?'
Michelle picks a table near the back, and both she and Kurama sit down with their first round of drinks. He starts describing his past life, and his death. "After that, I sent my spirit into the Ningenkai, I mean, human world, and I found a host body. This Japanese woman was pregnant, and it hadn't received a soul yet, so I kinda took the fetus over, and a few months later she gave birth to me. I had all of my old memories, so it was really weird being in a form that I had very little control of. It was really awkward since I wasn't a child, and my mother kept treating me like one."
Kurama was almost laughing, but his voice grew subdued at his next thought, "and I despised her for so long, it took me ten years to accept her. That was only 'cause she protected me when this stack of plates fell. She has scars all over her hands because she took me to the doctor first. And then she got sick and woulda died if I hadn't stolen this artifact." He forces a smile out as he describes how he and Kuwabara met through this other boy named Yuusuke, and how he met Yukina and became friends with another demon.
"Yuusuke and Hiei are in the demon world right now, and I doubt Hiei's gonna leave. He's got a job with this really powerful demon. Yuusuke's training for a few years, and then he's gonna come back and stay with his girlfriend. Turns out he was part demon, and that second time he died, well, you know 'cause I already told you."
Michelle's eyes have been focused solely upon his for the entire time, and finally she responds. "That's amazing! So your friend Hiei is actually Yukina's brother?" Kurama finally realizes the entirety of what was said, and how long they had been talking.
"Kuso! I wasn't supposed to tell you about that." He slaps his forehead with the palm of his right hand, "Promise you won't tell Yukina, or Hiei might kill us both?"
She giggles an affirmative. Kurama smiles, then he leans forward slowly to brush a lingering yet soft kiss onto her lips. Blushing, Michelle blinks at him for a few seconds before averting her gaze shyly. She attempts to restart the conversation, "So, is there anything that you'd like to know?"
"I'd like to know more about you," he replies, "what are you going to do after you graduate from Hogwart's?"
Her eyes grow thoughtful. "I was thinking of working for the Ministry of Magic like my mother and father. Well, not as an auror like my father, or in the muggle departments like my mother, but I've been hoping that I could get into the Department of Mysteries or Artifacts."
"What exactly is an auror?"
Michelle explains, "Aurors try to solve crimes and capture or kill monsters and evil wizards. I'm worried a little about my father; I haven't heard anything from him lately because he's trying to capture 'You-Know-Who', and the last ten that have been sent after him died or disappeared." At Kurama's quirked eyebrow, she continues, "We can't say his real name because, well, he might hear it. He's a very powerful and evil wizard, and he's killed a lot of humans so far."
Kurama's conscience pulls at him, wasn't there something he was supposed to do on this trip besides teach and flirt? However, he couldn't care less about some human killing more right now, not when he could see the slight bit of fear in those beautiful blue eyes.
Before he can ask what was wrong, it obviously has to do with her father and this evil wizard, she speaks again. "Let's go back to the school now." He starts walking her back to the castle, but they pause for a minute outside the village. She suddenly flings herself into his arms, tears falling down her face. Kurama allows her to bury her head against his shoulder as he wraps his arms around her comfortingly. Minutes later, she stands back up and with a quick brush of her sleeve all traces of tears have left except for the slightly reddish tinge of her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about my father." She looks up at him apologetically, "I didn't mean to, to, to worry or embarrass you." Her stammer surprises them both, but Kurama grasps her hand, giving it one small squeeze, before resuming their walk.
After dinner that same evening, Yukina tries to reprimand Kurama for his behavior and she suggests that they meet in the library to discuss the information they have found. However, Kurama reaches the library first, and then discovers he has other plans for the evening. Michelle is there, and he easily convinces her to take a walk in the halls with him. By the time Kuwabara and Yukina arrive there, only a few students, working on holiday homework remain.
Elsewhere, Kurama and Michelle are wandering the halls sharing swigs from a green glass bottle. Giggling, she says, "You are a thief, I never realized they had some serious wines in the kitchen."
Kurama, unaffected by the alcohol, asks, "So, when is our curfew?" He guides the girl down a different corridor to avoid the janitor's cat.
"Oh, um, nine, I think." She giggles some more and adds, "It's only seven right now. That's two hours before we have to be in our rooms." She stands on tiptoe to reach him, giving him a short, alcohol-laden kiss. "I don't care if you're a Slytherin here, I like you."
He grins at her, glad that he remembered that if a girl was too sensible for certain things sober, she most likely wasn't when drunk. Mentally slapping himself, the saner side of his mind thinks 'I do not want to take advantage of her, and I do not want to hurt her, so why am I doing this?' His youko side reminds himself that he wants her at all costs. 'Great, I can't even fight my own desires anymore, just great. What would Mother say?' '"Shuuichi, how could you do such a thing?" Heh, heh. She's not here, is she.' 'Shut up!' 'You shut up.' 'You are on crack!' 'You only noticed her hair, I noticed everything else too.' 'Kisama, get that picture out of my head!' 'You just called yourself a bastard, moron.'
Michelle's voice brings him back to reality. "We're here!"
"Where?"
She points to a small splotch on the floor, a dark blue stain. Michelle says in a slightly high pitch, childishly chipper voice, "That's a signal I made in my third year here. It appears only when I'm around, so it won't get washed out by Mr. Filch. I put it there because.... Don't tell me, I'll remember. Because this is the hall with the Room of Requirements!"
Kurama watches with great amusement as she skips up and down the hall a few times, mumbling something unintelligible even to his sensitive ears. She stops when a door appears suddenly in the wall opposite the demon. He almost jumped when it came out of nothing, almost.
She clutches his left hand to drag him inside the mysterious portal. Inside is an oddly furnished bedroom. Against one wall, a large four-post canopy bed rests, the same color as Michelle's eyes. Opposite the bed is an open door leading into a small bathroom inside the main room. From what he could see, that room was mostly taken up with a large bathtub set even with the floor.
Seeing the questioning look on his face, Michelle says, "I thought about a room like this as I went up and down the hall, and so the Room of Requirements fitted itself to match my, I mean, our needs."
Even the side that seemed more human couldn't help but grin slyly as Kurama pulls the human girl in for a longer, deeper kiss than before. He pulls away after a moment, waiting for her response. She just looks back at him with a slightly hungry gaze.
"I want to know what it's like to," She pauses, struggling to find the right words to express her emotions, "make love with a human demon."
Kurama, about to kiss her again, halts a few inches from her head. He thinks about her choice of words before saying very clearly, "I don't love you." Her eyes grow wide, but he continues on, "It takes a lot for me to start loving someone like that. I'm just weird like that I guess, but I do like you. I do think you are beautiful and intelligent, two qualities that I admire greatly. But make no illusions, this relationship will most likely not go very deep, or last longer than my stay here. I just want you while I can have you, and if you are okay with that, if you don't mind knowing that I don't love you, and I don't want your love either, then, and only then, can we continue." His demonic half starts remembering a particularly colorful string of curses, and can't help but think 'there used to be a time when I would say whatever was needed to mate with a pretty demon, but no, my sense of honor has to ruin all of my chances. Shuuichi, you are a very stupid conscience.'
Michelle blinks those dazzling blue eyes before hugging him around the shoulders. "I just want to be with you tonight, and learn what it's like. I don't care."
With that clear, Kurama kisses her again, all the while thinking about how to get the cursed robe off of her. A few minutes later, a pile of clothes lies next to the bed, and Michelle takes the last drop of wine before sitting down next to the demon. "Why did you say I couldn't handle a demon? Too bad you can't turn into your yo, youk.... your demon form now." She slurs.
In a moment, she is pinned by a rough, fanged kiss. "I've just been waiting for permission." She reflexively smacks one of his wandering hands, his other tangles in her hair. "Hm, silky, and I don't just mean your hair." She giggles at the compliment, forcing him to obey one last rule from his human form. "I must inform you that this could hurt, actually, it will hurt. A lot. But I promise that I'll make it feel good anyways."
"I don't care," was all she could reply before being overtaken by the very horny, not to be mistaken for horned, fox demon.
Unbeknownst to them, Peeves the ghost is looking for Kurama, and hoping that the boy wouldn't notice if he suddenly came upon him because that demon seemed to be able to sense where ghosts were. He floats up and down the same hall, wondering where the red haired youth could have gotten to when a door suddenly reveals itself in front of him. Using the fact that he was mostly immaterial, the ghost peeks through the door silently. Pulling back quickly, Peeves mutters, "Bloody hell! I've got to tell the Bloody Baron and Dumbledore!"
An hour and a half later found Michelle fingering long silky strands of silver hair. Youko Kurama lies next her, fingering the new mark on her neck. His golden eyes gaze down the visible length of her body, to where she still has one leg wrapped around his, before coming back up to rest on her own blue eyes.
"Why'd you bite me?" She asks softly, only a little less drunk. "It kinda hurt, but, why?"
The demon smirks as he leans over her ear to whisper his answer, "It's just a mark. I'm used to doing that sort of thing because it tells others not to touch you unless they want to die. It will go away soon, if I'm not around to keep it there." She holds back a sigh, but he notices anyway.
"You're a very sexy rabbit, but it's about time I got you back to your dorm." He traces Michelle's chin line before standing and putting his clothes back on.
"I liked your tail." She stands also as he returns to his human form. They walk out in a moment, fully clothed, and Kurama, ever the gentleman, walks Michelle back to the Ravenclaw common room. He kisses her gently before stalking off to the Slytherin common room.
Before going to sleep that night, Kurama mutters to himself low enough so that no one else can hear, "Either it has been way too long since I have been laid, or she was really that good, but I am going to have to say that was one of the high points of this life."
The next few days passed by in the blur that all good times seem to go in. The next day it snowed. Kurama and Michelle ditched the second Hogsmeade day after an hour to spend more time alone in the Room of Requirements. Kurama switched off with his human and demon forms after every time. When Monday came, Yukina tried to yell at him with that soft, sweet voice of hers, but then they had to do another demonstration. Only one student wasn't shocked to see the cold and ruthless Youko Kurama that day. Finally, it was the last day that Kurama, Yukina, and Kuwabara would be at Hogwart's, and they had to say goodbye to all of their new friends.
Kurama lies on his back in the garden, holding the red haired Ravenclaw girl to his chest. They watch the clouds form and get swept up by the wind. The snow beneath them has contoured to their bodies, but Kurama uses his body heat to keep Michelle warm. With a hint of sadness, he says, "This is my last day. I'll be leaving... tonight." He had to fight hard to keep the word "You" from entering that last phrase.
"I know." She turns around to face him, a lone tear streaking down her cold reddened face. "Will I ever be with you again?"
"I told you not to fall in love." Kurama says coldly before softening, "Michelle-chan, there's something I have to tell you."
"You're married? You're gay? You're dying? What?" She responds upset.
"No." For once, he struggles to find the right words to say. "I like you, a lot. A lot more than I should. I decided that I would stay human for my mother, until she grows old and dies. But that would be very lonely for me, since I can't just have any demon I want to wait it out with me. And I can't just go and marry some human to make my mother happy. But you're different. I think that, maybe I could like being with you for a few years, until I can return to my true form in the Makai. If you want of course."
She looks off into the snow, thinking about what Kurama had just said. That was the closest the demon has ever been to saying, "I love you", but it would still mean being only a friend to him, merely a friend with benefits. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it Kurama."
He gets an idea, "Do you know how to use a telephone?"
"I don't have one at home, if that's what you mean."
"But surely you can find a payphone in a muggle city," He pulls a roll of coins out of his pocket. "This is British currency, I never leave home without some money for emergencies. If you go to London or somewhere, you can follow the directions on the payphone and use this money to call me." He pauses to find a pen and paper so that he can write down his number. "You put the money in, then press the numbers in this order. That should call my cell phone, but just in case," He writes down two names on the piece of paper, "Ask for Shuuichi, since that's my human name. If you are interested in coming to Japan to visit me, just call me and then maybe...." He leaves it at that, but his green eyes have a hopeful look to them.
She smiles, thinking things through in her head, "I'll try, and if I can't figure it out, I can always ask somebody for help." She kisses him softly. "Just don't forget about me."
By dinnertime, the two youkai and Kuwabara were gone. Floo powder whisked them back to Genkai's temple in Japan. Kurama was left with the blissful memories of Michelle, but a debriefing by Koenma still awaited him.
"So everyone, what did you learn?" The toddler prince asks in Japanese. He floats even with everyone's eyes as they kneel around a short table sipping hot tea in Genkai's temple.
Yukina looks at her blue kimono, her pale blue-green bangs obscuring her crimson-as-blood eyes. "Kurama learned how to seduce a human," she mutters softly in English with a hint of sadness. Only Kurama hears her.
"What was that Yukina?" Koenma asks.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I said I learned about this Voldemort-sama from the students." This time she replies in Japanese.
"Yeah! He's been killing a lot of people, especially those without magic or those whose parents don't have it." Kuwabara adds helpfully.
Koenma looks at Kurama, "So, what have you found? Did you discover where he hides? Did you find any of his worshippers, or where they meet?"
Paling, Kurama racks his brain for anything he may have heard about this Voldemort person. "Um, most people call him "You-know-who" and the aurors from the Ministry of Magic are after him. But he's very powerful and evil, so most have died. The aurors are kind of like spirit detectives, but weaker possibly."
Yukina interjects, wondering how the demon could have learned anything while leading that poor girl around by her nose, "The Death Eaters should be easily distinguished from normal wizards, because they carry the Dark Mark, a skull tattoo, on their arms."
"There was also something about a prophecy, but I couldn't find out any more because the students didn't know about it either." Kuwabara says.
"Hm, well, I'll think about that for now." Koenma sucks on his pacifier as he rubs his chin with one hand, "But my father says we can't send any detectives in to capture the Voldemort-sama without a request by the Ministry unless he becomes a demon somehow, which should never happen. Well, that will be all for now. See you all later." The prince of the dead turns immaterial before floating through the ceiling on his way back to Reikai.
Kurama stretches as he stands up. Yawning slightly, "Well, I think I am going home to get some sleep. How about you Kuwahara?" Rising, the orange haired boy nods. "Oh, and for your information Yukina, I liked that girl, and I tried very hard not to hurt her."
"I know, Kurama-kun, but you were acting weird, and you didn't seem to be thinking clearly." She looks down at her lap.
A hand pats her on the head, "Don't worry, it is natural for me to act this way. December is when kitsune start looking for mates, after all."
"Um, guys? What are you talking about? What girl?" A harsh, manly voice comes from Kuwabara. The two demons look at him for a moment before sighing.
"Nothing Kuwahara, nothing at all." Kurama ends before they both leave for the train station.
Next chapter: Will Michelle ever call Kurama? Where the hell is Kuronue? Will Michelle ever marry Kurama? And can a five year old fit under the seats of a bus and not be found? And will anybody really care about finishing reading this? Not bloody likely I'd say.
Prologue Part 2
Later that afternoon, Kurama tries to call his mother from his cell phone. However, the object has no power even though the youko is sure that the batteries were freshly charged and good for the next week. He sees a teacher passing by in the hall and decides to ask for help.
"Excuse me, but are there any working phones around here?"
The professor, Kurama believes she teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts or something, laughs before replying, "Muggle electricity and artifacts don't work here, I suggest you read a little more about this school."
On his way to the library, the red head wonders about this school and the many spells placed on it. "You would think a cell phone that worked in Makai would work here too, but I guess that is not true. What else is odd about this school?" He mutters absent-mindedly to himself.
Once in there, Kurama quickly searches the shelves of the very large library, instinctively knowing where the history books are. He finds one that proves to be promising, a new leather bound tome. As he looks for a table to start reading, Kurama spies that beautiful, silky red hair belonging to Michelle. He walks over to her table, leans over slightly and asks casually, "May I sit here, Miss?"
She lifts her head, glancing at him with bright, intelligent blue eyes. He resists the urge to squirm under her intense gaze that seems to peer into his soul. "Of course you may." She smiles politely.
He sits down gracefully, struggling with the impulse to impress her. Kurama opens the book, Hogwarts: A History. After a quick scan, by human terms, the demon finishes absorbing all of the information available in the tome. Michelle looks on with a doubtful expression.
"You couldn't have actually learned anything from that." Again, her eyes pierce into his mind.
"Actually, I learned to speed read when I was thirty. It was most useful as a thief. Five minutes in a library and nobody could figure out what I was researching. Two minutes and I could figure out how to get past any castle's defenses." He just has to brag.
"Really?" Michelle asks skeptically, "Then what's the twenty fourth word on the three hundredth and thirty first page?"
Kurama pauses in thought for a moment before saying confidently, "East." The girl grabs the book and flips through it to find the correct page, and then she stares at him.
"You were wrong," he quirks a brow, "that was the twenty third word, the answer was tower."
The demon gives a disarming smile, "Guess I am not perfect then."
"I hate it when people pretend they are." She smiles back. "So, what kind of demon are you anyway?" Her eyes carry a curious weight, as if there are parts of Kurama that she can't see through.
"Well, I wasn't going to say, because some of the British students might laugh," He begins with a smirk of mock shyness, "but I'm a fox demon. I've heard that the British like to hunt them, so I thought it would be best not to change their misperceptions about the little creatures."
Michelle merely smiles at his joking. "I've heard of foxes, but I've never heard of fox demons, elaborate?" Her curiosity for information, the guiding trait of most Ravenclaws, drives her. Kurama stands up to pick out an aged tome.
"I saw this while I was scanning for the Hogwarts book, you might try to read it." He tosses the large book, an encyclopedia of demons. "It is either too thin to have them all, or too thin to have enough information, so I am not sure if fox demons are in there."
She scans the index, and then looks up with a puzzled look. "It's not in here."
"Try kitsune or youko, they might have it listed under another language." She complies and flips to the correct section.
"Found it." She skims the section silently before noting aloud, "Fox demons and spirits are almost identical to their animal counterparts, and are about as dangerous. Obviously these sub-par demons are far weaker than other canine demons, with the notable exceptions of mother vixens, and the occasional rabid spirit, (see Youko Kurama, under Demonic Thieves). They are well known for their problem solving skills, but are generally as weak as the average human. Just like foxes, many of these demons will choose to mate with the same partner year after year, but they are not always monogamous like humans."
Michelle looks up with her blue gaze. "Rabid?"
Kurama catches himself glaring at the book, "It was written by a human. They rarely get anything right. Most demons are weak, all mothers are fiercely protective of young, they don't mention anything about what real foxes are like, and," he pauses before glaring again, "I was never rabid."
"So, who was he referring to there?"
"Oh, that was myself; however, he never met me. I would have remembered if I had let him..." his soft voice trails off abruptly before resuming, "I mean 'met him' before." She knows that he had wanted to say something else, but does not press the issue.
"So what about the 'Demonic Thieves' section?" She smiles.
"Oh, I used to be a famous thief," he flashes a grin, "I know tales that could chill your bones, make you ill, or excite every nerve in your body."
"Really. And what about this 'voracious sexual appetite'?"
His eyes widen in shock. "You never mentioned that." He accuses calmly as she points to the next paragraph of the book. Upon seeing some of the images on the page, he gently shuts the cover, "Well, it's no wonder that you didn't read it."
"I'm seventeen, it's not like I can't handle it." Michelle blushes when Kurama snorts his reply.
"You are a human; you would never be able to handle it."
He realizes his mistake when the girl glowers at him. "You know I didn't mean it like that." She stalks off without another word, leaving him to wonder why he let himself say that.
Kurama thinks to himself, 'why did I let you say that? Is it because my plan won't allow for the Youko side? Cynicism won't catch her, and aren't I doing this for my youkai self already?' The former thief shakes his head before leaving the library. Shortly afterwards, a mischievous ghost follows after Kurama, a smile on his face.
The next day, Saturday, is the first day of a Hogsmeade weekend. Kurama is in a very grumpy mood. Insisting that they should all check out the town together, Yukina has convinced Kuwabara, Kurama, and all of Kuwabara's Gryffindor friends to go as a group. Let's face it, Kurama scared too many of the Slytherins, so he has no friends.
The walk into the village is very soothing, and his Shuuichi side stops to admire many of the plants along the way. After the tenth time, Yukina starts giggling because he seems to be in a better mood than the last few days. Hogsmeade itself is full of hustle and bustle, and many of the students that had chosen to stay for the holiday. After a short trip to the Three Broomsticks, a treat store, and a few other places, Kurama has managed to fill his pockets and other hidden places with loot. He has also managed to lose Kuwabara and Yukina by stopping in the local bookstore.
As he goes to pick up another book, he purposefully bumps into a red-haired Ravenclaw, though it seems to have been an accident. She glares at him, "You." Kurama decides that he only has a few more chances left to win her.
He blushes slightly, a calculated move, and says shyly, "Michelle? I wanted to apologize for the other day; I'm sorry." In his mind, Kurama is repeating the word "accept" over and over again. Her glare softens slightly, as though she really wasn't mad at him, so he continues by trying to explain his behavior. "It's just that, you remind me of a youko, because of your hair," at least this part is true, and he can smell the wonderful aroma clearly, "and youko hair is really silky, and gorgeous like yours," and the tricky part, "but I have to remember that you are still a human, like I have become, and if I'm not careful I could hurt you. And then you'd hate me." He thinks 'I never realized that I speak so crudely around her, I never use contractions.'
"Really? So is that why you don't look like a fox demon?" She asks, but her eyes are searching for something, sincerity perhaps.
He smiles his casual perfect son smile, "Yeah, if you'd like it, I could tell you my human life's story over one of those butter beer things." As they walked to the Three Broomsticks, Kurama sings a short ditty in his head, 'Ditching my friends, to seduce a girl, that only wants me for what I can teach her, something. Something. Something? How the hell would this go with a tune?'
Michelle picks a table near the back, and both she and Kurama sit down with their first round of drinks. He starts describing his past life, and his death. "After that, I sent my spirit into the Ningenkai, I mean, human world, and I found a host body. This Japanese woman was pregnant, and it hadn't received a soul yet, so I kinda took the fetus over, and a few months later she gave birth to me. I had all of my old memories, so it was really weird being in a form that I had very little control of. It was really awkward since I wasn't a child, and my mother kept treating me like one."
Kurama was almost laughing, but his voice grew subdued at his next thought, "and I despised her for so long, it took me ten years to accept her. That was only 'cause she protected me when this stack of plates fell. She has scars all over her hands because she took me to the doctor first. And then she got sick and woulda died if I hadn't stolen this artifact." He forces a smile out as he describes how he and Kuwabara met through this other boy named Yuusuke, and how he met Yukina and became friends with another demon.
"Yuusuke and Hiei are in the demon world right now, and I doubt Hiei's gonna leave. He's got a job with this really powerful demon. Yuusuke's training for a few years, and then he's gonna come back and stay with his girlfriend. Turns out he was part demon, and that second time he died, well, you know 'cause I already told you."
Michelle's eyes have been focused solely upon his for the entire time, and finally she responds. "That's amazing! So your friend Hiei is actually Yukina's brother?" Kurama finally realizes the entirety of what was said, and how long they had been talking.
"Kuso! I wasn't supposed to tell you about that." He slaps his forehead with the palm of his right hand, "Promise you won't tell Yukina, or Hiei might kill us both?"
She giggles an affirmative. Kurama smiles, then he leans forward slowly to brush a lingering yet soft kiss onto her lips. Blushing, Michelle blinks at him for a few seconds before averting her gaze shyly. She attempts to restart the conversation, "So, is there anything that you'd like to know?"
"I'd like to know more about you," he replies, "what are you going to do after you graduate from Hogwart's?"
Her eyes grow thoughtful. "I was thinking of working for the Ministry of Magic like my mother and father. Well, not as an auror like my father, or in the muggle departments like my mother, but I've been hoping that I could get into the Department of Mysteries or Artifacts."
"What exactly is an auror?"
Michelle explains, "Aurors try to solve crimes and capture or kill monsters and evil wizards. I'm worried a little about my father; I haven't heard anything from him lately because he's trying to capture 'You-Know-Who', and the last ten that have been sent after him died or disappeared." At Kurama's quirked eyebrow, she continues, "We can't say his real name because, well, he might hear it. He's a very powerful and evil wizard, and he's killed a lot of humans so far."
Kurama's conscience pulls at him, wasn't there something he was supposed to do on this trip besides teach and flirt? However, he couldn't care less about some human killing more right now, not when he could see the slight bit of fear in those beautiful blue eyes.
Before he can ask what was wrong, it obviously has to do with her father and this evil wizard, she speaks again. "Let's go back to the school now." He starts walking her back to the castle, but they pause for a minute outside the village. She suddenly flings herself into his arms, tears falling down her face. Kurama allows her to bury her head against his shoulder as he wraps his arms around her comfortingly. Minutes later, she stands back up and with a quick brush of her sleeve all traces of tears have left except for the slightly reddish tinge of her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about my father." She looks up at him apologetically, "I didn't mean to, to, to worry or embarrass you." Her stammer surprises them both, but Kurama grasps her hand, giving it one small squeeze, before resuming their walk.
After dinner that same evening, Yukina tries to reprimand Kurama for his behavior and she suggests that they meet in the library to discuss the information they have found. However, Kurama reaches the library first, and then discovers he has other plans for the evening. Michelle is there, and he easily convinces her to take a walk in the halls with him. By the time Kuwabara and Yukina arrive there, only a few students, working on holiday homework remain.
Elsewhere, Kurama and Michelle are wandering the halls sharing swigs from a green glass bottle. Giggling, she says, "You are a thief, I never realized they had some serious wines in the kitchen."
Kurama, unaffected by the alcohol, asks, "So, when is our curfew?" He guides the girl down a different corridor to avoid the janitor's cat.
"Oh, um, nine, I think." She giggles some more and adds, "It's only seven right now. That's two hours before we have to be in our rooms." She stands on tiptoe to reach him, giving him a short, alcohol-laden kiss. "I don't care if you're a Slytherin here, I like you."
He grins at her, glad that he remembered that if a girl was too sensible for certain things sober, she most likely wasn't when drunk. Mentally slapping himself, the saner side of his mind thinks 'I do not want to take advantage of her, and I do not want to hurt her, so why am I doing this?' His youko side reminds himself that he wants her at all costs. 'Great, I can't even fight my own desires anymore, just great. What would Mother say?' '"Shuuichi, how could you do such a thing?" Heh, heh. She's not here, is she.' 'Shut up!' 'You shut up.' 'You are on crack!' 'You only noticed her hair, I noticed everything else too.' 'Kisama, get that picture out of my head!' 'You just called yourself a bastard, moron.'
Michelle's voice brings him back to reality. "We're here!"
"Where?"
She points to a small splotch on the floor, a dark blue stain. Michelle says in a slightly high pitch, childishly chipper voice, "That's a signal I made in my third year here. It appears only when I'm around, so it won't get washed out by Mr. Filch. I put it there because.... Don't tell me, I'll remember. Because this is the hall with the Room of Requirements!"
Kurama watches with great amusement as she skips up and down the hall a few times, mumbling something unintelligible even to his sensitive ears. She stops when a door appears suddenly in the wall opposite the demon. He almost jumped when it came out of nothing, almost.
She clutches his left hand to drag him inside the mysterious portal. Inside is an oddly furnished bedroom. Against one wall, a large four-post canopy bed rests, the same color as Michelle's eyes. Opposite the bed is an open door leading into a small bathroom inside the main room. From what he could see, that room was mostly taken up with a large bathtub set even with the floor.
Seeing the questioning look on his face, Michelle says, "I thought about a room like this as I went up and down the hall, and so the Room of Requirements fitted itself to match my, I mean, our needs."
Even the side that seemed more human couldn't help but grin slyly as Kurama pulls the human girl in for a longer, deeper kiss than before. He pulls away after a moment, waiting for her response. She just looks back at him with a slightly hungry gaze.
"I want to know what it's like to," She pauses, struggling to find the right words to express her emotions, "make love with a human demon."
Kurama, about to kiss her again, halts a few inches from her head. He thinks about her choice of words before saying very clearly, "I don't love you." Her eyes grow wide, but he continues on, "It takes a lot for me to start loving someone like that. I'm just weird like that I guess, but I do like you. I do think you are beautiful and intelligent, two qualities that I admire greatly. But make no illusions, this relationship will most likely not go very deep, or last longer than my stay here. I just want you while I can have you, and if you are okay with that, if you don't mind knowing that I don't love you, and I don't want your love either, then, and only then, can we continue." His demonic half starts remembering a particularly colorful string of curses, and can't help but think 'there used to be a time when I would say whatever was needed to mate with a pretty demon, but no, my sense of honor has to ruin all of my chances. Shuuichi, you are a very stupid conscience.'
Michelle blinks those dazzling blue eyes before hugging him around the shoulders. "I just want to be with you tonight, and learn what it's like. I don't care."
With that clear, Kurama kisses her again, all the while thinking about how to get the cursed robe off of her. A few minutes later, a pile of clothes lies next to the bed, and Michelle takes the last drop of wine before sitting down next to the demon. "Why did you say I couldn't handle a demon? Too bad you can't turn into your yo, youk.... your demon form now." She slurs.
In a moment, she is pinned by a rough, fanged kiss. "I've just been waiting for permission." She reflexively smacks one of his wandering hands, his other tangles in her hair. "Hm, silky, and I don't just mean your hair." She giggles at the compliment, forcing him to obey one last rule from his human form. "I must inform you that this could hurt, actually, it will hurt. A lot. But I promise that I'll make it feel good anyways."
"I don't care," was all she could reply before being overtaken by the very horny, not to be mistaken for horned, fox demon.
Unbeknownst to them, Peeves the ghost is looking for Kurama, and hoping that the boy wouldn't notice if he suddenly came upon him because that demon seemed to be able to sense where ghosts were. He floats up and down the same hall, wondering where the red haired youth could have gotten to when a door suddenly reveals itself in front of him. Using the fact that he was mostly immaterial, the ghost peeks through the door silently. Pulling back quickly, Peeves mutters, "Bloody hell! I've got to tell the Bloody Baron and Dumbledore!"
An hour and a half later found Michelle fingering long silky strands of silver hair. Youko Kurama lies next her, fingering the new mark on her neck. His golden eyes gaze down the visible length of her body, to where she still has one leg wrapped around his, before coming back up to rest on her own blue eyes.
"Why'd you bite me?" She asks softly, only a little less drunk. "It kinda hurt, but, why?"
The demon smirks as he leans over her ear to whisper his answer, "It's just a mark. I'm used to doing that sort of thing because it tells others not to touch you unless they want to die. It will go away soon, if I'm not around to keep it there." She holds back a sigh, but he notices anyway.
"You're a very sexy rabbit, but it's about time I got you back to your dorm." He traces Michelle's chin line before standing and putting his clothes back on.
"I liked your tail." She stands also as he returns to his human form. They walk out in a moment, fully clothed, and Kurama, ever the gentleman, walks Michelle back to the Ravenclaw common room. He kisses her gently before stalking off to the Slytherin common room.
Before going to sleep that night, Kurama mutters to himself low enough so that no one else can hear, "Either it has been way too long since I have been laid, or she was really that good, but I am going to have to say that was one of the high points of this life."
The next few days passed by in the blur that all good times seem to go in. The next day it snowed. Kurama and Michelle ditched the second Hogsmeade day after an hour to spend more time alone in the Room of Requirements. Kurama switched off with his human and demon forms after every time. When Monday came, Yukina tried to yell at him with that soft, sweet voice of hers, but then they had to do another demonstration. Only one student wasn't shocked to see the cold and ruthless Youko Kurama that day. Finally, it was the last day that Kurama, Yukina, and Kuwabara would be at Hogwart's, and they had to say goodbye to all of their new friends.
Kurama lies on his back in the garden, holding the red haired Ravenclaw girl to his chest. They watch the clouds form and get swept up by the wind. The snow beneath them has contoured to their bodies, but Kurama uses his body heat to keep Michelle warm. With a hint of sadness, he says, "This is my last day. I'll be leaving... tonight." He had to fight hard to keep the word "You" from entering that last phrase.
"I know." She turns around to face him, a lone tear streaking down her cold reddened face. "Will I ever be with you again?"
"I told you not to fall in love." Kurama says coldly before softening, "Michelle-chan, there's something I have to tell you."
"You're married? You're gay? You're dying? What?" She responds upset.
"No." For once, he struggles to find the right words to say. "I like you, a lot. A lot more than I should. I decided that I would stay human for my mother, until she grows old and dies. But that would be very lonely for me, since I can't just have any demon I want to wait it out with me. And I can't just go and marry some human to make my mother happy. But you're different. I think that, maybe I could like being with you for a few years, until I can return to my true form in the Makai. If you want of course."
She looks off into the snow, thinking about what Kurama had just said. That was the closest the demon has ever been to saying, "I love you", but it would still mean being only a friend to him, merely a friend with benefits. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it Kurama."
He gets an idea, "Do you know how to use a telephone?"
"I don't have one at home, if that's what you mean."
"But surely you can find a payphone in a muggle city," He pulls a roll of coins out of his pocket. "This is British currency, I never leave home without some money for emergencies. If you go to London or somewhere, you can follow the directions on the payphone and use this money to call me." He pauses to find a pen and paper so that he can write down his number. "You put the money in, then press the numbers in this order. That should call my cell phone, but just in case," He writes down two names on the piece of paper, "Ask for Shuuichi, since that's my human name. If you are interested in coming to Japan to visit me, just call me and then maybe...." He leaves it at that, but his green eyes have a hopeful look to them.
She smiles, thinking things through in her head, "I'll try, and if I can't figure it out, I can always ask somebody for help." She kisses him softly. "Just don't forget about me."
By dinnertime, the two youkai and Kuwabara were gone. Floo powder whisked them back to Genkai's temple in Japan. Kurama was left with the blissful memories of Michelle, but a debriefing by Koenma still awaited him.
"So everyone, what did you learn?" The toddler prince asks in Japanese. He floats even with everyone's eyes as they kneel around a short table sipping hot tea in Genkai's temple.
Yukina looks at her blue kimono, her pale blue-green bangs obscuring her crimson-as-blood eyes. "Kurama learned how to seduce a human," she mutters softly in English with a hint of sadness. Only Kurama hears her.
"What was that Yukina?" Koenma asks.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I said I learned about this Voldemort-sama from the students." This time she replies in Japanese.
"Yeah! He's been killing a lot of people, especially those without magic or those whose parents don't have it." Kuwabara adds helpfully.
Koenma looks at Kurama, "So, what have you found? Did you discover where he hides? Did you find any of his worshippers, or where they meet?"
Paling, Kurama racks his brain for anything he may have heard about this Voldemort person. "Um, most people call him "You-know-who" and the aurors from the Ministry of Magic are after him. But he's very powerful and evil, so most have died. The aurors are kind of like spirit detectives, but weaker possibly."
Yukina interjects, wondering how the demon could have learned anything while leading that poor girl around by her nose, "The Death Eaters should be easily distinguished from normal wizards, because they carry the Dark Mark, a skull tattoo, on their arms."
"There was also something about a prophecy, but I couldn't find out any more because the students didn't know about it either." Kuwabara says.
"Hm, well, I'll think about that for now." Koenma sucks on his pacifier as he rubs his chin with one hand, "But my father says we can't send any detectives in to capture the Voldemort-sama without a request by the Ministry unless he becomes a demon somehow, which should never happen. Well, that will be all for now. See you all later." The prince of the dead turns immaterial before floating through the ceiling on his way back to Reikai.
Kurama stretches as he stands up. Yawning slightly, "Well, I think I am going home to get some sleep. How about you Kuwahara?" Rising, the orange haired boy nods. "Oh, and for your information Yukina, I liked that girl, and I tried very hard not to hurt her."
"I know, Kurama-kun, but you were acting weird, and you didn't seem to be thinking clearly." She looks down at her lap.
A hand pats her on the head, "Don't worry, it is natural for me to act this way. December is when kitsune start looking for mates, after all."
"Um, guys? What are you talking about? What girl?" A harsh, manly voice comes from Kuwabara. The two demons look at him for a moment before sighing.
"Nothing Kuwahara, nothing at all." Kurama ends before they both leave for the train station.
Next chapter: Will Michelle ever call Kurama? Where the hell is Kuronue? Will Michelle ever marry Kurama? And can a five year old fit under the seats of a bus and not be found? And will anybody really care about finishing reading this? Not bloody likely I'd say.