For Love of a "Pet"
Chapter Fourteen
Kaline sighed sadly as her gaze wandered around, studying the many bushes and other hiding places in the area. She still hadn't found Youko, and that fact depressed her to extremes. She hated the idea of such a cute, sweet animal wandering around. 'He could be hurt,' she thought, her level of worry nearly making her cry. After a few moments, the idea of a hurt fox actually did bring a few tears to her eyes.
She wiped the moisture away and continued to search for her helpless charge, knowing that crying wasn't going to assist her. She needed to stay relatively calm as she looked for him.
After a few minutes, she found her way to the banks of a small pond. 'Maybe he's here,' she mused, almost not daring to hope. She wound her way through the tall weed, completely alert and watching for any signs of the silver fox.
"Youko!" she called out, her voice echoing over the water.
"He's not here," a rough voice stated.
Kaline spun around, eyes wide with surprise. She hadn't heard someone come up behind her, which she found a little strange. Usually she was alert enough to tell when people were standing near her back.
As soon as she turned around, she caught sight of a man in black shorts, a black t-shirt, and a black ski mask that covered everyone on his face except for his eyes and mouth.
"And you'll never see him again!" Blue light twisted around his hands as he leapt at her, shoving her into the pond with amazing strength.
"AH!" Kaline screamed before she fully submerged, the man on top of her, his hands quickly closing around her throat.
She struggled to make him release her, the freezing cold water around her sapping her strength. Her lungs began to ache from lack of oxygen, but the man still hadn't let go of her. She tried to knee him in the groin but missed her target by a long shot; she was too weak and too cold.
'I'm going to die if I don't get some oxygen soon.' As she began to panic, her vision became blurry, leaving her with only a vague idea of where the man still was. She needed air.
'No... I'm not going to die!' Kaline mentally screamed. 'Not today!'
Anger erupted from her as her desperation hit its highest peak. Suddenly, the hands around her neck were gone, vanishing with a small burst of warm bright blue light.
Kaline surfaced, taking deep, gasping breaths. For her, air had never smelled and felt so good.
Shivering, she crawled out of the pond and flopped down on the bank, crushing the weeds. Feeling as if she had been buried under ten feet of snow for the past three hours, she slowly stood up, her muscles stiff. She glanced around, seeing no signs of the masked man. It was if he had completely vanished.
Breathing a sign of relief, she smiled weakly. She didn't know where he had gone, and she didn't care. He could have fallen off the face of the earth, and it wouldn't have bothered her one bit. After all, he had obviously tried to kill her.
Kaline began to walk back to her house, shivering despite the warm weather. Water dripped from her hair and clothes to the ground. Her tennis shoes squished as she walked, and she sneezed a few times. She felt exhausted and drained, and she was thankful when she finally made it back home.
"Cassie? Kurama?" she called out as she entered her house, dripping wet and freezing cold. "You guys here?"
"Hiei and I are in the living room, and we have Youko!" Cassie shouted back. "He seems to be just fine."
The shivering girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Kami," she mumbled softly as she made her way to the living room. She wanted to see her charge with her own eyes to prove to herself that he was okay.
The instant she entered the living room, Cassie gasped in surprise. "Dear Kami! Kaline, what happened to you?" The dark brunette gently placed the fox in Hiei's lap and went to her friend.
Kaline just shivered uncontrollably. "Some guy in a mask pushed me into the lake," she explained.
"Your lips are blue!" Cassie exclaimed, frowning unhappily. "You go get changed into some dry clothes while I hunt down the masked man." 'Derek is so dead.'
The blue-gray eyed girl shook her head. "I don't know exactly who it was, so don't worry about it." She paused. "Where's Kurama?" She didn't see her dream-man-turned-real anywhere.
"He had to go check on his sick mother," Hiei answered gruffly, glaring down at the fox.
Kaline nodded stiffly. "Okay. Thanks for telling me." She smiled softly. "Cassie, Hiei, thanks for helping me search; and, Hiei, if you see Kurama before I do, then please tell him thank you for me."
"Hn. Whatever."
"I appreciate your help." The wet girl turned to her best friend. "You probably should get going. I know that you have stuff to do.
Cassie nodded her head, glancing at the black-haired man. "I do." She paused. "Hiei and I will leave now so you can get changed." She smiled at the other girl, transferred Youko from the black-haired man's lap to the floor, and took his hands. "C'mon. Let's go so Kaline can relax a bit and lecture Youko."
"Huh?" Hiei looked a little confused, but he allowed her to drag him to the door. 'Why would she lecture Youko? She thinks that he's only a fox.'
"Bye, Kaline," Cassie said brightly.
"Bye, you two," Kaline replied. Then, her visitors were out the door and gone. She stood there for a moment, blinking and shivering.
Kurama walked up and nuzzled her leg. 'She doesn't look so good.'
"Youko, you had me so worried," she stated, looking down at him. "But I'll yell at you later. Right now, I just wanna get warm."
Kaline went to her room, the fox following her like a faithful puppy, worry in his eyes.
"I'm so cold..." she mumbled, shivering uncontrollably, her teeth chattering as well.
Her lips still blue, she stripped off her wet clothes, tossed them into the bathroom, and pulled on a tight, blue fleece long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black fleece pajama pants. "Cold..." She curled up under the covers on her bed, clutching the sheets around her tightly.
Kurama mentally frowned as he jumped up onto the bed and rubbed his face along her cheek. 'I smell demon and power. Someone evil used his or her spirit energy to make her so cold. It was an ice demon most likely.'
"Why can't I warm up?" Kaline asked worriedly as she continued to shiver. "I'm so tired too." She yawned.
'Don't go to sleep! Your spirit energy is too low and you're too cold for you to do that! You might not wake back up!' he mentally shouted, although he knew that she couldn't hear him. She closed her eyes, beginning to fall asleep. He poked her ear with his cold nose, bringing her back to the waking world.
"What, Youko?" she mumbled softly, curling into a small ball as she tried to warm herself up. "What is your problem?"
'She needs to become warm very, very soon,' he thought worriedly. 'Luckily, I can help with that.'
Kurama jumped out of the bed and onto the floor, landing where Kaline could easily see him. He was going to transform, and he wanted her to be able to watch him.
"What are you doing, silly fox?" She yawned again, her half-open eyes watching the silver creature on the floor.
'I really didn't want her to find out this way, but I don't have much of a choice,' he thought as he took a deep breath.
The kitsune summoned up his spirit energy and transformed into his human form, his red hair spilling around his shoulders and falling into his green eyes. He was dressed in a pair of dark blue pants and a lighter blue Chinese tunic with matching dark blue trim and dragon design.
Kaline stared at him, eyes wide. "Kurama?!" She shook her head weakly. "I'm hallucinating. I must be running a fever or something. I did not just see Youko shapeshift into Kurama."
"No, you're not hallucinating. I'm a demon." He stripped off his tunic and climbed under the covers. "I'll explain when you're feeling better, promise." The kitsune pulled her into his embrace, holding her as close as he could.
"Warm..." She gave a happy sigh, wiggling a little against him as she tried to become more comfortable. After a brief moment, she settled down and fell asleep, her cheek pressed to his chest.
'She should be fine now that she's warming up.' Kurama smiled softly at her and placed a tender kiss on the top of her head. 'Sleep well, Kaline.'
After a few minutes, he noticed something. 'My energy... she's drawing it out of me to heal herself.'' He blinked, shocked at that revelation. 'Amazing. She shouldn't be able to do that, but she is.'
The kitsune mused over his discovery for a while, intrigued by it.
'She must be, at the very least, a partial demon. No human being can use a demon's spirit energy. It seems that what Sombra said was the truth. Kaline is a demon. And all this explains why it took me so long to regain my spirit energy. She must have been stealing it to heal me.'
Closing his eyes, he nuzzled his nose into Kaline's hair, breathing in her wonderful scent. The fragrance of vanilla, roses, and sunshine warmed him from the inside out. It felt so wonderful to hold her in his real arms, so wonderful to touch her with his real human hands. Dreams were well enough, but he preferred real life.
A small smile on his face, he allowed himself to fall asleep, his grip on her not loosening even a little bit.
"Well, now, Hiei... start explaining." Cassie glanced over at the fire demon in the passenger's seat of her car.
"His name is Youko Kurama, but he goes by Kurama at the moment," he began.
"Youko Kurama... as in THE Youko Kurama? The greatest thief in all of Makai? Yeah right. Puuuuh- leeeeaaase." She laughed briefly. "Tell me another story, since this one is just so incredibly entertaining."
"I'm not lying."
She gave him a skeptical look. "Sure... Okay, for the sake of this conversation, I'll assume that what you claim is true. So, now... let's see here. I found the famous Youko Kurama wounded and in tiny fox form in the woods. Now, he's staying with my best friend, who believes that he's just a pet fox. On top of all of that, Youko Kurama is willingly acting like a little pet and living with my friend for unknown reasons." She snorted. "As if. Give me a break."
'Well, when she puts it that way, I can see why she doesn't believe me,' Hiei thought, frowning. 'But still, I have no reason to lie, and she should know that.' "I believe that he cares about Kaline," the fire demon told her. "And Loki, a demon, hurt him."
"Loki?" Cassie repeated, worry in her voice.
"Do you know him?" Hiei wanted to know. 'If she knows him, then she might also know where we can find him.'
She shook her head. "No, but I know where the name came from. Loki is the Norse god of trickery, evil, darkness, and such. If a demon's named Loki, then he is not going to be easy to defeat."
"That, or he just thinks too highly of himself."
Cassie chuckled before becoming completely serious. "That's possible, but I would rather assume that he's strong so I won't be surprised. Kaline's life might be at stake here."
"Kurama will protect her," Hiei stated.
"Why? If he is who you say he is, I don't believe that he will. Youko was known for being a cutthroat."
"He's a demon. It's possible that he fell in love with her."
"The instant I-found-my-soul-mate kinda thing?" she asked. 'That's certainly what happened to me where you're concerned, sexy fire demon.' She mentally smiled.
"Yes."
She thought about that for a moment. "And what about you? Do you love anyone?"
"No," he said instantly, sounding very sure of himself.
That cut deep in her heart. She had put up with his attitude, dealt with his bad moods, and still acted sweet and polite towards him. And now, he had just claimed that he didn't love anyone, including her. He was a demon, and if he hadn't fallen in love with her at first sight like she had done with him, then it was not meant to be. If he didn't return her love after all the dates they had been on, then he never would. He merely lusted after her. That thought instantly broke her heart.
Cassie slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt. "OUT!" she ordered, pointing to the passenger door.
"What?" Hiei looked very confused. She had never yelled at him before, especially like that. 'What is going on?'
"GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW!" Cassie shouted at the top of her lungs, letting her spirit energy fill the vehicle and make the air vibrate dangerously. It felt like water had flooded the car, replacing the air.
The fire demon glared at her and then did as she wanted. He climbed out of the car and raced off into the trees, almost too fast for her to see.
"Shit," she muttered, banging the back of her head against her headrest as tears glistened in her eyes. "Shit. Shit. Shit."
CotA: And here is where the proverbial shit hits the fan. *sighs* All of the stuff from here on out is pretty much Sess-chan's doing.
Sess- chan: Things are going to become worse before they become better.
CotA: That's for sure. *yawns* Okay. I'm tired, so I'm gonna head back to bed.*walks off*
Sess-chan: The review responses are below.*walks off*
CotA: *from off in the distance* Sess-chan, get out of my room!
Neolannia: Yes, I finally updated. And is this fast enough for you?
Midnight: Yes, Cassie is pretty lucky... most of the time. Let's see here... I would be... probably a water demon, since all those quizes I take say my element is water. ^_^;
Bijin-chan: *laughs* I laughed so hard when I read your review. *huggles Bijin-chan* It was the cutest thing. :)
Sam: Yeah... that image is just a little too much. I can't help but laugh at it. *giggles* Oh my...
Yanou: I'm evil? Hmmm... Now I know someone's told me that before. Who was it? Oh yeah! RL Cassie! And Cassie could sense Youko because his spirit energy had returned.
Kuramalover321: Yes, I got the idea from a fox.
Lady Rose Jade: I read, I reviewed, and you know what I think about it. I do hope you keep writing in it.
Rei Akita: I'll update soon. You should know me well enough to know that.
Luraia Soul: Yes, it was a dumb plan, but it pretty much worked. He just forgot about a few of the finer details... And I already emailed you. Ciao.
