Disclaimer: You know the drill….
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Very good. Now let the flower bloom in your hand," Koranu guided Kurama slowly as he held the rose in his left hand. "Imagine time speeding up for it, that the seasons are flying by in seconds, that all the nutrients it needs it can get right from your youki."
Kurama took a deep breath as he continued feed in the bud his youki, a steady stream going from his fingertips into the end of the stem. As Koranu watched, the bud slowly began to grow, deepening into a blood red, and the peddles trembled slightly as they opened, revealing the inside of a perfect rose.
As soon as the flower was at its height of maturity, Kurama stopped feeding its his youki. Slowly opening his eyes, he gasped at the sight of the gorgeous blossom. "Did I really make that?" he gasped. Koranu grinned at his shock and nodded her head, her lavender hair whirling around her head like a tornado of violet.
"You're becoming very good at this. You really are an incredibly fast learner, particularly for one as young as ten." Kurama smiled up at his mentor in fondness. Even with their two years together she still had no clue about his long past. 'Good,' he thought, have smiling at that. 'It's better like that. I don't know how I'd live with myself if she found out and banished me.'
"Thank you for the lesson, sempai," he told her, bowing slightly as he rose slowly to his feet. But a hand on his leg stopped him and Koranu motioned him back to the ground.
"Sit back down," she told him. "We must talk."
Tired, but still curious, Kurama lowered himself back down again so he directly faced his teacher, looking carefully for any signs as to what she might say. But Koranu's face remained impassive, and her bright yellow eyes watched him carefully.
Then she took a slight breath, and Kurama instantly knew what ever she was planning to say, it would be important. He remained quite, watching his teacher as she began to speak.
"There have been rumors going around," she told him seriously. Kurama immediately stiffened. 'She doesn't know, does she? Ferret didn't talk, right?'
"People have been speaking of a group of thieves and assassins that have been stirring up quite a ruckus and gaining a lot of attention." Kurama let out a little sigh of relief, glad it had nothing to do with him. Koranu, who didn't understand the cause of his sigh, looked at him with puzzlement, but continued anyway without comment.
"They are called the Claw Thieves, and are just one piece of a large group of thieves called the Killer. Each smaller group is named after a piece of a youko. For example, in addition to the Claw, there is the Paw, the Tail, the Fang, and so on and so forth."
"What does this have to do with us?" Kurama asked, starting to get slightly impatient.
"I have been hired by a private party to kill off the entire Claw," she told him, looking down at the floor boards, trying to avoid his eye.
"The entire group?" Kurama asked in surprise. "How many are there in a group?"
"No one but the group itself knows," the Willow told the fox unsmiling. "But it could really be anywhere from twenty to three hundred."
"Three hundred?" Kurama gaped at his teacher. "You have to kill a group of professional assassins and thieves, and all three hundred of them? That's suicide!"
Koranu shrugged slightly. "Maybe," she answered. Then she grinned wildly at him. "But I'm not doing it alone."
"Who's going to help you?" he asked puzzled. 'Koranu-sensei has a partner?'
His teacher gave him a pointed look, and suddenly Kurama realized just what she had in mind. "Oh, no!" he said, throwing his hands in front of him like a shield to block the very idea. "You've done a whole lot for me over the last couple of years, sensei, and I appreciate it, I really do. But I don't want to get involved with thieves! My own mother doesn't even know I come here, I don't want her to find out about the other worlds THIS way."
Koranu pouted slightly, which looked very cute in her beautiful, young body and Kurama found his resistance swaying already. 'It's so hard to forget how old she is,' he thought to himself. 'Her body looks no more then twenty-five years old.' Then he pointedly remembered his own situation. 'Okay, looks can be deceiving. My own body is enough proof of that. I'm, what, over a thousand years old? My body is that of a ten-year old's. I doubt anyone looks less like their age then I do.'
"Come on, Shuichi-chan!" she whined cutely. "Don't be such a spoil sport! It'll be fun!"
He scoffed visibly at her remark. "Fun, indeed."
"Besides," she said, wagging a finger accusingly at him. "You owe me for these lessons. They're free, remember?"
Kurama grudgingly admitted that this was true. 'I really do owe her a lot. She's helped me so much, I really should find a way to repay her somehow."
The fox let out a deep sigh, and it seemed as if Koranu already knew that she had won, for she grinned even longer as he looked at her ruefully. "Alright, fine," he gave in. "I'll do it. But this is my payment for all the lessons."
She grinned cheerfully at him. "Agreed," she chirped, putting out her right hand to shake. Kurama couldn't help but grin back at her, as they shook hardily, sealing the bargain with their tough and callused palms.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hey everyone!
Thank you for all the sympathies about my dog. I'm feeling much better now, but that's probably also because I got a puppy last Saturday! That's one of the reasons I haven't had much of a chance to write, I've been so busy between carrying for her and taking all my finals. What a hectic week!
Because summer is starting, updates will probably come more often, but I will no longer be able to say exactly when I'm putting something up. It just depends on any trips I have planned, camps, where I am, if I feel like writing, etc. Sorry for making it so confusing.
I'll be able to guess about when an update will be up, though. Next chapter will probably be up on Saturday the 14th, give or take a day or two. Sorry I'm not so spasific. Chapters for other stories will be up on Thursday, and I think I'm updating Ashes, Ashes and Fire Thief.
Also, I have a new story I've started writing. Unfortunately, I haven't put it up yet, because I don't think it'll be that big of a hit. It's another YYH Kurama and Hiei, although I'm not sure if it will be romance yet. I'll just have to wait and see. Let me know if anyone wants to hear about it. I can tell you all in the next chapter notes.
-Dream Fox