Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this fic and the mind that helped me right this useless drivel.

Note: Throughout this, you'll probably start to wonder whether Karasu likes Kurama more than natural for two guys. Just to let you know ahead of time, Karasu only does this to annoy Kurama. He's a sadist freak and he knows Kurama is somewhat the same way. It's fun for him to see know that Youko Kurama sees that he, Karasu, has more power over the fox demon.


=====Kurama=====

At this moment, I wanted nothing more than to grind Karasu's face into a mass of broken glass and sharp rocks. No matter what I said, he turned it around on me in a frustrating way. Why the hell did I even agree to something so stupid? Living in luxury seemed to be promising, and tossing away females after I was done with them was nothing I was new to. Even so, how would I be able to even stand living with this maniac? His sadistic tendencies made my worst killings seem like a human child accidentally stepping on an insect.

Well, he was going to kill me if I refused, wasn't he? I still have a living to uphold. Besides, there's no way I'm going to have a fool like him have the honor of killing me.

"Now since you know so much, what's in this chest?" I asked, directing his attention to the chest I was attempting to pry open before he slammed me into the ground.

"Nothing you'd find important," he said in a cool tone. See?! It's amazing that I was able to restrain myself from beating his pallid face in. The one thing that made it worse was that he knew I hated him more with each second. It was making him happy to know that.

"I'll open it myself if you don't do it," I spat at him.

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "My my, hasty are we? Cool down your pretty head and I'll open it for you."

Ice ran down my spine. The way he kept referring to me was chilling. Things like… 'your pretty head' or 'keep these things away and there will be no reason for your face to be marred.' I was beginning to wonder about his true reasons for wanting me to work for him.

I pushed away these thoughts and watched as he stood with almost feminine grace and moved to open the chest. I was prepared to jeer at his inability to open it, but to my surprise, it opened easily. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.

"How are you able to open it so easily?" I demanded.

His violet eyes settled on me. I was sure a smile lay behind the mask he wore to cover his nose and mouth. "It was a trap. Do you think that my finding you here was a coincident? I set this up just so I could catch you. When I want something, I go to no end to get it. Aren't you the same way?"

His eyes seemed to bore into me. For the first time in my life, I was unable to look someone in the eyes. I looked away. I didn't like the way he looked it me. It was as if he could see something hidden within my soul… I shuddered.

"Do I disgust you?" he asked in awe. He took a step closer to me and stared intently at me.

I felt myself cringe instinctively as his hand neared my head. I conjured one of my plants to swat his hands away from coming near my body. I looked up at him. I expected some sort of punishment for this. Something that would cause pain. I gritted my teeth. So be it. If I died trying to protect myself against this freak, it would be all the better.

Instead of harming me, he laughed. "Yes, I do disgust you. How amusing. You wanted to see what was in the chest, correct?" He held out his hand. A necklace dangled on his long fingers. "Here. Feel free to look at it. It's of no use to either of us."

I studied it. A small charm dangled off of the delicate silver chain. I looked closer. It was in the shape of a flower…a peony to be precise. The center of the peony was a black color. "What's this in the center? Byzantium?"

He shrugged. "That's what the appraiser said when I showed it."

"And why is it of no use to us? Byzantium is very expensive."

"Yes, but as most Makai artifacts, this thing can be used. As males, we have no use for it."

"Then can females use it?"

"Yes. Byzantium or not, this necklace is only trash. If a female uses this, the center feeds off of their emotions. If they desire a mate, this jewel emits a strange aura that seduces a chosen mate. If they desired protection against an attacker, the attacker wouldn't be able to lay a hand on the female without feeling as if their flesh is burning off." The corners of his eyes crinkled in another smile. "As I've said, it's trash. If one of the women who live in my house wears these, there's no way they can run from me. I have a high tolerance level for pain."

"Why would someone make something like this?! It's a trivial reason to create a jewel."

"I know, but I believe the makers did this for human women. Most of them are willing to spend a fortune on trivial artifacts. Especially if it promises luck to attract men." He shook his bangs out of his eyes. "If they truly want something, they should take it by force." He looked down at me. "Do you wish to keep it? Give it to some female you find attractive and have fun trying to retrieve it. It's helps raise your stamina for pain. Of course…if you want a higher pain tolerance, I can help."

"No thank you."

"What's this? A jewel you say?"

I raised my eyes to see who had spoken. This person didn't have the lazy, silky drawl Karasu had. It sounded high-pitched and highly annoying. Just hearing the voice made me want to kill the thing. A three-eyed raven hovered above us.

"A jewel! A jewel! Give it to me! You said so yourselves, it's no use to you. Give it to me."

"And why would we give this to you?" Karasu asked calmly.

"I'll kill you!"

I watched him raise a hand. His slender fingers flexed and the raven exploded into a bloody mist. "Disgusting creatures…what would a bird do with something only a female could use?" He turned to me. "I bet you're dying to see what your new home looks like."

"Not exactly." I blinked suddenly. I heard a distant sound…it sounded like rain…or something similar… It was the flapping of hundreds of birds. Mixed in with the flapping was a droning sound. Demon ravens made such a sound when searching out jewels. "I hear more of those birds coming closer."

"Let them come. If I can't kill them all in one blast, give them the jewel."

I watched with boredom as Karasu created a barrage of Reiki bombs as the demon ravens came. Only one survived the attack.

"Oops. It seemed one survived," he said cheerfully. I think he did this on purpose…though I couldn't imagine why. He moved towards me and took the jewel away from me. He threw it at the raven. "Here. Put it to some use. I'd like to find the person who ends up with it just so I can toy with them. Run along before I decide you should have your limbs blasted off as well."

The bird flew off with a terrified squeal.


"Here is your room," Karasu said.

I looked into the room. It was large. In the middle, there was a group of assorted silk pillows.

"I know that you're an animal. You sleep on the ground so I felt that pillows would be at least a step above being on the filthy ground. And there are enough pillows to have your females sleep on too." He thrust a hand into my hair. "Can you imagine it? Beautiful females of your choice to stroke your hair…to fulfill your carnal pleasures…?" His fingers moved through my hair as if testing it.

I grimaced and pushed his hand away. "What I do will be no concern of yours," I snapped.

"If I make it my concern, you have no say in what I do. If I want to hurt you, I will." He made a tiny blast go off on my arm. Immediately I began to bleed. "If I want to stroke your hair, I will." He did so. "If there's anything I wish to do to you, you have no choice but to go along with what I wish or your pretty little head will only be a display on my wall. Understand?"

I growled at him. He made another blast of energy explode on my already bleeding arm. I clutched the wound. "Yes, I understand! Let me be!"

He smiled. "You'll learn, fox demon. You'll learn…" He left.

I scowled at him. I went to the washroom to wipe the access blood off of my arm. "Dammit," I growled to myself. "How am I supposed to tie this up if he gets my dominant arm?"

I heard a faint shuffling behind me so I turned. A demon a foot shorter than me stood in the doorway. He wore a black cloak with a white scarf. A matching white headband was tied around his forehead beneath his raven hair. Most of his hair was the raven black of Karasu's hair, but a burst of white accompanied his bangs. His eyes were a striking ruby red.

The ruby eyes narrowed. "Haven't you seen a demon before?" he snarled viciously. I wasn't aware that I had been staring at him because of his eyes.

"Yes, but your eyes are a remarkable ruby color."

"Hn. It's nothing important. Do you need help with your wound? He purposely attacks your dominant arm. I've learned to do things with both arms."

"I can do it myself." I was touched that this stranger who I had never seen wanted to aid me rather than kill me. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're the infamous Youko Kurama. Who doesn't know who you are?" he replied in almost a monotone.

"Then…why do you wish to help me? Do you not want to kill me?"

"Why would I want to kill you? What did you ever do to me?"

"But…but many of the Makai demons wish to kill me only because of my reputation."

"They don't have an honor code. Look, we're both suffering under a sadistic imbecile now. There's nothing worse than being 'owned' by him. We'll need to stick together to survive."

"Alright. What's your name, then."

"Hiei. You might hear Karasu refer me to 'the Forbidden Child' or something similar."

"Hiei? You're Hiei? He mentioned you…"

His eyes widened. "Really? That's surprising. Are you going to bleed all over the floor or will you let me help you?"

"I said I could do this alone." I summoned my Death Plant. Some of them took hold of the bandage and held it in place as I tied it up. I studied it. It would be good enough for the moment being. I met his gaze. "So…how did you get into this place?"

"Long story," he answered with a smirk.


This chapter was probably boring and stupid, wasn't it? I just had to explain what was in the chest and introduce Hiei. I can't really write a fun and exciting chapter about that, can I? Well, like I said, if you want this taken down, let me know, and I'll take it down.

Yami-AJ Yu-Yu-InuCardcaptor: You are the very first person to review my story! You love it already you say? That's so nice of you to say that! ::blush:: Thanks for your review!

Spoonerfic: You died and came back alive? ZOMBIE! J/k. I'm glad you're enjoying so far, but I can't be your literary goddess. My fics aren't nearly as good as JDfeilding or Volpone. Thanx just the same!

DarkShadowWriter: I'm a big Karasu fan too! That's ok if you don't have ideas for the title. I'll fix it when I get an idea. Right now I think "Guilty by Association' fits too.

KuramaandHiei4ever: Yes, it's a cliffhanger. Sorry! Don't kill me! ::covers head::

Miyako14: No prob. If I was creative, I would have a special fancy title, but I'm uncreative too. I've switched the title already! ::grins:: I'm glad you think it's good so far! Thankee!

Kitty: Oopsie. Youko can see Karasu's bombs? I didn't know that! Oh well…I already wrote it so I guess to make it more evil I'll keep Youko Kurama from being able to see. Thanks!

Sherkoni: I hope you like it more soon. I can't make the first couple of chapters super exciting, but I'll try!

Aurora-cool: I agree! Karasu is scary, but I like him. He's the only guy so far who can freak Kurama out! He's got to be respected you know! Thanks for saying this is a cool fic! I appreciate it!

Nienna Whitethorn: ::screams:: OH MY GOD! WHITETHORN'S BACK! J/k! It's nice to see reviewers of my other YxB fic reading this. I hope you enjoy this one too! Sure, whenever you get your Youko fic up, I'll be sure to read it! Better let me know when it's up, k?

lala: Yes, evil cliffhanger! But, it was necessary! Thanks for your review!

Thanks for reviewing! If you want your name up next chapter, please feel free to review this chapter!