Hey everybody! I'm so very sorry for not updating but I was sick last week and school has been taking up all of my time, but I got some changes made in my schedule this week and hopefully I'll have more time now. This is definitely one of my very favorite stories and I'm so glad all of you like it too! This chapter is kind of fluffy and sad and has some stuff about child abuse and stuff, so just be warned. Sorry if you don't like being all angsty and what not about bad stuff like child abuse, but it adds a certain element of drama to the story that I think you'll all enjoy. So, without further ado...ON WITH THE FIC!!!
(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)(xxx)
-Kessen: Bakemono no Hishi (Fight to the Finish: Secret History of the Monsters)
Duel 7: Ai Shitteru (I Love You)
"Puu!"
Yusuke looked up at the familiar sound. He had placed a barrier around Keiko's house, ensuring that her and her family would sleep safe and sound through all this mess, just as Kuwabara had done around his house to protect Shizuru, but he had completely forgotten about Puu. He crossed the room in Genkai's temple and slid the door opened, only to have Puu collide with his face and knock him to the ground.
Kuwabara burst out laughing while Botan shook her head, Yukina gave an "Oh my!" of surprise, and Genkai took no notice at all.
"Nice to see you too, Puu," Yusuke grumbled as he got to his feet, Puu flapping his way over to play with Yukina.
"Dimwit! Where are they?!" Genkai suddenly cried impatiently.
"Take a chill pill, obasan! They'll be here. Kurama said he'd meet us here and fox-boy isn't one to go against anything he says he'll do," Yusuke answered, obviously unconcerned for the fate of the fox and his new girlfriend.
Genkai was about to say something else when the door banged opened, cutting her off. Standing in the doorway was a very frustrated and angry looking Hiei.
"What the HELL is going on?!" he all but screamed, releasing all of his anger in one explosive question.
Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan all jumped while Yukina uttered her second "Oh my!" of the day and Puu took off to hide behind her. Genkai was as unaffected as ever.
(xxx)
Arumi was now leading Kurama down a strangely clam and deserted street. It seemed that the city officials had advised everyone to stay indoors and most people listened, which was fine with Arumi and Kurama since neither of them really felt like explaining their presence to anyone. Arumi was as energetic as ever, a smile playing on her still slightly red face, but Kurama was in a slightly different mind-set. Every step took them further from Genkai's temple and he knew he would have to face the old woman's wrath later. But, at the moment, he didn't really care. He couldn't explain why, but this was making Arumi happy, and for some reason that felt like enough of a reason to do anything.
"Almost there!" she chirped as they turned down another street. Arumi's steps slowed as they approached the house and, though the sight surprised Kurama, he remained politely quiet. The house was big enough and looked like it had once been bright and beautiful, but those days were long since gone. The fading white paint was pealing and chipped in places and the windows were dirty, one even broken. The lawn also looked as though it had been lush and green once upon a time, but was now dead and brown, the only green at all coming from the weeds that dominated most of the area around the house. Arumi didn't seem to notice the state of her home at all as she approached the door, or else had trained herself not to care.
" 'kassan is probably asleep, so you'll have to be quiet," Arumi warned, putting a finger to her lips. Kurama nodded and she smiled and quietly opened the door.
Kurama surveyed the interior of the house as he kicked off his shoes and set them next to Arumi's. Just as he had feared, the inside was no better then the outside. The stench itself was almost unbearable. There were garbage bags and empty sake bottles everywhere. The kitchen was a down right disaster area. Dirty dishes cluttered the counter and were piled dangerously high in the sink while the floor was covered in garbage and more bottles. Kurama felt pity tug at his heart. Arumi was such a sweet, nice girl, she didn't deserve this!
He was brought back from his thoughts as Arumi pulled at his sleeve, signaling for him to follow her. She picker her way through the obstacle course of trash on the floor and he followed, making sure to keep an eye out for broken glass. She stopped by a door at the base of the stairs, the only door he had seen that was closed. Reaching up, she took a small, blue vase from a nearby shelf and plunged her hand in, retrieving a small golden key. She smiled to herself as she replaced the vase and turned the key in the door.
The door swung open to reveal a study, the cleanest room Kurama had seen so far. A desk sat in the corner, cluttered with notes and an out-of-date computer, and a bookcase was set against the back wall, jammed with more books then it was originally designed to carry. Arumi stepped inside and ushered him in, closing the door behind him. Once the door was securely closed, she breathed a sigh of relief and switched on the light.
"We can talk now, the door is thicker then usual so 'kassan won't hear us. Otosan had it specially made so he wouldn't be disturbed here. This is--was his study," Arumi said. Kurama nodded, picking up a picture from the desk. After wiping a thin layer of dust from its surface, he saw that it was of a young Arumi laughing with a man that could only be her father.
"You must have been close," Kurama said quietly, placing the picture down once more.
"Yeah..." Arumi answered quietly, smiling down at the floor. There was silence for a moment before Arumi suddenly perked up again.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "I almost forgot why we were here. Now, let's see..." she said to herself as she crossed the room to the bookshelf. "I know it's here...where...Aha!" she exclaimed, removing a book and blowing the dust off of it.
"This was Otosan's field journal, I used to joke and say it was his diary. The bracelet came from a place he called kieru haka (Disappearing Tomb)," she explained, flipping through the pages of the book and finally stopping at one. "Here we go--
July 6, 2xxx
I made an incredible discovery today. A tomb west of Cairo with
great stone tablets that I would swear on my life depict monster
from the popular card game 'Magic and Wizards.'
July 7, 2xxx
The tomb I wrote of yesterday has disappeared without a trace. Worse,
I had not checked the sight and so did not know the tomb was gone until
my colleagues had already arrived to investigate. I have become a laughing
stock to the archaeological society and I fear they may cut my funding, but I
will not give up! I will continue to monitor the spot where the tomb was and
the area around it and when it is unearthed once more, they will have their
proof!
Arumi skipped a few pages of her father's spidery handwriting and opened the book to a new page, angling it so Kurama could see.
July 25, 2xxx
I fear I have done a horrible thing. The kieru haka appeared again yesterday,
but I, not wanting to be criticized further by my colleagues, decided I could not
take the risk of it disappearing again and took a golden bracelet from its sacred
resting place. But alas, the tomb is gone once more and none will believe that I
did not simply buy the bracelet in the market. My colleagues, in their infinite wisdom,
have been spreading the word through the city that I have a golden bracelet and now
I fear it may be stolen while I sleep. I certainly cannot sell it, so I have decided to
send it to my daughter, Arumi. She was horribly depressed when I told her she could
not accompany me on this expedition, and perhaps this will cheer her up.
"I got the thing in the mail about a week later. I put it on and haven't been able to take it off since," Arumi explained. Kurama, now thoroughly intrigued, took the book from her and began skimming the other pages as well. He was soon aware that the book had never been finished, and the last entry left almost twenty blank pages after it.
September 15, 2xxx
The rumors and jokes about my work on the kieru haka in July have
grown too grate and my grant will be taken from me tomorrow.
They cannot do this too me now! We have just unearthed a new tomb, one
that stays clearly visible at all times, that may solve dozens of unanswered
questions. They cannot do this! There is a storm brewing outside, but I
cannot let them seal that tomb and leave me with nothing. I must get some
photographs, rubbings, anything! My instincts are driving me against this,
but I cannot sit idly by. I must do something!
Kurama re-read the entry in silence before turning to Arumi, who was looking away, and asking quietly "What happened to him?"
Arumi sighed and didn't look up, but answered. "He went to the cave by himself, like it says, and was taking pictures of everything when a lightning bolt struck the hillside the tomb was built into. Archeology is a dangerous job...there's always the chance of a cave-in."
There was dead silence for a moment before a loud thump from above made them both jump.
"Oh no! 'kassan!" Arumi cried, jumping to her feet and grabbing the book from Kurama to shove back on the shelf. "I'm not supposed to be in here!" she explained hurriedly. Once the book was secure, she sprinted to the door, only to have it open just as she reached it.
"ARUMI!!!" her mother screeched, swaying slightly, eyes horribly bloodshot, and a half-empty bottle of sake in her hand. Even from across the room, Kurama could smell the alcohol on her breath.
" 'kassan, I--" Arumi began but was cut off abruptly as her mother gave her a drunken half-punch, half-slap across the face that knocked Arumi down and sent her glasses flying across the room.
"Dis I ashk you ta speak?!" her mother slurred, taking a swig from her bottle. Arumi had one eye closed against the pain in her cheek, but didn't say anything. She had the same hard, emotionless look in her eyes as Hiei often wore, the look of someone who as trained themselves not to care.
"Where tha 'ell were you, you brat? You disn't come 'ome lost night. Disn't you thishk I wash worried?!" her mother screamed, her drunken speech almost incomprehensible.
"I got sick at school and Kur--Shuichi-kun was nice enough to take care of me," Arumi answered, slowly getting to her feet. Now her mother noticed Kurama's presence in the room for the first time. She focused her red eyes on him, her eyesight so hopelessly blurry with the effects of the sake that she had to stare for several minutes before she finally got a good idea of what he looked like. But as soon as she saw, her eyes narrowed. Before anyone could make a move, Arumi's mother had whipped back around and smashed her bottle against the side of Arumi's head, sending the surprised teen back into the wall.
The impact nearly knocked Arumi unconscious and her vision, which was already blurred from having lost her glasses, now danced with black dots. Now Kurama had had enough and, fists clenched, took a step forward. But Arumi looked up and managed to focus just long enough to see this.
"No...Kurama don't..." she managed to gasp. He stopped and stared at her. She was only barley conscious and the side of her head was bleeding badly, and still she didn't want him to raise a finger against her mother. He remembered Shadi's reaction at the end of the test he had given her, when Arumi had proven herself to be purer then the feather of Ma'at. He could see why the test turned out that way now. In any case, he was still harboring the strange feeling that wouldn't allow him to do anything Arumi didn't want him to, and so hung back, watching in horror.
"Yeaw, you besher thishk twish, preshy-boy!" Arumi's mother slurred at Kurama before turning back to her daughter. "Ans you! You shay out all night to mesh around with shome preshy-boy! Donsh you dare thishk I'll feel shorry for you when you get your shorry assh pregnant!" With that, her mother gave Arumi a swift kick in the ribs that knocked the wind out of her and caused her to lurch forward with a gasp.
Kurama couldn't stand another minute of this, but Arumi somehow managed to look up and give him a pleading look to keep him at bay.
"I--It wasn't...like that...'kassan," Arumi managed to choke out, pushing herself up to look at her mother as her breath slowly returned.
"Donsh lie to me, Bitcsh!" her mother shot back. She stooped, retrieving a piece of glass from the bottle she had broken against Arumi's head, and that was when Arumi's will lost its power on Kurama. In one, swift movement he pressed two fingers to a pressure point in the woman's neck, causing the old drunk to pass out instantly. Kurama would have liked to do far more, but he knew Arumi wound hate him if he did. He caught the woman just before she hit the ground and laid her down, far less gently then he would have with anyone else, before stepping over her and dropping to his knees at Arumi's side.
"Arumi-chan!" he cried worriedly, but she pushed him away, staring at her mother's form.
"...What...?" she tried to ask, her aching chest only letting her say that much.
"She's alright," Kurama assured her, "I only knocked her out. She'll be fine in a few hours."
"...Kaijuta...?" she asked.
"Hai," Kurama sighed, "that is what I did to Kaijuta as well."
The look in Arumi's eyes clearly portrayed the feelings of hurt and betrayal that she was feeling and he realized that if what he had thought before was true, if Arumi really was one of the purest souls around, he should have expected that she would be so applaud by the act of hurting someone else, even when it was to protect her. She may not have realized it herself, but maybe that was why she had fled from him after he had killed the green monster as well.
"Arumi..." Kurama said gently, dropping the honorific without even noticing that he had. "I only did what I did to protect you."
Arumi slowly looked back at him. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw hope in her eyes, but hope of what he didn't know.
"...Why...?" she asked, praying that he would tell her that he felt as strongly for her as she did for him.
"Because..." Kurama faltered as he tried to answer, not quite sure what to say. Why was he drawn to this girl so? And why did she hold so much power over him?
Arumi couldn't take it anymore. She had to tell him, now! Keeping her feelings bottled up inside constantly was tearing her apart. She could handle her father's death and she could handle her mother's horrible treatment of her and she could even handle the fact that she had virtually no friends and everyone at school thought she was weird or picked on her. But she could not handle being so close to the one she loved without him knowing, not any longer. She didn't even really care if he rejected her or not anymore, she just needed him to know.
"...Kurama..." she breathed, also subconsciously dropping the honorific. Kurama, who had turned his head from her in though, look up as she leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. Kurama was shocked but couldn't seem to bring himself to pull away. Arumi didn't even notice his stunned reaction, having closed her eyes.
Blushing, and surprised at her own boldness, Arumi pulled back and looked at the floor as she whispered "...Ai shitteru..." She braced herself for the worst, not daring to look up.
Kurama just stared. Whatever he had been expecting, that had most certainly not been it. He thought back over the last day and a half, recalling everything he and Arumi had done together.
'Why did I pick Arumi to save?' Kurama wondered, and had wondered many times since Arumi had first collapsed. He had seen Kaijuta picking on many people besides Arumi on several occasions, why had he chosen to stop the senpai when he was bullying Arumi and not someone else? Why did he feel so responsible for her, so attached to her? And why did he go out of his way just to please her? That kiss...he had liked that kiss. It was the first time a girl had kissed him since his reincarnation as Minamino Shuichi, and he could tell that it felt different from anything Yoko had ever experienced. Could it be that he...loved this girl?
Arumi had obviously taken his silence as answer enough for her actions and was only saved from bursting into tears by having trained herself not to cry when hurt after her mother's beatings. But her eyes betrayed her, showing the deep hurt she felt.
"G--Gomen nasai," she managed to choke, her chest and stomach still hurting her, making her wonder if she hadn't cracked a rib. "I didn't mean to--" she was cut off from her apology as Kurama laid a gentle finger to her mouth to silence her. He smiled at her kindly, affectionately pushing the hair on the uninjured side of her face behind her ear.
"Ai shitteru, Arumi," he whispered, cupping the side of her face in his hand and stoking her cheek with his thumb. Arumi felt like crying again as she flung her arms around Kurama in a tight hug, but this time, she didn't hold back the tears.