The talk came later that day, around lunch time. Yuusuke and Kurama had both stopped in the kitchen to pick up food, then retreated back to Yuusuke's room to have some quiet time to themselves to catch up on everything that had been missed. As they both ate their sandwiches, both talked about simple, non-important things.
In fact, the conversation was going so well that Yuusuke soon forgot to be afraid of what he knew was inevitable. The back of his mind considered the fact that maybe Kurama hadn't put two and two together, maybe he hadn't noticed-
"I heard this was actually a… well…" Kurama stopped. "I guess there isn't really a nice way to put it is there?"
"Night time entertainment." Yuusuke said, after he managed to just barely not choke on what was left of his sandwich. Setting it down, he kept his eyes on the plate, not looking at the redhead. "Yeah… you heard right."
"Yuusuke, do you…? Why?"
Yuusuke shrugged and leaned back on the bed, his eyes moving to the ceiling. He didn't want to explain, but he knew he could if he didn't look at Kurama. Somehow that made it easier. "You're right, repair work doesn't pay for room and board. All of us do that here… but not Haku, he's too young and Taski wouldn't let him. I don't know the other's reasons, but I know mine." He hesitated a bit. "Taski gave me a place to live, I owe it to him to pay for it, at least a little."
"Is that the reason he told you? That to pay for this room you need to … do that?" There was an edge of anger in Kurama's voice. The anger that Yuusuke remembered hearing only on rare occasions when someone actually threatened him around Kurama. One wouldn't think the red headed honor student would be able to get angry over such things, but those smart expressions and polite words definitely hid another side. One that Yuusuke had seen defend him many times, usually from teachers who had pegged him as the slack off simply because he dind't have the best people skills in the world.
"No, he didn't make me do it. I chose to, because I owe them."
"Isn't there a better way to pay for it? How can you honestly…" Kurama stopped and pulled up one of his knees, hugging it a bit. "I guess I'm judging too quickly, aren't I? It just seems like a horrible way to earn a living."
"It's not like I plan on doing it forever," Yuusuke said, glancing over at him. "It's just for now, 'cause I owe them. That and it would feel too strange for me to get a real job and still live here… when none of them can. I'd feel like I was flaunting it in their face about how normal I was."
Kurama's expression seemed to drop a bit. "Being normal isn't something you flaunt. It's just something you are."
Yuusuke frowned a bit at those words, not quite sure what they meant. Kurama seemed like the last one in the world who would have troubles with being considered normal. Even with being incredibly smart he was still considered normal, at least more normal then Yuusuke the punk ever was. So why did it sound like there was something else?
"Kurama… why did you ask Koenma that?"
The red head seemed to curl up before Yuusuke's eyes, hugging his leg a bit tighter as he rested his chin on his knee. His long red hair fell forward, blocking his face from sight as Yuusuke watched him.
"I was asking about my brother," he said in a very soft voice.
"You have a brother? But I thought you were an only child." Yuusuke sat up a bit to listen.
"I remember a younger brother, but only a little. Mom and dad won't talk about him and I don't ask. I found a picture once, of both of us standing together smiling for some family photo. But it's smudged, with something strange in the picture and I can't make him out. It was tucked in the garbage… and there's nothing else in the photo albums."
"If there's nothing else, then how do you know he wasn't just a friend?"
Kurama shook his head. "I can't explain, I just know. I thought, maybe, he died and my parents didn't want to remember that they lost him."
Yuusuke frowned. "Can I see the picture?"
The red head hesitated for a moment, then nodded and slipped a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Yuusuke.
The photo was strange. It actually looked like a completely normal family photo, with a five year old Kurama standing in front of his parents, who were all smiling for the photo. But strangely, standing next to Kurama, was a white blur, almost looking like it was mixed with grey. And when Yuusuke looked closer he noticed that the smiles on their faces weren't quite real, almost as if within the next minute they were all going to jump back in surprise.
And in the white blur, was a face.
It wasn't like one of those fake photos that people see on those paranormal shows, but rather this one was in the shape of a human. And there was an obvious face, rather then the washed out shadows that people see. Yuusuke could make out closed eyes and some traces of brownish red looking hair, blurred into the white image. But other then that the picture was pretty undistinguishable. He looked from the photo back up to Kurama.
"It does look like a person…"
"I know it's not much by itself. But I also remember, like little shadows in the back of my mind, sharing my room with someone. But that's really all. I mean there are these weird feelings of déjà vu, feeling like there should be another person next to me, doing stuff with me… it sounds strange, doesn't it?"
Yuusuke shook his head, still looking at the photo. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Because I wasn't sure myself. I guess when you said Koenma could see ghosts and spirits I thought maybe-" He shrugs. "It's not that important, just something I'd like to know if I can, you know."
Yuusuke handed the photo back to him. "I'll keep an eye out and tell you if I find out anything." Yuusuke returned to laying on the bed, relaxing. After a moment he glanced over at the clock, and a frown crossed his face as he saw what time it was.
"When do you start… working?" Kurama asked quietly.
"In the next hour… I should probably get dressed."
A silence passed between them, neither seeming to know what to say. Then Kurama smiled just a bit and stood up. "Come on, I'll help you pick out something to wear."
Yuusuke made a face. "You kidding me? I can't stand your fashion sense. You always seem to be wearing pink!"
Kurama just laughed and followed Yuusuke to the dressing room.
The fight started rather abruptly. No one really saw it coming, or rather everyone saw it building but they really didn't think it would happen. Yuusuke, at the time, was on one side of the room, chatting with a man who really wasn't that noticeable, save for the slight green tint to his hair. It was the usual chatting that took place as the 'guests' chose who they would be spending the night with. Something like getting to know the person better. Yuusuke thought it was a joke, but it delayed the inevitable so he didn't complain really.
Across from him was where the fight started. As usual Triton could be found sitting in his usual chair, simply waiting for his guest of the night. And, as usual, the blond boy managed to make it in first. The two of them were just standing up to leave, when Karasu came strolling in the room. Apparently his eyes met right with Quatre's, and in the next minute the blond boy was back against the wall, a bruise growing on his cheek. A mere split second later the room went silent and Triton was standing in front of Quatre, glaring.
"Back off." Triton growled, his voice sounding more like that of an animal then a human. Yuusuke wasn't too surprised, given his current form.
"Damn little boy doesn't know how to share." Karasu's lips lifted in a smirk and he grabbed Triton's wrist, pulling him forward. "It's my turn tonight, fox."
Yuusuke saw, to his surprise, Triton shiver a bit at those words as he tried to pull his wrist out of the man's grip. But apparently he held tight, because Triton wasn't able to go anywhere. Then, against his better judgment, Yuusuke stepped over.
"Let him go." All eyes focused on him, including Karasu's, and suddenly Yuusuke realized how bad of an idea this was. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't just stand there and watch. He hated seeing other people get beaten up and he was pretty sure that's what would happen if anyone stood up to Karasu. But the problem was that no one was standing up to him. Was it because Triton was such an unsocialable jerk? Still, that wasn't a reason to let this happen.
"Go away, this isn't your business. I paid for my night, and I will get it."
Yuusuke frowned. "Funny, I think the blond kid paid too. And you know, he got here first." The silence around Yuusuke only seemed to grow, becoming thick and almost tangible. This was becoming more and more of a bad idea. But then, he'd never really been that smart about bad situations.
Karasu glared at Yuusuke and suddenly was tossing Triton back, moving quickly. The next thing Yuusuke knew his back was against the wall and a hand was pinning him by the throat. He managed to let out a cough of protest as the hand squeezed around his throat, Karasu looking angrier by the second.
"This is none of your business. I don't like others moving in on what's mine!"
Yuusuke had been in many fights when he was a kid in school, most of them starting because of his inability to think first in such situations. Usually they only resulted in a sore hand or one or two black eyes, but this was the first time that he'd ever actually found himself being scared of someone. He couldn't move out of the grip, not even and inch, and he was rapidly running out of air. His mind had dropped out of fighting mode into panic mode, desperately pleading mentally to be let go, yet not offering any real way for such a thing to happen. All Yuusuke could really do was struggle there and try to make his air last a little bit longer, hoping that someone stepped in.
Apparently someone did.
The grip around Yuusuke's neck loosened, and then let go, and he let himself drop to the floor as he coughed, very happy to be able to breathe again. A few moments of recovery and he finally let himself look up to see what had happened.
No one in the room had really moved, they were all standing where they'd been a moment ago. The one key difference was that Haku was now standing in the doorway, the child's eyes narrowed in a glare that sent a chill down Yuusuke's spine. Standing next to him was Taski, who didn't look very pleased either, and both of them had their eyes on Karasu.
Karasu who was now standing a few feet away, both of his hands being clamped tightly to his side by Yomi who didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. Silence had descended on the room again, and Yuusuke relented to just sitting there watching, figuring that was safer then making things worse.
"Inexcusable. Get out." Even Taski's voice held a threatening edge to it, a tone Yuusuke didn't even think was possible for the red head. He just wasn't the type who you really thought could be serious, least not until a situation like this.
"I paid-"
Taski made a show of spitting on the floor. "I don't give a shit if you handed over a chest of gold pieces. You may not think highly of any of us, but that gives you no right to even consider something like this. You know the rules, you sign the damn contract each night you show up. Any damage or harm done to anyone here, and your money is forfeit. You are gone. I don't ever want to see your face again. Get. Out."
Karasu glared at him angrily and pulled out of Yomi's grip, heading for the door. "What are you going to do? Call the police? No police chief will take this freak show seriously."
A smirk crossed Taski's face, the kind of smirk that you see on the face of someone who doesn't care, and Yuusuke was betting that was exactly how he was feeling. "You think we need the police? We can take care of our selves. Because no cop would believe that you were attacked by a tall blind man with horns, or a child who controls ice."
To emphasize Taski's point, Haku turned his hand and five long thin icicles appeared, in the shape of long thin needles. That seemed to get the point across, literally, because Karasu took a step back.
Frowning at all of them, the dark haired man seemed to reconsider his situation. Then he was stomping out the door and not looking back. Yuusuke dropped back against the wall, just relaxing and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Around him everyone began to move again as well and within moments the room was mostly cleared out. The only one who remained, other then normal inhabitants, was Quatre, who was sitting back against the wall, refusing not to move.
"Quatre?" Not even Triton could get him to respond as he just sat there, shaking a bit. The silver youko frowned and glanced back at Taski, before standing up and giving a helpless look. Surprisingly it was actually Haku who managed to get the blond to move with a few very soft words and comforting movements. Within seconds the two were headed out of the room toward probably a place for him to rest and relax. Meanwhile, Triton turned to Yuusuke.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
Yuusuke just glared at the fox. "Well you're very welcome." Yuusuke spat back. "I just saved your ass the least you could do is say thank you."
But Yuusuke didn't even give him a chance to say thank you. Instead he just turned and stomped out of the room. Forget it all. The last thing he wanted to deal with anymore was that prissy silver haired ass. He didn't hear anyone call after him, but he doubted he would have responded if they did. He didn't even really say anything to Kurama as he entered back into his room. Instead Yuusuke just made a bee-line to the bathroom and slammed the door. Then he turned on the water to freezing cold, hoping an icy shower might help cool down his steam.
In fact, the conversation was going so well that Yuusuke soon forgot to be afraid of what he knew was inevitable. The back of his mind considered the fact that maybe Kurama hadn't put two and two together, maybe he hadn't noticed-
"I heard this was actually a… well…" Kurama stopped. "I guess there isn't really a nice way to put it is there?"
"Night time entertainment." Yuusuke said, after he managed to just barely not choke on what was left of his sandwich. Setting it down, he kept his eyes on the plate, not looking at the redhead. "Yeah… you heard right."
"Yuusuke, do you…? Why?"
Yuusuke shrugged and leaned back on the bed, his eyes moving to the ceiling. He didn't want to explain, but he knew he could if he didn't look at Kurama. Somehow that made it easier. "You're right, repair work doesn't pay for room and board. All of us do that here… but not Haku, he's too young and Taski wouldn't let him. I don't know the other's reasons, but I know mine." He hesitated a bit. "Taski gave me a place to live, I owe it to him to pay for it, at least a little."
"Is that the reason he told you? That to pay for this room you need to … do that?" There was an edge of anger in Kurama's voice. The anger that Yuusuke remembered hearing only on rare occasions when someone actually threatened him around Kurama. One wouldn't think the red headed honor student would be able to get angry over such things, but those smart expressions and polite words definitely hid another side. One that Yuusuke had seen defend him many times, usually from teachers who had pegged him as the slack off simply because he dind't have the best people skills in the world.
"No, he didn't make me do it. I chose to, because I owe them."
"Isn't there a better way to pay for it? How can you honestly…" Kurama stopped and pulled up one of his knees, hugging it a bit. "I guess I'm judging too quickly, aren't I? It just seems like a horrible way to earn a living."
"It's not like I plan on doing it forever," Yuusuke said, glancing over at him. "It's just for now, 'cause I owe them. That and it would feel too strange for me to get a real job and still live here… when none of them can. I'd feel like I was flaunting it in their face about how normal I was."
Kurama's expression seemed to drop a bit. "Being normal isn't something you flaunt. It's just something you are."
Yuusuke frowned a bit at those words, not quite sure what they meant. Kurama seemed like the last one in the world who would have troubles with being considered normal. Even with being incredibly smart he was still considered normal, at least more normal then Yuusuke the punk ever was. So why did it sound like there was something else?
"Kurama… why did you ask Koenma that?"
The red head seemed to curl up before Yuusuke's eyes, hugging his leg a bit tighter as he rested his chin on his knee. His long red hair fell forward, blocking his face from sight as Yuusuke watched him.
"I was asking about my brother," he said in a very soft voice.
"You have a brother? But I thought you were an only child." Yuusuke sat up a bit to listen.
"I remember a younger brother, but only a little. Mom and dad won't talk about him and I don't ask. I found a picture once, of both of us standing together smiling for some family photo. But it's smudged, with something strange in the picture and I can't make him out. It was tucked in the garbage… and there's nothing else in the photo albums."
"If there's nothing else, then how do you know he wasn't just a friend?"
Kurama shook his head. "I can't explain, I just know. I thought, maybe, he died and my parents didn't want to remember that they lost him."
Yuusuke frowned. "Can I see the picture?"
The red head hesitated for a moment, then nodded and slipped a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Yuusuke.
The photo was strange. It actually looked like a completely normal family photo, with a five year old Kurama standing in front of his parents, who were all smiling for the photo. But strangely, standing next to Kurama, was a white blur, almost looking like it was mixed with grey. And when Yuusuke looked closer he noticed that the smiles on their faces weren't quite real, almost as if within the next minute they were all going to jump back in surprise.
And in the white blur, was a face.
It wasn't like one of those fake photos that people see on those paranormal shows, but rather this one was in the shape of a human. And there was an obvious face, rather then the washed out shadows that people see. Yuusuke could make out closed eyes and some traces of brownish red looking hair, blurred into the white image. But other then that the picture was pretty undistinguishable. He looked from the photo back up to Kurama.
"It does look like a person…"
"I know it's not much by itself. But I also remember, like little shadows in the back of my mind, sharing my room with someone. But that's really all. I mean there are these weird feelings of déjà vu, feeling like there should be another person next to me, doing stuff with me… it sounds strange, doesn't it?"
Yuusuke shook his head, still looking at the photo. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Because I wasn't sure myself. I guess when you said Koenma could see ghosts and spirits I thought maybe-" He shrugs. "It's not that important, just something I'd like to know if I can, you know."
Yuusuke handed the photo back to him. "I'll keep an eye out and tell you if I find out anything." Yuusuke returned to laying on the bed, relaxing. After a moment he glanced over at the clock, and a frown crossed his face as he saw what time it was.
"When do you start… working?" Kurama asked quietly.
"In the next hour… I should probably get dressed."
A silence passed between them, neither seeming to know what to say. Then Kurama smiled just a bit and stood up. "Come on, I'll help you pick out something to wear."
Yuusuke made a face. "You kidding me? I can't stand your fashion sense. You always seem to be wearing pink!"
Kurama just laughed and followed Yuusuke to the dressing room.
The fight started rather abruptly. No one really saw it coming, or rather everyone saw it building but they really didn't think it would happen. Yuusuke, at the time, was on one side of the room, chatting with a man who really wasn't that noticeable, save for the slight green tint to his hair. It was the usual chatting that took place as the 'guests' chose who they would be spending the night with. Something like getting to know the person better. Yuusuke thought it was a joke, but it delayed the inevitable so he didn't complain really.
Across from him was where the fight started. As usual Triton could be found sitting in his usual chair, simply waiting for his guest of the night. And, as usual, the blond boy managed to make it in first. The two of them were just standing up to leave, when Karasu came strolling in the room. Apparently his eyes met right with Quatre's, and in the next minute the blond boy was back against the wall, a bruise growing on his cheek. A mere split second later the room went silent and Triton was standing in front of Quatre, glaring.
"Back off." Triton growled, his voice sounding more like that of an animal then a human. Yuusuke wasn't too surprised, given his current form.
"Damn little boy doesn't know how to share." Karasu's lips lifted in a smirk and he grabbed Triton's wrist, pulling him forward. "It's my turn tonight, fox."
Yuusuke saw, to his surprise, Triton shiver a bit at those words as he tried to pull his wrist out of the man's grip. But apparently he held tight, because Triton wasn't able to go anywhere. Then, against his better judgment, Yuusuke stepped over.
"Let him go." All eyes focused on him, including Karasu's, and suddenly Yuusuke realized how bad of an idea this was. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't just stand there and watch. He hated seeing other people get beaten up and he was pretty sure that's what would happen if anyone stood up to Karasu. But the problem was that no one was standing up to him. Was it because Triton was such an unsocialable jerk? Still, that wasn't a reason to let this happen.
"Go away, this isn't your business. I paid for my night, and I will get it."
Yuusuke frowned. "Funny, I think the blond kid paid too. And you know, he got here first." The silence around Yuusuke only seemed to grow, becoming thick and almost tangible. This was becoming more and more of a bad idea. But then, he'd never really been that smart about bad situations.
Karasu glared at Yuusuke and suddenly was tossing Triton back, moving quickly. The next thing Yuusuke knew his back was against the wall and a hand was pinning him by the throat. He managed to let out a cough of protest as the hand squeezed around his throat, Karasu looking angrier by the second.
"This is none of your business. I don't like others moving in on what's mine!"
Yuusuke had been in many fights when he was a kid in school, most of them starting because of his inability to think first in such situations. Usually they only resulted in a sore hand or one or two black eyes, but this was the first time that he'd ever actually found himself being scared of someone. He couldn't move out of the grip, not even and inch, and he was rapidly running out of air. His mind had dropped out of fighting mode into panic mode, desperately pleading mentally to be let go, yet not offering any real way for such a thing to happen. All Yuusuke could really do was struggle there and try to make his air last a little bit longer, hoping that someone stepped in.
Apparently someone did.
The grip around Yuusuke's neck loosened, and then let go, and he let himself drop to the floor as he coughed, very happy to be able to breathe again. A few moments of recovery and he finally let himself look up to see what had happened.
No one in the room had really moved, they were all standing where they'd been a moment ago. The one key difference was that Haku was now standing in the doorway, the child's eyes narrowed in a glare that sent a chill down Yuusuke's spine. Standing next to him was Taski, who didn't look very pleased either, and both of them had their eyes on Karasu.
Karasu who was now standing a few feet away, both of his hands being clamped tightly to his side by Yomi who didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. Silence had descended on the room again, and Yuusuke relented to just sitting there watching, figuring that was safer then making things worse.
"Inexcusable. Get out." Even Taski's voice held a threatening edge to it, a tone Yuusuke didn't even think was possible for the red head. He just wasn't the type who you really thought could be serious, least not until a situation like this.
"I paid-"
Taski made a show of spitting on the floor. "I don't give a shit if you handed over a chest of gold pieces. You may not think highly of any of us, but that gives you no right to even consider something like this. You know the rules, you sign the damn contract each night you show up. Any damage or harm done to anyone here, and your money is forfeit. You are gone. I don't ever want to see your face again. Get. Out."
Karasu glared at him angrily and pulled out of Yomi's grip, heading for the door. "What are you going to do? Call the police? No police chief will take this freak show seriously."
A smirk crossed Taski's face, the kind of smirk that you see on the face of someone who doesn't care, and Yuusuke was betting that was exactly how he was feeling. "You think we need the police? We can take care of our selves. Because no cop would believe that you were attacked by a tall blind man with horns, or a child who controls ice."
To emphasize Taski's point, Haku turned his hand and five long thin icicles appeared, in the shape of long thin needles. That seemed to get the point across, literally, because Karasu took a step back.
Frowning at all of them, the dark haired man seemed to reconsider his situation. Then he was stomping out the door and not looking back. Yuusuke dropped back against the wall, just relaxing and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Around him everyone began to move again as well and within moments the room was mostly cleared out. The only one who remained, other then normal inhabitants, was Quatre, who was sitting back against the wall, refusing not to move.
"Quatre?" Not even Triton could get him to respond as he just sat there, shaking a bit. The silver youko frowned and glanced back at Taski, before standing up and giving a helpless look. Surprisingly it was actually Haku who managed to get the blond to move with a few very soft words and comforting movements. Within seconds the two were headed out of the room toward probably a place for him to rest and relax. Meanwhile, Triton turned to Yuusuke.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
Yuusuke just glared at the fox. "Well you're very welcome." Yuusuke spat back. "I just saved your ass the least you could do is say thank you."
But Yuusuke didn't even give him a chance to say thank you. Instead he just turned and stomped out of the room. Forget it all. The last thing he wanted to deal with anymore was that prissy silver haired ass. He didn't hear anyone call after him, but he doubted he would have responded if they did. He didn't even really say anything to Kurama as he entered back into his room. Instead Yuusuke just made a bee-line to the bathroom and slammed the door. Then he turned on the water to freezing cold, hoping an icy shower might help cool down his steam.