SO sorry for not updating! I had to move to the other side of the country (literally! From Arizona to Georgia! Mind, I definitely prefer Georgia...it's all...green...stares in wonder and amazement) and the internet was just hooked up today (Aug 19th). So, updates should definitely be more frequent!
-Chapter Nine, A Few Surprises-
"WHAT?!" came the childish shriek from the other end of the communication mirror.
"Please, Koenma, calm yourself," Kurama said firmly.
"Yeah, don't worry, I didn't let Kurama spill anything," Yusuke said, smirking at the reikai prince's reaction to the fox being drugged, "I kicked'em out before he changed."
Kurama chuckled, "More like –threw- them out, but that's beside the point. Koenma, these children are persistent, I cannot change into a demon in front of the whole class. I would have to wipe their memories."
"I understand the situation, Kurama, but you can't abandon this mission! Just don't eat or drink anything that didn't come straight from the Hogwarts kitchens," Koenma said.
"Should I inform the headmaster? He knows that Yusuke and I have demon blood."
"No...it'd be best not to get Harry in trouble...he's the only one that can kill this Voldemort. Just be careful," and with that, the screen went black.
Kurama sighed, snapping the mirror shut and running a hand through his deep crimson locks.
Yusuke snorted, "Can't even punish them now...stupid wizards, thinking they're better than everybody, and have a right to know everything..."
"I agree, Yusuke. Well...let's go to lunch."
"I can't BELIEVE what he did!" Hermione shrieked, fuming, her hands on her hips and her eyes flashing angrily.
"Hermione!" Harry snapped, trying to shut her up, "That just means that Professor Minamino IS hiding something, and that Yusuke is in on it! There's gotta be a way to find out without them knowing..."
"It's hopeless, Harry," Hermione sighed, plopping down in her favorite chair in a defeated manner, her fury forgotten, "These guys are –smart-. Evaded us every time...I'm just glad they haven't told Dumbledore yet, we'd be expelled for harassing a teacher."
"Hermione. Do you have every rule memorized?" Ron asked.
"Probably," Harry muttered.
Hermione glared at both of them.
"Are you sure, headmaster, that it's wise to trust something like this to a young boy?" Snape asked, his voice filled with distrust, laced with anger.
His clothes and hair were still pink, and even Dumbledore was having trouble keeping a straight face about it.
"I trust Shuichi completely, Severus," Dumbledore said, smiling calmly, his light blue eyes shining behind his half-moon glasses.
He knocked on said fox's door, the redhead answered it, smiling his trademark calm smile, that smile that never revealed anything, but made you trust him anyway.
"Hello, headmaster," Kurama said, bowing politely as he let Dumbledore in. Snape snorted and took off down the hall.
Dumbledore shut the door behind him, waving his wand, muttering a silencing charm around the door so no one could eavesdrop...he wanted this news, if Kurama agreed, to be a surprise to the students. Kurama raised a crimson eyebrow at this action, but didn't question it.
"I have a small favor to ask of you, Kurama," Dumbledore said, using Kurama's true name since no one else could hear.
"What is it?"
"On Christmas Eve, the staff and I have decided it would be enjoyable to give the students a treat. We're planning another dance, only informal. I've heard you have some musical talent, Kurama?"
"Yes, headmaster...I can play the electric guitar, and sing..."
"Do you know anyone else who can play instruments?"
"Ah...yes. Yusuke can sing and play the keyboard, I believe, and I know of two others who might have musical talent. Why?"
"If possible, I believe the students would like it if you would be the band that played that night. I trust you're not lying about your talent," he smiled.
Kurama nodded, "Of course. I will get in touch with the other two."
"Goodbye then. I will supply the instruments," Dumbledore nodded and left the room.
Kurama grabbed his communicator (that isn't electronic, btw, that's why it works) and waited for the toddler's face to appear on-screen.
"Koenma...can you summon Hiei and Kuwabara?"
"Hn. This better be good," Hiei snapped, glaring at the redhead.
Kurama smiled, used to the hybrid's brash attitude, and quite unfazed by it. "This is only temporary, Hiei," he went on to explain the whole deal with the Christmas dance.
"No. Period. I will not be here just to entertain some worthless humans," Hiei said, his face set.
"Hiei...Mukuro needs no help in the Makai right now," Kurama lowered his voice, leaning down next to the demon, "I understand your concern for her. But I also need your help here. Only for a few months, after the dance, you can leave for the Makai."
Hiei growled, "If I get –one- hint of trouble with Mukuro-"
"You may leave immediately," Kurama nodded, "But she can take care of herself, I'm sure of it."
"You still haven't convinced me this is worth my time."
"Let me put it to yeh this way: if you don't stay, foxboy could possibly be exposed," Yusuke said irritably.
"Fine. But what makes you think I or the fool have any musical talent?" Hiei shot back.
"I don't think you have any, Hiei," Kurama said flatly, "But I know you could learn in a matter of weeks, maybe even days."
"And I know that Kuwabara can sing, and he can play the drums," Yusuke grinned, "So you're stuck here."
"Hn."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Kurama could smell it was Dumbledore, and with a wave of his wand, the door opened by itself.
"You must be Hiei and Kuwabara," Dumbledore nodded at both of them.
Hiei snorted and muttered something Dumbledore couldn't understand. In fact, Kuwabara couldn't even understand it, because it wasn't Japanese. The language was that of Makai, Hiei's native tongue, the one he spoke with when conversing with demons...or, in this case, muttering insults.
Dumbledore glanced at the short, black-clad one that must be Hiei, judging by Kurama's description. There was an odd power radiating from him...something almost foreboding...it was something very similar to Kurama's aura, only much more aggressive, not so calm. Kurama's was like something lying in wait, a deadly beast ready to be released. Hiei's...his was as if that beast was walking beside him, the collar just ready to snap.
"So what d'you want?" Yusuke asked.
"I brought your instruments," Dumbledore reached into his robe and pulled out several small objects, setting them in seemingly strategic places on Kurama's office floor.
Yusuke and Kuwabara raised eyebrows at this.
"Uh...what's he doin'?" Kuwabara asked Kurama in Japanese.
Kurama smiled, "You will see."
Dumbledore pointed his wand at the objects, which were too small to make out any details on, and muttered a spell. Right before the tantei's eyes, the tiny, indistinguishable objects grew to full-size instruments.
Hiei rolled his eyes in a dull, unimpressed manner.
There was a drum set for Kuwabara, a plain keyboard and a keyboard with a special effects synthesizer for Yusuke, and two electric guitars, one each for Kurama and Hiei.
"You won't need electricity because of the spell I put on them," he smiled, "Enjoy."
And with that, he left the four alone.
"Alright, Hiei, it's time for your first lesson," Kurama handed Hiei one of the guitars and took one for himself. They were matching, sleek, shining and pitch black.
Almost six hours of straight playing later (Kurama had skipped lunch, and he had no other classes that day), Hiei had completely mastered his part of Eye to Eye, a song between him, Kurama and Kuwabara.
Yusuke came in after his classes to practice, and Kuwabara had practiced all day cause he was stuck in Kurama's office.
"Do you want to rehearse the entire song?" Kurama asked them. He got two nods, and one glare that meant 'yes' anyway.
(Start Eye to Eye.
Guitars: Kurama/Hiei (you'll know it's Kurama, cause when he plays, his guitar really screams)
Keyboard: Yusuke
Drums: Kuwabara
Vocals: All (but just Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara for this particular song)
Hiei looked reluctant to sing, but he did, and it sounded perfect. He was in pitch, and hit the semi-high note at the end perfectly.
After the chorus, Kurama sang a line, surprising everyone with the strength of his usually soft voice.
After the next two verses and chorus...
Kurama sang the first line of the third chorus by himself, joined by Hiei with "I can get you," he replied, "You can get me," and then they sang one more line together before cutting into the fourth chorus with Kuwabara, and then they ended it.
By the third chorus, Hiei was smirking in that cocky was of his that meant he was enjoying himself. It was usually reserved for blood baths or sarcastic remarks, but Kurama was glad Hiei was having at least some fun with this.
Hiei cocked an eyebrow when Kurama handed him the script to the next song, Dark Side Stories.
"Artists in Reikai wrote all of these songs...apparently...they're fond of my demon form," Kurama couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the line about silver hair.
Yusuke's music had the words on it, too, "'My heart of ice, it cannot be melted, my dark side'...'My heart of fire, cannot be extinguished, my dark side'...wow, this describes you two perfectly..." he smirked; "Anyway-"just then, there was a sharp tap at the window.
Sighing, he glanced back, to see a certain blue-haired ferry girl sitting sidesaddle on a boat oar in mid-air. He sighed and slid the large window open all the way so she could fly through.
"Hello boys!" she said happily, hovering with her toes a few inches above the stone floor, "Did you get the music alright? I thought the songs were quite well-written to all your personalities-"
"Hn. Before you get going on one of your infamous tangents, tell us why you're here," Hiei snapped.
Botan looked highly affronted, "Well I –came- for three reasons: one, to make sure you got the music alright," she held up a finger to emphasize her point, "two," she held up another finger, "because you're not going on-stage dressed like that!"
Everyone looked at her like she was nuts. Yusuke was wearing his black school robes (but refused to wear the hat), Kurama was wearing his black robes with the kimono-style sleeves and red sash he usually wore, Kuwabara was wearing his blue Sarayashiki uniform and Hiei was in his usual clothes, black cloak, black pants, black shirt underneath, black boots, white scarf and bandanna.
"What're you getting at, Botan?" Yusuke asked, glaring at her suspiciously.
"Oh, a complete make-over for all of you!"
She'd probably said the one statement scarier than, "The apocalypse is coming." Or maybe it was scarier. Depends what kind of apocalypse it is.
Either way, Hiei's red eyes were flaming with a promise of a slow and extremely painful death for the first person to come near him with clothes, shoes, a comb, anything of that sort. Especially Botan.
"Oh no, Botan!" Yusuke pointed an angry finger at her, "Stop right there...you're not coming anywhere NEAR me with ANY of that crap!"
"Come on, Yusuke! You'd look really good! I've got brand-name clothes and everything!" Botan pleaded.
"I can say this for all of us: no, no, no and NO."
"Hn. I hope that last one was mine, detective," Hiei said.
Suddenly Botan's pink eyes lit up with...something scary. Something that meant she'd thought of something to get them all to agree to this.
"Actually, Kurama, it was your mother who came up with the idea..."
"My mother knows I'm here?" the fox's soft tones were laced with worry.
"Of course not!" Botan exclaimed, shocked at his accusation, "But she did help me out with the shopping, along with Keiko! Shiori thinks you're studying in London and just putting on a show at a club tonight. Keiko knows the truth, of course."
"Keiko?! She's not here, is she?" Yusuke asked, his brown eyes roving around the room as if his girlfriend was about to pop out from the castle's yellowish stone.
Botan giggled, "Of course not! But someone special DID come along! That's reason number three, by the way," she added as an afterthought.
"I don't have anymore room in this office, Botan," Kurama said calmly. He gestured around the small room, which was already cramped with the five people currently in it (one hovering). He couldn't accommodate anyone else.
"She won't be staying in your office. Shizuru will be here tomorrow, Koenma specially requested she become a permanent part of this mission. Kuwabara and Hiei's transportation back to their own worlds has already been arranged for after the dance," Botan used her official, no-nonsense businesslike tone that usually got the tantei to listen.
"Why though?" Kurama asked, "Shizuru's current power is less than Kuwabara's."
"Well, actually her spirit sense is even more powerful," Botan said matter-of-factly (in the manga, it says Shizuru's spirit sense is more powerful than Kuwabara's), "So, she's coming partly to train, the magic in the air should help her along a little. Secondly...ah, well, Koenma actually said that was confidential information."
"Where is she gonna stay?" Kuwabara asked.
"The gamekeeper, Hagrid, has offered to let her sleep in a corner of his hut. Otherwise, she should be training or eating."
"Can we trust this guy? I mean, Shizuru isn't exactly a bad-looking girl..." Yusuke muttered.
"HEY! That's my SISTER you're talking about!" Kuwabara snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Yusuke.
"Geez, Kuwabara, it was a –compliment-..." Yusuke rolled his eyes and flopped down on the love seat, "Anyway, Kurama, do you trust him? I only see him in class."
"Yes, I view him as a very trustworthy man. At any rate, the headmaster trusts him with his life," Kurama chucked lightly, "And I believe Shizuru can take care of herself."
"Oh!" Botan clapped her hands together in an excited manner, "I almost forgot, she's also going to be singing backup with all of you on-stage! I have to go shopping for her now...bye!"
She waved cheerfully and zoomed out of the window, becoming nothing but a pink speck in the darkening sky...and after a moment, that was gone, leaving the sky blank and normal...
For a while.
-End Chapter-
Ok. THIS IS THE LAST TIME THE SONGS WILL BE MENTIONED.
To download all of the songs (except All Right!) go to h t t p : k u r a m a . a n g e l t o w n s . n e t - take out the spaces.
If you need the song All Right! you can email k u r a m a r o s e s y a h o o . c o m – take out the spaces. I WILL NOT SEND ANY OTHER SONG BUT 'ALL RIGHT!' BECAUSE THEY CAN BE DOWNLOADED from the site above.
I will not fulfill any song requests I haven't already, so please, download whatever songs you don't have. Here's the list of songs again:
Wild Wind – Kurama/Hiei
Eye to Eye – Kurama/Hiei/Kuwabara
Dark Side Stories – Youko Kurama/Hiei (note: make sure you have the version with the talking intro!)
Yasashisa wa Nemuranai – Kurama/Hiei/Yusuke/Kuwabara
Koori no Naifu o Daite – Kurama
Kurayami ni Akai Bara – Romantic Soldier - Kurama
Hikari no Naka de – Kurama/Hiei/Yusuke/Kuwabara
All Right! – Yusuke