Just a few warnings as of now. Firstly, is not letting me upload my next Ebil Kitsune chapter and all of you have probably had some difficulties with it, as well, due to that technical error they're having. And for this treachery of the machinery uses, I felt the need to release some anger, so that took me a little while, but then I started writing this chapter of AOF, and I was happy-ish again. Although, I will MURDER my computer if I am not allowed uploading Ebil later.
Second Warning, remember the sneak peak I gave in an earlier chapter? The one of Asa slapping Kurama? Yeah, well, this is going to be a lengthy chapter that MAY involve that((cough cough hint hint)). Just warning you. Also, I PROMISE, especially to you two, Melanie and AzureDragoness, there will be more fluff in the near future...just not between Kurama and Asa. So do not kill me yet, okay?
Third Warning: If I cannot update my Ebil Kitsune story, prepare yourselves for one heck of a fight scene between Rafu and Kurama.
Fourth Warning: HOLY CRAP, dudes! Melanie, you're still my no. 1 fan, but, creepiness is, Samantha ((Kurama/is/hot)) also wants to be the no. 1 fan, and I'm gonna find myself involved in a tug-of-war contest...being the object getting tugged at! ((scared look)) Yikes! ((turns Warning Mode off and is more pleasant))
ANYWAY, here's the next chapter, which is hellishly long and took me a really long time to write and a LONGER time to UPLOAD!! ((glares at technical difficulty with ))
Chapter Eight-
Hell Hath No Fury Like Asa Discovering A Secret
This weekend was going by terribly slowly, Asa thought, sitting alone in her room later that night. Kurama had checked on her so often, that she'd finally told him that she was tired, and just wanted to take a nap. This was, of course, a lie, but it stopped her redheaded friend from visiting every three seconds, and left her with some peace. Unfortunately, she'd found that after about ten minutes of his absence, peace was boring.
So, since Genkai's temple was rather quiet and still, and Yusuke, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Shizuru had left after bidding her farewell, she had decided that, instead of peace and quiet, she'd put herself through a tremendous pain by trying to sit up, then stand up, by herself. Her ankle wasn't so bad anymore, so that wasn't what was so bad about having to clamber to her feet---she was just sore.
She had to shift herself so that she had her legs folded underneath of her to sit up properly, then with her good arm, since the other was in the cast, held the night stand and slowly pushed herself to her feet, leaning back against the wall for leverage. After many attempts at this, she finally got herself onto her feet, and was panting for breath as she leaned her weight off of the worse ankle.
She would have given a victory yell and thrown an arm up into the air to cheer if she wasn't sure that it would have exhausted what remained of her energy. But, she was resolved to walk around a little bit before she gave up. So, using the wall to lean against, she shuffled her feet a little at a time, until she reached the window seat, then she sat down and leaned back in the window, pressing her forehead to the glass. The nighttime revealed nothing but a waxing moon (((that's the crescent moon))) and a shower of stars in the sky. Asa sighed, her breath fogging up a big circle on the window.
She didn't hear the door open behind her, and didn't notice Kurama standing in the doorway. At first, when he looked at the empty futon, his eyes widened, until they landed on her sitting at the window, and he quietly sighed in relief, then his brow furrowed in surprise. How'd she get to the window in her condition?
"Asa," he said, to make known to her his presence. She turned her head to him and offered a small smile as he shut the door and walked to stand beside of her.
"Hey, Shuuichi-kun," she mumbled, turning back to look out at the darkness.
"What're you doing out of bed, and how'd you get out of bed?" he inquired.
"Whoa, no twenty-one questions, dude! Firstly, I was bored, secondly, I walked...with some difficulty, but not a lot, so don't give me the 'you're too weak' lecture, because I don't even know why I'm too weak---none of you'll tell me."
"All you need to really know is that it was a really harsh accident. I promise, I'll tell you more when you need to know it," Kurama assured her.
"Hm, a need-to-know basis, huh?" Asa let out an amused huff of laughter. "Kinda sounds like something you would normally do, doesn't it?"
"Hai...sort of. Asa, are you all right? You seem..."
"Bored? Because I am, like I said before- probably bored enough to go strangle someone. Why?" she asked pleasantly, smiling at him and tilting her head slightly to the right. He merely looked at her for a long moment blankly, then chuckled.
"You never cease to amaze me," he finally commented, shaking his head.
"That's interesting---I never cease to amaze me, either!" Asa giggled. He raised an eyebrow at her, but sat down with his back to the window beside her, since there was plenty of room.
"You know, I'm going to have to make sure you're back in bed before I go," he said after a length. She nodded, an amused smile playing across her lips. "Well, you can walk, so I've seen, maybe you'll be okay to go back to school Tuesday."
"Maybe...it's a good thing we've got Monday off, though, because I definitely wouldn't be able to do much if I didn't have the extra day."
"You're starting to sound like Yusuke...he's already declared that he's going to get sick Tuesday morning and go to Dr. Arcade for a remedy."
"He'd better not skip; Keiko'll have his head!" Asa said scoldingly, tsking as she shook her head. "Those two...they really just need to get married and get it over with." Kurama laughed then, lifting a hand to cover his mouth, attempting to stifle his chortles. "You know, it wasn't that funny...are you on a sugar high or something?"
"No, I just overslept a lot," he gasped between chuckles.
"Hm, speaking of sleep...you still haven't told me about that dream that was bugging you the other day," she observed, going over her memory, "Or at least, not that I can remember." Kurama's face instantly went placid, and she knew she'd just hit a still tender subject. "You don't have to, if you don't want to..." she immediately remedied her probing.
"Iiye, don't worry, Asa. I think the nightmares I was having are over now. There's nothing for you to worry about anymore," he admitted. She offered him a small smile.
"Okay, if you're sure. So, do you really think I'll be able to go back to school Tuesday?"
"Hai, I think so. I also think Jin and Touya may be visiting with you more often," Kurama admitted with a knowing smile, "As well as the twins."
"Hn, the twins have a thing for Jin and Touya, and visa versa, you know," Asa informed him wryly.
"I noticed, yes."
"Well, whatever. Do you think I can go home tomorrow?"
"Maybe. I'll ask Genkai for you later. But---..."
"But right now I need to go back to bed, so I can heal all good and proper," Asa interrupted, rolling her eyes at him. "I know, I know."
"Good that you know, because you're going now," he said, standing up and putting his hands on his hips with a very big brother look. She giggled at him, and attempted to stand, immediately invoking a yip of pain as she stood a little too quickly, and falling forward into his chest. He caught her and held her against him for a moment longer than was necessary, before he looked down at her and rolled his eyes, "Clumsy." She was blushing terribly as he held her with an arm around her waist, then when he kneeled to sweep her up under the knees with the other arm, her eyes widened at him as she wrapped her own arms around his neck to hold herself steady.
"Wow, you must really have a way with the girls, huh, Shuuichi?" she teased, inciting a blush to rise in his own cheeks as she smirked at him and he turned his sparkling emerald gaze to meet hers.
"Oh, Iiye, I save my charms all for you, Asa-chan," he teased right back, then, when they realized what he'd just said, both blushed furiously, and went quiet as he hurriedly carried her back to the futon and tucked her in. He muttered a quick, "Oyusami nasai," and instinctively pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, before leaving in a cursory, flushed still with embarrassment.
Asa waved blankly after him, although the door was already shut and he was already halfway down the hall, then shook her head and smirked to herself, "Okay, now I'm the love-dazed ninny...ugh." She shook her head at herself a second time, and pulled a pillow from under her head to use it to cover her face so she could groan loudly. That boy was really infuriating sometimes.
-
"So I'm okay to go?!" Asa asked excitedly the next morning, looking up at Genkai hopefully as the old woman proceeded to remove her bandages to check all the wounds, then nod when most of them seemed to be healing nicely.
"Hai, you can go home, but you must promise to stay in bed until you return to school Tuesday," Genkai said sternly.
"I promise, I promise!" Asa restrained herself from jumping up and down like a little kid, since that would just look plain silly since she was only barely managing to sit up against all the pillows that were still piled behind her and was entangled in a large pile of blankets.
"Fine, Shuuichi can take you home after he gets here," Genkai stood up, turning to the door, where Jin, Touya, Natsumi, and Kasumi stood. "Will you four be able to keep an eye on her until he returns?"
"Hai," they all answered in unison.
"...Would you please stop doing that?!" Asa begged, lifting her cast-up arm as best she could to lay her hands together in a praying pose and letting her face grow to a puppy-dog one. Jin laughed at her as Genkai left with a shake of her head.
"Aw, is Asa-lass gettin' a wee bit tired of our prattle?"
"Nope, just your amalgamated prattle!" she corrected, giggling at Jin's perplexed expression due to her use of high-class vocabulary. "It means your unified prattle---the way you talk in unison?" she simplified, raising an eyebrow at him. He finally nodded and made a guttural noise of understanding.
"Well, you'd best get ready," Natsumi took over the conversation expertly, "We'll go wait for Shuuichi to get here."
Asa nodded as they exited the room, each waving or nodding their own goodbyes and Jin doing a little jig for her as he backed out. She raised an eyebrow after them and palmed her forehead with an air of what could be called a mixture of disbelief and fatigue. It had already been a long day---why did everyone have to keep making it last longer? Glancing at her clock, she groaned---it wasn't even noon yet.
He'd better be here by now if he knows what's good for him... she thought, scowling at the window which revealed nothing but a rising sun that was already high past the mountains in the horizon. Seriously, that boy is only allowed sleeping in once every blue moon---if I found out he slept in today of all days... Her eyebrow twitched as she closed her eyes and raised a fist in a threat to an invisible Shuuichi.
Her eyes popped open again long enough to make sure she was alone and hadn't made a fool of herself by threatening someone who wasn't even there, but she was assured by the emptiness of other persons in the room, and rolled her eyes at herself, reaching for her clothes, that had been mended and washed by Yukina. After she was ready, she tried to limp out of her room, using the wall as a support like she had before. And she did pretty dang well too, that is, until she entered the Labyrinth of Hell. Her eyes widened as she glimpsed at the three halls before her, one to the right of her door, one to the left, and once directly across. They seemed to go on and on and twist into other halls, one giant maze that she wasn't going to be able to find her way through, that much she knew for sure.
"You look a little lost, and you've only just left your room." The familiar, calm voice made her narrow her eyes as she looked up at the redhead who stood beside her.
"It's about time you got here, Shuuichi!" Asa exclaimed in annoyance, as he chuckled and looped an arm around her to help her find her way through the Labyrinth. They soon found themselves out of the maze, and in the front room of the temple. Asa would have cheered on sight of the outside world had Kurama not been holding her steady.
"So, are you all set to go home? Where are Natsumi, Kasumi, Jin, and Touya?"
"They're supposed to be waiting for you...but I guess they went off somewhere..." A slow, mischievous, even devilish grin spread across her face, and made him back away slightly as he eyed her warily.
"I've seen that look before..."
"And you know what it means!" she finished for him, smirking evilly.
"Yeah, I do...crap, you're going to make me help you in this little matchmaking crusade you're going on, aren't you?"
"Well, duh!" she said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes at him. "Come on, just take me home already so I can be in my own room and not be in this place anymore..."
"Okay, okay...but I'd feel better if I knew where those four were..." He was promptly elbowed by the young girl beside him.
"Stop worrying about it. I can take care of myself, I don't need babysitters. And yes, I already know that that's what Genkai wanted them to do---keep an eye on me, that is," she said upon seeing his surprised expression. "You all think you can keep secrets from the Master, but the Master knows all," she continued, in a very bad 'Kung Fu Master' accent.
"...Right...okay. My car's out front...but I don't think you'll be able to handle all those stairs."
"Yeah...there are a crapload of those, aren't there?" Asa asked nervously, a sweat drop appearing on the side of her head as she remembered all the stairs one had to climb to reach Genkai's temple. "So, how'm I getting down the stair master of Japan's finest?"
"I may have to carry you," he admitted sheepishly, his blush evident even as he ducked his head to hide it.
"Fine by me...just don't drop me," she warned. Nodding to assure her that he wouldn't, he scooped her up in the quickly-growing-familiar fashion, exiting the temple and carefully making his way down the many steps to where his car was parked outside the temple walls. He adjusted her long enough to open the door, and sat her in the passenger's seat, earning himself a glare that clearly said, "I could have done that myself, you know." Smiling at her somewhat sheepishly for the second time in less than five minutes, he closed the door gently, and hurried around to the other side of the car.
"Your father was very anxious to see you when last I spoke to him," he informed her. "He'll be glad to have you home."
"I'll be glad to be home!" she exclaimed. "Seriously, it's bad when you're so bored you spend your entire afternoon talking to birds and making up songs in your head. At least you could have brought me a sketchpad and some pencils, Shuuichi!"
"I am truly sorry for such a tragedy as your boredom, Asa, but this really isn't the time to scold me about not remedying it," he replied, throwing her a narrowed-eyed look that screamed, "Stop acting like a baby."
"You know, you can be a real butthead sometimes," she commented, raising an eyebrow and leaning back to cross her arms over her chest, glaring evenly at him.
"...Did...you just call me a butthead?" he asked, glancing at her quizzically.
"Hai, I did! Got a problem with it, pretty boy?"
"...Pretty boy?" he repeated, his clueless look remaining on his face.
"You know, you keep your face like that long enough, it might get stuck someday!"
"...I'm going to ignore everything you've said in the past five minutes and just concentrate on getting you home, how does that sound?" he asked, plastering a fake smile on his face to cover his perplexed expression. Her eyebrow arched higher, and she nodded once, turning her gaze to look out the window as he pulled out of his parking spot and headed toward her house. This kid was seriously going to drive him crazy, he could foresee it.
-
The weekend passed unusually slowly. After Kurama had taken her home, Asa had gotten better rather quickly---mostly thanks to her father's medical experience and constant care---and he and her four new watchdogs stopped by every now and then; 'every now and then' meaning once every other hour. He was really following through with his promise not to let anything happen to her again, but she was quickly growing tired of all the attention she was getting, so by the time Monday got there, she'd locked Kurama, Jin, Touya, Natsumi, and Kasumi out of her house, saying that she was only going to sleep the day away and there was no reason for them to come over to check on her.
Her father had left early that morning, having been called into the hospital, so the house was all hers for the day...not that she could fully enjoy it, because she was still barely able to amble to and fro as she pleased, let alone walk up and down the flight of stairs it would take for her to go from he room to the downstairs portion of the house. Her father had put a mini-refrigerator in her room in case she was hungry or thirsty, and had left a whole bunch of snacks on her desk, so she would, at least, be allowed to walk around her room.
In all of her time in this room, she'd never really taken to getting to know what it looked like. After this weekend, she could tell someone every feature of it after being away from it for a month. She looked up at it again from her bed, just to make sure it was still the same. Books were piled on the floor, since she'd long since run out of room on her large white bookshelf that was in the 'office' section of the room, which was off to the left. The bookshelf stood with its back to the room, making a sort-of wall, which hid her desk and school work.
The right side of her room, the side she was obviously on, held her four-post canopy bed---that was also white, with a dark blue-colored lace canopy, a white dresser and large mirror that hung above it---the mirror was covered with pictures of her friends and completely void of its purpose, a 'sitting area' with a small love seat and armchair, both blue, that were shaped into an L around the entertainment center, that held her stereo, TV, and VCR/DVD player. A few random shelf units here and there held her various knick-knacks from her and her father's travels around Japan and China.
Her walls were all a mural---of a forest. Lush green plants and lively-colored flowers; mostly roses, decorated every aspect of her walls, all painted by her own hand. One half of the walls were in the daylight time of a forest, the other half were based on the nighttime. The ceiling, designed with the same day/night transition in mind, was half sky blue, a few random clouds here and there, and half dark velvet, with silver stars twinkling around. In the center of it---where a light should have been, but was removed and replaced with many, many lamps---was a circle that was half a sun, half a moon.
"Okay, enough studying my room...it's going to get really monotonous." Wondering what she wanted to do was one thing, but when Asa heard the doorbell ring, and thought that it could be one of her friends disobeying her, wondering how she was going to a) get down the stairs and b) kill whoever it was on the other side of the door in her current condition was a completely different thing as she stumbled out into the hall and stood at the top of the staircase. The doorbell rang again. "I'M COMING!" she shouted loud enough for someone about fifty miles away to hear. The doorbell didn't ring again. She smirked, staring down the stairs and imagining all possible things that could go wrong going wrong. "Okay...now...okay...how'm I gonna do this...? Oh, right!" She leaned most of her weight on the banister, and let herself slide down that, her feet barely touching the stairs, until she hit the post at the end of the banister.
"Yay! I got down! ...The real trouble's gonna be in going back up..." She shook her head, and hobbled to the door, her limp still rather obvious. Her arm that was in a cast ((the broken one)) was hindering her movements, as well, for it was the hand she wrote with, and she had instinctively reached for the doorknob with it. Wincing when she realized her stupidity, she got the doorknob with her good arm.
"Heeeeeello---! ...." She looked around after she'd opened the door and exclaimed the salutation, but found that no one was there. An irritated ((¬.¬)) look appeared on her face as she glanced around, and she sighed. Then, when her eyes fell to the floor of the porch, they caught onto a manila envelope that was laying there. It said in big bold letters:
To: Miss Asa Ichazuki
114 Deishi Street
She raised an eyebrow at it, and stooped over to pick it up and bring it inside. It was weighted by something, felt like maybe a video tape or something. She had no clue otherwise what it was, and wasn't going to wait to find out. As soon as she reached her father's office on the first floor and grabbed the letter opener off his desk, she opened the package and dumped its contents onto said desk, revealing a video tape as she'd thought, and a letter. She picked up the letter first.
Miss Ichazuki,
Ohayo. I hope you are feeling better. This tape was brought to you in hopes that you would soon discover who you are...by knowing who those closest to you are. Please watch the tape, and in so doing...start on the journey to who you truly are.
It wasn't signed. She eyed it curiously for several moments, thoughts that this whole thing was a big joke from Yusuke or something. Then, it occurred to her, that he wasn't exactly one for pranks like this. He liked picking on Keiko, but that was only because she used her knowledge of him to her advantage all the time. Pranks about who someone really was weren't really his style, and whoever wrote the note sounded a lot more educated, like Shuuichi. And he definitely wouldn't be dumb enough to pull a stunt like this---so it was almost doubtless that it was authentic, and the writer of the letter really did wish for her to watch the tape.
So, with a shrug, she took the tape and put it into the VCR her father had in his office, turning on the TV and sitting down at his desk to watch it. What she saw, made her eyes widen. For there was her best friend on the screen, with Hiei and another man who called himself Gouki, all three talking about demons and thieves and the detective---who turned out to be Yusuke.
As she watched her friends' story unfold on the tape, she wondered what in the hell was going on. This definitely had to be a joke. No doubt about it. There was no way her beloved Shuuichi was really a demon named Youko Kurama, no way Yusuke was some sort of resurrected Spirit Detective, no way Botan could be a ferry girl for the River Styx, no DAMN way Kuwabara could actually make a sword out of his energy, no way her other friends were also demons...well, except maybe Hiei...
Then, it all started to click. The accident everyone refused to tell her about...the long absence of her friends that was undoubtedly the time they spent at the Dark Tournament...Genkai's Labyrinth of Hell...
Flames could not have been produced from a dragon's breath such that were coming from Asa's eyes as she realized that she'd been lied to by those she'd trusted most. The phone rang on her desk. She furiously grabbed it. "Nani?!" she growled.
"Whoa, ohayo to you, too!" Umi's voice came from the other end of the phone. Asa's ferocity was not to be assuaged, however, by even the only friend who didn't keep any secrets from her.
"Umi, this isn't really the time, I---!"
"Asa, Nanna just called me." It wasn't really public knowledge, but Asa and Umi were cousins---their mothers were sisters. Asa's brow furrowed, and she quieted to listen to Umi. "She would like us to go visit. Just you and me. Do you have any clue why?"
"Iiye," Asa responded with a shake of her head, though she knew that Umi wouldn't be able to see. "I don't know, though, Umi...I'm still like, half-lame here. You should've seen how long it took me to get downstairs..."
"You went downstairs?!" Umi demanded, her voice loud enough to make Asa's eardrum burst. Asa held the phone as far away from her ear as her arm would stretch, listening to Umi holler, "YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE GOING UP AND DOWN THOSE STAIRS, ASA ICHAZUKI! I AM SO CALLING SHUUICHI TO COME OVER THERE AND---!!!"
"NO, you're not," Asa pulled the phone back to her ear as she interrupted Umi's outburst. "I don't think I can look him in the eye right now without going for his throat."
Umi gasped, "Asa! What'd he do?! Nani, did he get back with Maya or what's-her-name again? ((A/N: OMFG! Everyone, did you KNOW that Kurama had a girlfriend or something the WHOLE DAMN TIME?! I only JUST FOUND OUT! Due to some Manga readers that are buddies of mine...her name's Maya. Dun worry, though, she's NOT going to be an issue in the A/K pairing!)) Is that why you're pissed off at him?"
"No. It's not that. He doesn't even talk to her anymore. He just...he kept a huge secret from me, Umi." Damn it, there were tears in her eyes now. Kuso, kuso, kuso.
Umi, not needing her to go on any further since she now knew that it was really serious, merely spoke, "Okay, well, Uncle Jeri already said you could go, so pack your things...we're leaving tomorrow after school."
"Okay. Good. Because I still have something that I need to do..."
-
Kurama came into school rather worried about Asa. He hadn't been able to check on her all of Monday, and she hadn't called him that morning like she'd promised, nor had she waited for him to arrive so he could walk with her to school, as was routine. Despite his friends all teasing him since his arrival, he watched the doorway from where they were standing with a worried glint in his emerald gaze, craning his neck every time he thought he caught a flash of black hair or blue eyes.
When Asa did make her appearance, she caught all the eyes of the group, especially with Kurama's sharp intake of breath. Her hair wasn't as shiny as it usually was, and was pulled into a twisted bun, her eyes were sunken, saddened, as if she'd lost her best friend, and her face was definitely twelve shades lighter than normal, her cast arm hanging limply in the sling, the other arm holding a satchel that held her crapload of books. She trudged up the hall, and didn't even seem to notice them, until Yusuke finally called, "Hey, squirt! Can't you say hello?!"
Two pain-filled, flaming ice blue eyes were steely as they looked Yusuke's way, and a collective quiet gasp could be heard as Asa glared evenly at him. "Whoa...okay... Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed..."
"Asa..." Kurama went up to Asa, taking her arm to turn her toward him gently. "Daijobu?"
"I'm just fine," she hissed, pulling her arm out of his grasp and turning away to walk toward her locker. His brow knitted together, in slight annoyance, and he walked with her, speeding up his pace so he could turn around in front of her. She stopped before she ran into him, and glared up at him evenly.
"What is wrong with you today? You're not acting like yourself," he said, his voice betraying his concern.
CRACK.
Kurama's eyes were wide, as he stepped backward and lifted a hand to the spot on his cheek where Asa's palm had connected. The entire group was staring at the display, completely boggled by her behavior and by the fact that a girl just slapped him, the King of Being Loved by Girls. "Asa, that was so seriously not called for," Kuwabara started, but Yusuke held his arm, looking closely at Asa's face. They all followed his gaze to see that tears were brimming her eyes as she returned the stare Kurama graced her with.
"That was for not telling me to begin with, Kurama." The name was spoken as if it were poison escaping her lips. Kurama's eyes widened further, in surprise, as did those of their friends. Asa brushed by him, running toward her class, despite the sudden whispers all the fans of Shuuichi Minamino sent following her. Kurama stared into empty space for a long few moments, before he blinked, and turned to the others, giving a rather pathetic attempt at a smile.
"Well, that might have been better," he commented dryly.
"How'd she find out...?" Yusuke asked, turning to Botan, who shrugged in reply.
"This is completely over my head," she told him honestly, then turned to the window, to see Hiei standing outside in the tree. Her light violet eyes silently asked him a question, to which he responded with a simple nod before he disappeared in a flash. He knew where Asa had gone, and it wasn't to her homeroom.
It was to the one class to which she knew she could go whenever she had a problem, and no one would bother her---not even Ms. Rei would ask any questions, but simply allow the girl to stay in the room all day, since she had been friends with Asa's mother and was her godmother. It wasn't exactly against school rules, since Ms. Rei was on Asa's emergency information, and she would be allowed to keep the student with her until she felt better. Her art room was always open to her, especially since it wasn't Friday and there were no other art classes during the week.
He was relieved to see that there was an open window, so he could listen to Asa's conversation with Ms. Rei. The teacher was rather surprised, when Asa burst through the door in tears, shutting it and leaning against it, then looking up at her godmother and hurrying across the room into Cho Rei's waiting arms.
"Asa, what on Earth---?" Cho started, hugging Asa to her in a maternal way. Hiei's eyes narrowed---he hated to see any girl cry, although he would never admit it, and seeing one cry that was almost like a little sister to him was even worse.
Asa sobbed for many moments, until, finally, she said quietly, though both Cho and Hiei could hear it, "I'm going to Ireland for a few weeks, Daibo-san. Nanna asked Umi and I to go. But I don't think I want to come back."
"Nani, naze?" Cho asked, furrowing her brow as she pushed Asa away gently, to be able to see her face.
"Because...he didn't tell me something." Hiei knew who 'he' was, though Cho's face was perplexed by Asa's admission. Silently, the demon skulked away from the window, puzzled as to how she could have known. He was pretty sure that, as soon as school let out, he and his friends would be heading to a certain prince of hell to find out why.
- - -
HOLY CRAP! I did NOT just do that! ...Okay, so I did. But, yeah. Anyway. I'll do the responses myself, today, since the dudes are all gaping at me like I'm crazy. -.-;
((ahem))
Melanie-chan: No matter WHAT goes down with the #1 fan tug-of-war, we love you! And we ALL thank you for continuing to review, and I think I speak for Kurama, too, when I say, UPDATE SOON!
AzureDragoness: Hey, evil's just as good as fluff! Lol! Thanks for the compliment! And like I said before, there WILL be more fluff! Just, you know, no A/K fluff for awhile!
Kei: ((sweatdrop)) Uh, be careful with him! He may be a wind demon, but he'll need more than ONE wind with you, obviously. Lol
Sazuka-Chan- Whoa, lol, yeah, you got Touya. Have fun! And hey, we're the same age!
Sun Priestess- Thanks! I take pride in my um...verbose vocabulary...((sweatdrop again)) and I'm glad you like the stories! Now, if will just let me upload Ebil...
Okay, byes, everybody!
Next Chapter: Time Apart
