By: Minuiko
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Chapter Three&
Kurama smiled sheepishly, accepted the book, and invited Kajin in. She politely took a seat, but seemed careful to choose a spot that was not far enough from Hiei to suggest fear or close enough to suggest intimacy. Hiei noticed and snorted. She promptly ignored him.
They began chatting for a while, about school, about work, and all sorts of boring things, before Hiei harrumphed and interrupted them with a surprising suggestion. "Why don't we go to the recently built arcade? I'm sick of hearing you two go on and on about school."
Kajin blinked, and Kurama sensed a wave of hostility in her, but it was gone in an instant. "Oh?" she returned, politely. "Don't you go to Minamino-san's school?"
"I'm transferring there this fall. But that doesn't mean anything. School is for people with no life," Hiei scoffed, shooting a glance in Kurama's direction. It's true, fox. You don't need it.
Kurama stopped himself from rolling his eyes with difficulty. There were only two ways a serious discussion with Hiei would turn to: him gaining respect for you or him losing respect for you— there was no neutral path— and on a topic that Hiei firmly believed in— such as school or fighting— you had to agree with his point but not seem sycophantic, or you could to disagree, but if you did the latter, you had to bring up a strong front. Otherwise…
Kajin looked like she was losing her mask of polite serenity. She replied, with a deliberately calm voice, "And will having no education get you a life?"
"Spending precious time listening to some retarded old geezer drone on and on about useless things is a waste of it," Hiei shot back. Kurama sweatdropped. Hiei was being much more hostile than was really necessary.
"But you won't learn anything if you don't," Kajin snapped. The mask finally broke. "You'll end up as some bum on the street living off of other people's generosity— oh, excuse me, Hiei-san. I didn't mean to make it sound as though what you're doing at the moment is something bad or anything. I just feel sorry for Minamino-san."
Hiei's eyes flashed— Kurama could read what he was thinking: I don't take charity— and Kurama hastily stepped in to prevent anything nasty from happening, Hiei decapitating the girl they were supposed to watch being one of them. "Kajin-san! I think going to the arcade would be wonderful! We could get to know each other better! And please ignore Hiei, he's like that. Ha ha ha…"
Kurama finished it with an awkward laugh; the act was horrible and he knew it, but at least it got the job done. Kajin closed her eyes briefly and smiled. "I would be delighted to, Minamino-san."
As Kurama passed Hiei, he reminded him in an undertone, "Undecover," and held out an arm for Kajin to slip hers through. It was old fashioned, but then again, Kajin seemed used to the formal sort of etiquette. Hiei stared at them for a second, but followed in their wake.
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Hiei was annoyed. Big time. Why the hell was Kurama being so-so friendly to that girl! He was also apprehensive about their linked arms. They looked like a married couple or something. And that pissed him off.
Girls from the street waved at Kurama— his annoying fanclub—, but they kept more distance than usual. Maybe it was the presence of Kajin. She was a very decent-looking girl, he could give her that, but she was altogether too false. He'd seen it when they'd had that discussion about school. And somehow, he wanted to see more of her snappy side. He didn't like bitchy girls, but she wasn't really that. She was… someone hiding behind a mask. Someone like him. Ever hiding.
He didn't know what it was about her that made him react like that, but he wanted to get a rise out of her… wanted to see her true self… because she was so intriguing… how could someone registered as a human give off Youki…? And be so good at disguising it when it mattered? She frustrated him, but gave him a taste of something— an interesting sort of feeling— that he wanted more of.
He reflected that lately, he'd also been pissed more than was even demon-ly normal, but then again, it'd started since the moment he'd met that Kajin girl. And now, he had the strange urge to wring Kurama's arm off –literally- and had no idea why. Maybe it was because of his and Kajin's close proximities. He growled in frustration. The girl was perhaps too interesting for her own good.
They reached the arcade, Kajin and Kurama chatting politely again about boring things such as the weather, the town, paying for rent, and other things. Hiei wanted to smack sense into the both of them, that if they really wanted to get to know each other better then they'd stop acting so falsely polite. Then again, Kurama— the Shuuichi persona anyways— was always polite, sometimes stupidly so. Kajin, however… she didn't have to hide her real self. She shouldn't. It didn't suit her. But that made it more of a challenge for him to get her to talk more, snap more, tell more. This mission was to watch and find out more about her anyways. Hiei smirked. More fun that way…
This was how Youko would think. Hiei liked a challenge, but Youko was more of a seeker— found it amusing to hunt for answers and got greater satisfaction than Hiei did when he succeeded in finding them. At least that was what he thought. Kurama's rubbing off on me…
Maybe I should consider hanging out with Yuusuke or Kuwabara more— and Hiei quickly retracted that thought. Spending a minute in Kuwabara's company more than he had to would be disastrous— if not for Kuwabara, then for the block he happened to be in. It annoyed him to no end the way Kuwabara fawned over Yukina— he was jealous and he knew it, but it wasn't because he didn't have a mate himself yet, definitely not— it was because she was his sister, damn it, and she didn't even know, and he couldn't stop Kuwabara from visiting him without arousing suspicion. Yukina was intelligent, perhaps a bit too kind-hearted to believe he would do anything out of line in her presence, such as lie, for one thing, but definitely smart enough to figure out their relation given the right clues.
"I'm terribly sorry, Minamino-san," Kajin murmured. "I forgot my money. Might you lend me some…?"
"Of course, Kajin-san," Kurama said charmingly, ever the gentleman. Hiei rolled his eyes at the ceiling, and Kajin threw him a dirty look. He ignored it in much the same fashion she had before.
"Or," she added hesitantly, "or, we could go to my house and I could get my purse—"
Hiei interrupted brusquely, "He said he'd pay for everything, woman, what part of that do you not understand?"
She took a deep breath and Hiei could almost see the gears clicking in her head before she decided to let that one slide and smiled charmingly, matching Kurama's expression. "That's true. Thank you, Minamino-san. Hiei-san, I want to play you first in…"
She took a moment to choose a game before deciding on a one that Hiei was admittedly familiar with—that whatever-it-was-called Goblin City game thing. They'd— the Tantei minus Kuwabara, plus Mitarai— fought the Game Master Amanuma Tsukihito with this game when they were trying to get to Sensui and rescue Kuwabara. Of course, Hiei had never tried the game hands-on because it'd held no interest for him, then or now, but— but, he still recognized it.
It didn't matter whether he won or lost. Kurama was paying anyways.
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Kurama was still skeptical about Kajin, though on the outside, he looking like he was trying to contain laughter and failing miserably: Hiei had lost every single game he'd played with the girl and was reacting rather badly, gritting his teeth with a vein visibly popping on his forehead. Kurama— Shuuichi Minamino— wasn't as easygoing as some people thought. Wasn't as polite or good as he seemed. He was Youko Kurama, after all, and his current personality— his Shuuichi persona— was him but wasn't him all the same. He was a thief, fiercely loyal but low enough do whatever it took— even cheating— to win something that was important to him, intelligent when it came down to the count and coolly indifferent, positively vicious and persistent when it came to revenge; but Ningenkai had taught him something more, more love, more compassion, and now, he was a complete amalgamate of traits and even he wasn't quite sure who he was anymore.
Which therefore brought him to Kajin: she was also a good actor, a strong, observant girl who could hide her emotions as well as her spirit and demon energy. She could easily have been putting on an act to fool them, to backstab them when and if they ever let their guards down, but she could also have been an innocent, not knowing of her powers and the possibility remained that she could have been born that way and been completely clueless about it. He couldn't know, and so he couldn't cross out any possibilities yet. So the question is: is it deliberate or not?
She was special. That much was certain. Even if she hadn't emitted the Youki that had attracted Koenma's attention in the first place, she had still been interesting enough to get Hiei to react to her, to somewhat respect her upon first meeting— he could read Hiei perhaps better than he could himself, and his derisive act hadn't fooled him. Kurama was even a little jealous of her. Hiei had said more to her upon meeting than he had with Kurama.
"Minamino-san. Minamino-san!"
Oops. He had gotten lost in thought. He prayed that she hadn't called his name too many times, though the faintly amused expression on Hiei's voice suggested otherwise. "Yes?"
It wasn't good to admit when you weren't paying attention. Kajin just laughed it off and told him she didn't want to spend too much of his money and asked if they would go with her to the ice-cream parlor again for whatever they liked. "It's on me. Don't worry, I won't do anything that would cause poor Hiei here to kill me. Aside from winning in video games," she said with a mischievous grin.
Apparently waitresses could get free ice cream. Kurama flashed her a brief smile and accepted the offer, but felt a slight jolt of uneasiness that she'd forgotten the polite –san in Hiei. She was getting a little too familiar with the fire demon for his tastes. He knew he was being overprotective, wanting to keep his best friend, if Hiei could even be termed that. But there was something about her getting close to Hiei that wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it.
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At the Kitchen Counter, Hiei again ordered an insane mix of different ice creams, ending it with the extra large cone again. Kurama went with strawberry that time: it had fruit in it, both more healthy and nutritious than the hundreds of artificial things that went with whatever Hiei ordered.
Kajin set the order down and sat with them this time. She then smiled and directed a question to Hiei. "So, who is Kurama-san anyways? Not to pry or anything, I'm just curious."
Kurama smiled, hiding a slight wave of uneasiness— if she knew anything about Reikai, then she would be able to trace the origins of Kurama to Youko— but Hiei answered first, his eyes flattening. "Does it matter?"
I could have made that more subtly, Kurama mused, but it was good that Hiei was defending his interests. Kajin huffed, then explained, "Well, you were talking about Kurama like I knew who he was or met him before, so therefore I just assumed that…"
"Whatever the hell you assumed was wrong," Hiei cut her off rudely, giving no room for further discussion.
"Fine. Fine, be that way." She got up, throwing her towel on the table and walking out, telling another waitress near the front desk to clean up after them. Hiei then turned to Kurama, saying savagely, "And you! Why didn't you answer yourself? I'm not your lapdog."
Kurama blinked. Hiei's been really weird lately. He's gotten… less quiet… less discreet… he never used to talk this much… Hiei had since learned that talking gave others an advantage over you because the less information you gave, the better off you were. So why in the world was he being so… so… surprisingly, the only word that came up to him was human.
"I never said you were," Kurama answered calmly.
"So why the fu—" Hiei growled in exasperation, shook his head once, and got up, hands spread on the table, body shaking. "I'm going out. Don't follow me."
The door slammed in his wake, a waitress calling out, "Sir! Please use the door quietly!"
Déjà vu, Kurama decided, as Hiei had done the exact same thing two days ago, and smiled politely to the waitress, apologizing for Hiei. "I'm sorry, my friend is a little rash. Please excuse him."
He walked out of the café/ice cream parlor; once outside, he took off running in Hiei's direction. What in the Three Worlds is Hiei up to…? he wondered. Hiei had twice told him not to follow him, and ordinarily, he would have complied, but with the entire Kajin case to be solved and Hiei acting strangely, he couldn't just back off when he was told.
Whatever's happening… I'll find an answer to it. For the moment, though, trailing Hiei was more important. He smirked. The thrill of the chase…
Out of the ordinary. That was how Youko preferred it.
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TBC…
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TO JINE-SAMA: I updated, too! Um… technically, I didn't finish the "interesting" Sunday, so I guess you'll have to. Also, I'm not supposed to tell you anything about Kajin xD. Not about whether she's innocent or not… I'm supposed to try to fit how I want her around your plot, right? Explain why she does what she does… More challenging that way. Alert me to any mistakes I've made, will you? I'm not sure if this is completely in tune with your chapter two…
TO TAKEI-CHAN: Stay in tune even if you're not writing with us, okay? 3
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Review!