Sunshine – Chapter Two: Prince

OOOOO

'…Damn.' Was the first thought Shura welcomed the day with, wondering what he had consumed the night before that could have given him such a horrible dream. Although, as awful as it had been, it was set apart from the rest of his dreams. Not yet wanting to greet the day, his eyes remained closed and he thought upon it, strange that it had not been ripped from his mind when he had awoke like so many other nightmares.

OOOOO

"Papa…" Shura said, voice tinged with both anger and grief. "You… You…" he could not seem to voice his feelings of betrayal. "This is just a joke? …Right?" he asked the blind man hopefully, but deep down inside knowing that this was one of the inevitable consequences of his reckless actions. However, he had never imagined his father would suggest something like this—it was ludicrous! He was a prince! And this particular prince did not want to go live with some deceitful, back stabbing, youko traitor in addition to actually breathing the same air as humans.

Stupid Hiei. Stupid guards. Insipid and cowardly bastards running away to tattle to Lady Mukuro and hide between her breasts from the Big Bad Prince of Gandara. Shura just knewthey were the ones behind this. 'I'll take care of them when I get back,' he thought darkly, smirking at the grim future he had in store for Mukuro's guard.

"While we're at it, you may as well forget whatever malicious and devastatingly evil plans of revenge you have for Mukuro's heir and wipe that damn smirk off your face," the blind king addressed his son sternly, his mind easily reading Shura's countenance.

The boy jumped at his father's order and immediately straightened up. He knew he should not have been so surprised that Yomi had seen his smirk. His father had been blind for nearly 800 years, and since then has gained an almost omnipotent sense of perception—almost as if he was not blind at all.

"It's not a joke, is it?" Shura asked again, still knowing the answer but needing to hear it from his father's mouth to crush that last flicker of hope in the back of his mind.

"No, Shura, it is not. This is a very serious matter. I honestly do not know what to do with you anymore," Yomi answered, sounding pained, the unspoken question of 'Where did I go wrong?' hanging somewhere on the king's tongue.

"Why can't you ground me like you normally do? I don't want to go live with that stupid youko!" Shura exclaimed, but immediately covered his mouth with his hands. He had not meant to voice his opinion of Kurama in front of his father. He was infuriated at, and jealous of, how his Papa would speak so highly of the youko, even though that same youko had stabbed him in the back and subsequently blinded him. Shura just did not understand. He braced himself for his father's outburst in the Kurama's defense. Surprisingly, it did not come.

The seven-horned demon put on a melancholy smile, "I understand your refusal of this situation and I wish there was another way. I have tried everything and I still cannot see where I went wrong. Am I a bad father?" he said, whispering that last part more to himself than to Shura.

"Papa… Don't make me go. I promise I won't do anything like that ever again," he said, its familiarity ringing in his ears. How many times has he said that? Five? Ten? This time he really meant it. Really! Anything was better than living with that horrible youko.

Yomi let out a sigh as those habitual excuses went through his head—this time they sounded so sincere.

"You are going and that is final," he said aloud, so firmly that there was absolutely no opening given for Shura to disagree.

Shura, hearing the conclusiveness of the statement, didn't even try, "Yes, sir," he answered, going over to his bed and flopping face-first into a pillow to sulk.

Yomi's permanently closed eyes moved in what only could be described as a flinch. Not only had he not expected his son to go down without a fight, Shura had never called him "sir." He frowned—that was not right. He had always been "Papa". Slowly, the king moved across the room to where Shura had positioned himself and put a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Shura…" he began, but was interrupted by his son, who writhed around and shrugged the hand off his shoulder.

"Go away," the single horned boy said, curling up into a ball and trying to get as far away from Yomi as possible.

"I have a meeting to attend to, so I will not be able to see you off. Goodbye, Shura. You know I love you."

"Whatever…" Shura said in a dismissive manner, pressing his face into one of his many feather pillows.

"I suggest you get some rest," Yomi said quietly, sounding almost afraid of getting another cold remark from his son, "Someone from the Reikai will be here in a few hours to take you to the Ningenkai."

Silence was Shura's response, not wanting his father to hear the tears in his wavering voice.

The king reached out to pat his invaluable little prince on the head, but at the last second decided against it, dropping his hand as he silently left the room.

Falling into an uncomfortable sleep shortly afterward, Shura was roused by a tapping on his door, "Go away!" he grumbled loudly, thinking it was his father.

"I must apologize, my prince, but I cannot obey your orders this time," responded the familiar and rueful voice of Yoda, who, though sympathetic, found his king's son to be frustratingly hostile at times. "I have a few things to give you before you leave for the Ningenkai."

Shura sat up and scowled, rubbing at his puffy eyes, "Come in," he said, even though he knew his permission was not needed.

The short, stubby horned demon entered the room, followed by a girl Shura had never seen before. She was much taller than Yoda and wore a bright pink kimono. Her sky blue hair was pulled back in a ponytail and, upon closer inspection, it could be determined that her eyes were a purplish shade of pink. Magenta maybe? Shura did not care.

"Shura?" Yoda questioned, just to be sure that the boy had not fazed out into his own little world—something he had fallen into the habit of doing these past arduous weeks.

Shura's eyes narrowed, "What?"

Ignoring the coldness in which he was acknowledged, the eldest demon continued, "I've brought you human clothes to change into," he said, walking over to where the prince sat and handing him the clothing.

Shura looked down at the garments in disgust. Blue pants made out of some rough material, white shoes, white socks, and a white shirt with short sleeves. "I am not wearing these!" he said vehemently. He liked his cotton robes and slippers!

"It is not up for discussion," Yoda said in final tone, giving Shura a scathing look.

"Fine," the prince answered angrily, glaring at both Yoda and the girl, "Are both of you just going to stare at me?" he questioned hotly, "Turn around!" he ordered, mumbling something under his breath about rude people as he slipped on the foreign clothing.

"You can turn around now," he said once he finished dressing in the unfamiliar garments.

"You look wonderful," Yoda said, pitying Shura, as this particular set of human clothing was so plain looking and rather unfitting for a prince. He pulled out a plastic looking blue card out of his robes, "This card is directly linked to your account in Gandara. You are to use it for necessities only," he said, stressing the last word.

"Yeah, yeah…" Shura said, pocketing the card. He wasn't a baby. "Is this all?" he asked aloud.

"For now. This is Miss Botan, a ferry girl from the Reikai," Yoda said, gesturing a hand in the anonymous girl's direction, "She will be the one to take you to the Ningenkai. She will also be your escort for any event Kurama will be unable to attend."

The girl, Botan, smiled and bowed politely, "The 'Miss' will not be necessary. It makes me sound old."

Shura arched his eyebrows, if she was in fact a spirit guide, there was probably no way she would be younger than one hundred. With his better judgment, he decided it would be best not to voice that little bit of logic.

"I will leave the two of you to on your own now. Farewell, my prince," the short demon said, exiting the room.

"How exactly are we going get to the Ningenkai? Isn't there a barrier now?" Shura asked, turning his attention to his new babysitter.

"We're going to have to take a detour to the Reikai," Botan said. "You know, pick up Koenma and your wards," she noted the frown on the prince's face, "I really am sorry, Shura, but high level demons are supposed to be warded while among humans. You are a very special case, you know."

She really did sound sincere. Nevertheless, from what he knew about females (his theories all based on Lady Mukuro), he could not bring himself to trust the blue-haired girl. "Hmph," he answered, but was somewhat flattered that the Reikai thought he was actually a problem worth monitoring.

She walked over to the balcony door and opened it, stepping out to the platform overlooking the city. "Let's be on our way," Botan said cheerfully, summoning her oar and mounting it.

Shura gazed at her, unknowingly dropping his jaw, "We're going on… That!"

"Of course we are, silly," she giggled, "What were you expecting? A magic carpet?"

Shura gave her a blank stare.

"It's not polite to keep Koenma waiting," she chirped, noting that Shura was still gawking at her in disbelief. "Well, hop on!" she patted the spot behind her.

Cautiously, he approached the oar, "It's safe, right?"

"Of course! There's nothing to be afraid of! I do this all of the time!" she said, patting Shura on the head comfortingly, "I'll go slow if you'd like…"

"Don't patronize me," he said, glaring at her.

Instead of cowering in fear like any normal creature, she laughed. She laughed. "How cute! You scowl like Hiei," Botan cooed, wanting to pinch his cheeks.

"Don't touch me either," he said, taking a wary step back when he saw her hands move toward him.

The ferry girl pouted, "You're no fun…"

"How exactly am I supposed to ride this thing?" Shura asked, changing the subject.

"Well, you can either sit to the side like me, or straddle it like you would a horse," she replied.

"So… It's just like riding a horse?" the prince questioned, hoping it would relate somehow—he had some experience with horses.

"You could say that."

Shura took another tentative glance at the wooden oar, "Okay…" he said, trying to convince himself that he would not plummet to his death within the next few minutes.

"It's not so scary after taking off," Botan offered to Shura's uneasy face.

"I'm notscared," he said angrily, shifting his expression from nervous back to irritated.

"I never said you were," the ferry girl cooed, "I just thought I'd inform you…"

'I'll show her who's scared…' Shura thought, stomping over to the oar and mounting it with a determined look.

"All situated?" Botan asked, looking over her shoulder at the young passenger.

"Yes," he grunted, wanting to get the whole ordeal over with quickly.

"Great!" Botan exclaimed while quickly turning around, whipping Shura in the face with her ponytail, "You may want to hold on to me," she said, taking another glance behind her, "Since you aren't scared, I'm going to go pretty fast."

Shura frowned at the blatant sarcasm in her declaration of his bravery. Just as he was about to voice his disgust, the oar shot up into the heavens, temporarily stealing his ability to speak.

The air racing past them was cold and very powerful, causing Shura's eyes to glaze over and tear up. Trying to receive as little of the brunt as possible, he ducked his head behind Botan's back. This successfully saved his eyes from watering but stray strands of blue hair kept lashing out at his face, causing him to sneeze.

The sudden motion brought his head down so he could look to the ground below—something he had been trying to avoid for sake of his ego.

It seemed that they were miles above the ground, Gandara now just a tiny speck barely seen through the thick blanket of clouds. Shura's eyes bulged as he let out a faint yelp, clung to Botan's waist, and pressed his face into her shoulder as far as it would go—he had always hated heights.

Botan mouth tilted up at the ends to form a small smile. Mercifully, she slowed down, feeling Shura relax against her and breathe a sigh of relief. Grateful for this act of benevolence, the prince decided that he would keep quiet for the rest of the trip. With effort, he repressed the homicidal urges he was experiencing when he felt the ferry girl's shoulders move in what could only be a silent chuckle at his expense.

Soon his surroundings became very unfamiliar, the dark red evening sky of the Makai paling to a light pink hue. Rocky, spiraling mountains stuck up from the ground. Below, the River Styx twisted and turned in a snake like path around them. Placed almost exactly in front of the setting sun was a giant palace, seemingly ablaze with the dying rays of light.

When they were within the castle walls, Botan guided the oar down to the ground and motioned for Shura to get off.

Still shaken from the ride over, Shura swaggered a few meters away from the evil piece of wood and tired to dispel the feeling of nausea churning around in his stomach.

"Are you okay? I really am sorry if I went too fast… You look a little green," Botan observed, hopping off her oar and holding it to her shoulder like one would a baseball bat. With a nod in Shura's direction, she made her way over to the large palace doors.

"I'm fantastic," he grumbled coldly, following his chauffeur and attempting to glare a hole in the back of her head.

The entrance of the palace led to a dimly lit and very sinister looking corridor. Shura, expecting the gloomy surroundings, never would have guessed what would be behind the door at the end of the dismal hall.

"Right this way!" Botan chirped, her voice echoing down the hall as she pressed the button for the speaker next to the mechanical door. She leaned down so her mouth was only a few inches away from the receiver, "Botan here! The 'special package' and I are here to see Koenma."

The package's eye twitched.

As he made a motion in preparation to tell her off, the door suddenly slid open. Bright, florescent lights attacked Shura's pupils, shrinking them to tiny black dots, causing him to squint his eyes in pain and forget any notion he had about yelling at the ferry girl.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light and the blinding white burnt into the back of his eyelids faded away, he slowly took in the bizarre sight before him.

The room was large with blue-green tiled floors, the sheen of the reflected lights making it glow. Wooden desks and chairs were scattered in rows, mountains of paper work and other odds-and-ends dotted on and in between them, a clear surface to place a random thing very rare. Oni in all the colors of the rainbow frantically scuttled about, each with anywhere from one to ten horns evenly placed upon their balding heads. Most of the panicked creatures held what appeared to be no less than several tons of paper work in their arms, disappearing into a random room and reappearing seconds later only to run back to a desk to grab another armful. This was not exactly what Shura had expected the afterlife to look like.

Noting Shura's dumbfounded look but choosing to forgo a comment, Botan poked him out of his reverie, "Follow me."

The prince closed his mouth and followed Botan through the throng of onis and massive paper mountains to the back of the room where another hallway branched off. Unlike the previous hallway, this one looked almost exactly like the room that led to it, minus the desks and clutter.

Not pausing to knock on the door, Botan flung it open with a well-placed swing from her oar, "We're here!" she exclaimed to the peak of a blue hat hidden behind yet another stack of papers.

"Ah. I was expecting you two," said the voice behind the papers, hopping down to the floor in front of the desk to reveal himself as nothing more than a toddler in a blue robe with an oversized, pink-rimmed hat. "I have already sent George to go and fetch the wards. I am hoping we will be able to set off for Kurama's in under an hour," he stated around his spherical blue pacifier.

Shura, silent up until now, blinked a couple times in confusion before voicing his bewilderment, "YOU'RE Koenma?" he asked in utter disbelief, vaguely remembering a man in the tuxedo that his father had pointed out to him at the Makai Tournament, "You're just a baby!"

"The one and only," Koenma answered, becoming irritated at howincredulous Shura seemed, "And though I may appear to be the age you actually are," he began, scathing, "I happen to be far, far older, and would therefore require a little more respect from a mere child such as yourself."

The Prince of Gandara snorted loudly, "What are you going to do?" he paused, smirking down at the pint-sized ruler, "Throw your dirty diapers at me?"

"Why you—" Koenma started, stalking over to Shura.

The horned boy's smirk grew wider as he pulled back his right leg, readying himself to punt Koenma across the room when the angered deity was close enough.

"Now, now boys!" Botan interjected, dropping her oar and sweeping Koenma into her arms in a parody of a doting mother and an angry child, "Try and be civil. I know both of you are more mature than that," she scolded.

Shura made a face and stuck out his tongue at Koenma behind the ferry girl's back. Koenma fumed. "He started it!" the toddler yelled, pointing at the other prince over Botan's shoulder.

"Mmm-hmm," Botan said, not really agreeing or disagreeing as she set her disgruntled boss back down on the floor.

"Lord Koenma! I'm back with the wards!" A rough voice echoed through the hall before its owner ran through the door. It was another office oni. He wore a leopard print cloth around his waist and had light blue skin with blond hair framing the sides of his bald head. Like Shura, he had only one white horn, although it was higher up on his skull. He held a brown cloth bag in his right hand and had several rectangular boxes pressed between his side and left arm.

"Excellent, George," Koenma said in praise as he turned from the oni to Shura and narrowed his brown eyes, "Let's see how high and mighty you act with these on."

If it were anyone more than two feet tall, Shura may have actually been intimidated.

"You must be Prince Shura," the blue oni said, approaching the boy. "You sure have grown since the last time I've seen you," he rambled, "It was such a pity you had to fight against your father in your first match…" He pulled out a ring of black material from the bag he held in his hand and passed it to Shura, "Put this on one of your wrists."

Shura let out a hopeless sigh and complied as he listened to George chatter on about the Makai Tournament. He had to admit that he was still irritated in regards to that unfortunate match up. At the time, he was no match for his father, not even with all of the tricks he pulled.

When they were finished, Shura had five black wards on him: two on his wrists, two around his ankles, and one around his neck. "Don't think that just because my energy is suppressed I'm completely helpless and will bend to your command," he addressed to no one in particular, glaring down at the floor.

Botan sighed, "We wouldn't dream of exploiting you. This is just so you won't accidentally hurt any civilians."

Shura knew damn well that the blue haired girl was lying to him. 'It's because I would have blown up anyone who would dare boss me around. I bet Kurama's going to have a fucking field day,' he thought.

"We still have plenty of time before we have to be there," Koenma said, facing George, "Have him try on the uniform as well."

'Oh, lovely. A uniform.' Shura thought unenthusiastically, but without the usual rage that had been lining his thoughts throughout the day. If there was one thing that did not piss him off about this whole ordeal… Well, everything about it pissed him off. However, the one thing he didn't feel as angry about was the fact that he had to go to a human school. Sure, he had to be around the stupid things, but it's not like they could bother him or anything. They had to go there to learn. Therefore, they would be preoccupied with that task instead of annoying Shura with their existence. He, being the already well-educated prince that he was, could just tune out everything and take a nap or something. Yes, school would probably be his only reprieve from this heinous turn of events.

George handed him the top box under his arms; the rest were probably just spares.

Botan made a happy noise. Something between a squeal and a laugh. Regardless, it frightened Shura. "I'm going to go try mine on, too!" she said, bouncing out of the room.

'Hers?' Shura thought. A look of horror crossed his face as Yoda's voice rang through his head, 'She will be the one to take you to the Ningenkai. She will also be your escort for any event Kurama will be unable to attend.' 'There goes my reprieve for the day…' he thought dourly, his mind providing him with an image of the annoying ferry girl chatting away excitedly while his head begins to swell and then explode in a mushroom cloud of blood, skull fragments, tissue, and gray brain mass. The thing that depressed Shura the most is that she wiped his blood off her cheek and kept on talking while his headless body hit the ground with a thud. Shuddering, he opened the box that contained his uniform, 'At least it can't get any worse…' he thought bitterly.

That notion was put to rest the moment he caught a glimpse of the contents within the box.

"IT'SPINK!" he shouted at Koenma, who at once took cover behind his blue servant.

"Lord Koenma, he has the wards on. He can't harm you…" George whispered to the Prince of the Reikai.

Shura's pointy ears picked up that last comment, which only further enraged him, his temper only having a hair trigger. The stress from the nerve-racking events of the day had finally caught up to him and detonated, "LIKE HELL I CAN'T!" The horned prince screamed, lunging for Koenma's living shield and wrapping his hands around the oni's thick neck, his sharp nails digging into the blue flesh.

"Ko-Koenma…" George rasped out to his panicking lord, "In t-the bag…" was all he managed to get out as Shura continued to asphyxiate him.

Koenma lunged for the bag that George had dropped, sticking his small hand inside and looking for whatever the oni had been trying to inform him of. Finding something, Koenma yanked it out and looked at it. "Eureka!" he exclaimed happily, despite the fact that a maverick prince was still strangling his employee. The device he pulled out was similar to a control device that humans would call a 'shock collar.' It was simply a small black box with a classic "big red button" centered on the face. One just needs to press it hard enough and…

Shura's screamed as he released his hold on George's neck and hugged himself, falling to the floor curled up in a ball.

The blue oni fell to his hands and knees panting while Koenma let out a sigh of relief.

"I'd say it is more of a dark salmon than anything…" George panted out with a small laugh.

Koenma bopped him on the head like he has done so many times before, "How in the seven rings of hell can you joke about this!"

About two feet away, the collapsed prince chuckled—perhaps the blue oni wasn't too bad.

"He's twitching! Oh God, George! I killed him!" Koenma exclaimed, his mind fretting over where he could hide the body.

"Yomi is going to raise holy hell…" George added as an afterthought. "Do you think the Makai might start a war?" he asked fearfully.

"Don't say things like that!" the toddler scolded, running over to Shura as fast as his little legs would carry him.

Shura stayed as still as possible waiting for the right moment. He felt Koenma's small fingers wrap around his hand, which had fallen to cover his face. Revenge was indeed best served cold. "Boo!" Shura shouted, causing the smaller prince to jump into the air and scream.

"Argh!" Koenma growled, not liking the fact that Shura was now laughing uncontrollably at his plight. He would show him… Taking the ward control in his hand, he punched at it, venting his anger on the big red button.

When Shura was not screaming in pain, he was laughing to the point of tears. Over his own howls of either joy or agony, he could vaguely hear the frustrated voice of Botan.

"Give me that!" Botan. Probably snatching the small black box.

"Ow!" Koenma. Apparently, she had smacked him a good one.

When his vision became a little less hazy, the first thing he saw was a pair of black dress shoes. They were shiny, single strapped, and had legs growing out of them. He followed the appendages of the shoes up until they went into a knee-length salmon pleated dress, which then went up to a same colored long-sleeved sailor top with a yellow ribbon tied around the collar. Perched on top of that was Botan's head. What was it doing all the way up there?

"Do you need help getting up?" she asked.

"No. I'm fine," Shura lied. Those wards hurt like a bitch. Even so, he supposed it was worth it. In the short time Shura had known Koenma, he decided that making the other prince angry is what he would strive for while in each other's company.

"You don't have to worry about me using the controller as," she paused, looking for the right word, "impulsively as Koenma does. As long as you don't hurt any humans, I will not use it at all."

Koenma pouted from the other side of the room in a sort of 'time-out'.

Shura glanced at him; he had his arms crossed and was moping, which looked oddly familiar to Shura somehow. He also noticed that the toddler had a large bump on his forehead. Shura smirked. Koenma made a rude hand gesture.

Botan sighed again. "Both of you…" she started, but decided that it was not worth the effort to finish. "Shura, just try on the uniform. I'll meet both of you at the front entrance," she instructed in an irritated tone. Despite Koenma's title, it was slightly obvious to see who wore the pants around the Reikai when Enma was nowhere to be found.

Nothing worthwhile was truly spoken between then and the period spanning until they reached the Ningenkai. Shura's uniform, despite his protests, remained pink, and all five of the atrocious pieces of clothing were placed in a single box, which Botan mysteriously made disappear. The three of them arrived outside of Kurama's apartment door at nine o'clock sharp. Once there, Koenma shifted to his adult form, allowing Shura to make the connection between the man in the tuxedo at the tournament and Koenma himself.

"Who's the young one now?" the Reikai prince asked, looking down at Shura and smiling around his pacifier.

Shura gnashed his teeth together, sourly noting that Koenma was now more than a head taller than he was.

Koenma's smile fed off Shura's anger and got wider. Slowly, he extended his finger to press the doorbell.

The soft padding of feet on carpet floors could be heard approaching the door. Locks on the other side clicked and the door gently opened, the soft glow of a foyer lamp escaping into the night.

There the human form of the great thief Youko Kurama stood, looking the same as Shura had remembered him. Kurama was still taller than Shura, which displeased him greatly. Stupid youko. The same stupid red hair was still there, only longer. His stupid green eyes glimmered in the cold moonlight, warming up when he placed his gaze on his two friends. "Good evening Koenma, Botan…" he paused as his stupid green eyes met with Shura's most scathing glare, reserved especially for stupid, back stabbing youkos, "…Shura. It's been a while since I've seen you. I see you've grown into quite the pleasant young man."

'Pleasant young man my ass.' Shura snorted, 'Fuck you, you stupid old fox.' He thought, but deep down inside knew he had better not rile Youko Kurama too much. If he could not safely voice his disgust, he would just glare some more.

Seemingly unaffected by Shura's coldness, he stepped out of the way and guided the three into his home.

"Would any of you like something to drink?" Kurama asked.

"Botan and I can only be here for a little while." Shura heard Koenma answer as he flopped down on a blue couch, trying to get comfortable. After all, he was going to be here for a long time.

"What about you, Shura?" the soft voice of "Shuuichi Minamino" asked the prince.

'Only if it involves you sticking your head in the blender, setting it on "purée", and dying.' He desperately wanted to answer, but settled for an impolite, "…No," and tried to glare a hole into the stupid fox's stupid coffee table. That would show him for accepting Yomi's offer.

"Alright then," Koenma said a few minutes later, "Kurama, if you have no questions, I will see you later."

"And I will be here tomorrow morning to escort Shura to school," Botan piped up, materializing the rectangular box that held his uniforms and handing it to Kurama, "Here is his uniform, there are several spares in here as well."

She turned to Shura with big smile on her face, "Tomorrow after school the girls and I are going to take you shopping!"

The way she said that last word honestly frightened Shura. Thank God this was all only a dream.

"I will see both of you tomorrow!" she said, waving and following Koenma out the door.

"This is no unnecessary…" Shura muttered after the gruesome twosome had left.

"It is your own fault," Kurama said. "What possessed you to think that you could act that way? Is it because you're a prince? I honestly cannot believe the Yomi I know would not dicipline you."

Shura, angry that he was not the one doing the verbal bitch-slapping, stalked up to the stupid youko, got up on his tip-toes and tried to look as intimidating as possible, "You obviously don't know my father, so DON'T bring him into this. I can act however I please."

Kurama looked down at Shura and narrowed his eyes.

"And why is that?" The youko asked, looking smug.

"Because I can," he answered. That was Shura's justification for everything.

"Does that make it right?" he asked, "I hired an assassin for your father all those years ago because I could. You would not even be here if the coward had not fled because he was losing. He was scared of a pathetic man that he had only just blinded. He ran away because he could."

"Shut up!" Shura yelled, so blinded by anger that he threw a punch that Kurama easily dodged. What surprised Shura the most is that he returned it. Even more surprising was that it hurt.

"Listen Shura, I'm sorry about hitting you, but you're being childish," he turned away from his houseguest, and made his way to the kitchen—God, he neededa drink, alcoholic or otherwise. "Your room is the single one on the left side of the hallway over there. I'll see you in the morning. Good night." He growled the last part, the youko side of him slipping past the human aspect.

Shura cupped his cheek, which was now tender, but would probably not bruise, "I hate you," he said simply, stalking off to find his temporary sanctuary for the length of his stay.

OOOOO

Before he could ponder the rest of his dream, an alarm clock screeched and broke his train of thought.

"Alarm clock?" he asked aloud. He owned no alarm clock. He would get up when he was damn well ready.

Shifting around in the comforter, Shura managed to reach out and shut the offending device off. When he did, he noticed that there was a very familiar looking leather band around his wrist.

"No…" he said in disbelief, looking around him. It was the same room he had entered in his dream.

The same clothes he had received from Yoda in the dream were now on his body. "This is not happening…" he whispered, pinching himself on the same cheek the fox demon had punched in his dream.

"Ow!" How could that possibly have hurt him? It was only a light pinch—just hard enough so he would wake up to his bed in Gandara, in his pajamas, without an alarm clock.

Shura waited patiently in the bed, watching the light from the Ningenkai sun filter into his room through the window. It finally donned on him that this was, in fact, all real. He took deep, calming breaths. In and out. In and out. With one final intake of breath, he opened his mouth…

OOOOO

"ARRRRGH!" Shrieked a loud voice, muffled by the barrier of several walls, but still articulated enough to echo through the apartment and possibly several floors below.

A surprised Botan, who had arrived only minutes prior, spit her tea out all over her red-haired host's face.

Kurama sighed and refilled the ferry girl's cup, "I think Shura's awake…" He said in a monotone, standing up to go get himself a napkin.

OOOOO

Comments: Toned down the profanity. It's not really that funny when you're my age. Or something.