Chapter 3: Moonlight Meetings
Kurama waited until he heard JD's breathing even out. The night was cool, the air crisp and humid. He could smell rain on the horizon. Youko was asleep in his mind, and he wished he was with him in the bottom bunk. However, Kurama had a job to do. As much as he hated ulterior motives, here he was.
He made his way up onto the roof of the dorms, where there were several oddly shaped plastic chairs scattered about. A rusty railing made it difficult for anyone to fall off the building. He leaned against a small corner, facing toward the long road so that no one would see what he was doing at first.
"Koenma, Kurama here," he said. The cell-phone-like communications device linked him directly to the junior god and his friends back in Japan. "I've located three good candidates already."
"Good job, Kurama. What are their names, I'll have the blue ogre do a background check on them."
"Criss Nallen, Jason Dogg, and Princess Juniper Gonzalez. Jason is the strongest of the three, but not by much."
"What would you rank them on the demon class scale?"
"Upper D Class for the two girls. Jason is in the lower C Class."
"Very powerful for normal humans… I wonder if they know they are psychic?"
"Jason does, sir," Kurama said. "He's been training with a man in New York City. I let slip that I, too, have been training. He knows who Genkai is. I trust him."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Kurama."
"Shuichi? Is that you?" Kurama turned around. It was Criss. "What're you doing up here this late at night?"
"I could as you the same thing." He whispered into the phone: "Koemna, I've got to go."
He shut the casing on the cell-phone-like device and turned back to Criss. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to call my mother."
.Smooth lie, Shuichi. Didn't I teach you that one?...Shut up, Youko..
.Bite me.
"It's nice to keep in contact," Criss smiled. Kurama noticed that it looked a little forced and fake. Most of her smiles looked like this one. But this was a little different. She seemed almost sad.
"Yes, it is," he said. "Why are you awake?"
"I'm a night person," she shrugged. "Never been able to sleep much. It's the critter in me, I suppose. Plus, the moon is full. I never sleep on the full moon. Just can't."
Kurama glanced up into the night sky, where the heavy, solid moon shimmered bright. The whole campus lay below, bathed in the white light. Kurama recognized the main lecture hall and the chapel.
"The moon is beautiful tonight," Kurama agreed.
"Yeah…ain't she, though? I love the full moon. I'm weird. I go up on the roof every time there's a full moon… That's one of the few memories I keep from when I lived here."
.She sounds like a wolf demon.
..I don't think
she is. I think she's merely human. She would be smart enough to
mask her energy if she were aware of it..
.She doesn't remember things. She's nocturnal. She likes the moon. All she needs to do is start howling and running, and we've got ourselves a wolf demon..
..Don't do this,
Youko. She's human. She doesn't smell anything otherwise..
Criss was completely unaware of this entire conversation. In fact, she seemed to have altogether forgotten that Shuichi was there. She just continued to gaze up at the moon, her eyes reflecting the enormous white orb. It looked a little strange, her eyes almost completely white.
For a moment, Kurama didn't know what to do. If he stayed up here much longer, he wouldn't get any sleep at all. If he left her…He wasn't sure he could handle Koenma's wrath if anything happened to one of his candidates.
Without thinking, Kurama placed his hand on her shoulder. "Will you be all right up here by yourself?"
"Yeah, of course," she said. "Not like anything's out to get me."
Kurama smiled politely and headed downstairs.
.Yeah, but if this little plan of yours goes through, Shuichi, she will have things after her.
..I realize that. I will have to break this to the three of them a little more slowly than Yusuke started out..
.They didn't get run over by a car and meet the Grim Reaper, so, duh!.
..Youko, I didn't even know you knew that word!..
.JD's rubbing off on me. I like the boy.
..Don't get any funny ideas. You're always like this during mating season..
.What sort of ideas did you mean? The type where we throw him on the bed and—.
..La la la, I'm not listening!..
Sorry if Youko comes off a little strong on the "sexual" meter. I know the show does not reveal much more than passing kitsune "interests" and "curiosities". My defense? Kurama is in heat. He is actually putting up a good fight, I think. That will change in future chapters.
I know Jun is shallow, because, well, that's the kind of person she is. You know those kind of girls pretty well. Airheads with no more idea of morals than their pretty heads can stand. I've met quite a few of them in my day and they spawned the hideous creation of Jun. There's a little more to her than meets-the-eye, but not much. I made it so that you'd purposely find a reason not to like her, but she still has some redeeming qualities. I mean, she is in college and she does actually work for her living, right?
Reason Youko likes Jun: He's a man and he's in heat. Jun is the perfect physical specimen for beauty around. I mean, jaw-droppin' gorgeous. The only setback is that she's, well…read on.
And to my wonderful reviewer who spawned these answers, I would like to thank you. You were brave enough to give me a good, solid reason for why you were hesitant to like my story and I respect you fully for doing it. You're right. Jun is the last girl Kurama would actually fall in love with. But fall in lust with? I dunno, that is where opinions curve, in my opinion.
Sorry if I come off a little strong on this point, I think all men are infected to some degree with lust. Must be why the only guys I've been asked out by are the desperate and the players. Or they've been set up to ask me out by their mothers. shudders at bad memories It's mostly my history with men that makes me react to them like this. Sorry if it come off in my stories too much.
One more thing: Youko is actually wrong about her being demon. Just wanted to point that out, because a lot of people push the back button when they see another demon or part demon.