Chapter 21
Sorry for the no update for so long. Just to let everyone know, I do read the reviews and I appreciate all of them.
"C'mon. We don't have all day." Hiei scowled as Yusuke looked around the corner quickly, then seeing that no one was there, he ran to the other corner. "Uremeshi! Just what do you think you're doing? Stop sneaking around like a thief and walk with me." The smaller demon was rapidly losing his patience. Yusuke had not stopped being paranoid about his 'outfit' ever since he stepped out of the dressing room. Now he was checking out every corridor and corner to see if anyone was there to see him. "Might I remind you that we are trying to be spotted since we are completely and utterly lost?"
"I'm doing the best I can!" Yusuke growled in response. "It's a natural thing for a guy to hide when he's dressed like this! It's embarrassing!"
"You look fine. There goes a guard, you ask him for directions." Hiei let Yusuke walk ahead of him.
"Why me?" Yusuke whined. He had been doing a lot of that since he got into the pink dress. Tugging at his sleeves to make himself appear more presentable, Yusuke mastered a smile on his face and addressed the guard. "Umm…Mr. Guard. My friend and I are looking for the dancers' quarters. You see we are new and are completely lost in this place." Yusuke held onto the black pearl necklace Koenma had given him earlier. It held a spell to change Yusuke's voice.
The guard looked at Yusuke and a gigantic smile was immediately lit upon his face. Some mischief clearly shone in his eyes. "Sure honey. I'll show you. Just follow me, sweetheart." After looking at the spirit detective up and down in an approving way, he grabbed Yusuke's arm and started to lead him in the opposite direction.
Hiei didn't like that gleam in the guard's eyes as he looked at Yusuke. He knew that guard was up to no good. "Ahem. I'm sure you have to guard this place, and we really wouldn't want you to leave your post and get scolded. So you can just give us the directions and we'll follow them ourselves."
"Who are you?" The guard eyed Hiei, not at all happy.
"I'm with her. Surely you wouldn't mind my advice, since I believe I saw your superior walking just down a hallway we passed a moment ago. He has to be pretty close by." Hiei tried not to smirk as the guard looked at Yusuke in defeat and gave them the directions. Hiei snatched Yusuke and went away as fast as he could, finally dropping Yusuke's arm when they were far enough. Without waiting for the other boy, he went on ahead.
"Hey!" Yusuke had to almost run to catch up with the demon. "Why'd you do that for? That nice guard was going to show us himself where it was."
"Baka!" Hiei stopped suddenly and smacked Yusuke on the head. He was angry.
"Ow… Don't stop suddenly!" Yusuke was rubbing his bruised head, slightly confused.
"Do you realize that I have just saved you, you idiot. You really are that naïve aren't you?" Hiei waited for a response, but Yusuke only gave the demon a blank look. 'My god, he really is that stupid.' Hiei sighed. "That guard wasn't going to show you anywhere but his own room." Hiei couldn't believe someone can be as dense as Yusuke.
Yusuke froze at those words. "His own room? But…why would he? I'm a…" Yusuke looked down at his dress. "Oh. Hehe, I forgot I look like a girl."
Hiei refrained himself from strangling Yusuke. 'Why do I have to work with him?' Walking in front of Yusuke, he guided them towards their destination.
A dark haired woman frowned upon the new dancers. "You two are late."
"Uh… we got lost." Yusuke put on a sheepish smile.
"Hmm… don't get lost again. It's too late for you two to practice anything, so I'll show you your rooms. Remember to meet here tomorrow morning. The Lord will be choosing his dancers to entertain him. But I doubt you two will be chosen, since you don't even know our routine." The woman turned around and started walking.
"What do we address you by?" Hiei asked as he pulled Yusuke to follow.
"Miss Lira." She left the two at their rooms and went back to her work.
An uncomfortable silence had settled upon the room, since neither one wanted to talk. Yusuke quickly undressed, then looked around surprised. "Hey I wondered why she would put us in the same room. I mean I'm a girl and you're a guy, so won't she think of separating us?"
"I was thinking the same thing." Hiei looked out the window of their room.
"Maybe they know something?" Yusuke walked to where Hiei was. "Hey, at least we get a view." He said, pointing to the window overlooking the ocean.
Yusuke yawned. The sun wasn't even up yet and Hiei had woken him. "It's too early."
"I won't complain if I were you. It's because of you that we have to wake at this hour." Hiei threw something at Yusuke.
"What's this?"
"Your makeup kit." Hiei tried to ignore the dumbfounded look Yusuke was giving him. "Use it."
Without a word, Yusuke opened the bag and took a deep breath. 'Okay! Uremeshi, you can do this. You've died and came back to life, not to mention slay countless demons. How hard can putting on makeup be?'
"I'm going to the bathhouse. Try not to hurt yourself while I'm gone." Hiei grimaced as he thought of Yusuke and the makeup. 'I'd better be back soon, hopefully he doesn't poke his eyes out while I'm gone.'
Yusuke stared hard at the items in the bag. 'Damn, shouldn't have wiped it off last night.' Taking out a mirror, Yusuke started his task.
Hiei turned the shower on, expecting cold water to rain down on his body. He was surprised that the castle had such advance facilities. One quick look at the place told him that he was alone for the moment. Closing his eyes, Hiei tried to enjoy this quiet time. The cold water had now turned warm.
Not too much time later, laughing was heard from the entrance of the place, alerting Hiei. "So are you going to tell us how it went or what?" A male voice sounded.
"Heh, she protested at first, but stopped when she realized how good it was. I can't wait until tonight, when I'll take her again." An arrogant voice boasted.
"But today's the day when the Lord picks his private dancers. How would you know you're not going to be one of them?" A third voice asked.
"Everyone knows the Lord likes his guys more feminine. Besides, he can't advance onto me anyways, I'm straight." The arrogant voice sounded louder as he got closer towards Hiei.
Hiei decided it was time he finished with his shower, and put on a thin shirt and pants. Walking out, he could see three males chatting. Finally able to see the arrogant person, Hiei smirked. 'Hn. I can see why the Lord doesn't choose him, he's too ugly.'
Looking up at Hiei, the arrogant man spoke. "Hey, I haven't seen you around here before. You new?"
"Yes." Hiei narrowed his eyes. He didn't like this guy.
"You see? That's what the Lord likes," the man kept talking, while ignoring Hiei, "Someone of a slighter build."
"Are you saying the Lord does not like females?" Hiei walked closer to the group.
"What? You don't know? You really are new, eh. Well, I'm Razor. And these are Samus and Kito. Hehe, the Lord likes only male. Any other questions?"
"Why are males and females put together in the same room?" Hiei stopped right in front of Razor.
"For us. What else?" Razor smirked.
"What?" Hiei was not expecting that answer.
"They are for the males to use as they like. What? You don't like the answer? It's true, even though there's no order that states that. All the females here are unwilling, but what can they do against us? Miss Lira doesn't care about the females, only the males are valuable." A nasty smile spread across Razor's face. "That's why I want to stay here as long as possible. Unlimited pleasures are hard to pass by."
"So you rape them?" Hiei's dislike for the place grew more as each minute passed by.
"Don't look at us like we're the devil here. You have a woman in your room too right?" Razor walked pass Hiei, dismissing the smaller demon.
Hiei glared and walked back to his room. It was useless to start a fight here. Opening the door to his room, Hiei sighed as a yelp sounded followed by "Ow! My eye!"
Now, after many attempts, Yusuke's makeup was finally decent, meaning he no longer looked like a panda. Hiei stood besides Yusuke as they were ushered into a colossal ballroom. The entire group of dancers was made to stand in a line, facing outwards so the Lord could inspect each one of them individually. Hiei could feel the tension rising as the time for the Lord to appear drew closer.
Yusuke's heart flutter with nervousness. 'What if he sees through my disguise? Or choose Hiei but not me?' Hiei had told him earlier about his encounter with Razor in the bathhouse. 'What if it's a different Lord and he does choose me?' Yusuke snapped his attention back to the ballroom as soft music started to play, signaling the Lord's entrance.
Miss Lira stood apart from the group, greeting the Lord humbly. Yusuke dared to sneak a glance at the Lord and gasped. The long silver hair, the graceful stance, he couldn't be mistaken for anyone else but Narako. Yusuke gulped as the Lord took a look at the dancers. His eyes connected with Yusuke's, but it moved on, without any recognition. The spirit detective let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. 'Whew, didn't know it was me.'
Miss Lira was talking. "Now we've chosen the best dancers to please you. They are beautiful in both form and movements, I assure you." She went on until Narako silenced her.
The Lord's face was expressionless, as he looked the first person in line up and down. He moved on, showing no interest. This went on down the line. Occasionally, Narako would ask someone for his or her name, but only twice before he reached Hiei. Yusuke clenched his hands in anticipation. He was next after Hiei.
A long moment passed, making Hiei think the Lord would move onto Yusuke. But he spoke. "What is your name?"
"Hiei." The small demon didn't let his surprise show. It was obvious that the Lord chose by asking for a name. Without another word, he passed.
Yusuke tried not to look into Narako's eyes, averting his gaze on the ground instead. He could feel his heart beat like crazy. The Lord stopped a long time before him, just like Hiei. Yusuke expected him to ask for his name any time now. Then he realized that his name couldn't be Yusuke, he was a girl, or supposed to be. 'A girl's name…' Yusuke quickly tried to think of one. 'Hmm…how about Yura?' He finally came up with one, when the Lord walked passed him without a word. Yusuke blinked in shock. 'Huh? What just happened?' Narako just continued without hesitation down the line, ignoring Yusuke. 'Maybe he really doesn't know it's me.' After a few minutes, the shock had settled and Yusuke calmed.
The ceremony was about to end, since the Lord had finished making his way down the line. Now he stood, in front of the dancers, ready to speak his final words before letting everyone return to their tasks. "For those I have asked for a name, please step forward." A shuffling of feet and a total of five people took a step forward, including Hiei. "Jiro, show them their new rooms. The rest of you may go." Narako turned his back to the dancers, ready to leave.
Yusuke didn't know what to do. Hiei had a new room now. Where it was, he didn't know, but he was sure he'd not be able to access it. Yusuke cursed silently as he was about to turn and leave. He had to somehow figure this out by himself.
Narako smirked. "Dismissed. With the exception of the girl in the pink dress."
"Huh?" Yusuke actually said it, not believing his own ears. Looking down at his pink dress, Yusuke quickly glanced around to see if anyone else wore pink. One guy wore pink, but he was not in a dress, and coincidentally, Yusuke Uremeshi was the only one wearing a pink dress. The spirit detective swallowed as Narako walked towards him, an amusing smile on his face.
"The reason I did not ask for your name… was because I already know it." Narako spoke, and then leaned in to Yusuke's ears. "Yusuke Uremeshi." He whispered softly, lips almost touching Yusuke's skin.