SatoriSama: Alright, this might not make sense to you, but in the next few chapters it will. I'll leave it to you to find out whats happening. If Kurama sound depressed and somewhat insane, it's because he has suddenly found something he thought her had lost, and she is not happy. At all.

You the Bomb, Yo:

Kitsune Kit: O.o! OMG! I'm gonna have to try this boxer/roller skate Barbie/hairspray thing. VERY COOL! As always, thanks, and please tell me if this chapter is mary-suey or cliché. And about Hiei and Daja: I'd um, like to clarify. NOT A MOVIE! MOVE! (twitches because of perverted thoughts). LOL. Thanks.

LivingImpared: As always, I give you my thanks for you continuing support of my fiction.

Venusgreenight: You are the worst conversationalist. Ever. LOL

Spork: LOL. Very nice. Thanks for your awesome support.

PainfulxRecovery: I know about the high school thing. I've got like 6 projects due in the next three weeks. Good luck with second semester. Thanks many times!

Bring on the chapter!


Chapter 22: Total Eclipse

Kurama: The sign says Lunar Eclipse, but the neon tubes sputter and falter as if some unseen wind was torturing the bright light inside. Slowly but surely, a few of the letters flicker out, leaving a fairly coded message in its wake. The dark black doors inlaid with mirrors reveal nothing about this gathering place inside to me, but the smell of smoke and alcohol tell another story.

I push open the door and slip in, few of the occupants noticing me as I do. Those that do either return to what they are doing, or they stare at me for a few good seconds with awe. The males tend to do the former, and the females the latter.

The Lunar Eclipse lounge is set up differently than most bars in the demon world. The bar is against the back wall and set up in such a way that only two demons have to work it in order for the whole room to be serviced. Against the opposite wall, is a stage decorated with a simple set and tidied up with deep purple curtains. I suppose they have shows here every night, for quite the crowd has gathered. Between the stage and the bar, tables and small booths fill up the area with half a dozen scantily clad barmaids tending to guests and tables. One of the barmaids looks up at me, her brow lightening slightly as she takes in my appearance.

She approaches me, wiping off her hands on the dishrag tied to her belt. She has long, stormy looking, dark plum colored hair, cobalt colored eyes, and gentle looking ears that came to a point at the tips, but these are not her most striking features. Between her shoulder blades, protruding from her darkly tanned skin of her back were two beautiful feathered wings of purple feathers tipped in blue. They ruffle for a second, then settle back down as she stretches them out behind her, folding gently against her exposed back. But as she did this simple and undoubtedly unconscious action with her wings, something very important came to my attention. The feathers seem thinner than they would have been in any other member of her species, and I make a mental note of why: her primary feathers have been clipped off, probably to keep her from taking to the skies, to keep her from escaping this place. My thoughts fly like the wind to Zane Gensou, and I can't help but to mentally curse him for taking away this girl's only freedom, her gift of flight.

"Hello, and welcome to the Lunar Eclipse. My name is Miyuki." She looks incredibly jovial, but I can tell it's only a front she puts on for the guests. "How can I be of service to you this evening?" She looked almost hopeful, wistful, as if she wanted me to say I wanted her to be my mate. Her left wing twitched a little, and then settled back down in its previous position.

"Thank you Miyuki, but I think I'm just going to sit down at the bar." I say good-naturedly, but her eyes immediately fall, and she nods, saying the spiel she must say to every guest that enters through these doors.

"The bartenders will take care of you when sit down at their counter, but if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask any of the girls for anything. Enjoy your time here."

She started to move away, but I set a hand on her shoulder, my fingers gently brushing against the feathers near where her wings join her back. The feathers ruffle up again, and she stops, her head turning my way quickly, and her eyes questioning.

Quietly, I add trying to lower this girl's sadness to a more manageable level. "I would be honored if you would join me for a drink later."

Her eyes light up with a pure light for a moment, and she is about to reply, before the feeling was cut off, her eyes widen in surprise. She gently removes my hand from her shoulder, and she whispers with a shaky voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any more breaks tonight." She squeezes my hand softly, regretfully. "It was a nice thought, thank you… for that."

She turns away and sees that one of her tables needs to be waited on. As she walks, she takes a final look and me and smiles, putting back on her only line of defense, a cheerful demeanor. After that, she turns away, giving her wings one final stretch before getting back to work.

Sighing, I make my way to the bar near the back of the lounge. As I sit myself down on the tall black stool, the bartender makes his way to me, smiling as he finishes drying a tumbler with a cloth.

"My name is Zaviar, and I'll be yer all 'round bartender this ev'ning. What can I get 'chou, gov'ner." He says with a familiar accent that I can't quite place. He sets the tumbler down and leans against the bar.

"Coffee, black." I say in return.

"Sure." He turns around and grabs a mug, filling with the dark liquid from a freshly brewed pot. Looking down the bar, he comments cheerfully. "Yer the only one sit'n here now. Not that I'm ser'prised. The shows starting soon. It's always been an in'trest fer all them sit'n up there in the front rows. Not that I blame them. The shows pretty good, if I do say so meself."

I take a sip of the warm coffee and set the mug down on the table. My kitsune curiosity has reached its peak with all this talk about a show. "What kind of show is it?"

Zaviar laughs and pours himself a cup of some alcohol. "Don't you tell me you've ne'er heard of the Lunar Eclipse girlies now." He laughs and continues. "It's just a ent'rtainment. A few dance numbers, some songs, a little ass. A stand'rd show for a demon casino, I'll bet. But we do 'ave some headliners that are really good at what they do, and 'ave ne'er left this stage. In fact, see that woman over there." He points over my shoulder. "That girl, with the long, yellowy-gold hair. That's Ebony Gouka."

I turn around, and follow Zaviar's finger towards the tables, where a stunningly clad socialite is making her way through the tables, laughing and greeting all the guests like she knew each of them personally. She's tall and thin, well proportioned. She's pretty and she knows it because her dress flaunts all her features shamelessly. Her blonde hair is slightly curled, and is gathered at the back of her head in a ponytail.

"You see 'er? Yep, that's Ebony; she's the stage mistress, she is. She petitioned Zane a few years back, and she got 'er way. She's been here longer than I 'ave, and I 'ave been here for about eight months now." Zaviar looked around suspiciously, then leaned forward confidentially. "Between you an' me, I think she has stayed here so long 'cause she's one o' Zane's favorites. I think he has 'er on call: stage call, help call, booty call, that whole bag, n'way." He leans back and takes a swig of whatever is in his glass. "Or it could be 'cause her tag is too high, if you know what I mean." He raised his glass towards the stage and nodded. "To the success of all the girlies. Mostly 'cause they are the one's I fancy, if you follow me." He winks and downs the rest of his drink.

I nod and watch as Zaviar turns toward the man who sits down a few seats to my right. He walks off and begins to take this demon's order. "Welcome to the Lunar Eclipse. I'm Zaviar, you're bartender to'night. What can I get 'chou sir….."

I stare into the blackness of the coffee and sigh.

A soft hand on my shoulder startles me out of my reverie. "Oh. Why do you sigh? Are you bored, because I can entertain you, if you want."

The person who set their hand on my shoulder sits down next to me gracefully in the stool next to me. Her blonde hair falling seductively down her bare back, and her brown eyes sparkling with excitement. Her lips were a bright red, and her eyelashes a deep black.

I watch as she looked at me appraisingly, her eyes flitting from my feet to my eyes. She sticks her hand out and grasped mine, as if to shake it. "I'm Ebony, and you are?"

"Kurama. It's nice to meet you, Ebony." I release her hand, and she set it on the counter with the other. I watch as she continued to study me. Deciding to be social with this 'Zane's Girl', I ask if she would like to join me for a drink.

"Mmm, thanks, but I can't." She smiles and stands back up. "I have to go make sure everyone is ready for the show. Good bye, Mr. Kurama." She kisses my cheek and walks away, navigating through the tables and to a side door that blends into the wall. I wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't have gone through it.

I turn back to the bar, and touch my cheek softly. It has been so long since anyone has dared to kiss me.

"I see 'chou 'ave met Ebony. Fancy her?" Zaviar says, as he refills my coffee cup.

I look at the cup, and the man down the bar flags Zaviar down.

I take a sip as the lights overhead begin to dim to a soft darkness. Demons behind me start to cheer, and I assume the show is starting. I drink some of the coffee, and lean run a hand through my hair.

As the crowd quiets down, the sounds of spotlights coming to life reaches my ears a fraction of a second before a single voice rises out over the sounds of the crowd. "Come one, come all, come the lowest of low to the annoyingly tall! For now our show is beginning!"

The voice is masculine, and the manner of speech somewhat familiar. He clears his throat with a cough and continues mysteriously. "You've searched for entertainment, and such you have found." His voice rises to just below a shout. "For a show is commencing and the so is the sound!"

He pauses dramatically, and the effect is working. "Tonight the show has altered once more, I've invited a solo girl you praised so highly to the floor. Our stage was without her for naught more than a new moon, but now she returns so to sing us her sweet harmonies, and her spirited tunes."

The voice becomes larger, more grandiloquent, more exuberant with every word her utters. It is clear to me that he was born for a life on the stage. "May I present the one I have vowed, and the one who so close to your hearts is endowed. The dancer of darkness, the songstress of seduction, the one and the only mistress of music, RAYNE!"

Wild applause breaks out behind me, and I focus on the cup of coffee in front of me. Whatever the demons are cheering for cannot be very virtuous. It's probably a female who shows off more of her body than she should. My kitsune side wants to watch the show and clap and cheer like everyone else, but my human soul has more control over its urges than that.

The lights go out totally, save for a few candles on the tables behind me that I can see on the wall. A hush falls over the noisy crowd, who is waiting expectantly for the show. I hear a few grumbling about the lack of entertainment when…

A small explosion of light from behind me signals the performer's appearance, as also does the sounds of catcalls and whistles.

A lone, but incredibly beautiful voice floats dangerously over the crowd towards me. "Now I will tell you what I've done for you."

My eyes snap open and my ears are lying to me. They have to be. It can't…

"50 thousand tears I've cried. Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you. And you still won't hear me…"

That… that voice… I know that voice.

"Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself. Maybe I'll wake up for once. Not tormented daily defeated by you. Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom"

No…

"I'm dying again"

Slowly I turn around, not wanting to see what I know is going to be behind me. But it is. It's her.

As my eyes travel up to the stage, the kitsune inside me twists and writhes in emotional distress at the sight of the on stage. Her hair is now short and curly, a sexy blonde, but other than that, not much else has changed. Her outfit is red and black, her makeup dark enough for me to see from across the room, her movements still graceful, calm, yet so appealing.

And just as I move to get out of this wretched place, this cursed hotel, this evil casino, she looks back to the bar, her eyes taking in everything. For a moment, she catches my eyes, and stops in mid song, only for a second.

"I'm going under, drowning in you. I'm falling forever. I've got to break thro—"

She catches herself and makes up for her mistake. Her eyes immediately return to the crowd near the stage.

"Through! I'm going under!"

She is still singing as pay Zaviar and slip out of the bar. I take one last look at her, and find she is looking at me too. She sends a strange look towards me, and my insides go cold with fear. She recognizes me even in this human form, and that also scares me.

The door closes behind me with a small thud as I exit the bar.

"Rayne…" I whisper quietly as I make my way towards the elevators. After getting in, I punch the buttons to get me to our room. "No… It can't be you. Why did you stay here after what happened all those years ago…"

I thought I had left her in my past. I thought she would have left this city after what I did to her. I… I…

After what I did to her all those years, how could she even bear to be in the same building as me?

As the elevator doors slide closed behind me, and I step out into the hallway and near the door to the suite, I come to a depressing conclusion. "Now that she's seen me, there is no escaping her..." After I enter the apartment, I make my way up the stairs, quickly, and enter my room, locking the door behind me.

The rain beats against the window mercilessly and the moon begins to emerge from behind the dark storm clouds as I try to drift into dreamless sleep.


SatoriSama: All right. I just had to bring out Kurama's secret woman from his past. If Kurama seems scared of her, he does have just reason to be, so just wait for the next chapter or so to find out what he did to hurt her. Tell me what you thought when you review, cause I was going out on a limb here, and was not sure how this chapter would be accepted. From the other side of the looking glass, SatoriSama signing out.