30. Prince Charming's Invitation and Secrets
The same morning, Yukina awoke in her room in the Makai to find that her suitcase had been brought to her in the middle of the night. It was sitting upright against the window, the sun's rays shining brightly on it.
The sun not only shone on the white leather, but also on a white envelope on top of it. Intrigued, Yukina stood up and walked over to her suitcase. The envelope was just plain white in color, no name or address on it. Picking it up, she delicately slid her finger under the flap and untucked the envelope. She pulled out the letter written on white stationery with a red checkered trim.
"'Dear Ice Apparition'," Yukina read aloud. "'I have reason to believe that you are in contact with the Spirit World Detective, Yusuke Urameshi. His school is having a School's-Out Dance in two days, and I would be happy if you would come. Don't worry about looking for me—I'll look for you. Yours truly, The Man of Mystery.'" Yukina looked up at the brightly shining sky and sighed with delight. She knew that the so-called "Man of Mystery" just had to be the man from last night. The guy who had rescued her from the bloodlusting lizard demon.
"Two days," Yukina breathed, holding the letter to her chest. "Two days…" She smiled, thinking of how good it felt to be in love again. Even if she had only known the man for about two seconds… But it was still love in her eyes… A simple little "love-crush"…
It was almost eleven o'clock at night when Kurama heard the noise below his window. He set down the book he was reading and walked over to the window. In the dim light of the night, he could see that his stalker was standing right underneath the window. He quietly slid open the window and saw her wave. He waved back then put one finger up to signal to wait a second. He slid open his closet and pulled out a box on the top shelf. Pulling out a thick rope and placing the lid back on the box, he walked over to the window and threw the rope down.
"I hope you don't mind climbing," he said softly, but just loud enough so that the girl could hear him.
With no hesitation, the girl set her foot on the big knot at the bottom of the rope and began to climb up. Kurama smiled in satisfaction; he was glad that the girl wasn't a baby and wasn't afraid of climbing up a two-story house on a rope.
Grabbing her hand once she was at the top, he pulled her in to his bedroom. He coiled the rope neatly back up and placed it in the box. "Hello," he said. "What brings you here so late?"
"I dunno," the girl said. "I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to see you." Kurama smiled and put his hands on her shoulders, guiding her out of the room. "Good, because I was just thinking about you, and I wanted to see you as well," he said. "Now, be quiet when we're walking out of here. I don't want Luna or Mother to wake up."
"Where are we going?" the girl whispered.
"Somewhere special," Kurama answered, grabbing a light jacket for himself on his way out. "Somewhere we can be alone under the stars."
The girl smiled and chuckled a little. "Sounds romantic," she said, pausing at the door as Kurama slipped on his shoes. He unlocked the front door, locked it again from the outside, and set off with his stalker into the night.
"Hm," Kurama said as they walked toward a nicely kept alleyway under the stars. "I guess a lot of other people had the same idea we did…"
He was right; a few other couples were in the same spot, some on top of the roofs of the surrounding building and another couple underneath a large elm tree. There was also another couple sitting on a bench… a familiar couple…
Kurama gasped. "Hiei…?" he whispered, approaching the bench, his stalker following behind him.
Hiei and Shizuru were sitting on the bench, both staring out into space, neither saying a word to each other. Kurama moved toward the two and greeted them. "Hey," he said, bringing the two of them from their trance.
Hiei instantly wiped the slightly dreamy look on his face and swapped it for a scowl. "What are you doing here?" he growled.
"Same thing everybody else is doing," Kurama answered. "I came here with my friend." He gestured toward his stalker, who shyly put up her hand in greeting. Shizuru looked at her with interest. I wonder who she is…? she thought silently to herself.
Kurama glanced at Shizuru for a moment, then looked back at Hiei with question in his eyes. Hiei glared at Kurama but dragged him away from the two girls whispering, "I'll tell you over there…" He led a confused Kurama into one of the nearby buildings, leaving Shizuru and the stalker alone.
"Hey," Shizuru said, "Kur—er, Suichi doesn't know who you are, does he?"
The girl shook her head no.
Shizuru glanced around, making sure nobody could hear her. "Can you tell me?" she asked. "I swear I won't tell a soul."
The girl hesitated. Could Shizuru be trusted? After all, she didn't want to have her tell Kurama and spoil the surprise so close to the dance…
"Come on, I really wanna know," she said. "You can trust me. Kurama's my friend, and I wouldn't tell him who you are just to see him suffer from confusion." She smiled slyly. "So… will you tell?"
The girl bit her lip and looked away for a moment. Then she said, "Okay. I'll show you, but you have to promise not to tell. And don't tell anybody! Don't tell Suichi, don't tell your brother, don't tell Yusuke—"
"You know Yusuke and baby bro?" Shizuru interrupted.
"Yes, I do," the stalker cut in. Then she lowered her hood, whipping it off her head for a moment, letting her hair billow out in the wind. Shizuru gasped. "You?"
The girl nodded. "Please, don't tell," she begged.
"I won't," Shizuru said honestly. "Now put that hood back on, what if the boys come back?"
The girl nodded, putting her hood back on her head and tucking all of her stray hairs away. "You know, you're the only one besides myself and Suichi's sister who knows who I really am," she said. "It feels kind of good to have told somebody… you know… keeping secrets…" Shizuru smiled. "Your secret's safe with me," she said. "Now, act like this never happened, okay? I think I see the boys coming back…"
NEXT TIME: KUWABARA'S LAST-MINUTE DATE AND GENKAI'S RETURN!
-crazykitsune17-