Covet
Summary: Look only at me. Want only me. Be mine only. Otherwise, I'll break you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter 3
"Hello, Yusuke? It's me," Kurama said as soon as a click sounded, and a strained 'hey' resonated from the other side of the line.
The frustrated edge in the delinquent's sleepy voice dissipated to give way to brimming joy, the drowsiness in his timbre apparently seeming to fade into nothingness as life came back in his voice. "Kurama! How have you been, man? It's been a while."
The clock ticked twelve o'clock. A crimson strand was led astray by the cold breeze as it entered through the opened window that stood 8ft tall, light red curtains with rose embroideries flowing in time with the wind. The redhead brushed the lock of scarlet hair back to join the rest of his fringe.
"I've been fine, Yusuke," Kurama murmured, a slow smile reaching his lips. A slight creak echoed in the dark, air-conditioned room as he stood up from the bed, feet colliding with the hard surface of the floor before he guided them towards his window. "What about you? I apologize for not having kept in contact. I've been preoccupied." His sentence came to an end as instantly as his fingers found the windowsill and glided it close with a soft thud.
"Meh, been alright as usual. Keiko keeps bugging me about the wedding preparations, though." Kurama bit his lower lip to refrain a chuckle from leaving his throat as he imagined Yusuke waving a hand nonchalantly over his shoulder whilst also rolling his brown eyes in irritation. "Must be hard being an heir to a big company, huh? It's been months since I last heard from you."
"Well, I can't say it's been particularly that difficult," the fox replied as he turned around and pushed his back against the icy coldness of his windowpane. His free arm came to cross over his chest, his hand grasping onto his forearm connected to the one that was holding his cellphone as he watched the moonlight cast a fluorescent blue shade over the shadows of his room. "It's just that I have a lot to deal with, but nothing really worth mentioning," he finished, and it was the truth. Not the smooth lies he would give whenever he didn't want his family and friends to worry.
After all, he had gone through worse ordeals than a bunch of paperwork and tedious meetings- such things would not even make him perspire a single bead of sweat, much less result to mounting stress. If anything, he would even say that he went through life with easy breeze- it was just that many events usually took place like gaias or business trips that he hadn't had the time to spend his mundane days with the people who actually mattered.
"Heh, don't mention it. I don't wanna hear about what you've been up to anyway. Bet it must be boring as hell." This time, a chuckle did escape him as Yusuke seemed to read his thoughts.
"Don't worry. I won't bore you with the details." Humor dripped in Kurama's rich voice, mirth dancing in his green orbs- slight peridot in the darkness and little moonlight that surrounded him. "I received your wedding invitation, by the way. I must say, it was quite hilarious to see Hiei going to such extremes just to deliver it to me."
"Wish I could have seen his face," Yusuke's words were accompanied with the lively sound of his wholehearted laughter. "He must have been so angry at me for making him do that."
"Not really. In fact, despite his obvious dismay of having to go through all the trouble, I would say that he had enjoyed the day's turn of events. He did, after all, catch me rejecting one of my faithful fans."
"What? Why? Was she hot- Ow, Keiko! I was just asking. Go to sleep already." Kurama caught a loud thump as Yusuke inquired the girl's appearance, followed by the muffled sound of Yusuke's strangled voice, probably being choked by the gripping clutches of Keiko's fingers. He could only guess that Keiko had hit him over the head as his ears caught a few odd, incoherent noises he couldn't really make out aside from the brunette's yelling and a bit of shuffling here and there from Yusuke's side of the line. Everything was dead silent as if a mute button had been abruptly pressed in what he could only assume was a scuffle. A few moments passed before Yusuke's voice echoed in his ears again.
"Hey. You still there?" Yusuke sounded as if he had just barely escaped a death match. Kurama couldn't help but permit a wide, cheeky grin to spread his cheeks.
"I see she hasn't been out of practice," he humorously stated instead of justifying the former detective with a proper response. A grunt resounded from the other line.
"Don't push me, foxboy. Anyway, back to the topic at hand-"
"You mean, how Keiko evidently has you collared and leashed?"
"No," came Yusuke's growled out reply in return of Kurama's attempt at playing a joke. The redhead was unperturbed. "About the fangirl. I mean, I get that you didn't like her back and love can't be forced and all, but it's not like you've got a date for the wedding anyway, right? You could have asked her."
Kurama's answer was an immediate impulse. "I would rather not. First of all, it's wrong to use her like that and second of all, I would prefer not to lull her into a false sense of hope. I rather enjoy my drama-free bachelor life, thank you very much."
"What's that supposed to mean? Just tell her it's a one time thing because you don't have a partner for a friend's wedding. It's not like you're giving those feelings of hers attention-"
"Trust me, Yusuke, everytime I look at her, I'm giving those feelings attention," Kurama briskly cut him off, his voice stern yet holding an underlying edge of menace. It was as if the whole conversation had just insulted his principles. "I've prevented locking eyes with any of my female colleagues for a reason and I would like to keep it that way."
Yusuke felled silent and Kurama could just imagine him stupidly gaping at the wall, with his mouth wide apart and opening and closing like a dumb fish. "Okay, okay, fine!" he relented, his admittance of defeat in the subject probably also coupled with his two arms thrown up in the air. "Alright, if you're not asking any of your crazy, stalker-ish groupies, then who are you asking?"
The tension in the air seemed to instantly disappear at the reminder of the purpose of his phone call. The single thin line on Kurama's lips curved upwards to outline a slightly giddy smile as his restless waves of aura relaxed and regained its graceful, peaceful motion. The murky red color in his Demon Energy faded away, his more aggressive nature chased away to be replaced by a shade of light purple that signified his more humane side. Composure collected, the tense muscles in Kurama's rigid form promptly relaxed and his shoulders hunched down as the words erupted from his smiling lips,
"Speaking of which, do you have Botan's number? I hear she has her own cellphone now?"
II
When Kurama called her, he did not expect her to pick up.
He had spent half an hour pacing in his room, his mind going over the odds that she was not yet asleep and that he wouldn't be deemed a bother for giving her an early wake up call in the middle night. Another half an hour passed by with him sitting on his bed and mulling over what to say and how he should go about revealing the true reason why he called her. Although, fifteen minutes later, he decided; ah, what the hell when he thought about her either asking someone else or being asked by another man to the wedding already. Out of sheer impatience and desire not to let anyone else steal her from him, his natural survival instincts caused a strong impulse to course through every cell of his being that called out to him to do something. Before he knew it, his fingers were already dialing Botan's number.
"Hello?"
Botan's voice, dripping with a cute blur of drowsiness, made his heart flip and stop at the same time. Sweat beaded on the skin of his palm as his nerves finally kicked in, robbing him of his capability of speech. His fingers seemed to shake with the insides of his stomach churning and turning inside out. It had been a while since he last heard her voice.
"Hello?" Botan repeated, and that was when he eventually mustered up a sliver of courage to part his mouth.
"Hello, Botan," His lips formed out the words in a soft timbre that was barely above a hushed whisper, her name rolling off his tongue in a perfect wave that caused butterflies to appear in the pit of his stomach. This feeling was soon followed by a coil of heat that seemed to tighten and knot around in his belly as he ventured further, "Is this Botan?" He didn't know why he bothered asking – that voice could only belong to one person.
There was a short moment of silence. A brief pause that seemed to drag on forever as the air around him grew tense and restless. He waited on bated breath for some kind of response.
"Kurama?" she finally uttered, and he resisted the urge to breathe out a sigh of relief as his name escaped her lips. "Is that really you? I've missed you! What have you been up to these days?" The uncertainty in her low voice disappeared to allow the slightest bit of child-like excitement and pure glee to peek through.
The wreaking nerves in his system seemed to calm down at the increased notch in her voice, a breath of relief eventually released out into the air through his slightly parted lips as he realized that she was happy to hear from him. A chuckle built in his chest and erupted from his throat. "Work, that's all. Too boring to talk about. How are you doing?"
There was a small, admittedly adorable whine from the other line, laced with the strong edge of an indignant grunt. "Work, too, I guess. Koenma-sama never gives me any break. Instead, everytime I ask him for one, he increases my workload and admonishes me for complaining! I swear, he's being more of a jerk lately." She spoke to him as if they hadn't been out of contact for months, and it brought a smile to his face but also a deep, engraved frown on his forehead at the mention of the bratty prince.
In all honesty, Kurama never really liked him- he was too childish for his taste and he also had a knack for giving Botan a hard time. Not that he would ever say that out loud. He tended to keep his opinions to himself. After all, he was entilted to his own perceptions towards other people but that didn't mean he felt obliged to voice them out. Especially not in regards to Koenma. He knew that despite her constant complaints, Botan really adored the Reikai prince as her good friend. They knew each other for a long time, after all, and Koenma had been close to her even before any of them had the chance to get to know her. That was also partially why the fox at times harbored a sense of jealousy towards the toddler- also probably why he hated him so much.
He adopted a friendly pretense that he was too used to using despite his insides brewing with rage over the topic. He never really liked talking about Koenma either. "You musn't badmouth him so. He is still your precious friend, after all." Kurama could almost hear his own inner vomit as he let the last sentence come out of his mouth. His lips, quirked up but forced, looked almost chilling in the cold room.
"Nah, he deserves it." Botan huffed and Kurama could only sit there in awe as his anger quickly faded away at the cute sound. It seemed to him everything she did was something he found awfully charming. She could be giving him a rough scolding or hitting him over the head with the rear end of her oar for all he cared and he would still be smiling like a little kid in a candy store.
He wondered how she would look like as the aftermath of endless hours of pleasure- it would be a series of delight and erotic imagery that sent his body on fire. The dark part of his mind envisaged an image of her, curled up on his bed as her blue tresses felled around her like a halo, her flushed skin bared to his hungry view and cheeks blushing red as his predatory eyes drank in the sight of her wondrous curves- Kurama stopped himself. A delicious shiver racked down his spine and despite welcoming it, it only intensitified the fire burning in the core of his stomach, the blood now rushing to his loins. He willed his dirty mind to halt and it felled into muted silence before it managed to step into a more dangerous, arousing territory in his head. This would not be the first he imagined her in such a risque manner, nor it would be the last- and he would unabashedly admit that he didn't really mind it. Still, it wouldn't do him any good to sit there with a raging hard on begging to be dealt with while she was still on the phone. As tempting as it was to masturbate whilst listening to her voice, Kurama knew that it would only scare her away.
He cleared his throat to hide his discomfort as Botan's voice calling out to his name resonated in his ears. He briefly pondered how long his mind went off the radar and sneaked off from the real world as it seemed as if she had been asking him what was wrong for a while now.
"My apologies, I was too busy thinking. What were you saying?" he calmly asked in spite of the throbbing of his cock constricted through the fabric of his pants.
"Oh- well, I was talking about how Koenma-sama always upsets me and makes me seething with rage and how he should appreciate what I do for him- but that's probably something you don't wanna hear. How's your mother?"
He knew she wanted to ask him about what kind of stuff he was thinking about- he could tell from the curiosity teasing at the edge of her voice. But she didn't, and for that, he was more than glad because he wouldn't be able to give her a truthful answer anyway. That was one of the many things he loved about her- she just seemed to know where she shouldn't prod and didn't try to probe anyway because she just harbored an immense amount of respect for his privacy. Although, he knew he was only taking advantage of her subtle kindness.
"She's fine. She's been out of hospital for a while now, so I suppose you could call that good news."
"Suppose? That is good news! I'm glad to hear that. What about Shuichi-kun and Hatanaka-san? How are they doing?" Curiosity dissipating, Botan's cheery timbre was heavily tinted with complete joy at the implication of Shiori finally getting better. The old woman had been going in and out of hospital for so many times that many of his friends were starting to worry. Botan was especially close to her and evidently was happy at the fact that the older woman might be cured of her illness after all.
A smile curled at the corners of his lips and his lust cooled down to permit his love for her to come into surface as his voice held that soft tinge that he only ever saved for her and his family members. "Shuichi's been better. He's seeing someone now and apparently that relationship has been going on for nearly a year. I know, surprise, huh?" he chortled as a feminine, startled gasp resounded from the other line. "It seems he was keeping it a secret until the right time came. He wanted to make sure she was the right girl before introducing her to us. She's lovely, you'd love to meet her. Hatanaka-san's been quite alright, too. I suspect there's growing stress on his part, though. He's getting old and things that seemed easier back then are harder to accomplish now. At least, that's what he tells me anyway. I wouldn't know. I'm not being eaten away by age yet."
"Oh, hush, Kurama. We both know you're about at least a few centuries older than he is. If you weren't a demon, you'd be hunched back and wrinkled by now."
A charming set of laughter erupted from the ferry girl's throat. The mere sound was enough to make his body feel alive- and it wasn't in the sexual kind of way, either. It was the kind of way only she could affect him with. It was as if all signs of exhaustion from work and the mental strain of pretending to be something he was not were stripped off of him like water down his back. It was amazing how she could gain such a strong effect from him and yet still be clueless as to what his true desires were. But that only made him want her even more. Her blissful ignorance made him want to take her and corrupt her for all he was worth. Everytime she giggled, he wanted to put his fingers in her mouth and silence her for all the sinful thoughts she made him think about. He loved how kind and naive and overflowing with all good things she was that it hurt and made him want to break her. Her angel wings were a blinding white and he wanted to taint them with dirty spotches of black.
Another shudder traveled down his spine, but this time, he briskly collected himself. I need a cold shower after this, he thought as he flopped his back on the bed, his head bouncing against the mattress as he stared up at the ceiling, or maybe just long hours of touching myself. Whilst imagining himself fucking her. A third shiver. "You know that's not what I mean," he finally countered in response to her joke. It felt as if hours had gone by, but in reality, it had only been a few seconds since she kiddingly told him he was old.
"I know. How's life working at Hatanaka-san's company, by the way? I wanted to drop by and see how you were doing but I had a, you know, full schedule."
He gave out a light shrug of his left shoulder and sounded out a barely comprehensible noise that sounded suspiciously like 'I don't really care'. "It's okay, I guess. Like I said, it's all work."
He could almost feel her cheshire-like cat grin as she teasingly supplied, "No girlfriends?"
Kurama's mouth formed a patient smile. If only you knew... he wished, but swiftly brushed the thought off with a simple shake of his head. "None. And I would like for it to remain that way."
Botan didn't sound as if she was even the tiniest bit surprised. Still, she asked, "Why?"
"Don't you mean why not? I just don't really enjoy the prospect of being tied down to one woman. I'm simply not ready for that kind of commitment yet," he responded, his words a smooth and elaborate collection of syllables yet nothing close to the truth. Deceit was his forte after all and even a master lie detector such as Botan herself wouldn't be able to tell. "Besides, I don't have anyone I'm interested in." With the exception of you, of course. But that was something he would talk about when he was sure she was ready to see the real him. Then again, who would be? He mused humorously to himself, a smirk finding its way to his well-sculptured face as his mind drifted to all the awful, wonderful things that went through his head.
"Then who do you plan on bringing to Yusuke's wedding? You're not planning to skip out on us, are you?" Botan's voice, tinted with mirth, still held an underlying tone of fearful doubt as she spoke.
Maybe it was because he wanted to put her mind at ease and alleviate her concerns. Or maybe it was because of the fact that he was getting tired of her obliviousness towards his actual feelings towards her. Either way, he promptly blurted out, "I was planning to ask you, actually." His voice sounded way too casual for both their tastes and his timbre lacked any hint of emotion or even a momentary pause of nervous hesitation that usually accompanied this sort of thing that it was kind of obvious that he didn't mean for it to come out that way.
Still, what was said had been said. He was actually glad he got it out of his chest. All he needed to do now was wait. Wait for a response. Wait for her to say something. Anything.
She was silent for a long time after that. He expected her to either shyly say yes or just stammer out unintelligible sentences that made no sense whatsoever due to the shock. Hell, he even expected for her to laugh at him because she never expected him to see her in that kind of light.
Yet, she just said nothing for what felt like infinity. Then, when she finally did, it was something he did not, in any way, predict, even though he had feared for it to occur.
"Kurama..." she whispered, the uplifting tone in her voice now gone. "I already have a date."
Her words seemed to spell an impending doom as they echoed and cut through the technical noise coming from the phone. Or maybe that was just an incessant buzzing in his head? He couldn't tell. All he could think of was how he couldn't believe what was happening and what he did wrong for things to end this way, all he was aware of at that very moment was her answer and his own raw reaction to it. It felt as if something had stolen his ability to breathe properly and he could just almost see the freckles of gold peeking through his clouded view. He wanted to claw at something- anything- and his fangs craved for the salty taste of warm blood.
"Okay then," he eventually forced out, his voice strangely hoarse. But a slow, dangerous smirk soon spread on his lips.
He had always kept his more animalistic side restrained and leashed with countless and countless of chains, but it seemed as if one more link in the chains which bound the monstrous beast a prisoner inside his body had broke and disappeared. And that could only mean one thing.
It was the start of madness and he welcomed it all too well.
