Chapter 3

Washing Up

"Yo."

As Kurama flipped open his phone and greeted the person on the other end, a torrent of words yelled frantically by his manager told him that he was late to his autograph signing tonight. He was quick to hang up with a frustrated sigh.

"It's all that damn fox's fault..." He said, grumbling to himself as he looked over the kitchen area.

Kurama had already mopped the kitchen floor spotless, and though he had prided himself in that, he was soon after chided for not finishing up by wiping down the chair and counter top with wet rags so that they didn't start to stink permanently of soup. And he had just been in the middle of that, when his phone had started to ring.

"Kurama."

He jolted, turning to find Hizuru standing there. And he was taken aback by what he saw – she was wearing pajama bottoms and a baggy t-shirt (seriously, had she no shame?! Just what did her closet consist of?) and her long hair was hanging wet around her face and over her shoulders, it appeared black instead of dark brown due to how damp it was. She was holding out an old, albeit clean, purple towel to him, and giving him that usual clever look of hers. Not that it was purposefully meant to be clever-looking, but she just always had that look in her eyes. They were sharp eyes, laced with a curse.

"I can finish wiping everything down. You've done a good job – surprisingly – so go clean yourself up. I've just finished my own shower, and Satomi's still out cold... so she won't need to use it, so you can use our shower now."

He blinked a few times before letting out a long breath in heartfelt relief. No more cleaning! Good. He hated cleaning. After all, why clean things yourself when you have enough money to make others do it for you?

Hizuru coughed out something that sounded like a giggle, and he wondered if she was laughing at him. For a brief moment, he looked down at her, contemplating something that had just popped into his head, and then deciding to act on it. She deserved a little teasing.

"Thanks," He lowered his voice an octave, making it sound deeper, more sultry. "but I don't think there's any need for you to finish up here." He reached forward, and instead of taking the towel, he took her arm. Yanking her to him, he met her widened gaze with that pretty-boy glint in his eyes, leaning forwards slightly with his lips touching her ear as he whispered, "I propose that instead, you join me in the shower."

-X-

Hizuru was having a hard time not blushing, given the tone of his voice. He still smelled like soup and his eye makeup was smeared a little, plus, his hair was a sopping mess. Yet he still looked somehow... other-worldly and beautiful.

Well yeah, he's yokai!

He was too close to her, and she was suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. She was quick to pull her arm away and turn her head so that he couldn't see her rising blush. She wanted to cup her ear and check to make sure it wasn't on fire, because it had grown unnaturally hot the moment his lips had barely even brushed it.

Now overly flustered and growing angry, she flung the towel over his head and heard his muffled cry of surprise before speaking up in a steely-edged tone.

"I just said, you idiot, that I already took a shower, so I don't need another one. However, you obviously do. So hurry up and go take one! I'd like you to be out of my house before Peppi get's home, she's really over-protective and things could get ugly between the two of you."

And with that, she reached behind him as he pulled the towel off his face, grabbed the rags while refusing to meet his gaze, and began to furiously wipe the counter down; even though it already did look pretty clean.

-X-

As Kurama turned the facet, he was happy to realize the hot water wasn't all used up, and stripped down naked immediately so that he could sooner soak in the warmth as the steam started to billow and circle around above his head.

It was not his fault he sang in the shower. It was his career and all... singing, dancing, and so that was why, as he basked in the warm droplets cascading down his smooth skin, he sang a few notes. He started coming up with the lyrics as he went, and started to sway his hips to and fro out of habit as he thought up a beat that thrummed inside his head, nicely matching the words. He'd have to write this down when he got the chance...

"Cuz baby, you drive me crazy... baby...

With your bright pink lips and swaying hips, ooh, they drive me crazy...

I don't think I can take it, the way you watch me

Don't think I can take my eyes off of you

I wanna watch you watch me

That's all I can seem to do

And it feels like...

Feels like...

Like I've been cursed by you...

Baby, you're so cruel

And I can't stand how I'm your slave

How long will we both be tormented this way?

How long will I be your fool..."

-X-

The house was small, therefore it didn't take long for the melodic, hypnotic voice to melt through the walls and pass in through her ears.

Hizuru's first thought was to panic – if her sister woke up and heard that, she'd have a heart attack. And if she survived that, and then found out Kurama, her idol, was using their shower to clean himself where she herself had cleaned herself, (gag), then she'd have a second heart attack. And die. (Though at least she'd die happy with Kurama in the next room).

Her second thought was that he had a beautiful singing voice. It was hauntingly charming, dramatic, deep and intriguing. It pulled you in like a bright shining light leading you in the midst of a foggy dream. It was enchanting. So much so that she felt her every inhibition being released if for but a few peaceful moments.

Satomi always watched his performances on the television and played all of his songs way too loud around the house, but Hizuru had never really listened to his music, to how he sounded, because she never cared about it. Her only thoughts when the music was blaring wasn't of the music itself, but about her sister and how crazy she was, fangirling all over the place. But now it was kind of unavoidable, she had no choice but to listen closely... plus, his voice wasn't vitiated by TV or radio static, so she could clearly hear every dulcet tone and smooth note.

Not paying attention, the only thing leading her being her ears, she walked through the hall and up to the bathroom door, listening just outside of it. After about ten minutes of that, (in which Kurama had interchanged several different songs, singing each new one just as flawlessly as the last) she realized that she needed to come to more practical terms with herself and the situation.

Just how long had be been in there for? He was wasting all of their water!

She banged a fist on the bathroom door.

"Hey in there – don't take too long of a shower. We don't waste water in this family, so five more minutes, a'ight?"

The only response she got was the humming of the hot water and his sonorous voice.

"I don't really have anything for you to wear," She continued, thinking he was just choosing to ignore her. "so I'm going to come in and grab your clothes so that I can wash them."

The humming and singing continued, but she just proceeded to slowly open the bathroom door. The lock was actually broken – so she knew it'd be unlocked anyway.

Not that he probably cares. She thought spitefully. He's probably waaay too comfortable with his body image.

The sounds of his voice and the water was much louder inside the bathroom, and she could see his shadowed outline on the other side of the shower curtain, but only stared for a moment before shaking her head and looking to the floor for his clothes. Spotting them in a crinkled heap, she picked them up, gathering them into her arms, but just then, the water stopped running.

The sound of the curtain being pulled aside made her ears perk and her skin prickle uncomfortably. She spun quickly, facing her back towards the shower.

"Huh? What are you doing in here?"

He was totally acting!

"Uuh," For a second, he sounded almost as uncomfortable as she now felt.

Wait, he wasn't acting? Or... maybe he was just that good at it!

"Don't. Move." She commanded, her voice wavering as she tried to calm her thoughts, which were presently running rampant through her brain.

She was in a naked bathroom with a boy! No, wait... she was in a bathroom with a naked boy! The hell did this happen?! And – and it was a totally HOT guy! A YOKAI! AN IDOL! One that every girl dreamed of moments like this with! And she was –

Getting out of there.

Getting out of there?

Her legs wouldn't move.

Crap.

Kurama laughed slightly, trying to play it cool, though he obviously didn't know what to do at the moment. "What's up? Do you need something?"

She tried to say something, but all that came out was a squeak. If he just took a few steps forward... or if she moved backwards...

Gaaaahhhh! Stop it, brain! Stopitstopitstopitstopit

"Oi! Don't ignore me, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry I'm just I was just –" Her voice was unnaturally high and she was speaking way too fast. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "I was just taking your clothes to wash them. We don't really have any men's clothes in the house, so... unless you want to walk home in a dress, I was going to wash your clothes for you."

"What should I do then, wrap myself in a towel for now?"

"No!"

"...So you would rather have me walk around naked?"

She could sense his smirk without having to see it.

"Absolutely not! Put the towel on for now. It's kind of small, but whatever. I'll quickly go put your clothes in the wash, but in the meantime, stay in the bathroom!"

She made a hasty exit and headed towards the laundry room.

However, she hadn't noticed until entering the washroom that she wasn't just clinging onto his uniform, but his boxers as well. It took only a simple glance down to see that.

She shrieked, dropping all of the clothes to the floor without really thinking.

Cursing, she inwardly berated herself for being so stupid and squeamish and leaned over to pick the bundle up once more. Laundry was laundry, underwear was underwear. Male or Female, it shouldn't matter so much right?

Except... you know... he was wearing those... over his...

She shrieked again, throwing the offending garment behind her in order to get it out of her sight.

"Ehem."

Blinking, she turned around to find Kurama standing in the doorway, a small fuzzy towel wrapped around his waist, and his boxers resting atop his head.

"Jeez, you scared me when you screamed like that. I came to check if you were okay, and then you throw soupy underwear at my head." He made a slight 'tsk-ing' sound and peeled the boxers off his head, tossing them to the ground at her feet. "Right after I showered, too. Thanks for that."

Her mouth dropped open uselessly. Right in front of her very eyes was a sight she was not prepared for, at all, and her eyes gradually widened the longer she stared. His chest was bare and exposed. So much skin was showing. Pale skin. Legs, arms, chest. Muscles. Hip bones. Biceps. Pecs. The subtle outline of his abs.

She could swear that at that very moment her brain had started the gradual process of eroding away inside of her skull.

"I said to stay in the bathroom!" She yelled at him once she regained herself. Her face was a ripe red color and in utter frustration she picked up the closest thing to her and threw it at him.

Unfortunately, that thing happened to be –

"Why are you throwing your underwear at me now?!" He asked, catching the panties in mid-air. He cocked an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Man, this was just disaster after disaster, wasn't it?

"Yes. I'm trying to tell you to GET BACK IN THE BATHROOM!"

The look stayed on his face.

"Will you be coming with me, then?" He waved her underwear around and smirked.

"NO!"

She threw another item at him. But, unfortunately again –

"Your bra, I assume? It's small." He inspected it by holding it up to his chest, a move that could have been comical if she wasn't so filled to the brim with frustration and confusion and the beginnings of an embarrassed rage.

She stormed up to him and snatched both of her undergarments from his hands. Then, staring up at him, fuming and red-faced, she yelled. "SHADDUP KURAMA!"

He peered down at her with a look of combined shock and amusement. She was trying to despise that face of his, until she remembered his lack of clothes, the only thing covering him being the towel, and now that she was standing closer to him... she was level with his bare chest. She sucked in a quick breath and immediately backed away.

Or tried to back away.

His lips were upturned into an arrogant grin, having noticed the way she was ogling him. And then he took a bold step towards her. And then he took an even bolder step than that.

He kissed her.

Again.

Right on the mouth, just like last time except now he didn't have any excuse as to why he was doing it. Unless he was again mistaking her for Nanami. Which wasn't likely.

"Mmph?!"

Hizuru lost her ability to function properly, a tidal wave of anger crashing through her. First of all, where the hell had this come from?! Second of all, what gave him the right to do this just whenever he liked, to anyone he wanted, huh?! And why her?! She was not that kind of girl! Who did he think she was? Who did he think he was, to randomly assault her like this?!

Her first instinct was to tell him off, to explain to this idiot that he couldn't just follow all of his own perverted whims and go around kissing innocent girls. But she couldn't speak while he was holding her there and kissing her so firmly. A moment later, he pulled her a bit closer and up against his chest, starting to enjoy it more, and she felt the warmth there that radiated and the beat and thump of his heart beneath the smooth skin.

She was starting to get caught up in the moment now, just like he was. Hearing his heartbeat, so loud and close by, was really strange and yet comforting for some reason. Could it be she was actually okay with him doing this, or at least some part of her was? And she'd only just met the guy today! Just what the heck was going on? How did she, one of the most antisocial people in town, get kissed by the famous idol Kurama twice in one day! It just wasn't natural! Maybe she was dreaming.

If this wasn't a bizarre twist of fate, then she didn't know what was.

Yes, she had to be dreaming.

Reaching up, she pinched his arm as hard as she could.

"Yaaahhh!" He jumped back, separating his body from hers and shooting her a look. "What the hell was that for?!"

She closed her eyes for just a moment. She didn't want to look at him until she had managed to calm down. "I was checking to see if this was a dream."

"You're supposed to pinch yourself, not someone else!"

"Get out."

There was the distinctive sound of him flapping his lips, sputtering for words. "Huh? What? Why?"

Hizuru opened her eyes then to give him a proper glare. "Because you just kissed me without my permission for the second time today! How do you think I feel? Get out of here you pervy crow!"

Surprisingly, he had the gull to simply say, "You didn't like it?!"

After that, she dragged him by the hair back to the bathroom, not caring even in the slightest that he was whining and shouting at her in pain. She tossed him inside and slammed the door shut with a bang, but not before sticking her tongue out at him for good measure.

"And don't you dare come back out of there until I say so!" She called out to him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and grunting in vexation as she made her way back to start on his laundry.

The sooner that punk is out of my life, the better! She decided, cheeks flushing out of her own control.

-X-

Kurama rubbed the top of his head, inspecting it in the cracked mirror sitting by the sink to make sure that girl hadn't pulled any of his gorgeous hairs out.

In all truthfulness, he didn't know why he had kissed her just now. He wasn't fully aware of what he was doing when he'd initiated it, he just thought the way she was becoming so flustered as he was teasing her was kind of, cute. And it kind of reminded him of Nanami. And before he knew it he was leaning in. It was impulsive. He kissed lots of women, at parties, photo shoots, on dates that never really went anywhere – it was all pretty much just for fun, just for the hell of it. And so, it only felt natural for him to do at this point in his life. If he found a girl attractive and she seemed open to it, then why not kiss her?

Hizuru had been standing right in front of him, totally checking him out, so she was practically begging for it! Sort of.

Presently, he pressed his lips together, remembering how soft hers were. Despite her nasty personality, she was still a girl. And a pretty cute one, at that. Just like how she admitted he was hot but that she did not like his personality, he thought she was cute but he didn't like her personality. They were kind of in the same boat now, in that respect.

He grunted, and leaned against the bathroom wall, frowning to himself.

If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was trying to drive him crazy. Playing hard to get on purpose, teasing him, tempting him. However, the terrible truth was, she was just naturally good at being annoying, and didn't care who he was, even if he was the famed Kurama, it didn't matter to her. And he had seen enough of her personality by now to understand that she was not the type to take part in silly games that went nowhere. She was too straight-forward for that.

This chick was really something else. He'd been around humans for close to seventeen years now, and he'd met many different people due to his line of work. But there had never been anyone that he could remember, out of all those people, who was quite like Hizuru.

"Hm." He leaned his head back, pondering what else would take place now that he knew of her existence. Probably nothing, after this. She'd want to avoid him. So he'd have to actually make an effort, offer her something, in order to keep her around.

He knew he most likely shouldn't be pursuing this any further, but he was eager to see what would unfold. Who knew? Maybe she'd be the perfect source of entertainment for him. She sure was lively. And needless to say, he was also curious about her curse, and her abilities to sense the supernatural. Just who was this Hizuru Mimori? He wanted to find out. She'd caught his interest, much like Nanami had caught his interest when he'd found out she was a human Land God.

Now, what could he do to keep her around for a while longer? He'd have to come up with something or other. Something convincing. Something that would catch her interest like she had caught his.

-X-

"Thanks for washing them."

Kurama stepped out of the bathroom and walked into the hallway (now fully dressed) and fixed his collar as Hizuru looked up at him.

"Yeah. You can repay me by not coming back here and making a mess of my house ever again." She said, looking away from him and towards the door. She was acting rather cold towards him, which was understandable he supposed, if she truly hadn't wanted him to kiss her. But there was no way she hadn't enjoyed it, he knew she had to have enjoyed it, if not a lot then at least a little bit.

He glanced towards the door as well. It was now or never. Let's just see where this would get him. "I know how to expel curses from the body, you know." He mentioned casually, which sounded really out of the blue, but there was no way to simply ease into this topic.

She peeked up at him, slightly surprised at first. And then, when she noticed that he seemed completely serious, her eyes widened and she gave him her full attention.

"Wait, really? You do? Then, could you help me get rid of mine?" Brown eyes were pleading with him now, so hopeful, the look inside of them verging on desperate. Her demeanor had changed full circle in a split second. It was like she had completely forgotten about the kiss. He almost felt offended.

Kurama shrugged, trying to hide his clever grin. This sort of took him aback, he wasn't expecting it to go this well so quickly. Not that he was complaining. "It'll take longer to cure you the longer the curse has been placed on you. But yeah, that is the least I could do... to repay you for your... hospitality." He turned his head away from her and mumbled the last part, very unused to thanking people for things. And she hadn't exactly been the most amiable hostess, either. She had thrown a shoe at him, made him mop up soup, and yelled at him an excessive amount of times.

"You're serious, right? Aren't you? You seem serious about this." Wow, talk about eager.

He shrugged once more, regaining his cool with a smile.

"Sure." He flipped his hair back dramatically. "I'm always up for helping out a fair maiden such as yourself, since I'm so great and all –"

He was caught off guard when she suddenly pulled him to her, wrapping surprisingly strong, skinny arms around his torso and embracing him like he was the best thing since fame and fortune.

"Thank you, Kurama! I didn't think you were capable of doing a favor for someone else, let alone someone who's practically a stranger, but now I see that you aren't as bad as I thought, even if you're still a perverted and arrogant imbecile!"

Just as quickly, she let go, and ran off. He blinked, unsure at this point of what exactly was going on, and then she came back and was standing in front of him again, holding out a simple piece of paper to him with something scribbled on it. He didn't have the time to be offended because she was so quick to speak up again.

"I wrote down my number for you. The top one's my home phone and the bottom one's how you reach my cell. Call me whenever you have some time free between school and work. I figured you're busy with both, so this'll be the best way to go about things."

There was a glow in her cheeks and a hopeful sparkle in her eyes, that he had never seen on her until now. She wasn't blushing, she was beaming, with eagerness that was accompanied by a warm smile. He blinked several times, shocked by the outcome of his plan. She hadn't even thought this might be a trick... or if she had, she didn't appear to have the time to care or worry about that. She was truly desperate, it seemed. And she was willing to take a chance on him. He supposed even if she had been mad at him before, she'd take what she could get. And it's not like there was someone else who knew a lot about curses that was offering their assistance to her.

He really had no idea, did he? Of how much this offer meant to her. It made him think that maybe he was getting in over his head.

So, why then, was he reaching for the paper now anyway?

Kurama grabbed it from her and looked over it. He then stuffed it into his pocket, and stepped into his shoes.

"I'll contact you at some point and we'll set up a schedule."

She nodded. The door was opened for him, and he stepped out into the late afternoon. With a lazy wave of his hand, he was setting off up the street, leaving an uncertain but hopeful Hizuru at her front door. He knew due to her desperation, it didn't matter how long he took to contact her.

She would wait.

A/N: I contemplated taking the part out when he kissed her a second time and changing the scene up, but eh, they're not going to be kissing for a long time after this, so I might as well keep this in. Not many stories have the characters, who aren't even in love yet, kiss each other twice by the second chapter, sooo I think it sets my story apart from others, at least? I don't know, I always go back and forth with that scene, but it's definitely a catalyst for their relationship.

Anyway, thank you very much for reading, and feel free to tell me what you think in a review :)

CK :*