A/N: AHOY MATEYS! annnd why am I a pirate? Umm...

Sorry the update didn't come as soon as I thought it would. I got side-tracked... But look, it's right here, right below this line down below! XD

Read away! (that was a play on words, because a pirate would say 'Anchors away!'... get it? ... no? ^_^; Hahaha... Ugh nevermind)

Chapter 9

Shopping Troubles

Hizuru smirked as she stared at the crow with an evil glint in her eye.

"My, you're hardly recognizable, Kurama-kun." She said in an evil, teasing tone. "It's a great disguise, ne?"

Kurama looked down at himself in shock, his face contorted into features of ultimate disgust. Gone were his designer jeans and silken shirts, the girl had even swiped his necklace, bracelets, and scarf from him, saying she'd keep them safe in her school bag. You see, he had been forced by Hizuru to change his clothes- though he and Satomi had objected greatly at this- Satomi went so far as to say that he had to stay in his gorgeous clothes, because all other clothes were unworthy of being put on his body, to which Kurama had readily agreed with.

Their objections had fallen on deaf ears though, and eventually they had lost the argument- Hizuru had bribed Satomi, telling her that she would try on any dress her sister wanted her to. And Kurama? Well, she had simply smacked him on the head, and argued that he couldn't go shopping with them looking like himself, because all his fans would recognize him and interrupt everything. Which, he had to admit, was true.

So, in the end, he was forced to put on... Ugh, he didn't even want to acknowledge it.

Faded old jeans (that were definitely NOT designer), a grey sweatshirt, a huge pair of dark shades to cover his face, and an un-stylish blue cap to cover up his hair.

He looked up, finally taking note of the brunette snickering at him. "You're a demon. You're some sort of demon in a human's body." He looked down at himself again, and winced. "Look at me! Is this really happening? No one will be able to see how gorgeous I am if I'm wearing this!"

"That's the whole point." Hizuru claimed, smiling brightly as she observed him fold his arms like a spoiled child. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

He lowered the shades covering his eyes in order to give her his darkest look.

Hizuru sweat-dropped, deciding to ignore him and turn to her sister, who sat on stand-by with her mouth agape. She had paid for the clothes with tears in her eyes, and now that Kurama had changed into them, she couldn't take her wide eyes off of him. She looked absolutely horrified.

"I can't see his beautiful face!" She said in exasperation, tugging at Hizuru's shirt as she turned her face towards her. "That's practically a crime! This is just too unfair, Ru-chan."

Hizuru tensed up. "Don't call me that in front of him!" She hissed, before grabbing her sister and pulling her to her feet. She turned back to Kurama, reached up and pushed the shades back up his nose, and then grabbed his hand, pulling him along as well. "Come on you two, we have shopping to do, don't we? Let's get this over with."

Satomi immediately looked happier at those words, and patted her younger sister on the head. "That's right! I promised you I'd buy you some new clothes today, so first, let's have you try on some dresses!"

Hizuru groaned as if in serious pain when she heard those words.

Kurama smiled broadly at the thought of Hizuru in a dress, and then looked over to see a pair of brown eyes glaring at him.

She spoke at her sister, while still glaring at the crow. "I don't mind trying them on, but don't empty your wallet because of something like that. I don't need any dresses."

"I beg to differ! You need something cute for the weekends!"

"Satomi, we aren't buying me anything 'cute'. I just need some new shoes, a few shirts, maybe a pair of pants, if we can afford all that. So-"

"Look! Just up the street, do you see what they have in that window? That blue dress would look so cute on you!"

"Hey, wait a sec-"

As it switched from Hizuru dragging her two companions along, to Satomi whisking them all away as she began to run towards the store up ahead, the two sisters only continued to argue (if you could call Hizuru telling Satomi to stop and being ignored an argument). Kurama only listened, allowing himself to be dragged along silently, a smirk on his face as he looked down at where Hizuru's hand grasped his tightly.

Well this was an interesting way to spend the rest of his evening.

"...Huh."

Kurama glanced at Satomi, who, with a blush, shrugged back at him.

"...this is..."

He rolled his eyes at the dull commentary. "Is what?"

"Hmm..."

Satomi stood from her seat, walking towards the curtain her sister stood behind. "Come on Hizuru, just show us already. We wanna see how you look."

"...I've decided."

Suddenly, the curtain opened and out came Hizuru, wearing the dress her sister had seen in the window earlier. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she stepped out with a blush on her face, her hair sailing around her as the curtain was swiftly jerked to the side by her hand. She had a determined look on her face, as she looked first at Kurama, who stood beside the curtain with his arms crossed impatiently, and then at Satomi, who stood beside a chair, her eyes lighting up when she saw the dress Hizuru had on.

"I hate dresses."

Satomi froze up at hearing her sister say that, falling over back into her chair with a blank look on her face. Meanwhile, Kurama moved towards Hizuru, stopping to stand directly in front of her.

Behind the shades he had on, he allowed his eyes to slowly roam over her small form. The dress she had on was fashionable and to his liking- it was turquoise in color and had a floral print on it. It also had cute, frilly short sleeves and a brown belt highlighting her trim waist. The skirt was high on her thighs, a little more than a few inches above the knee- giving him a nice view of her creamy legs.

Lifting a hand, the idol-in-disguise flicked a finger at his shades, lowering them down his nose so that his eyes could meet hers. He offered up a sly grin, his voice like silk when he said; "What's there to hate? You look far better than you did before."

Hizuru blinked. She stared at him for a second longer, before heading back into the dressing room. She was only in there for a moment, before she came back out gripping one of her sneakers in her hand.

The shoe was promptly thrown at the singer's head.

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!" She yelled at him, and Kurama took a step back, rubbing the side of his head and wincing.

"What?!" He snarled, looking back up at her. "I was saying the dress looks good on you!"

A finger was pointed in his face. "Oh really? Cuz' that's not what I heard!"

"Well, it would be a lie to say your other clothing looks good on you." He smirked.

Hizuru flushed angrily, and took a step closer to him, glaring. "Baka! Baaaaka tengu! BAKA!"

"What are you talking about? You're the idiotic one. Baka." He sneered right back at her, folding his arms.

"Well I'm not the one who keeps dirty magazines lying around in their bathroom! Disgusting!"

Kurama's eyes widened and he lightly blushed. "Oi! Don't talk about that in public!"

Seeing that she'd gotten to him, it was Hizuru's turn to smirk. "Oh yeah, and why not? Would that soil your precious image?" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Well I don't care! No one recognizes you right now anyway!"

He leaned down, intimidating her with his height and (literally) butting heads with her. "How are you this annoying?!" He grit.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She feigned innocence, though there was a small smile on her face.

"Eh?! Then I guess you don't know a lot of things." His voice attained a very dark tone to it.

She ground her forehead forcefully against his, head-butting him back. "Whaddaya mean by that, filthy crow?!"

"Whenever we study, you're always plucking me like some Thanksgiving turkey! And you seem to have no idea that you do it! Are you just that stupid?"

"I am not stupid, of course I know I'm doing it! That's just to keep you in line when you try to make a move on me, ya damn turkey!"

"What did you just call me?" The shades fell from his face as he pressed his forehead even harder against hers.

She looked him right in the eye. "You said it first, not me. It's your own damn fault, turkey."

The skin of their foreheads chaffed and turned red, the more they pressed closer, each trying to aggravate the other.

"Oi! I'm a crow, not a turkey!"

"Crows, turkeys, is there really any difference? They're both birds."

"There's a huge difference!" He yelled, highly offended.

"Well which would you rather be then? A filthy crow or a stupid turkey? In my personal opinion- you're both."

This fight continued near the back of the store, with the insults growing more and more unpleasant and each person involved getting more and more unhappy. As that went on, Satomi stood up and sneaked over to the counter where the sales clerk waited patiently.

"We'll take the dress." She said, smiling at him and handing out some money.

An exhausted Hizuru slowly trudged down the sidewalk, an equally-as-exhausted Kurama walking next to her. In front of them, Satomi strolled along happily, swinging the bag with the dress in it back and forth happily.

"O~kay Hizu-chan!" She chirped. "It's about time we get you a new bra now, huh?"

Those words had a strong effect on both of the tired people behind her.

Kurama stopped walking, standing up straight with his arms crossed as he smirked down at Hizuru, who was blushing a bright, bright pink. "Eh? You actually wear that kind of thing? I didn't think you were big enough to fill anything out yet." A wicked glint entered his eyes as he teased her.

Hizuru turned to him, her energy suddenly back in her, her temper ready to flare up in his face. "Oh shut up! You already knew I wear a bra! I threw it at your head that one time, remember?"

With a light chuckle at how blunt she could be, Kurama leaned forward and pressed his hand to her cheek. "Thanks for the reminder. I do remember that now- I remember very clearly what you were trying to tell me then..."

For a moment, she looked lost. "I... I wasn't-" She smacked his hand away, yelling. "You really do have a dirty mind! It was just sitting there, so I just happened to throw it at you! Anything else would have been fine to throw too!"

Kurama sighed. "Speaking of throwing things at me, could you possibly stop doing that? It'd be troublesome if you scarred my face. I am an idol, after all." With those last few words, he removed the blue cap from his head and flicked his hair back dramatically.

Hizuru deadpanned. "Prima donna..." She mumbled, pointing a finger at him.

He glared at her. "What does that mean? You've called me it before."

"'Prima Donna: -noun- 1) the chief female singer in an opera or opera company. 2) a very temperamental person with an inflated view of their own talent or importance'." Hizuru read, suddenly holding a small dictionary in her hands, which seemed to have appeared from thin air.

Kurama looked taken aback, mainly because he had payed attention to the first definition, not the second. "Female... opera..." He blinked, deciding on ignoring what she had said. "Where did that even come from?" He asked in frustration, pointing one long finger at the dictionary in her hands. He looked up at her face, and then pointed there. "And those?!"

She pulled off the spectacles she had on the bridge of her nose, the second object to which he had pointed at. Calmly, she looked up at him. "My school bag, where else?"

He placed the back of his hand to his forehead, a motion that appeared dramatically casual. "I could be spending my time with far better company right now." When he said that, Hizuru puffed out her cheeks, glaring. He ignored her, "Why did I ever agree to do this?"

"Because it's so much fun~!"

Both Kurama and Hizuru shouted, startled, and Hizuru ended up clinging to him and nearly falling over, as Satomi popped up next to them randomly, her eyes closed as she smiled brightly.

She opened her eyes and looked at the two of them, cocking her head to one side. "Oh did I scare you? I thought you knew I was standing here the whole time..." She frowned slightly, pouting. "Aw jeez, I feel like some sort of third wheel! I mean, just look at you two- Hizuru!" She gave her sister a harsh look. "When were you going to tell me you were dating the great KURAMA, of all people?!" She pouted again. "I'm jealous..."

Kurama eyed the girl beside him, and big brown orbs looked over at him at the same time. They realized they were very close to each other, and Hizuru quickly released the hold she had on his sweatshirt while he pulled away from her and took a step back, with a slight smirk on his lips.

"He-" Hizuru said, pointing at the crow standing there with his hands in his pockets. "Is definitely not my boyfriend, or anything like that! And we aren't going out or anything either!"

Satomi perked up a bit, and leaned forward to pinch her sister's cheek. "Oh, silly, you don't have to hide it." She giggled. "Even though I am jealous, I can still be happy for you two!"

Hizuru balked, jaw dropping and eyes wide, and Kurama made a sound of protest in his throat, though he didn't look that opposed to the idea.

"Satomi- it's really not like that- we aren't- we aren't even friends!"

Flicking her auburn hair over her shoulder, Satomi laughed lightly. "Oh, come on, I've seen how comfortable you guys are around each other! You always stand so close, and tease each other in the cutest ways! It's all you've been doing this whole time, having cute couples quarrels!"

"Couples quarrels?" Kurama repeated, looking suddenly stiff.

"Sister, you're severely mistaken..." Hizuru said, looking at a loss of what else to say or how to explain.

Satomi ignored her younger sister and looked at Kurama, bowing low. He blinked at her, the look on his face showing clearly how startled and uncomfortable he was.

"Please take good care of my little Ru-chan! I know she's a bit of a handful, but I can trust the great Fallen Angel from Hell can handle it!"

"Satomi what the hell?!" Hizuru yelled, frantically trying to pull her sister out of the bow. "You're being even more embarrassing than usual!" She tugged her sister's hair, trying to pull her head up. "You airhead! Stop bowing like that!" She went behind Satomi and grabbed onto her shoulders, trying to straighten her back upright. "You're completely in the wrong here!"

The older sister did straighten up finally, allowing Hizuru to fall backwards and land right on her ass. She winked back at Hizuru, and then over at Kurama, before walking around, lifting Hizuru to her feet, and pushing her towards the guy. She stood around behind them quickly and started pushing on both of their backs, making them both start to move reluctantly forward. "Now now, come on you love birds. We still have a lot of shopping to do!"

The two 'love birds' looked a bit dumbfounded, frozen by Satomi's words as she pushed them along the sidewalk in a hurry.

"I can't believe she said all that!"

Hizuru was fuming inside another dressing room- she had been in a foul mood upon entering the store, clearing it out quickly as people tried to get away from the 'evil' aura surrounding her.

"I mean, me and that feathered jerk? NO WAY!"

She struggled with the straps of the bra she was putting on. What annoyed her to an even further extent, was the fact that her sister had dragged them to a women's wear store (which consisted of nightshirts, underwear, and bras... basically it was a lingerie store, but Hizuru refused to admit or acknowledge that) shortly after she had said all that about her dating Kurama! Really, they could get her a new bra any other day, without that turkey hanging around! Why did they have to go NOW of all times?! It was completely embarrassing! Not to mention, inappropriate, considering Kurama was with them! He was enough of a pervert as it was, without them inviting him to go to this kind of place!

"She has no brain... my older sister, has no brain." The brunette muttered to herself, rather worked up due to embarrassment and anger. "She's just an airhead who takes cat naps on the couch a lot, reads magazines, obsesses over a singing bird-man, and teases me to no end about how cute I look in her old clothes. What an idiot!"

Okay, her curse may or may not be going into over-drive at the moment...

Hizuru sighed, giving up momentarily on the bra she was trying to clasp behind her back. She sat on the bench in the dressing room, putting her face in her hands. It was only getting worse, she could practically feel the curse tingling inside her body, forcing such nasty words out of her mouth. And it always gave her a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, especially when she got this worked up.

She really did love her sister. She loved her more than anything else. Satomi was a kind person, with a lot of strength too- well, because she had to be strong, when she had a cursed little sister always snapping hurtful things at her. Actually, Satomi wasn't necessarily strong- she was just a very forgiving person. And stubborn. Hizuru didn't mean most of what she said to her sister- half of the time, she'd come home from school, where everyone either avoided her or called her terrible names, and she'd be in a foul mood... so she would say many mean things to her sister, venting out her anger. Sometimes it was the curse, and sometimes it was just her being rude because of her mood. Well, actually, her curse just drove her on to act rude, for the most part.

"This damn curse..." She sighed again, pulling her face out of her hands and reaching behind herself to try adjusting the bra again. Really, Satomi sure was annoying... but she was also the only person Hizuru really liked to be around. She really shouldn't be blaming her sister for something that's wrong with her herself- she was the one who was cursed- she was the one with the problems. Satomi was just another innocent victim.

"Ah!"

Hizuru grinned in accomplishment. Finally! She had clasped the stupid thing.

"Okay Satomi," Hizuru stood up and yawned as she stretched. She was getting kind of tired of this- shopping was a bore. "You can see it now, I guess... since you wanted to look so bad."

She opened the dressing room door and stepped into the small, empty waiting hall that was closed off from the rest of the store, "I'm sorry I wouldn't let you come into the dressing room with me, but-"

Abruptly, she stopped speaking as all the lights turned out. Her eyes narrowed into a squint when she looked down each side of the hall, trying to see where her sister could be, and what exactly was going on. The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach was really starting to bother her now, and she thought she could smell something unpleasant, and sense a presence that was... inhuman.

It seemed this was the only part of the store where everything had gone dark, because she could faintly see the light down the hall that signaled the exit out of the dressing room/waiting room area, and went back into the actual store. It wasn't dark enough for the shadows in the room to go unseen, and suddenly, even though she knew she was the only one in the dressing room area, she didn't feel so alone... she could feel a pair of eyes on her.

"Hey," She tried to not sound scared, but her voice sounded feeble in the foggy darkness. "Who's there? Or rather, what?"

A face came out of nowhere, and she barely had time to panic and flail her arms before it tackled her to the ground, and then looked her right in the eye. Its jagged teeth grazed her cheek and the thing chuckled, before speaking in a giddy, rumbling tone.

"How interesting," It allowed its claws to dig slightly into her pale skin. "A human girl who knows how to sense a demon's presence..."

Hizuru, though scared, because she hadn't dealt with a monster like this for several years, grit her teeth in disgust. "I bet anyone could sense such a low-class demon, such as yourself. Also, you really stink!" She stuck her tongue out and made a face. "So that stench alone would give you away!"

A cackle that was known as this thing's laugh reached her ears, and then something slimy moved over her forehead- she shuddered when she realized, it was its tongue. "What luck I've had! You make me laugh, and you taste so delicious!"

Hizuru squeezed her eyes shut as a large claw ran down her chin, almost cutting into her skin, and stopped at the strap of the bra she had just tried on. "Stop it! Get the hell away from me! RIGHT NOW!"

"I never thought I'd be drawn to such pretty, tasty prize..." The demon smiled, rows of pointed teeth showing proudly. "But I'm glad I found you, because now I get to eat you!"

Hizuru opened her eyes, just long enough to glare at the thing right before it... disappeared. She blinked, watching as it was suddenly pulled backwards, and then vanished from her line of sight in the dim room. She distinctly heard a dressing room door slam shut, and sounds of shuffling, clawing, and terrible yelps. Not believing her stroke of luck, and not caring to find out what had happened to the low-class demon, she stood up quickly and started to back away, trying not to trip on the slick flooring underfoot.

Hizuru froze up suddenly, feeling something brush against her side, and an arm snake around her while a hand covered her mouth to quiet her scream. Despite the hand covering her words though, she still managed to screech rather loudly:

"GET THE HELL OFFA ME YOU DISGUSTING MONSTER!"

"That's no way to speak to your guardian angel from hell..." A certain idol said in a smooth, proud voice, holding her against him as she continued to struggle. He reached one long arm out and turned on the lights that had mysteriously gone out, filling the room with light once more.

"Kurama?" Hizuru balked, when he finally dropped his hand from her mouth. And finally, when she regained most of her senses; "Guardian angel my ass!"

She managed to wriggle loose from his hold, and turned around to look him in the eye. However, whatever other insults she had in mind for him died right on her tongue when she saw the weird look he was giving her- his sunglasses were gone, and his eyebrows were raised high, while his grey eyes were quite wide as they stared at her. His cheeks were flushed with a very noticeable coloring of light red.

The idol was trying to regain some sense, but all he could do is stare. Kurama really didn't know how else to respond to her, Hizuru, dressed in nothing but frilly underwear and a rather small but cute, white bra.

While he stared at her like that, Hizuru slowly looked down at herself. Her face then seemed to turn into a bright red beacon that clearly marked her extreme mortification.

There was a light 'swoosh' of air, and a jacket flew out of nowhere, landing on top of Hizuru's head and covering up most of her near-naked body. Kurama blinked, turning around just in time to see a tall man standing beside the both of them, growling with his teeth bared to show sharp canines glinting in his mouth. Though the man was trying to look threatening, sending a glare at Kurama and growling like that... he, too, was blushing just like the crow was.

The lion-dog familiar reached out, shoving the shocked tengu aside and pulling Hizuru close to his own body. Carefully, but firmly, he tugged his jean jacket he'd thrown at her more tightly around her small form. He looked down at her face, whimpering slightly, making a whining sound in the back of his throat that closely resembled the whining of a kicked puppy.

"...Have you no sense of modesty, Master?" He asked of her, the blush he'd acquired from seeing her like that still faintly evident in his cheeks.

Brown eyes glared up at him harshly. "What did I say about calling me that?"

Mamoru smiled broadly upon seeing her acting as she normally would, and buried his nose in her shoulder, sniffing at her hair happily.

"Hizu-chan, I'm so glad you're alright!" He pulled her even closer to him, and Hizuru was quite sure he was trying to almost hug the life out of her. "I felt a dark presence coming from this store, and could smell your scent coming from in here, so I hurried to your side in order to help you... I took care of the low-class demon for you-" His voice turned into something of a growl. "-I made sure it paid the right price for laying its filthy hands on you."

Hizuru had almost forgotten how fiercely protective her watch dog could be, but this situation reminded her of many others. Similar things had happened before, in the past, and Mamoru had always saved her each time. She was happy he was here now, to be honest.

Giving the slightest of smiles, she reached a hand up to remove his hat and pat the back of his head soothingly. The motion of her fingers stroking through the short locks of his golden-apricot-tinted hair, and scratching behind his ears, seemed to have the right calming effect- and the familiar began panting contentedly in her ear like a dog, tickling her skin and making her blush and flinch in awkward discomfort.

Her eyes glanced over the familiar's shoulder, and stared at the tall dark figure standing a few feet away, watching them with those charcoal eyes of his. She noticed that his wings were out, resting on either side of his shoulder-blades behind him, and were folded inwards as he leaned back slightly against a wall. His eyes met hers, and for a split-second she wondered, had he actually come to her rescue as well? He was the one to find her in the dark... and why else would he have unfurled his wings, unless he was getting ready to fight? Why else would he take on his yokai form?

Kurama looked away from her, thinking it was weird to be staring like that because, for one thing, he'd just seen her in her underclothes. And for another, she was currently holding onto another man at the moment. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as if he was some sort of third-wheel.

He didn't favor the feeling.

Suddenly, Hizuru pulled away from the lion-dog, her eyes wide in realization of something important. "Wait... where's Satomi?"She asked, growing frantic suddenly as she didn't see her sister anywhere. What if that thing had done something to her sister?! She clutched Mamoru's jacket tightly around her body, beginning to walk towards the exit leading out of the dressing room/waiting area and back into the front of the store.

An arm blocked her way, and she looked up into a pair of sweet hazel eyes. Mamoru gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure the tengu knows where she is, don't worry."

And with that, they both looked to Kurama, who just sighed, making his wings disappear once more and putting back on the stupid sunglasses he had to wear.

"She left me here and went across the street to get a surprise for Hizuru."

Mamoru looked pleased, probably thinking that his precious 'master' had a good big sister to care for her. Hizuru, on the other hand, looked rather pale.

"Oh god..." She said quietly. "I hope she isn't buying me another dress..."

Later, after Hizuru had forced the boys out of the dressing room and re-dressed herself in her khakis and t-shirt, she quickly payed for the bra with the little money her sister had left with Kurama, and then left the store just in time to bump into her older sister.

The three of them had said nothing to Satomi about what had happened with the demon, and the girl was so used to seeing Mamoru by Hizuru's side that she didn't even question his random presence. In fact, she had welcomed him with a dazzling smile, and a warm hug.

Shortly after that, many things had happened, and a short argument had ensued... an argument that Satomi had won, which resulted in Hizuru finding another dressing room and...

"I'm so happy to get to see my Master in a dress finally!" Mamoru chided, as the four of them walked along the sidewalk, now headed back to the Mimori residence.

"Ya, ya, wuhevah." Hizuru managed to say, whilst chowing on a sweet pork bun. All she was focused on at the moment was filling her stomach.

Kurama turned to address an accomplished Satomi. "I'm impressed..." He admitted. "Is it really that easy to get her to do what you want?"

Blushing, the older of the sisters looked up at her favorite idol with a shy smile. "All you have to have is miso soup, or any type of steamed bun, and she'll do almost anything. It's hard for her to resist her favorite foods."

The crow smirked, looking back at Hizuru, who had been bribed into wearing the turquoise floral-print dress her sister had bought for her earlier. It was a funny sight to see- though she was dressed like a lady now, the way she so blissfully ate from the box of various types of buns Satomi had bought as a surprise for her, sort of canceled out the effect the dress had on her.

As he continued to look at her, he noticed a few other things. Like the fact that she was allowing Mamoru to walk so close to her, for one. But also...

When he'd first met her, he'd noticed that she was cursed by looking into her eyes and seeing that faded, golden glow of markings in the dark brown depths. It was kind of like how he could tell Nanami was a land god, because of the glowing mark on her forehead. These type of signals, made the girls easy prey.

And when Kurama looked more closely when she looked back in his direction after sensing him watching her, he noticed that the markings in her eyes were becoming much more evident. In fact, they practically made her eyes shine with light, the glow of the curse showing through for the eyes of any and all demons to see. It would seem her curse was only getting worse, and as it got worse, it grew stronger, and as it grew stronger, it attracted trouble to her.

Kurama didn't notice that Hizuru had slowed down in order to walk next to him, until she had reached up and flicked the side of his face to get his attention. When he tilted his head down to acknowledge her, she was scowling.

"What do you think you're doing, staring at me like that?" She fumed, crumbs from the food she'd been eating resting on her chin and on her bottom lip. "You're not thinking about what happened in the dressing room, are you?"

The image of her in her underwear and bra flashed back into his mind for a moment, and Kurama forced himself not to smile. It didn't work, though.

Hizuru grabbed his arm, leaning much closer to him, and sending him her best glare. In a low voice, she hissed; "You perverted bird! Honestly... do you want me to pluck you?!"

Kurama looked up to see that Mamoru and Satomi were in deep conversation, walking more than a few steps in front of them, so he decided to lean down and grab Hizuru by the shoulders. His lips were at her ear as he spoke in a smooth, charming sort of tone.

"Don't expect me not to fantasize, when I've seen something like that." He told her. He leaned back a little bit, and brushed his thumb over her lower lip, clearing the crumbs away from there. His eyes met hers while she blushed due to his actions. "You're a messy eater..." He casually commented, in the same smooth tone as before. He found that, if he said anything in that sort of tone, he could make anyone melt for him.

Kurama quickly glanced up, now noticing Mamoru looking back at them, with a rather unpleasant look on his face. He decided to speed things along, "Since I live in the opposite direction, and it's quickly getting dark out, I'll be going now..."

And he pulled away from her, but made sure to brush his long fingers through a lock of her hair as he did so, and then brush them over her chin, clearing away the rest of the crumbs on her face. He smirked, seeing the look on her face, and turned around with a wave.

"See you at school."

With those last words, he walked away, stuffing his hands in the pockets of the old jeans he regrettably had to wear throughout the entirety of this late afternoon.

Hizuru stood still as she stared at his retreating form, a light blush coating her cheeks, but a furiously frustrated look in her eyes.

"That little punk... no-good, flirtatious, pervert crow..." She muttered, and then jumped, feeling a hand on her shoulder. Mamoru turned her to face him, and he had a very serious look in his eyes that made her become more serious as well.

"Did you tell him?" Was his immediate question, and she knew exactly what he meant by it.

Shaking her head, Hizuru allowed him to guide her back towards where her sister stood a little ways down the street, waiting for them. "No. I still haven't told him, but because of what happened today, maybe he's starting to understand. Maybe I should tell him more about the curse..."

"Would he be able to handle it, and truly help you out? There's still a lot more to it than this, but the stronger the curse gets, the more demons are attracted to you and the easier it is for them to find you..." His voice took on a sad sort of tune. "How have you been feeling lately? For even something as pitiful as a low-class demon to find you, the curse has to be having a strong effect on you. This hasn't happened in a long time."

"Well, that's why you're here." Hizuru grabbed his hand unexpectedly, causing him to blink down at her in surprise. She met his gaze with a slight smile on her face. "Didn't you tell me that you're here because you were assigned to protect me once again? Because things are getting worse, right? So you're here to help me out."

Mamoru knew her well enough to know that's not all she wanted to say, but that was all he was going to hear. Smiling back at her, he gave her hand a light squeeze- which was his way of telling her a secret promise. He was here for her, to protect her, and that was his job and he would fulfill it. She wasn't alone.

He wouldn't let go of her hand until she let go of his first- because he knew that she had grabbed his hand in order to know she had someone there. She often felt very alone, and she hated that, he was well aware. If he let go, it may not seem like a big deal, but on the inside she would be fretting. This was her way of reaching out- grabbing his hand and holding it in hers- It was her way of communicating to him that she was more afraid than she was letting on, and she was hoping for all the help she could get.

They were drawing closer and closer to her sister now, so he looked Hizuru in the eye and quickly told her. "We're going to get rid of this curse, with the help of that tengu. It may be getting worse, but I'll watch over you and make sure you're safe." With those last few words, he gave her a gentle smile.

Hizuru met his eyes for only a moment, seeing the sincerity in their deep, hazel depths, and instantly believed his words. At this point in her life, he was kind of the only one she could go to regarding this specific problem. She trusted him, because he'd always protected her. That's what he did. It's who he was to her- her protector, her friend. Her loyal, idiotic guard dog.

"...Good dog."

Hearing those words always made him so happy for some reason, (Hizuru imagined that they were more of an insult than anything, but he thought of it as praise) and his smile widened while he continued to look at her. She glanced down at the ground, but held his hand tightly in her own, hoping for the best.

Though it was hard, to hope for the best, when the curse was getting stronger and stronger, and demons weren't the only threat she had to worry about...

A/N: Leave a review saying what your favorite part of this chapter was! Pwease

CK :*