Chapter 11

Looks Like Someone Upset Narukami...

"Have a good day at school, Ru-chan~! And you too, Mamoru! Remember to keep her safe!" Satomi called out to the two figures just leaving the Mimori residence.

Hizuru turned around in the doorway, and waved to her older sister. "Okay, I'll see ya later! Bye!"

And with that, she walked out the door, her trusty lion-dog following behind her. A bright smile covered her face all the while they walked.

"Lady Hizuru," Mamoru started. He had reverted to calling her 'lady' now, instead of 'master'. Though Hizuru still didn't enjoy it, she seemed a bit more lenient about it than the other name. "you are in a much better mood than yesterday." He smiled, eyes closing in his giddiness. "I'm glad!"

Hizuru simply nodded her head, still smiling. She was practically skipping down the sidewalk. "Yes, I'm feeling rather good about today, Mamoru. After all, I know for lunch today I'll be having some delicious rice balls that me and Satomi made together the other day! On top of that, I woke up feeling better than ever! I feel great! I could climb a mountain, or do a thousand jumping jacks, or-" She began to laugh. "I just don't know what to do with all this new-found energy!"

The familiar sweat-dropped, seeing the girl jumping and frolicking as they traveled, and blabbing nonstop as she went. That was the last time he added that magic healing substance into her breakfast when she wasn't looking... it was just supposed to help reduce her stress levels, not give her loads of energy...

"I wonder if it will rain today?" Hizuru commented, walking slightly ahead of the lion-dog, staring up at the overcast sky with wide, brown eyes. "I sure hope it doesn't... I hate storms! We should probably hurry faster to get to the school before it rains, c'mon!" She grabbed his wrist, pulling him forward quickly.

Suddenly, Mamoru's eyes narrowed, and he placed an arm in front of her, stopping both of them in their tracks. "Stop."

Hizuru 'humphed', and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you trying to make me late?" She was bouncing on the balls of her feet now, hating being held back. "Come on, we've gotta get to school!"

"I smell a demon."

That made her pause, and she took a quick look around the area. The streets were empty... as was the sidewalk... strange, they were quite close to the school now, there should be more people out, at least, there should be a lot of students walking. Maybe they got there early?

A shiver traveled up her spine, and she shook her head. No, she knew better than that.

"Where is it?" She asked, a bit paranoid now.

"Nearby."

He suddenly lifted her up, like he had the night before, and then he started to run. Hizuru blinked, having no say in the matter and just lying in his arms like a limp doll as he sprinted the rest of the distance to the school.

Once they were safely on school grounds, he stopped and dropped her to the ground.

She scowled at him, crossing her arms to show her disapproval of what had just occurred.

With a warm smile and a puppy-like gaze, he looked down at her and apologized. "I'm sorry Hizu-chan, but in my arms it is safest for you. I don't wish to start a fight this early in the morning, and I don't want any greedy demon hands grabbing at you- especially not when you're in such a good mood."

"Nonetheless, you could have given me a warning before you just picked me up like that." She scolded him, and then her face turned into a look of extreme worry. "You don't think it'll follow me to school, do you? What if more and more start to appear?"

"...They won't. Not while I'm here to watch over you." He assured her, though he didn't look too certain. He was also gazing around uneasily, as if worried an evil yokai would pop out of the bushes at any given moment.

"It's because of my curse, huh? It's getting worse..." Hizuru looked at the ground, her brow furrowed as she thought. "What if... do you think something bad is going to happen to me?"

Mamoru just grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the school building. "No. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, silly Hizu-chan."

He smiled down at her, his ears perking up on top of his head. She smiled a little... and then reached up and smacked those adorable ears of his, telling him to hide them again.

"Stupid dog! You're already popular here, you don't need anymore attention given to you because you've suddenly sprouted dog ears!"

With him whining about how annoying hiding his ears was, Hizuru stepped ahead of him and started to drag him into the school with her. She made sure their hands were still pressed together, in order to secretly reassure herself. "Oh get over it! We have to get to class right now, so just hide them already, baka!"

He pouted. "Yes, Lady Hizuru."

"I told you not to call me that at school!"

Nanami walked into the classroom with a dreamy look in her eyes. Tomoe walked in, directly behind her.

He had held her hand all the way to the school as they shared an umbrella in case of rain- she was just so happy she could die!

Meanwhile, Tomoe glanced around the room candidly. He looked to a certain corner of the room, where an empty desk sat.

"The crow tengu is gone today..." He mused carelessly aloud, as he took his seat beside Nanami.

The Land God looked up at those words, and then she looked over to where Kurama usually sat. "Oh, he is gone." She frowned. "He's probably just faking sick again, so that he can skip school and rehearse for his concert instead."

Tomoe didn't actually care, so he didn't offer up any response. Instead, he took to staring straight ahead, lying his cheek in his hand in a very bored fashion.

Nanami pursed her lips, hating being ignored like that. She turned her head and looked out the window, where the sky was overcast and the clouds could break and allow a steady torrent of rain to fall at any moment.

"I bet there will be a storm today..."

"Ahhh, lunch time! The best time of the school day!" Hizuru sighed, stretching as she got out of her seat.

Mamoru, who had been attacked by several females the moment the bell rang, decided to flat out ignore them (as politely declining their offers of having lunch with him didn't quite work) and stand up, accompanying Hizuru out the door. He smiled, seeing her so happy again. All morning in class, she'd still seemed paranoid about the demon he'd mentioned earlier, and he felt bad about it. Though he could protect her in reality, her fears were something he could not get rid of so easily.

"Where are we going?" He asked her, cheerily walking down the hallway with her, ignoring all the staring of girls that were following behind him.

She shrugged. "I guess the classroom down the hall. I can't go on the roof anymore- the rainy weather is ruining that for me."

The short trip down the hall came to a quick end, and Mamoru politely opened up the classroom door for her as Hizuru walked through. She took a quick scan of the room, and the first thing that she noticed was the lack of a certain crow's presence.

Not that that bothered her! In fact, she was relieved. He couldn't annoy her today, that was good. Grabbing Mamoru's shirt, she pulled him after her to the corner of the room, where Tomoe and Nanami sat, eating together. Well, Nanami was eating, and Tomoe was just watching her. Surprisingly, Kei and Ami were nowhere to be seen.

When Nanami noticed Hizuru take the seat next to them, along with Mamoru, she smiled at the other girl, before her brown eyes traveled to the lion-dog, whom she had never met before. Likewise, Mamoru eyes Nanami- he'd never met her before as well.

Hizuru sighed, knowing she had to do some introducing. "This is my friend I was talking about the other day, Mamoru. He's the new student in my class."

Nanami greeted him with a nod and a polite smile, and Tomoe eyed the other male, not as if he were competition, but as if he were something misplaced here.

"What is he doing, attending school?" He finally spoke up, glancing over at Hizuru.

She set her lunch down on the table, and Mamoru happily started to open it for her while she glared at Tomoe. "Oh come on fox boy, if you and Kurama can attend school, then he can too."

Tomoe looked peeved about being talked to in such a disrespectful manner, but before he could get all too angry, Hizuru asked Nanami a question.

"SO," She wanted to sound as if she didn't care, because she didn't, so she said it in a sort of sigh. "Where's the crow today, hmm?"

Nanami blinked, then picked at her lunch a little, popping something into her mouth and chewing. "I don't know for sure, but I think he's skipping school because of work again."

Hizuru raised an eyebrow. "Again? So he does this a lot I'm guessing."

Mamoru rolled his eyes and whined, sick of trying to get Hizuru to eat her food, which he had been trying to do since the conversation began. It seemed that for once, she was more interested in talking than eating. "Hizu-chan, you need to eat your lunch." He told her, holding a rice ball up just under her nose.

Hungrily, the girl took a huge bite out of it while looking to Nanami for an answer to her question. Mamoru smiled in a sense of small accomplishment.

Nanami nodded, picking around at her own lunch. "Yeah, he does this... pretty often. After all, work comes first for him- he is a super popular pop star and all."

Hizuru rolled her eyes, chomping on the rice ball in her mouth. She didn't even care that her mouth was full as she spoke, "Well, if he's skipping school like this, it's no wonder he's got such a tiny little bird brain."

Tomoe actually cracked a smile at that comment, a rare occurrence whenever Hizuru was around, and the meal continued on with simple, short talks here and there, nothing really important ever coming up after that. The two familiars simply stayed silent, watching their masters eat and talk with each other. Mamoru occasionally nodded or shook his head if Nanami asked him a question, but other than that, he was just as quiet as the fox.

"Hey, Nanami." Hizuru said, once she had finished eating and it felt as if lunch would be ending soon. "I wanted to ask, where are your two friends? They're normally here with you."

Nanami frowned. "Well, Kei got sick recently, she was on a date and ended up getting caught in the rain when the guy walked her home, or something like that. Now she has a cold. And Ami..." The Land God smirked a bit, looking mischievous. "I got her to go share lunch with her boyfriend today."

"Oh. Ami has a boyfriend? That's, nice."

Tomoe rolled his eyes, looking bored as can be, and Mamoru looked just happy to be there and listening, even if he wasn't involved in the conversation. Nanami just nodded her agreement. "Yeah... It is nice. They seem really happy together, too."

For some reason, Nanami looked over at Tomoe, and smiled. Meanwhile, Hizuru's mind conjured up an image of some red bean paste buns, and she licked her lips, still hungry even though she had just finished her lunch.

"Hizuru?"

Two pairs of brown eyes met, and Hizuru quirked her head at Nanami. "Yeah? What? Do I have something on my face?"

Nanami started to shake her head, but then she stopped. "Um, well, actually, yes. But that's not what I wanted to say." Nanami pointed to her chin, showing where Hizuru had crumbs on her face.

Hizuru brushed her fingers over the spot to clear them away. "Thanks. So what were you gonna say?"

Mamoru spoke up after looking at the clock. "Hizu-chan, we better go soon, lunch will be ending and we will need to get back to class."

She simply shushed him and looked at Nanami expectantly. He whined a little bit, but other than that just sat still and waited for them to finish talking.

The Land God then smiled. "I actually just wanted to say that I realized I don't have your phone number!"

"...Oh yeah, that's right. Want to exchange numbers, then?"

"Sure!"

The two of them pulled out their phones, quickly putting each other's information in their contacts before nodding to each other. Hizuru was slightly taken aback that she really did have a friend now, but Nanami was acting as if this was completely normal.

"It's always nice seeing you, maybe you should visit the shrine sometime." Nanami offered, causing Tomoe to look over at her with a glare- which she purposely ignored.

Hizuru looked at the fox with a knowing grin. "Hmm, I don't think your pet fox likes me very much though..."

Nanami just rolled her eyes, waving around with her hands. "He'll be fine!"

"Nanami," Tomoe said in a deep, warning tone.

But before anything more could be said on the matter, Mamoru had already stood up and taken Hizuru with him out the door, right as the bell rang, proclaiming; "We don't want to be late for class!" In his usual concerned tone. "You can never be late, Hizu-chan, it is against the rules so we have to hurry!"

Right before they left, Hizuru could clearly be heard yelling, "Why the hell are you so punctual?! It's not that important, stupid dog!"

Meanwhile, the fox was giving his master a good, long glare, to which she tried desperately to ignore as she turned her head the other way and whistled innocently.

As Nanami had correctly predicted, Kurama was skipping school for work instead. He had called in sick this morning, and was currently standing on stage, rehearsing for his upcoming concert. The stage lights were bright in his eyes, and his voice sounded as hauntingly lovely as ever as he sang the chorus of one of his songs, just to practice.

On the last note, the microphone stopped working, and the song was unexpectedly cut short. The pop star sensation rolled his eyes, stepping back from the mic stand and wiping the sweat on his brow. He was dressed, not in a costume, but in his own expensive clothing, as this was just a rehearsal, but it was still hot under the many lights on the stage. Not to mention, he'd been at this since nine, and it was almost past one now.

"Someone get me some water." He called out, whipping his hair back in that dramatic way of his and sighing because of the heat. All around him, the tech crew was assembling cords, adjusting the lighting, and a few came on stage to check out the microphone. That was the third time they were checking this mic, and it was obviously broken, so Kurama didn't see why they couldn't just use a different one. These people were wasting his time.

"Here you go."

He turned, grabbing the water bottle offered out of someone's hands. "Thanks." He said dryly, before unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig of water, allowing the cool liquid to pass languidly down his parched, sore throat.

"Don't mention it. Say, could you do me a favor, Kurama?"

The tengu swallowed, and finally looked at the person who had handed him the drink. The guy looked a bit familiar- light orange eyes, glasses, dimpled grin, long blonde ponytail.

"A favor?" Kurama asked, cocking an eyebrow at the other young man. "And who am I doing the favor for?"

The handsome blonde laughed, albeit a bit roughly. "Katsu Hokkaido- I'm your manager's son? We've been over this a couple times before already."

Kurama took another drink of water, before walking over to a nearby chair set on the stage just for him to rest in, and sitting down. He looked up at the other with a smile. "Ooh, that's right. Sorry if I don't remember you, it's been a long day so far... So, you want a favor from me?"

Katsu nodded, smiling. "Yes. Do you remember the time you brought that classmate of yours to one of your photo shoots?"

That's weird, this guy remembers Hizuru? The idol thought, before shrugging his shoulders.

"No." Kurama blatantly lied. "I don't remember that. Ya see, I'm so busy all the time it's just hard to keep track of who I bring to places and other little, irrelevant things like that."

The other guy looked a bit upset for a moment, but kept up his smile. "Well, I believe her name was... Hizuru. Hizuru Mimori, does that ring any bells? I think you were helping her with some sort of project."

Seriously, why would this guy even care about something like that? She's just a normal high school girl... Kurama thought, as he looked the guy over carefully.

But Hizuru was cursed.

Eh, that's not such a big deal... it shouldn't attract too much attention to her, at least.

And for some reason, she could both see and sense yokai, a power that no humans were supposed to have.

Alright, I guess she isn't all that normal. Having that ability would be something that draws attention to her.

Coolly, Kurama glanced at the impatiently waiting Katsu. "Oh, that Mimori girl? Yeah, yeah, she just needed some help with homework or something. She also wanted to tag along with me for the day- she's a big fan of mine."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, as if not believing the pop star's words.

"That's strange. When I met her, she hadn't exactly seemed like the type to idolize people."

"Well," Kurama smirked. "she's not. But she said I'm a different story." He had another sip of water, taking his time before he said anything more. "She even has a poster of me in her room, isn't that cute?"

Katsu didn't seem amused. "Yes. Very." His tone was clipped, and his smile had disappeared.

Kurama flashed the man a smile. "So, you never told me the favor you wanted to ask? Make it quick," He looked over at a tech guy who was waving at him. "I have to keep going with the rehearsal."

The blonde folded his arms, forcing a friendly smile to appear on his face again. "I was wondering if you could bring her to your next concert so that I can speak with her again, but seeing as you two are not really that close, could you please just give these to her for me instead?"

And he handed the idol a pair of tickets, right before waving and starting to walk away. "Tell her she can bring a friend with, if she'd like."

When Kurama looked down at the tickets in his hand, he realized that indeed, there were two of them. Two tickets to his next concert, and the seats were right near the front. He glanced back up, at the retreating form of Katsu's back, and his charcoal eyes narrowed.

What would that bastard want with Hizuru?

He blinked at her.

She blinked at him.

He blinked again.

Another blink on her end.

The two simply stared at each other, saying nothing, and blinking back and forth as if it were some sort of game. Behind her, Mamoru was happily panting, his eyes were wide and shining with delight, and he was gazing around the shrine and wagging his tail back and forth behind him. It would seem he liked this sort of setting.

Eventually, the fox demon spoke. "And just what are you doing here?"

Placing her hands on her hips, Hizuru scowled. "I see you're still as rude as ever. Nanami invited me, remember that? Though she didn't say you'd be here as well..."

From behind the fan held to his face, Tomoe gazed at the cursed teenager with a look of carefully controlled annoyance in his eyes. "Well of course I'd be here, what did you expect? This shrine is Nanami's home, and I must stay with my lady and mistress in order to properly serve her as her familiar." His eyes narrowed. "Now, leave here at once. You and your trouble aren't welcomed."

"Eurrgh..." Hizuru growled, trying to size up the fox, even though he was much taller than her. But then, his words reached her ears and she paused, blinking again. "Wait, me and my... trouble?" Slowly, she glanced behind herself, at the lion-dog idiotically staring back at her with a big smile spread across his face.

Hizuru leaned forward a bit, and so only Tomoe could hear, she cupped her mouth with a hand. "If you're talking about the familiar behind me, it's totally okay to get rid of him..."

An angry marking appeared on the fox's temple, showing that he clearly was not amused and was quickly losing his patience. "Lion-dogs are welcome at places like shrines, in fact, they are usually what guards all holy areas." He snapped at her. "The trouble in which I was referring to was not him, but you yourself. You and your curse are not wanted here."

Hizuru's mouth dropped open, and for a moment, she stared accusingly at the smug fox. He merely glanced at her from over his fan, his amethyst eyes shining with delight in seeing the way he had made her so angry and offended.

"Well then," She said quietly, looking to the ground for a moment and sighing. There was a moment of silence, and then she sharply looked back up at him and yelled right in his face- "SCREW YOU, YA DAMN FOX!"

Barging past a shocked Tomoe, Hizuru marched into the shrine and started calling out for Nanami, openly complaining about the other girl's familiar. Behind her, still at the front of the shrine, the fox and the lion-dog stood together, looking back down the hallway to where Hizuru had just turned the corner and disappeared. Her complaints about Tomoe's attitude could still be heard all throughout the shrine, making the fox's ears twitch in annoyance.

Mamoru, smiling as if he hadn't minded or even noticed Hizuru's outburst, walked right past the fox and into the entry way of the shrine. "Thank you for your hospitality!"

Given that it was now the start of the weekend, and therefore they had a break from school, the two similar-looking girls had decided to spend some time together and just relax for the afternoon at the shrine. Currently, they sat in Nanami's room, happily chatting away.

Outside, it seemed to be starting to get stormy, rain could be heard hitting the shrine quite loudly, but the girls were just ignoring it.

Tomoe knelt on the floor, his ears pulled back and his tail angrily thumping against the floorboards beside him. Nanami was sitting cross-legged just across from him (though she wasn't facing him), and Hizuru sat in the same fashion just beside her. The two were talking and laughing, oblivious to the angry fox demon glaring at them from across the room.

"It's my first time at a shrine like this," Hizuru admitted, after the laughter ceased. She looked around the room in a pleasant sort of way. "I like it here."

Nanami smiled warmly. "I'm glad! Tomoe and Mizuki do a very good job of keeping the place looking its best."

Hizuru quirked her head to the side. "Mizuki? You have another fox demon?"

The other girl giggled. "No, no, Mizuki is a snake. He's also my familiar."

"Oh," Hizuru looked around the room, her eyes not even noticing the fox over by the corner. "Where is he? Can I meet him?"

Just then, the fox got to his feet, walked across the room, and practically pushed Hizuru towards the door. "Oh my, look at the time, it's getting quite late so it would seem our guest should be leaving now." A large sweat drop was sliding down his forehead- he did not like the idea of this idiotic girl meeting that idiotic snake. Alone, they were both annoying, but together... he shuddered at the thought.

While Hizuru and Nanami were protesting, and Tomoe was easily pushing the cursed of the two towards the door, Mamoru barged into the room, doggy ears pulled back, and tail whipping back and forth behind him. His eyes were wide, wide open, as if he'd just seen a ghost.

"Snake!" He barked, running into the room and grabbing Hizuru from the fox. "There's a snake in this shrine, and he won't leave me alone! He keeps trying to get me to drink sake with him! I hate sake! And I hate snakes! He keeps asking me all these questions and laughing about things I don't understand! He won't leave me alone come on Hizu-chan we are leaving right away!"

"H-heyyy!" The girl whined, suddenly being dragged down the hallway by the jittery lion-dog. "Mamoru, let go and just calm down!"

He didn't let go though, and simply kept running- they reached the doors of the shrine that would lead them outside, and he almost forgot to slide the door open before running out.

Upon their immediate exit, the rain pounded down on them in massive, wet sheets, and it was only then that they both looked up to notice that the sky was a mass of dark, swirling grey. And then, lightning flashed overhead, and Hizuru's eyes widened. Quickly, she buried her head in Mamoru's shirt.

"Go back in! Go back inside!" She shouted, shivering as the rain continued to pour, and thunder sounded as well.

His ears drooping, Mamoru led the scared girl back into the shrine, where Nanami, Mizuki, and Tomoe were waiting by the door.

"Is she okay?" Nanami asked worriedly, as Mizuki peaked over her shoulder. He was holding a jar of sake, which he was planning on having the lion-dog try, but he knew at least for the moment he should stay quiet.

"No, but she'll be fine soon." Mamoru said with a smile, before turning back to Hizuru, who, as thunder pounded the skies again, grabbed hold of the front of his shirt again and clung to him as if she were a child.

"This is a really bad storm. You two should definitely stay the night here." Nanami said, to which she received a nod from Mamoru. Tomoe sighed heavily, knowing that it just couldn't be avoided, what with this crazy weather.

"Yes, that would be perfect. Please, could you get us both some warm clothes? The rain was coming down so hard, it soaked right through even though we were only out there for a few seconds." The lion-dog talked politely, but the concern for Hizuru was also very evident in his tone.

Nanami nodded, towing Mizuki along with her as they went to go get something warm for the visitors to wear. Meanwhile, Hizuru still clung to the damp fabric of her familiar's school shirt, shivering as the storm continued to make loud noises, with the wind picking up and beginning to howl, and the rain pattering even more loudly on the roof, and thunder booming just after lightning flashed. It reminded her of another terrible storm she had witnessed, a long time ago.

Meanwhile, Tomoe was standing with his arms folded, staring out at the horrible weather. "Looks like somebody upset Narukami, once again..."

A/N: Hello! :D

I was debating about what Mizuki and Mamoru's relationship should be like, if they should get along really well and be best friends or if one of them should dislike the other or something. I decided the more hilarious and exciting route to go would be having Mizuki cause Mamoru a lot of trouble, haha! ^_^ Can't you just imagine, Mamoru being afraid and bothered by how overly-friendly Mizuki is! I think it's funny and ironic, considering Mamoru is actually a lot like Mizuki, what with his happy-go-lucky, clingy attitude and all.

More of that though, next chapter! Also, Hizuru formally meets Mizuki... seems like Tomoe's worst nightmare, huh? :)

Leave a review saying what your favorite part of this chapter was!

CK :*