Rei says: It's been a while. ENJOY. ;

Chapter 9

"…And that's it." Yusuke said, getting up from where he had sat cross-legged on the floor. He cracked his fingers again and yawned, looking at Kana for her reaction. But Kana was so out of it, so deep in her thoughts that she had barely noticed them all staring at her.

This…was probably the weirdest day Kana had ever experienced.

"Well?" He leaned over to put his head in her face, so they were eye-to-eye. Kana blinked, realizing he was there, startled.

As Yusuke chuckled, Kana sighed, running her hands through her hair – something she's started to do often. What did she think of all this? If you had asked her a few months ago – she would have laughed it off, said it was ridiculous. Now, though…

She looked at all of them, sitting on the floor. Hiei though, was standing against the wall furthest from them, making as little conversation as possible. Save for a few interjections from Kurama, they let Yusuke do all the talking. And, for the first time, Yusuke sounded pretty intelligent. Of course, what he was talking about was totally another subject…

It was a few minutes before she actually spoke. "I can't say I don't believe you guys," she murmured, drawing her knees up to her chest. At this, Kurama and Yusuke seemed to relax, as if Kana not believing them had been something they worried about. "And I also can't say your talk of demons is crazy. Insane." That much was true, too; it was only a half an hour ago that she had encountered one herself – the one who claimed he held Aki inside him…she shuddered, shaking off the thought.

"You're the first one we've told in a while," Yusuke said, cracking a smile. "It's nice to know that you don't think we're insane."

"Hey now, I never said that," Kana said, laughing. She saw Yusuke's face, but then raised her hands in the air as if she was surrendering. Her expression suddenly turned serious. "Thank you."

Kurama smiled at her. "It was about time we told you anyways," he said, then turned to face Hiei as he heard him move.

"It seems we're quite done now," he said, his tone made it evident he was bored. Without another word, he soundlessly exited the room just as he had come, through the window. Kana stared after him blankly for a moment.

"Don't worry," Kuwabara said, waving his hand dismissively, "that's typical Hiei behavior." Kana nodded absently.

"It's only eight," Yusuke said, his face lighting up. He grinned. "Let's watch a movie." Kuwabara thought it was a brilliant idea, and he and Yusuke both left the room, searching for some DVDs. Kurama got up from where he sat, placing a hand on Kana's shoulder.

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked her, worried. Kana looked up at him, smiling.

"I'm fine; don't worry about me." She said reassuringly. "Thank you, though. Not just for today, I mean--," she faltered, searching for a word. "I mean…for everything within the past few days."

Again, he smiled. "It's no problem," he said. Kana nodded, more to herself than to him, and got up from the edge of her bed.

"Now, let's go find Yusuke and Kuwabara." She said with a grin, and Kurama nodded. Both exited her bedroom to find the two on the floor, with a bunch of DVDs in their hands.

"I think we should watch Halloween," Yusuke said, smiling as if he found treasure.

"Or Pirates of the Caribbean," Kuwabara interjected, sorting through the few movies he held to show off the copy to Kana and Kuwabara.

"Halloween," Kana said. "I've seen Pirates too many times," she said, earning a strange glance from Kurama. She whirled on him. "What?"

Kurama couldn't help but laugh. "Nothing," he said, covering his mouth. Yusuke waved around the copy of Halloween, waiting for some attention.

"Come on, come on," he said, jumping up and down. "Let's not sit around doing nothing! I want to watch the movie." He opened the case and took out the disc. Kana gave him the remote, and after a few moments of fumbling with it, Yusuke finally got the movie to play. The four took a seat on the couch – Kana on one end, Yusuke and Kuwabara in the middle, and Kurama on the other end.

"I never saw this movie," Kurama mused as the theme began to play, revealing the opening credits. Kana over at him, eyes wide, surprised. He caught her expression and half-smiled.

"Shh!" Yusuke said loudly, putting a finger to his lips, indicating that everyone be silent.

It was at least an hour or so into the movie, with everyone intent and focused on the chase between Michael Myers and the bimbo. At this point, Kana had to question her sanity – today she had a run-in with a real demon, had these guys tell her they were Spirit Detectives - taking orders from a toddler-ruler - and here she was, watching a horror flick with them. It was incredibly strange.

An odd noise jerked her back to reality. On screen, the killer was standing right behind the girl, the knife raised. But the noise didn't come from the TV. And Kana wasn't imagining it – she saw Kurama's head snap over to the direction of the noise. Kana had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

The noise was actually a snore. Yusuke's head was back against the couch, his mouth wide open, sleeping. And snoring.

"I don't believe him," Kana whispered. "He seemed more excited about the movie than any of us, and he's sleeping."

"He's not the only one asleep," Kurama said, "look." He nudged Kuwabara's shoulder, and his head flopped to one side, revealing his sleeping face to Kana.

"Let's leave them," she said. "I'd feel bad if I woke them up now." Kana smiled at the two, wincing at Yusuke's snoring. "I never thought he'd be the snoring type," she said absently.

Because of Yusuke and his snoring, Kana and Kurama couldn't exactly watch the rest of the movie seriously. So they turned it off, and Kana headed into the kitchen.

"You want something to eat?" She said, opening the fridge and peering inside. "Unfortunately, no one's gone food shopping, and there's nothing really left…"

Kurama smiled, putting up his hands. "No, thank you." He looked over at the clock on the wall. "It's already nine-thirty?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "We've been watching the movie for longer than we thought."

"I guess," she replied, stifling a yawn. "Will you get in trouble if you're out too late?"

Kurama shook his head. "Not really."

"What about them?" Kana said, nodding over to the couch, where Yusuke and Kuwabara were now totally stretched out on the couch, knocked out indefinitely. Kurama gave a lopsided smile, following her gaze.

"I can't really speak for them…but I don't think they'll be in any trouble if we let them sleep for a little while longer." Kurama smiled.

"Why did you do it? I told you not to go near her." The voice – Aki's voice – resounded in his head, clearly, almost painfully. He's put up with his whining - this mental, headache-inducing whining for nearly two hours, and he was getting sick of it.

"Would you shut it for once?" He shouted back finally, snarling. It was dark, he couldn't see. He depended solely on his other senses to move around, and Aki's voice was breaking his concentration. His hands stretched out onto something thick, cold. A smile crept onto his face.

The prize.

A little moonlight filtered through the window, shedding just enough light to see what the object was. He felt Aki's fear and revulsion course through him as he saw the dead body of his father. It made him smile wider. With what seemed like little effort, he lifted the body into his arms.

"We're going to have a little fun," he said, running his tongue over his teeth.

"No! No! What are you doing with--," Aki's voice ran on and on into his mind, but he paid no attention to it this time. It was quickly lost to him, and he stole away into the night, nothing more than a blur to anonymous passer-bys.

After running for a while, he finally set the body down in an alleyway, careful to make the body noticeable, yet hidden at the same time. Delicately, he traced the outline of the man's face with his finger, just as he had done with Kana. Aki's anger meant nothing to him now. He was in control, not Aki.

He threw his head back, laughing into the crisp night air.

"What are you talking about? I'll be fine," Kana protested. "Believe me, I don't need any protection."

It was quarter to ten, with Yusuke and Kuwabara still sound asleep on the couch where they had left them. Kurama shook his head.

"What if he comes back?" He insisted, stepping closer to her. "We can't risk letting him go again, or have you come to any harm." Kana gave him a weird look.

"What makes you think he'll come back anyways?" She said slowly, her eyes cautious, wary. She didn't want to encounter him again, no, not tonight.

Kurama sighed. "It's obvious he's taken a liking to you. He wants something from you. He will come back for it, whatever it may be. It may not be tonight, but all the same, we need to take precautions."

This was a losing battle, something Kana would have to get used to. She threw her hands into the air, surrendering. "Fine. But you are taking the couch, just as soon as we get them out of there," she said stiffly, jerking her thumb over to Yusuke and Kuwabara. Kurama smiled smoothly, taking no time to walk over to them. Kana followed.

"…How should we wake them?" He whispered to her. Kana smiled mischievously, and leaned over just so she was close enough to Yusuke's ear.

"Wake the hell up!" She screamed, and Yusuke jumped, his eyes wide open now, searching the room frantically. Kuwabara blinked his eyes open, as if not sure of what just happened.

"Kana!" Yusuke whined as he saw it was her who woke him up. He flopped his head back onto the couch, complaining. "Why'd you have to do that…?"

"You snore." Kana accused.

Yusuke threw her a look "I do not," he retorted.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Nearly ten," Kurama said. "You fell asleep during the movie." Yusuke moaned, saying something about how he really wanted to see the movie, and got up.

"I gotta go," he murmured almost half-mindedly, going to the front door to grab his jacket and his shoes. "Mom's gonna kill me…" Kuwabara followed, but he looked more awake than Yusuke did.

"C'mon, Yusuke." Kuwabara said, pushing him along out the door. "Bye Kana, bye Kurama." He said, and Yusuke waved a little before the door shut behind them.

"Okay." Kana said, turning on Kurama. "You. Couch. Me. Bedroom." She said, eyeing him curiously before she retreated to her room to sleep.

Rei says: A little longer than usual. Wewt.
REVIEW, my loves.