11 Ditched
Ahhh! End of the semester insanity! I don't know how it went so fast!! My roommate's currently playing a game called "Dafur is Dying" is really twisted, she keeps getting killed by the militia when she's trying to gather food and water... its so wrong, because it's true. Oh, what I was wondering is do you guys want this to be a romance story? I've had some indication for that, anyone really opposed? PM me, review, whatever, just let me know what you all think!
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.
They returned to Kurama's house and finished their lesson for the day by mid-afternoon. He sent her back to Yusuke's and pulled out the card Keita had given him. 'To call or not to call?' that was the question he faced as he flipped it over repeatedly and paced before the phone in the hallway. Of course if he didn't call, the over-enthusiastic designer would probably call him, and if his mother answered, as she probably would…. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.
"Yes. Tanaka-san, this is Minamino—yes. Yes."
There was a long pause in which Kurama held the phone some distance from his ear and rolled his eyes at the loud chatter coming through the speaker.
"Yes, when would be a good—yes. I'm afraid I have school. Yes. Yes. Really?" He quickly regained his composure from the slight response and nodded absently. "That will be fine. Thank you." He hung up quickly and breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to deal with the man in person until the weekend.
Wednesday after school Kurama turned Hana over to Keiko outside the school gate. Hana had told him that Keiko would take her shopping for more clothes and a few other things when he had asked her what she wanted to do with her money. She also declared that she was going to pay Yusuke back for her food. Keiko was probably the person he trusted most to take Hana shopping, she had good sense and restraint, and they seemed able to communicate fairly well in spite of Hana's still minimal vocabulary.
"This is going to be so much fun!" the brunette exclaimed as she took Hana's arm and began leading her away. "I love big shopping trips."
"Bye Chi-chan! See tomorrow!" Hana called back, as she shuffled along with Keiko.
Kurama waved after the girls and then turned to go home, expecting nothing more that afternoon except several hours of homework and studying.
Keiko took Hana through stores until the money was running low and their arms were overflowing with bags. They hadn't just bought clothes though. Hana had insisted on buying things for the Urameshi apartment, including an air filter to help alleviate the smell of stale cigarettes and old alcohol. They began the long walk back to Yusuke's apartment while chatting happily. The girls always managed to communicate rather well, and frequently joked about the boys and thier insanity.They passed a small side street as a breeze puffed up from behind them and whipped their skirts around. Hana froze immediately, her eyes dilating and her nostrils flaring.
"Hana?" Keiko asked as she noticed the demoness fall a step behind. "What's wrong?"
"Run," Hana whispered. Keiko could see that every muscle in the girl's body had gone rigid. She felt a wave of panic at the unnatural stillness. "Run," Hana repeated. "To Yusuke, tell come to school."
"Hana, what—"
She was cut off as the antelope sprung forward, slamming into her and knocking all the bags from her hands. She felt a jolt of energy through her body as the adrenaline began pumping through her veins. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears that she couldn't hear any further commands, if Hana even attempted them. All she knew was that she had to run. This rush, this panicked euphoria all happened in the milliseconds it took the demoness to spin Keiko around and finish her push. Then the human was off running as the other girl's youki flared up high enough to catch Kurama's attention several miles away. Hana began running too, but she turned around and ran right past the lunging demon that had been sneaking up on the pair.
He had been waiting for an opportune moment when the wind shifted and now decided to go after the better meal. He had no idea it would be the far harder one to catch. As Hana pelted past he pivoted, but not quickly enough. She dropped her bags as she ran and her pursuer got into gear. She had protected Keiko, she knew she could outrun the predator but that the human had no chance, and she had acted. It was this kind of reaction that had gotten her into trouble in the first place. She had spooked the younglings then gone tearing off in a beautiful long curve away from them and the rest of the herd. But she had not been able to run her way out of that one. She could only hope that things would go a bit more according to plan this time around.
"YUSUKE! URAMESHI YUSUKE!"
Yusuke jumped from where he was lounging in front of the couch when he heard the screams coming down the hall. He recognized his girlfriend's voice immediately and was through the door and in the hall before she could summon the energy to scream again. She ran straight into his chest and he grabbed her arms to keep her from falling.
"Keiko! What the Hell's the matter?!" he yelled, seeing that she was not hurt.
"We were attacked… Hana… Hana said to go to school…"
"What the Hell?"
"Yusuke! Go to school! You have to save Hana!"
"Calm down! What school am I supposed to go to, mine or Kurama's?"
Keiko gasped. "Oh no, she didn't say! She just said to tell you to meet her at the school, I think she was going to try to lead it there."
"God damn," he growled, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate for once. Off in the distance he could sense Hana's energy, it seemed like it was moving more towards Meiou. "Get Kuwabara, tell him to meet me at Meiou, unless he senses that she's going somewhere else. No wait," he yelled, pulling her back as she made a move to dash off again. "Go inside the house and Call him, on the phone."
"Right!"
Shaking his head Yusuke ran for the stairs. Kurama had warned him that Hana might be attacked, had said several times that Hana would not be able to fight, would not defend herself, would just run away, but still, she was a demon and he had trouble thinking of demons as helpless. Even Yukina would move to defend herself if attacked. He ran through the streets towards Meiou feeling the antelope's aura getting stronger as he approached. He had never felt Hana's aura so strong before and knew she had to be charged up, but for what he had no idea, unless she had been hiding powers from them all this time.
"Damn I wish I'd told Keiko to call Kurama too. He's sure gonna be pissed when he finds out what happened." Yusuke began charging up his rei gun as he entered the school yard, then he turned around to wait.
"Yusuke, what's going on?"
Yusuke nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard Kurama's voice behind him. He spun around, his eye twitching slightly as he spotted the redhead standing in the shadows beneath the school building.
"Kurama? I didn't expect you to be here."
"I sensed unusual activity in the area and came to investigate. I assume you're here for the same."
"Well yeah, I mean Keiko came running up to my place screaming her head off and said she and Hana were attacked. Then she told me I was supposed to meet Hana at a school or something. It seemed like she was heading this way."
"Ah." Kurama stepped forward and Yusuke thought he saw his friend's face relax slightly. "Well we had better wait for her here then."
They didn't have to wait much longer. They could feel Hana's aura getting closer, but weaker at the same time, and she was moving considerably slower when she suddenly came into view at a limping jog. She stumbled across the threshold into the yard and swayed dangerously across the yard. Yusuke was about to spring forward but Kurama's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Her attacker came into view as well, running full out behind her, an almost nondescript demon. He looked human, just a little wider than normal and Yusuke could make out spikes along his arms and one his head. He threw his hand forward and the ground under Hana exploded, but the antelope was no longer there, she was already clear and had spotted the boys.
Her posture changed immediately. Her back straightened, her head snapped up and her legs stopped shaking. She stopped panting and her aura dropped down to its normal levels. Her attacker paused to register these changes but as soon as they had happened she was gone.
"Kill him." Kurama and Yusuke jumped to find her standing behind them. "Kill him." Kurama blinked, taking in her insistent tone as Yusuke looked at him for a translation.
"What'd she say?"
"She wants us to dispose of her attacker," Kurama replied.
The confused demon spotted them at this moment and let out a frustrated shout. "You won't get away, I'll take all of you! I am the master of the human world!"
"Oh shut up you dirt bag," Yusuke snapped, sending a rei gun blast his way. A pillar of dirt erupted from the ground in the shot's path and slowed it long enough for the demon to dodge.
"See?! All your pathetic tricks are useless against my mighty power!"
Kurama and Yusuke glanced at each other and were about to respond with their own pithy remarks when a yellow light burst through the demon's stomach. It withdrew just as quickly and the earth demon keeled forward.
"Jeeze guys, don't you know you're supposed to get 'em while they're monologuing?" Kuwabara said, giving his ki sword a flick.
"Yay Kuwabara!" Hana cheered, prancing forward. She danced right over the demon's prone body and affectionately bumped into Kuwabara.
"Hey, we were just about to drop that weakling ourselves!" Yusuke exclaimed.
Kuwabara merely grinned and patted Hana on the head as Yusuke jumped up and down. Kurama sighed and walked forward, carefully stepping around the still-breathing demon.
"Hana, are you alright?"
"Yes," she responded without even blinking at his use of her language, something he made a habit of avoiding unless necessary.
"Were you faking that limp?"
"Yes," she turned to look at him and he saw that her wide black eyes were unusually intense. "To keep him following me I had to be slow, let him get close. I sent Keiko for Yusuke since he was the closest and came here because it is the easiest for me to find. If there's one thing we do better than you, it's escape."
Kurama looked over her carefully as she stood there leaning against Kuwabara smiling that impish little smile she reserved for when she was especially pleased with herself.
"You led that demon here, to us. Why didn't you just run away once Keiko was safe? You cold have outran it."
She gave him a look like she was beginning to question how intelligent he was, but he merely stared back at her, stony-faced. "Because I wanted him dead," she said at length. "Dead, dead, dead. No more attacking, no more stalking. I don't want to be hunted, I want hunters to die and suffer just like us. If what's chasing you is killed you are safer, the clan is safer. If you were unable to fight, would you be content with getting away this time?"
"Why didn't you fight then? Don't you have some kind of attack? You did charge up when I first encountered you, and your aura was distinct over a mile away today."
"That was a display, to scare you because you cornered me. It doesn't do anything, just gathers all my youki in my hands, so I look like a predator in this form."
"Hey, are you two gonna let us in on this nifty little conversation you're having, or should Kuwabar and me just go wait by the gates?" Yusuke asked loudly, his thumb jerking towards the entrance of the schoolyard.
"I'm sorry Yusuke, I just wanted to be sure that Hana understood my question and answered coherently."
"Well what did you ask?"
"I asked her why instead of just escaping her pursuer she chose to lead him into an ambush and almost certain death."
"Ah, I didn't even think about her outrunning it!" Yusuke exclaimed.
"Yeah, but then it would have probably attacked some little kid!"
"We go get bags," Hana said suddenly, tugging at Kuwabara's sleeve. "Keiko, I, drop everywhere. Need."
"Oh, of course," the human responded with a grin. "I'm here to help Hana-chan! You guys can handle this thing, right?" Without waiting for a response from his friends Kuwabara followed the girl's insistent tugging and let her lead him away.
"They just ditched us!" Yusuke yelled as he pulled out his communicator. "And I'm supposed to be retired! Arrggh."
Luna Forest: I'm so glad this is new to you! It's so hard to be original when you're writing fanfiction. It always seems likes everybody's already thought of everything!
Rita: Sorry you were waiting so long! As for jealousy, it's definitely there in some form. It's not really in their nature to settle down into monogamous relationships, but a lot of animals do express some form of jealousy, or competition for the attention of the opposite sex. Like bucks fighting over a doe. Well that's what I'm running with at least, lol.