Amandine rose black tea, a good book, and much needed peace and quiet. That was how I liked to spend my rainy Saturdays. Unfortunately, that was not how Kuronue envisioned it. He called right after my tea finished steeping, ordering me to put on a jacket and head out the door all under ten minutes. I barely had time to pour the rest of the tea into my thermos before my phone rang again, telling me to go downstairs.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I muttered in annoyance. Autumn was rolling in and the temperature dropped drastically from the last couple of days. I clutched the warm beverage in my hand, hoping it would thaw my fingers.

"Aww now what the hell made you so grumpy this morning?" he tousled my hair, making the silver strands falling everywhere in the front of my face.

"I'm going to kill you."

I meant it.

I eyed the letter opener in his glove compartment and I currently wasn't opposed to the possibility of maybe slitting his throat with it.

"Stop being a debbie downer and brighten up a little!"

He was way too fucking happy for his own good. No one should be this happy this early in the morning.

"We have to go soon before there's a line."

"A line for what?"

"You'll see," he said in a sing song voice.

Although the rain had already settled, the sky was grey and the fog was think enough to hang from the trees, but the contrast from the vivid colored flowers that lined the conservatory ahead made the area a little bit brighter. I went to the conservatory of flowers once with my mother, but it has long since then been remodeled. The "green" house was painted white, the building itself had an ornate structure, as if you were going in a museum rather than a greenhouse. We came pretty early, but there was already a steady line at the entrance that was slowly getting longer.

"Today is free admission," Kuronue stated proudly as if he had won something.

"I love plants," I blurted out of nowhere. He shot me an amused smirk as we parked a block away from the entrance.

"Yea I figured, that's why I brought you here."

"But how did you know?" The tea felt hot on my tongue as I had to remind myself that Kuronue seemed smarter than he looked.

"I saw a couple of botany books shoved under your coffee table, also your window sill looked like a mini-garden, with all those flowers and stuff. Honestly, it was a lucky guess," he pocketed his keys and climbed outside of his Pontiac.

"But I'm glad I was right about it."

Almost as soon as we walked inside, I felt a huge wave of humid air hit my face. The place looked like a rainforest, different doors led to different sections depending on the habitat of the plant. Kuronue pulled me into a room that was filled with a plethora of colorful household potted plants. They had a variety of orchids ranging from the popular moth orchid all the way to the pink pointed leaves of the boat types. Hibiscuses hung from the walls in every shape and color, and it contained a few common house plants I've grown myself.

The door connected to a room labeled 'Butterflies & Blooms' and instantaneously a tiger swallowtail nestled itself on top of Kuronue's shoulder. He settled his finger near the butterfly until it timidly crawled on. "cute little thing isn't it," he whispered to himself, as if he were trying not to scare it.

I nodded absentmindedly, observing the display of cocoons in a nearby glass case. After I had my fill of the exhibition, I walked into the lowland tropics room. Hanging from vines was a plant that resembled a plump bell shape.

"What's that thing?" Kuronue asked, making a face.

"A pitcher plant. The soil they're usually grown from is poor, so they have to resort to eating insects and small animals to gather their nutrients from," I tried recalling the recent botany text book I had read focusing on carnivorous plants.

"Well aren't you a little flower nerd," he chuckled as I shot him a pointed look.

"I would grow these back at my house but there would be no room, plus they require too much care," I sighed, ignoring his previous taunt.

"I always expected you to be sort to like dainty and elegant type of things, you know where I'm getting at? "

"I think they look cool. And the fact that they eat living things is a plus," I stroked the plant, watching it's vine slowly spiral up into the leaf. I would've been insulted by his comment, but I was far too used to people seeing me as weak. It usually helped me out in the long run.

He cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to look at me in a different perspective. "You're slightly morbid. That's one thing I learned about you today. You don't seem to talk about yourself a lot."

I raised an eyebrow. "You know I don't know much about you either."

"You could ask."

"And you could take off that sweater. It's like 90 degrees in here how the hell are you not melting?" I asked as I peeled off my own sweater. The tropical humidity was already making me sweaty.

"I can take heat pretty well."

"Doesn't mean you have to."

"Touche."

We stayed in the conservatory for at least another half hour. He still didn't take off his sweater.

"So what do you do for a living again?" Kuronue asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Enma publishing," I stuck my arm and head out of the window, feeling the cool wind bristle my skin. It felt nice feeling the morning air, specially right after walking out of a heated room.

"The Enma publishing company?" he nearly shouted. I turned around and the sound of his voice, glaring at him for somewhat disturbing my peace and quiet.

"When you said you worked in a publishing company, I didn't know you meant the biggest fucking one in the city!" he looked at me incredulously.

"It's not like it's that big of a deal. All I do is a bunch of paperwork and call once in a while to harass authors to finish their latest chapters or something along those lines. Sometimes overlook the balance sheets, I'm pretty good with numbers. There are a lot of menial jobs and I just kind of do whatever Yomi wants me to do."

"Yea but do you know how many people would kill to even get a job as a mail boy there? And to think you've fucked the CEO," Kuronue looked as if he was about to laugh, but he immediately shut up when I looked away.

"Shit I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let that one slip out."

"It's all right. Now that it's over and done with I honestly don't care what he's up to."

Of course that was bullshit. I still missed him. I still missed the way he smelled, the way he tasted. I missed the fact that I could no longer go to him when I wanted. I hated being in my own apartment, and going to work only reminded me of Yomi even more.

"Did you at least try and talk to him?" Kuronue asked, breaking the silence that I didn't even realize was there.

"What is this 20 questions?! Everything is fine, I'm fine so don't bring it up. I don't need you to help me out with this one," I spat back. I didn't need another person taking me under his wings in hopes to help me. But after seeing that hurt expression he tried to mask only made me feel guilty.

"I talked it out, it's over," the words felt bitter as it left my mouth and I realized that was the first time since Yomi's office where I finally admitted there was no longer anything between us.

"I'm sorry, it's just I know how hard it is to get over things like this. You can't just swat it away—"

"I'm not like most people," I snapped back. I almost immediately regretted it as he frowned, staring hard at the road in front of him.

"I guess that's true, but I guess that's why I like you so much," he replied.

Something inside me fluttered, but I swallowed it down, forcing myself to believe it wasn't there.

"Let's go out. I want you to meet my friends"

"Bye," I closed the door and shot him a death glare when his foot intercepted.

I really hoped these Saturday outings weren't going to be a thing.

"Oh come on! It's not like you'll be doing anything all day anyways, " he whined pushing himself into my apartment and closing the door behind him.

"That's the point. I don't want to do anything today."

Being forced to socialize in a room with more than one person physically exhausted me, but I was far too proud to admit that fact.

He pouted and looked oddly adorable. "If you were going to decline, you could at least pretend to make up an excuse or something."

I scoffed, "I usually like telling people about things straight up. If that pissed you off then I got some bad news for you."

"Pleeeease, they're really cool and are a lot more tolerable than me! I swear!"

The fucker actually knelt in front of me, clasping his arms around my knee. It would have been kind of hot if I wasn't so pissed at him.

"Begging will literally get you nowhere," I grimaced, trying to shake him off of my foot.

"You sure about that?" he grumbled lowly into my thigh while stroking the back of my knee. I felt my cheeks heat up as I kicked him with my free foot.

"Why the hell do you want me to go anyways? I don't like being around people," I watched him double over in pain as he tried to regain his breath.

"My buddies are nothing like that! They're really open and nice. A bit on the quirky side if you know what I mean."

"If they're anything like you, I know exactly what you mean," I said with my arms akimbo. I pitifully looked down at him, admiring his perseverance.

"One night, that's all. And if you hate it you'll never have to tag along with me again," he promised.

The thought did sound appealing, and before I knew it, he had me changed and walking out of my door without a moments notice.

"And you said begging didn't work," he snickered. I responded by elbowing his rib before I climbed into his car.

I was kind of surprised when he parked in front of Margeaux's and for a brief moment I thought he was about to pick something up from the pastry shop before he motioned for me to get out of the car with him.

"We close early on Saturdays and some of my friends and I like to kind of crack open the secret liquor cabinet and relax in the lounge," he explained. I remember one of the highlights of Margeaux's was the fact that you could hold private rooms for tea and pastries, kind of like a modern version of High Tea.

"So it's kind of like your illegal secret club house," the front of of the store had a scalloped awning with the words 'Margeaux's Patisserie & Confectionaries' in gold as well as the alternating vanilla and peptobismol pink stripes. The inside of the store was hard to make out, but the stools and chairs have already been turned over and the only distinguishable light seemed to be at the other end of the room.

"Yep," he replied proudly. "The owner is never here and my manager is pretty cool with it, considering she's the one who started using the lounge after hours, so we have a lot of fun."

Kuronue pulled out a pink key and turned the lock. The inside still smelled like fresh dough and sugar, and although I could barely make out the interior, it had that comfortable cafe atmosphere associated with it. He led me to the back of the room, into a hallway with pink and white wallpaper. It was pretty surprising to see how big this store actually was as I noted all the rooms the hallways held. The color scheme kept true as even the lines of the room were vertical stripes of pink and while all the doors in the hallway were painted gold. I heard faint mumbling in the farthest room of the corridor before a bubbly voice screamed out the word 'YAHTZEE!'

"Hey guys what did I miss?" Kuronue asked. He placed his hand on the small of my back and led me into the noise.

The room was.. big to say the least. The walls were (thankfully) a softer shade of pink and on two of the corners of the room were red velvet colored couches with a gold table in the middle. There was a large chandelier that hung from the ceiling and the walls were adorned with various pictures of french pastries. The table held a combination of different types of board games and even more booze.

The guy with the slicked back black hair cursed under his breath with the words that sounded faintly like 'mother fucking bitch' as he glared at the dice.

"You missed like everything! I just beat Yusuke here in Yahtzee!" the girl with the cotton candy blue hair shot her first in the air. "And who's your friend here?" she stood up and grabbed my hand, shaking it violently.

"This here is Kurama. He's a friend of mine," Kuronue replied for me.

"Kurama is it?" Handsome fellow, well sit down will you, we have plenty of room!"

They did not have plenty of room.

Even though the room was fairly large, but there were only two loveseats which were currently occupied by people already.

"It's okay, the floor seems comfortable enough to sit on." I wasn't lying at all. The cream colored carpet was plush and soft to the touch. Kuronue sat next to me, taking a glass and pouring himself a shot of vodka.

"You want some?" He handed me a shot glass and I hesitated, thinking back to what happened the last time I was drunk. But who was I to refuse free alcohol? Expensive ones at that.

I poured myself a shot of Woodford Reserve, almost feeling guilty for chugging something that was meant to be savored, then I realized I was dragged here on my own fucking will and that would make me mad enough to drink half the handle for myself. The bourbon had an overwhelming smell of butterscotch, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the taste was rather muted and it went down smoother than most whiskey I've had.

I slammed the drink on the table while Botan yelled, "Now the party's started!" The other people around her hooted.

I deserved a gold star considering how I was getting drunker by the second and still managed to remember everyone's names. The one with the gelled hair was Yusuke and the tall guy with the orange hair that tried to start a fight with him every five minutes was Kuwabara. The most reserved and probably least drunk was a brunet named Keiko. And the girl who first introduced herself was Botan. Like Kuronue said, there were quite amiable and completely open to having another person interfere in their drunk board game night. They treated me as if I was apart of the group, be it because of their inebriated state or because they were actually kind people, it was still nice that they were kind enough to accept me.

The bourbon I drank worked fast and by around the fourth shot the light buzz I was beginning to feel only grew stronger. Yusuke's arm was slung around me as he sang a-ha's 'Take On Me' backwards by the bidding of Botan while the room erupted in laughter. Although I hated to admit it, I was actually having a pretty good time. Kuronue didn't really talk to me most of the night, mostly spending his time socializing with Keiko or holding back Kuwabara and Yusuke from starting another fight. We were all in a pleasant level of drunk before Kuwabara started to speak.

"Have you guys ever been in love?" he rambled, clasping his hands together and pressing it against his shoulder.

"Don't tell me you're going to get all sentimental and shit again?" Yusuke groaned.

"Shut up Urameshi, I never asked you to answer!" Kuwabara yelled, pressing a finger to Yusukes chest.

"He gets like this literally every week," Kuronue chuckled. "He's always the emotional one. Yusuke and him are constantly fighting, but deep down inside they really can't live with each other."

"I don't have time for shit like that," Yusuke shooed Kuwabara off, and for a brief moment, Keiko looked almost disappointed.

"I agree with Yusuke!" Botan replied, slamming her hands on the table. "There's no time for love when you got a schedule as hectic as mine," Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Botan, we all know you wanna screw that guy from the detective agency," he stated bluntly. His comment was received by a water bottle flying to his head.

"I told you that out of confidence you jerk!" Botan yelled.

While the two were bickering Kuwabara nudged me with his elbow suggestively. "What about you Kurama, got someone special in your life?" he asked. I managed to catch Kuronue staring at me, his intent gaze wondering the same question.

"I do," I replied softly, but apparently loud enough for Botan and Yusuke to hear. "I-i mean I did," I sighed. After thinking that I'd never have to talk about Yomi again, I found myself explaining my story far too often. "We.. stopped seeing each other about two weeks ago," I tried to find the right words, seeing how 'date' wasn't exactly appropriate.

"Oh you poor thing, does it still hurt?" Botan asked with her hand placed on her heart.

"It's not that big of a deal. It's actually been a lot easier to handle for the last couple of days," I glanced at Kuronue for a brief moment, exhaling in relief as I realized he wasn't looking. But it was true, all these pointless outings with Kuronue was the perfect thing to distract me from Yomi.

Kuronue opened his mouth to say something before Kuwabara thankfully cut in. "That's why when I finally get a girl, I'll treat her so well she won't ever think of leaving me," he stood and and made a gallant gesture, pressing his hand into his heart. "There's actually this girl I've been eying lately, she comes by here every once in a while and she has the most beautiful hair color and—"

"Kuwabara, no one is ever going to love you with that mug of yours," Yusuke snickered.

"Why you—" Kuwabara started as he threw a punch which Yusuke impressively blocked.

By the time we left, Kuronue decided he was way too drunk to drive and I was probably on the same level. Botan offered the room for the night, but I declined, stating that my house was just a couple blocks down. It was actually farther than I anticipated, seeing how I had to half-drag Kuronue's drunk body to my apartment complex.

"You're nicer than you let on," he muttered. His arm was slung around my shoulder and my hand wrapped around his waist, holding him steady. Any other sober night, I would have probably left him on the street or at least with his friends, but I oddly felt in charge of his safety.

"That's the alcohol talking," I grumbled, struggling to keep him upright.

His head lolled onto my neck and I froze, enjoying the warm sensation. I felt him tense up as he whispered into my neck. "Someone is following us." He seemed to sober up a lot faster and I felt myself straighten up, hearing a couple of footsteps behind us.

"Fuck," I cursed as I felt a hand wrap around my waist. Before I could even gasp, the perpetrator had me on my back, straddling my thighs. I could hear Kuronue was shouting something, and as I turned around I saw him being held back by another guy.

"Oi! She's a man!" he shouted to his partner. I felt my mouth turn down in annoyance.

"What the hell! Well I don't care we don't have much time, he's pretty enough so just close yer eyes or somethin and let me have my turn!" he yelled.

I was going to make a snide remark with something along the lines of 'cheap prostitutes down in the red light district', but thought better of it once he pulled out a knife.

"Don't worry, the less you struggle the easier it will be babe," he breathed onto my neck, his breath smelling heavy of smoke and alcohol.

"Gross," I muttered before I kneed him. He yelped in pain dropping his knife, I grabbed his hair and kicked him repeatedly in the face until trickles of drool and blood hit the floor. I was absolutely livid.

I slowly picked up the knife and walked up to the man holding Kuronue hostage.

"Let him go before I change my mind about turning you into a mangled heap."

I haven't felt this alive in a while, and feeling myself squeeze the knife in my hand brought back the emotions that Yomi took so much time to erase. The alcohol in my blood only made me angrier and I saw the bastard pull on Kuronue's neck tighter. Kuronue had blood running down the side of his face, I heard his ragged breathing as he tried to choke out something that sounded vaguely like my name.

The man looked at me with wide eyes and trembled, dropping his grip on Kuronue and backing his way up in the corner. "P-please don't hurt me," he let out a pathetic whimper and cowered in fear. I ignored the him, making my way to Kuronue to pick him up from the floor.

"Kurama, he's got a gun!" Kuronue yelled. The man had a sadistic glint in his eye as he cocked the gun, slowly getting up from his position. I clicked my tongue and shook my head in disapproval.

"Persistent fucker."

Before he got a chance to pull the trigger, I swiftly kicked the gun out of his hand, picking it up and pointing it to his head. If he was cowering before, he looked absolutely terrified now.

"Don't you know not nice to sneak up on people in the middle of the night. Some people think it to be dangerous," I said darkly, kicking him in the jaw before he had the chance to get up. The light was faint enough for me to see him spit red out of his mouth.

"L-let me go! I'm sorry I won't mess with you guys anymore," his face was covered in tears, dirt, and blood as he gurgled and sobbed pitifully. He babbled useless apologizes as I knelt down and pulled his hair until he faced me. I could barely make out what he looked like but for all it seemed he was the epitome of a normal man. He had an average build with brown hair and nondescript eyes, I almost felt bad beating an amateur up.

"Oh I know you won't bother us anymore," I got up and kicked him hard in the stomach. He cried out in pain, clutching his mid section as he laid on his side in a blubbering mess. "But I should warn you that guys like you shouldn't be playing with guns. Too bad you ever be able to, with your broken arm and all," I said with mock sympathy, shaking my head sadly.

He looked at me with an alarmed expression, clearly confused as he checked both arms to make sure they were working. The last thing that was heard before we left the scene was the sound of bones crushing followed by his deafening scream.

By the time Kuronue and I stepped into my apartment, he was in a catatonic state. We said nothing on our way back as he followed me, looking like a hollow shell of his self. Dried blood covered my knuckles onto my fingers as I tried my best to make sure nothing in my house got stained. The stinging from the cuts and the adrenaline I felt still hadn't worn off and my body was currently a live wire.

"You sit here, I'll get something for your face."

I lead him to one of the high stools on the kitchen counter and sat him down. It was almost like finding the correct placement for a mannequin, seeing how little he moved.

"Come on, you're a big boy. Sit properly," I ordered as I walked into the bathroom to look for my first aid kit. He sat straight up, as he watched me nervously.

"This might hurt a little," I warned him as I dabbed a cotton ball with alcohol, cleaning the scratches on the side of his face. He looked absolutely petrified and I almost winced instead of him. I wasn't very good with building relationships with people, and the crowd I hung around could either handle my old line of work or worked alongside with me. I never had someone normal see me in this state but it still surprised me just how scared he looked.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," my voice grew softer as I gently put a band aid on the wound. "But then again I couldn't really just stand there could I?" I laughed apprehensively, waiting to see if he would just bolt out of his seat and run out the door.

"What the fuck just happened?" Kuronue looked dazed and confused, staring at me like I sprouted a second head.

"Which part are you talking about. The part where I was about to get my ass raped into oblivion or the part where I beat the shit out of those two guys?" I answered nonchalantly. I could have been less churlish and more understanding, but I remembered that "kind" wasn't my forte.

"How the hell did you do that?" he touched the side of his head, wincing as he felt the bandage.

"I took the self defense classes they offered at uni," I lied. I was a terrible liar, I figured I never had enough human contact to lie properly.

"I'm not sure self defense classes teach you how to nearly murder a person. "

"I didn't murder them per-say..."

"Kurama.." he warned.

"I don't want to tell you," I ran my fingers through the front of my hair. I really didn't want to tell him anything. I didn't want to relive my past self. "So I'm going to make this short. I told you that I was involved with some bad people that Yomi pulled me out of. Well this is what I basically did."

"You beat the shit out of people?"

"No you idiot," I slapped him into the back of the head. "I mean yes I beat people up, but not any person. Just the people I was told to," no matter how animated I was, he didn't seem to be following.

"So you were like a part of the Yakuza or something?"

"Something like that, except without all the branches and the people. Kind of like a freelancer If you think about it."

He nodded in understanding as he suddenly pulled my face closer to him to inspect it better. "You don't look like a hit man," he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear as I felt myself leaning into his touch.

"So I've been told," I guffawed. One of my biggest advantages of how unsuspecting my face looked. I was born with a slim build and soft, feminine features, throwing off targets who didn't suspect their attacker to look so girly. I actually liked looking this way, it made the job more fun knowing I was beating the crap out of guys three times my size.

"Well whatever you are or have been or whatever, you're pretty cool," he pulled away, making me feel strangely disappointed. "Thanks for saving my ass back there, although it was kind of your fault we got into that predicament in the first place," he teased.

"It's not my fault I'm so pretty" I retorted.

"Yea I guess it's not," he said with a lopsided grin.