Chapter 24—The Reason

He was late. He'd been meaning to get to Hika's at noon, but his mother had stopped him to have a 'chat' about Charlie's disappearance a month ago and how it wasn't nice to play with a girls heart after the death of a loved one. Kuronue had smiled and reassured his mother that he had no such intentions; that in fact he had no interest in Hika what so ever—which was a lie. While yes, he had no intentions of moving in on Hika and forming a relationship at the moment, he had more than a little interest in the woman that he'd been (as he saw it) destined to be with since they were both young in soul.

Kuronue shook his head at his mother silly mind and moved down the street at a leisurely pace. He had to admit that he was feeling a bit better after a night of remembering Charlie with Hika. They had spent the night before out in the forest around a campfire, staring into its depths and remembering how Charlie had acted and been.

He took out the key that he had gotten from Takji and Night the week before and entered the large house's front yard. He looked around, expecting Hika to come out and lead him to wherever they were going to train together that day. When she didn't show up, he moved through the house, curiosity getting him more than worry. It wasn't unusual for Hika to be out of the house, but he had been pretty sure that she had said to come around noon.

Finally, when he had checked everywhere and not found her, he pulled out his cell and tried to call her as he pulled out a bottle of water. He was cut opening the bottle when someone picked up the phone.

"Hey, Hika, where are you? We were supposed to meet and train today right?" he asked into his phone as he took a gulp of water.

"And here I thought I would have a bit more time with her cute, unconscious body," came the voice that haunted Kuronue's dreams of revenge, always out of reach but so close at the same time.

Kuronue tensed, his jaw clenching shut as he swallowed the water. Slowly he put the bottle down on the counter and spoke in a chilly voice. "Where is she Edmund?"

"Oh, with me, and Bleathe. Did you know, Bleathe knows this lovely little way to stretch her out so that no man would ever want her again because she wouldn't be able to hold anything in?" Edmund said in a cheerful voice, as if he were discussing good weather with the man on the other end of the phone line.

"You touch her Edmund and I swear I'll figure out whatever way you speak of and do it to you before shoving you into a prison. Of course, most men in prisons don't mind if you are loose or not," Kuronue hissed into the phone, pacing around the house until he found the site of the fight. How had he over looked it?

"Oh really? Well, first you'd have to find us and by then it'd be too late for the little girl," Edmund replied in an almost laughing sort of way making Kuronue's hatred for him increase two fold. "Now, if you want to see her alive and, well, kicking, screaming and everything else that she'll be doing once she awakens from the wonderful sleep she's having, then I suggest you do exactly as I say over the next few hours and we'll all see each other nice and safe."

Kuronue bent and looked at the earrings on the floor and the blood that had pooled around them. Slowly he picked them up and held them tightly in his fist.

"I'll take your silences as a childish way of saying yes. So, to begin you'll write a note saying the two of you have decided to go on an overnight trip to the temple of Fire in the neighboring town in honor of your old friend Charlie. Should you write anything other than that on there, then I'll have my way with Hika. Did you know that she's innocent? Completely innocent in that way. I was a bit surprised at that really. I was sure that she would have given herself to Charlie or you," Edmund said, rambling now to annoy the man on the other side of the phone.

Kuronue growled and wrote the note, and put it on the kitchen table before turning and interrupting Edmund in a rant about how unfair it was to have a girl so beautiful as Hika being killed as a virgin. "I'm done you ass, now what?"

"Oh, right, now you can go home and wait for a call. Believe me; you'll have a better time at your house. Did you know that your mother is allergic to tangerines? I didn't until I did a little bit of research on her. She was incredibly unlucky to receive a to-go order this afternoon while you were away that had tangerines in it. Of course she didn't know that. You might—"

Kuronue shut off the phone and ran. He didn't waste time on cursing the man. He just ran.

From one emergency to another, Kuronue ran. He saved his mother from an allergic reaction to tangerines. He saved his father from being ran over by a driver that had 'lost consciousness' and ran into a build his father had been about to walk in front of. He saved Inane, without her knowledge of course, as a demon tried to take her again.

It felt like it never ended. He'd get some sort of hint via a text or a call or a voicemail. Either way he found himself finally being lead to a clearing that he remembered clearly. It had been the one where he and Hika had kissed. As he looked around, he tried to figure out what the latest clue was.

'A forest clearing where two lovers met is where the final task is for you. Finish it without help and you might see your own lover for a short time.' had been left on his voicemail.

It finally figured itself out as he stood. A girl that could have been Hika's twin walked out and stood in front of him. She looked up at the sky as if she couldn't see him. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her as she gazed up. Quickly he bent in and kissed the girl in the same –relatively—fashion that he had given Hika that long time ago.

"Very good Kuronue. It's nice to see that you don't care who the person is that you are kissing, as long as it looks like Hika you'll be happy, huh?" Edmund's voice came from behind him. Kuronue yanked back and stared at the human girl that had changed to a demon with a cat tail and ears. Kuronue spun and looked for the man that had tormented him for the last five hours. As he glared up at the man two demons grabbed hold of his arms and held him tightly.

"You are such a stubborn demon. Here I'd thought that perhaps you would have given up. You know, after a while the humans would have been left alone if you had chosen to not save them." Edmund said with a smirk. "I have no problem with humans. It's just you and Hika that I have a problem with. That Miss Inane got hurt was a mis-step on the demon's Bleathe hired to guard her."

"As if I would believe you," Kuronue snarled, trying to yank his arms away from the demons. "Why are you doing this? You worked for Koenma to protect Human world from demon's like yourself."

"Why?" Edmund asked, a look of shock crossing his face before he sneered down from the seat he was sitting on. "Why indeed. Don't you remember all your life by now? You kissed Inane the afternoon I put the spell to release your memories on you."

"I remember. You were a demon that captured me when I was a young demon. So what? I never hurt you personally," Kuronue growled in response. "There was no reason for all this."

"Oh but there was," Edmund answered with a dark chuckle. "Why don't we start with what you did when Deshiri was alive no? She was my lover Kuronue! I'd found her when she was but a young girl left in demon world. I took her, brought her up and nurtured her spiritual energy. She gave herself to me!"

"And then she changed her mind," Kuronue snapped back. "Girl's have that option as much as men have the choice to change their minds on a girl. What does her scorning you have to do with us today? That was three lifetimes ago."

"It was more than that Kuronue. Deshiri had promised to marry me when I became powerful enough. But then you came along, got captured and wooed her off her feet so that she could think of no man but you. Even if we slept together she would muffle it but I'd hear you name come off her lips when she was in ecstasy," Edmund growled, pushing himself up and stalk towards Kuronue. "Now only did you do it once, you did it twice! I waited for Deshiri to be reincarnated. I got her out of having to be put into heaven! I exchanged my freedom for that wench to be born again. And then she gets kidnapped by you during a job and she falls for you yet again!"

The punch came out of nowhere. Kuronue doubled over and was held up by the two demons that held his arms.

"I could have had the one woman I cared about, but no, you had to seduce her each time," Edmund snarled, his face turning ugly with rage.

"And then I was so glad when Hiromi died because without a word from the top dogs she could never be reborn and you could never have her again," Edmund said with a sadistic laugh, providing another punch to his stomach. "But Koenma felt sorry for her and let her be reborn a second time! That isn't supposed to happen you greedy bastard. She was supposed to head straight to heaven not return as a half demon. And you know what Koenma told me thinking that I didn't care? He told me that Deshiri's spirit had begged when it was her turn to be processed after Hiromi died to be reborn one last time at a last chance to be with you."

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Well there you all have it, the big reason behind the attack in Bat's Human Rose and the reason behind all the other crap that has happened to Kuronue and Hika. :3 ROSEY