Love's Denial

Hello kittens! Here is the next chappie and I do hope that you enjoy. And by the way, I am still asuming that you all think that I am a freakin' genius by not reviewing. So if you disagree or you do agree, then review damnit!

So here we are again, kittens. I'm am so sorry to infrom you that there is no lemon in this one, but there is in the next. Sorry for any mispellings. Shout-outs at bottom.

Chapter Ten


Aki almost ran away when her master opened the door to the Menamino-Takanoka residence. If he hadn’t grabbed her arm she probably would have. “I . . . uhhh . . . this must be a mistake,” she said, her eyes wide as Kurama pulled her inside the house.


Kurama was beyond pissed. This was supposed to be no attachments and now the damn girl was at his mothers fucking house. How the hell does that keep things simple. “Be quiet, damnit, before she hears you. Why in the hell are you here?” he demanded, covering her mouth with his hand.


Aki held up her hand, showing him the library card. She closed her eyes, knowing this was about to be ugly.


Kurama looked down and read the card and began to understand everything. “You work at the library?” he asked, stopping for her to answer because he had never stopped to ask where she worked. When she nodded he continued. “And my mother set this whole thing up didn’t she,” he said more to himself than to her.


For the first time since they had began their agreement, Aki was truly fearful of what her master might do to her. He was actually shaking with anger. She tried to stand as still as possible, but couldn’t help but fold into herself a little.


Kurama had never been so amused by anything his mother had ever done before. Oh, her matchmaking was not new to him but to go so far and with a female he was already seeing, well fucking. It was something out of a bad porn video at best. He was actually trembling in laughter.


Kurama looked down and saw that his hummingbird was cringing, as if expecting a punishment. He got himself under control and removed his hand gently, cupping her face and lifting it to his. “Stop that. You did nothing wrong, this time. Actually, hummingbird, you handled the situation perfectly. I think you deserve a reward,” Kurama told her, leaning down and capturing her lips in a heated kiss.


Aki’s body went limp the moment her master’s lips touched her own. Out of the few rewards he had ever given her, and there have been very few, his kiss was her favorite. Unlike most others, her master didn’t like kissing as much as he liked playing. He always saved it for a special occasion and would never do it unless Aki had earned it. And she tried her hardest to get his kisses. Her master was always sweet with her in the beginning, as if afraid of breaking her. Then he would be forceful and harsh.


She sighed softly as the change happened and his tongue forced its way into her mouth, her master taking everything he wanted from her and everything she could give him. When she heard someone coughing behind them, she had to resist the urge to push him aside.


Shiori had the biggest smile she could muster behind fits of laughter on her face as she watched her son pull away from her librarian. She had just finished their dinner and was wondering why he hadn’t returned and when she found him, he had little Aki wrapped in his arms as though she were already his. Oh, she just knew it would be love at first sight.


Kurama was mortified. He should have just let his hummingbird run away, but no, he had to practically have sex with her in on his mother’s front door. And Shiori caught them. How fucking lovely the way his life works out. “Mother, I can explain,” he started.


Shiori just smiled at her son and Aki, who was hiding herself behind him. “Now, Shuuichi dear, you don’t need to tell me anything. I’m not so old that I don’t know what you were ‘doing’,” she told him, walking out of the room to the kitchen.


Kurama sighed. Now he was up a fucking creek without a damn paddle. He grabbed Aki by the arm and dragged her behind him, following his mother. “Come on. You are going to stay for dinner,” he told her, finding his mother in the kitchen. “Mother, I think that we gave you the wrong impression.”


Shiori looked up from the table she was setting for three. “Oh, and what might that be, Shuuichi?” she asked, smiling innocently.
Kurama wanted the floor to open and swallow him whole. “Mother, Aki and I know each other through Keiko and Kuwabarra. We are only friends,” he told her, mechanically pulling out a car for both his mother and Aki to sit.


Shiori wanted to roll her eyes. She knew that setting her son up with Aki would not be easy. Actually for a while, she thought that he was gay until she caught him out on a date with on of the girls he went to school with. He was so stubborn. “So, how does Yusuke like you making out with Keiko?” she asked, baiting him like all good mothers do and placing her napkin in her lap.


Kurama sat down and took a deep breath. “Mother, I do not make out with my friends. I was just checking Aki’s . . . oh hell, I was kissing her, but we are not dating.”


“Well, then what are you doing?” Shiori asked, passing the salad to Aki with a smile.


Kurama should have known that here in the human world with a noisy mother and lucky friends, that he would have no chance in hell of keeping most his deepest secrets. He almost wished it were Hiei grilling him instead of his mother. “We are . . . uh . . . friends with benefits,” he said stupidly.


Aki’s head shot up from her plate. That was the dumbest answer she had ever heard, it was even worse than the truth-or-dare game when Kurama was drunk. At least he had an excuse then. She looked at Shiori, who also looked shocked at the lack of intelligence in that answer. “Uhh, Shiori-san, in I may interrupt?” she asked politely, hiding a grimace with a smile when Kurama kicked her under the table.


Shiori looked at Aki, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Of course, why I have been trying for ages to get you over here to meet Shuuichi and now I find out all of my whining has been for nothing,” Shiori said in a hurt voice and a smile on her face. Dinner tonight was turning out better than she could have ever hoped.


Aki grimaced slightly. “Well, K-Shuuichi-san was only being kind to me, Shiori-san. You see, I have someone that I am interested in and well,” she starts, her face turning red in embarrassment, “I am not really good males. I asked Shuuichi-san to help me and he didn’t want me to be more embarrassed than I already am so we decided to keep it a secret.”


Shiori’s heart fell. If anyone else had told her something like that she would have sworn that it was a lie but Aki was so innocent she couldn’t lie. She tried to give Aki a smile but fell short. “Well, that does explain a lot, but why would Shuuichi kiss you in the middle of my doorway?” she asked


Aki’s blush became redder. “Ummm, well that happens to be one of the things I need the most work in. You see, I haven’t kissed many boys and in order to get in practice, Shuuichi told me that any time we were alone, we should get in at least one practice kiss and since we were alone, I thought it might be time to practice a hello kiss. So none of this is his fault,” she finished so innocently that it hooked Shiori instantly.


Kurama was shocked. He had no idea his hummingbird could lie like that and most certainly not so easily. His mother was a living lie detector and if he hadn’t been Yoko Kurama in a past life and known how to lie, cheat, and steal, she would have known everything. He was impressed and actually felt a little bad about kicking her. “So you see mother, now you have upset your guest. And by the way, your rouge was very well thought out in getting her here. My complements,” he told her, changing the subject before his mother asked if his sticking his tongue down Aki’s throat was part of her ‘training’.


It was Shiori’s turn to be embarrassed. “I am so terribly sorry for any in convince and for making you miss the rest of work, Aki.”


Aki just smile and waved her off. “It is fine. Kiki owed me anyways,” and with that the three talked pointlessly throughout dinner and desert.


******************************************************


Yusuke stared at the clock and turned back to Botan, who was pacing the floor. The woman looked truly distraught. Her blue hair was astray and her kimono wrinkled. Her eyes were red and puffy from a lack of sleep. All in all she looked like hell and Yusuke didn’t know what to do. Kurama was late and no one could find Hiei. Kuwabarra was pissy and keep looking at the window like it was evil. Only he and the grandma were acting normal. What the hell was going on here?


Genkai looked up at the door just as Kurama opened it and walked in with Aki right behind him. Hiei flitted in right behind him. Botan stopped pacing and looked relieved when she saw them. Yusuke was the first to speck. “What the hell took so long, Kurama, and where the hell have you been, Hiei, and Aki, why the fuck are you here?” he demanded, earning a glare from both Hiei and Kurama and a blush from Aki.


“I didn’t see any purpose in coming to begin with, detective. If I hadn’t seen Kurama coming, then I would have stayed away,” Hiei replied, avoiding looking at Kuwabarra.


Kurama, while checking the premises for any outside sources of energies, continued to glare at Yusuke. “I am sorry my dinner with my mother interrupted your evening, Yusuke. When I accepted my mothers invitation, I hadn’t realized that I would also have to come here,” he told him in a condescending tone.


Yusuke decided to back off of the pissy, redheaded fox. He turned to Aki. “And who called you?” he asked her, knowing damn good and well that he had nothing to do with it.


Aki blushed, trying to decide how to best handle the situation. “Well, I . . . uh . . . was . . .” she started, unable to come up with a decent excuse.


“I saw her walking home from work and since it was so late, offered to take her home after this ‘meeting’,” Kurama finished for her, effectively shutting Yusuke up. Aki gave him a look of gratitude.


Kuwabarra smiled at her. “I’d forgotten that you had to work late tonight, Aki. You are lucky Kurama is a gentleman. Don’t know what we would do if anything were to happen to you,” he told her, watching her blush.


Hiei rolled his eyes and ‘hn’ed’. Before he could comment on just how much of a ‘gentleman’ Kurama actually was, Botan interrupted. “I am sorry to call you here so late, boys, but this is the only time I could sneak away from Koenma,” she told them, sitting down next to Genkai and Yusuke.


When everyone else standing followed her example and introductions were made, she continued. “I asked you here because Koenma has been acting strange for the past month or so.”


“Explain strange,” Kurama interrupted.


“Well, first he stayed for an entire night reading a file his father had given him to take care of. I know that this doesn’t sound strange, but it is. It wasn’t just any file. It was one of Yama’s secret files. Yama doesn’t let anyone touch those files but he actually handed it to Koenma himself. Then, after Koenma read the whole five-folder file, Koenma moved our bedroom. He has also had me under constant watch. He doesn’t sleep, doesn’t eat, and paces the floor constantly. I have little clue as to what is going on here but he didn’t want you to know so you are some how involved. When I suggested telling you, he actually shook me and told me there was nothing that you needed to know,” she answered, looking at the group desperately.


Hiei was the first to speak up. “Do you know what was in that file?”


Botan shook her head. “I only caught a glimpse of a note someone had made on it. It said ‘xc legend?’ and that was all before Koenma pulled me out of the office and put me back in bed.


“XC legend,” Yusuke muttered. “What the hell could that mean?”


Kurama looked pensive, as though he were trying to do a puzzle. He got a piece of paper and began writing down possible answers. “It could possibly be in Roman numerals, or it the initials for a demon’s name or pen name,” he said, scribbling more things down.


Kuwabarra just watched him, bored out of his mind, while Aki looked like she was trying to hide in the wall. Hiei noticed that her eyes were narrowed, like she knew something. “You, human girl,” he told her, demanding her attention, “what do you know about this?”


Aki just stared at the littlest demon. Why did he have to come. “N . . . nothing, why?” she asked, smiling at him.


Hiei smirked at her. This human girl, the weakest he had seen since being in the human world, dared to try to lie to him. She must have a death wish. “You are not very good at hiding what is on your mind. I can see that you are keeping something hidden. Tell me now, or I will force it out of you, and trust me, I forms of torture that would make you wish that your soul was never created,” he told her, effectively scaring her.


Aki moved towards Kurama, trying to avoid attracting any more threats from Hiei. When she looked at the rest of the group, she realized that they were all waiting on her. “Okay, but remember this is just a theory,” she told them, clasping her hands in her lap.


“The letters ‘xc’ stand for ‘X’ class. It is an almost unheard of class of demons that is above even the dreaded ‘S’ class. An ‘X’ class demon is one who has managed to fuse their life energy and their demon energy together, causing their power to rise considerably. It makes them huge threats because while many demons are at their deadliest when calm, an ‘X’ class demon can actually draw power off of their emotions and feelings since there energy is connected directly to their life force. Any demon to have ever achieve this feat is either dead or hidden,” she finished, looking at each one of them for a reaction.


The room was silent until Yusuke burst out laughing. “Nice one. Hell, you almost had me going there,” he told her between fits of laughter.


Botan nodded her head in agreement. “Yes, I have to agree with Yusuke, even though this is not the time for stupid jokes.”


Genkai, who had been a silent observer this whole time, decided that it was time to get down to business. “Shut the hell up, jack ass,” she told Yusuke, slapping him in the back of the head. When he was quiet, she continued. “Now, the girl has a point. You might find this hard to believe but everything she has said has the possibility of being true.”


Everyone looked at Genkai as though she had grown a second head. Kurama, who naturally was the first to recover from his shock, was the first to comment. “That is impossible. There are only a few ways for any creature to even access their life energy and you actually expect me to believe that there are demons who can combine it with their demon energy. There is no way.”


Kuwabarra, Yusuke, and Botan nodded their heads in agreement while Hiei ‘hn’ed’. Aki shook her head slowly. “You incapability to believe something you know noting about will get you killed, Kurama-san,” she told him, her voice hard. “Many of the ‘X’ class demons in existence today happened to have been born that way. Only a single species of demons actually produces demons at this level and they are the blood dragons.
The few others who have reached this level have trained for thousands of years to get there.”


Kurama just stared at her. “Tell me, Aki, how do you know so much about this?”


“This is something I would like to know as well,” Genkai commented, pulling out a cigarette.


Aki blushed and smiled at the group. “Why, one of my books, of course.”


Hiei was appalled. A few books made this human an expert on demons. “Another one of you little books had all of this in it and yet it is supposed to secret. Explain how that works.”


Aki just gives the short fire demon her sweetest smile. “You are a demon, so why don’t you tell me,” she told him in a sugary sweet voice.


Hiei’s eyes narrowed and if it hadn’t been for Yusuke grabbing him, he would rip the human’s heart out. “Little girl, you should watch your tongue. You have no idea who you are fucking with,” he hissed at her, settling back down.


Genkai sighed. “This is getting us nowhere.”


Botan nodded her head in agreement. “Yes, I have to agree. All of this bickering will not help Koenma.”


“Then what the hell would you like us to do, Botan?” Kuwabarra asked, rubbing his weary face with his hands.


She thought about her best course of action for a moment before answering. “Well, Genkai and Aki seem to think that ‘X’ class demons are real so why don’t I do some digging to see if it is a possibility,” she suggested and stood up to leave.


The men nodded their heads in reluctant agreement. Genkai pulled out another cigarette, mumbling about stupid kids and their need to defy their elders while Aki just stared at her hands. When Botan left after agreeing to meet with them again within the next few days, Hiei flitted off behind her and Genkai told the others to stay in the guest rooms since it was so late. All agreed and went to bed, each confused about the sudden turn of events in their semi-peaceful lives.


******************************************************


Koenma looked around his office, his impatience getting the better of him. After the meeting with the heads of the blood dragon clans, he had called for his newest assassin. That was five hours ago. Koenma needed his help and in the bastard was going to blackmail him, and then he would have to help Koenma a little as well.


He sat back down in his chair and rubbed his forehead for what seemed like the millionth time that hour. Just when Koenma was about to stand up again, he felt a presence on the back of his chair. When he turned around, he saw the boy-assassin sitting on the top of his chair with his nose buried in a book and his legs crossed casually. The assassin looked as though he was the one who had been waiting for hours. “Can you not knock like a fucking normal person?” Koenma asked, jumping out of his chair and running to the other side of the desk to get some distance between them.


The boy looked up from his book and shoved his horribly long hair away from his face. “You know what, prince, you actually have good instincts for a weakling,” he told Koenma, sliding into his chair and propping his feet up on the desk.


Koenma gripped the desk in order to control his rage. “First you are late, then you try to kill me, and now you are insulting me. I should have you executed.”


The assassin laughed. “And who, pray tell, are you going to have kill me? I am one of the, if not the strongest demon ever put into existence. I could kill you at this very moment and no one, not even you daddy dearest could stop. Nor would they try.”


Koenma backed away from the desk slightly, his face going pale. Oh, he knew that everything the boy said was true but that didn’t stop his blood from turning to ice the second the threat was issued. He took a deep breath and got a hold of his nerves. This was not the time to be afraid. “I need you to do something for me,” Koenma told him when he regained his composure.


The assassin sat the book against his chest and lifted on golden eyebrow. “Really now.”


“Yes and this is no time for your games or bull shit. There is going to be a war if I do not find out who is behind this whole mess,” Koenma told him, going into “boss mode” with ease, even if he did fear the boy.


The boy-assassin leaned over the desk, his curiosity peaked. “What mess?”


“For the past few months, there have been a series of assassins among the blood dragon clans. Recently, one of the main families was murdered and now the head clan is calling for vengeance. If the spirit world does not find out who is behind this within the set time, the blood dragons will wage war against both the spirit world and the demon world,” Koenma told the assassin, waiting for a reaction.


The assassin gave Koenma his sweetest smile after thinking over the situation. “Sure, I’ll find this person,” he replied and disappeared.


Koenma let out a sigh of relief and headed to bed. Now he could only hope that his assassin and the blood dragon assassin would kill each other and all of his problems would be solved.


************************************************


Aki literally had to drag her body all the way back to her apartment the morning after the meeting with Botan. She was so exhausted and she didn’t even spend the night with her master.
She couldn’t get comfortable in her bed and finally ended up having to forgo getting any sleep at all. All in all, yesterday had been an extremely exhausting day.


When she finally made it to her apartment, she fell onto to loveseat and curled up in a ball, with her head buried in a pillow in the hopes of being able to get some sleep. She moaned in despair when Tai came into the room a few minutes later.


Tai looked down at her little friend and grinned. So someone didn’t sleep last night. “Get up, Aki. We have to meet Keiko and Shizuru at the café in an hour,” she told her, pulling the pillow away from her eyes.


Aki put her arms over her face to block out the sun. “No, please don’t make me go. I am so sleepy,” she whined.


Tai sighed and walked to the kitchen. When she came back, she had a cup of cold water that she poured over Aki’s face, laughing when Aki jumped up and yelped. “Get in the shower, damnit,” she told her and strutted back to her bedroom.


Aki glared at the closed door for a few minutes before resigning to her fate. This was so going to suck.

What do you think, kittens? I know, it isn't my favoritw chappie so far. Actually, I think the next one will be, but until then, review.

Kitty's Corner

blood illusions-Oh, how I adore you, my little vampire kitten. I am so glad you like your name. Yes, Shiori is trying to set them up, but as this chapter explains, she doesn't get very far. I glad you know the difference between M's and sadist, but I am glad the girl decided to quit now. Kurama will be a sadist in later chapters (I promise that it will be explained and detailed, no worries) and it might have been to much for her. About Koenma, I do not consider him to be a shallow character at all. I think he is actually intelligent but in some cases focuses to much on other things, like in my story. I am glad you like my Koenma though, it makes me happy ;)! Your vote most certainly counts and in my book, it counts double. Enjoy this chappie and I'll update soon, kitten!