Beaten

Master Genkai walked up the sidewalk to Kurama’s house and raised one small hand to knock on the door. A few minutes later, a disheveled and hung-over Kuroki answered the door.

“Yeah, what do you want?” he demanded, his voice slurred. Genkai wrinkled her nose in disgust at his ripe odor and glared at him.

“May I come in?” she asked. He peered at her through half-opened eyes.

“Whatever,” he muttered, allowing her to walk past him. She turned to face him once they were inside.

“I am here on behalf of Shuichi,” she said coldly.

“What about him?” he demanded, a furious look entering his eyes.

“You made a grave mistake when you decided to rape that young man. You now have everyone who cares for him out for your blood. I don’t know how you can live with yourself. You say you love Shiori, but as soon as she’s out of town, you rape and beat her son. How long has this been going on? And I suggest you don’t lie to me. I will know.”

“How dare you come into this house and speak to me like that, bitch? What I do with that boy is none of your concern, but I will tell you this. I did not rape him. He came to me and tried to seduce me. He’s a little whore, and you’d do well to remember that he’ll lie to get anyone’s sympathy. He wanted me to sleep with him, but I refused, so get out.”

Genkai was furious. This son of a bitch actually expected her to believe his word over Kurama’s? She reached out with one small, weathered, hand and grabbed his shirt collar, yanking him down to her level.

“Listen up, bastard. That boy is like family to me, and you had better keep the fuck away from him or I’ll kick your ass so hard you won’t forget it. Do you understand me?”

“Let go of me, bitch! How dare you?” he sputtered. She shook him roughly, and glared.

“I said, do you understand me?” Her eye was twitching and she was damn near ready to kill the man herself. He glared at her before nodding reluctantly.

“Good. If you give that boy any more trouble, I will personally make sure you regret it. He will never be at your mercy again.” She shoved him away from her and stalked out the door, slamming it behind her. She wasn’t finished, but he was still too drunk to take anything she said seriously. Her next stop was Koenma’s office. She had some talking to do with the toddler.

***
Genkai entered Koenma’s office and glared at him until he was cringing back into his seat.

“Master Genkai, what brings you here?” he asked nervously.

“Are you aware of what has happened to Kurama?” she demanded angrily.

“No, what happened?” he asked, shifting his stack of papers to see if anyone had given him a notice of a problem with the fox.

“He was raped by that bastard his mother is dating, Kuroki. The son of a bitch raped and beat him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Do you know why?” Genkai’s voice was dangerous.

“N-no.”

“Because you will arrest him if he fights back against a human. So he was powerless to do anything about it. You tell me how this is fair. These boys aren’t allowed to defend themselves if a human attacks them, for fear you will punish them for it.”

“Master Genkai, I swear to you that if I had any inkling that this would have happened, I would have given him immunity for it. As such, my hands are tied until the man attacks him again. I cannot give him permission to harm Kuroki now, but if the man treats Kurama inappropriately again, he has full permission to defend himself.”

“That’s not good enough, Koenma,” Genkai snapped.

“It’s all I can do,” he sighed. “My father’s laws are absolute.” Genkai glared at him again, but she knew there was nothing more she could do- except one thing.

“Fine, Koenma. But I suggest you find a way to convince your father to change that particular law.”

“Right. I’ll try, but he hates both Kurama and Hiei because they are demons. I doubt he will consider changing the law to benefit them.”

“I am going to inform Hiei of this if Kurama doesn’t.”

“Very well. Just make sure he doesn’t harm the human.”

“Hmph.” Genkai stalked out of the office and made her way back to her temple, thinking about this.

When she got home, she found Kurama and Yukina in the kitchen, making lunch.

“Welcome back, Master Genkai. Lunch will be ready soon,” Yukina said softly.
“Thank you, Yukina. Kurama, can I speak to you in the other room, please?” she asked.

“Of course,” Kurama said, following her into the other room.

“Kurama, I went to your house and spoke to Kuroki. He was hung-over and probably still half-drunk, so I don’t think I got through to him. You are staying here until your mother comes home, and she is informed of the problem.”

“Thank you, Genkai.” Kurama couldn’t look her in the eye.

“Fox, you should tell Hiei what happened as soon as he gets home. He will find out eventually, but he needs to know what happened,” she said softly. He nodded reluctantly.

“I will tell him.”

“Good. Now let’s go get some lunch,” she said. He nodded again and followed her back into the kitchen.