The Day I Fell in Love

Note: The original vision of “Two Shot” is in Manga #7.

The Day I Fell in Love by: boysluvcraft

“The first time I saw you, I knew you were different,” she said to me, “I always dreamed of meeting someone like you! And to think you’re also my first love.”

Maya Kitajima was her name. It had shocked me when she said those words to me. Then again it shouldn’t have. She was a fourteen year old girl and I was-- for all she knew-- a fourteen year old boy, and a rather attractive one at that. Of course what she really loved was the well mannered, edifice I wore as the human Shuichi Minamino. She had no idea the sort of monster that was lying below the surface, that in a past life I was Youko Kurama. Not that any of that mattered, I was not in the position to even consider accepting her affections. At the level I was at it was too dangerous for anyone to be close to me. Already, there were demons in that town who wanted to kill me. She would have been a liability and I was not strong enough to adequately protect her. So, for her own safety, I told her that I had no feelings for her. However she was pretty and promised to get prettier with maturity. Perhaps I could have taken her as a lover in future years, when I could afford to. In fact, I planed to do just that… for about fifteen seconds.

That was when he appeared. I almost hadn’t noticed him until it was too late. At once I impressed by his skill, his cunning, and his bloodlust. The moment I caught wind of him, my heart skipped in a way that it hadn’t since my days in the demon world. I narrowly evaded his first attack, which would have killed both me and Maya had I not grabbed her up and dodged it. Then I saw him, crouched on the ground, sword in hand and ready to kill. He was small and draped in black from head to toe, save for the white belt and scarf which only served to emphasize the darkness of his facade. His hair was also black as night where it stood out from his head, making him look like some wild thing. Yes wild, like a viscous animal. His eyes narrowed at me, I could see pure hatred radiating out of them.

I could not comprehend how a man could muster up such hate for a total stranger. Nor could I find reason for why he would be attacking me. In any case, I had to fight him, if only to lead him away from Maya. He was good, not so good that I couldn’t have crushed him like bug in my Youko days, but good enough to make me break out I a sweat, good enough to make my heart pound, good enough to make me feel like a real demon again.

He was impressed with me as well, he said, “You’re good, too good for eight-hands. Why do you serve him?”

In my surprise, I spouted, “What? You’re kidding. Eight-hands is in town?” Eight-hands was a low-class demon whom had become notorious for his cannibalistic practices.

“Wait a second!” The small man stopped dead, “You didn’t know?”

“I know now,” I told him, dusting myself off. It didn’t seem like he wanted to fight me now that he knew I wasn’t affiliated with Eight-hands. “I serve no one. This is where I live as a human.”

“Well this is me looking stupid,” he panted, looking as if he was about to kill over.

That’s when I saw the blood, dripping out from the bottom of his coat. Then to my horror he fell over, losing consciousness. I’d cut him badly and hadn’t realized it. My body was semi-human and still growing. It was awkward to move in. Simply put, my control over my body was just deplorable. I had not intended to wound the demon, so it should not have happened. Perhaps that was what prompted my decision to take the demon home and treat his wounds, rather than leave him there to bleed to death. Maybe…

I carried him home in my arms like a bride. It was that only way to handle him with out agitating his wound or getting blood all over my clothes, though I’m sure it must have looked funny. It was a good thing my human mother worked late on week nights. It would have been excessively awkward to explain to her why I was carrying a small wounded man into her house. I took him straight up to my room and put him in my bed. It struck me how different he looked laying there, than from when I first saw him. He was smaller than I originally assessed, no taller than a middle-schooler. And his face… so peaceful. I could now take in his small features, delicate even, with his tiny pouting mouth and small pointed chin, and his… cute button nose all in great contrast with his large heavily lashed eyes. What color were they?

I shook myself and fetched the first aid supplies, and then proceeded to remove his clothes to get at the wound. Carefully, almost nervously I sought out and undid the fastenings on his coat. As if I’d never undressed a man before! To be fair, I hadn’t undressed a man since I became Shuichi Minamino, fourteen years ago. Such activities have had little point in my new life, having been nothing more than a child without the proper hormones to fuel whatever desires that may have lingered in my ancient mind.

“Ooo,” the sound escaped from my suddenly dry throat as the last fastener gave way and I looked down on the demons exposed chest.

That sword he had been carrying wasn’t just for show. He knew how to use it. The evidence of his training was carved in his muscles, with his broad shoulders and back, strong arms and perfect chest. I could just barely see the beginnings of what was no doubt a set of washboard abs, peeking out from beneath his cruelly high waistband. I think that might have been the exact moment I hit puberty.

“How could I cut up such a beautiful body?” I muttered as I leaned down and lapped at the puddle of warm blood welling up out of his wound. Demon blood, the taste flooded my senses, making me drunk. I forgot about the wash cloth that I had brought in to do the job and cleaned the wound with my tongue. Even after the blood was gone, I still lapped at those gorgeous muscles. I could taste his sweat, salty and spicy. In heat and out of my mind, I climbed up his body, licking and sucking at every inch I came across, over his collar and up the lovely column of his neck. I slid my tongue along his jaw, over his chin-- I was playing it dangerous now. If he woke up at that moment I’d have no way to explain myself. I didn’t care.

I traced my finger along an adorable fringe of white hair that stood out like a starburst over his brow. As my hand dropped down over the white strip of material, tied under his bangs, I felt a sort of static electrical sensation. With a frown I pull back the fabric. Soon amusement returned to my humors. My little chew toy had a Jagan eye implant. Not only is the procedure to have a Jagan implanted very painful, but legend has it that it reduces the bearer’s power to that of an infant. I could identify with that.

“Well, aren’t we full of surprises,” I murmured. A deceptively innocent looking face and a body that was a killer in more ways than one, a Jagan eye, and an interest in the demon Eight-hands; he was a puzzle. I liked puzzles. I wanted him. I wanted to kiss him. Against all better reason, I leaned down to do just that, but then his lips moved.

“Yu-Yukina,” he whispered, “Don’t worry… I… I’ll find you. No matter what. Yukina…”

I felt like an iceberg had passed over me. All the heat and passion that was in me was gone. My little demon-- no, not mine. He belonged to another, someone named Yukina. But still it was another piece to the puzzle. The demon had a Jagan, an artificially implanted eye, and among its many uses, it bestows its bearer with second sight or clairvoyance. “I’ll find you,” he had said. Simple conjecture would tell me that this Yukina was his reason for having implanted the eye. I could not help but wonder what sort of wondrous beauty would have inspired a man to do such a thing. And then there was this thing with the demon Eight-hands. The man became more and more intriguing by the moment.

The tragic thing was that it all only made me want him more. But could I steal this demon for myself? At one time vanity would have convinced me I could, but I was different then. I was Youko, a beautiful silver fox. Now…. I pulled myself away form the sleeping apparition. As I did so I caught my reflection in the mirror on my dresser. There no sexy vulpine creature staring back at me, just some fourteen year human boy, without gorgeously long, silver locks of hair, just my short red mop. Maybe I should grow it out, I thought.

It was probably best I let the whole thing go, before I embarrassed myself with it later. And I did have a life as a human, after all, which did not have room in it for clandestine romances with strange men. I could go on for days listing the excuses for my inaction, but I won’t bother. I finished cleaning the apparition, this time with the wash cloth I prepared for the job, and then I treated his wounds. After that I sat at my window, watching him sleep. We could have been great together. Ah, such a shame we hadn’t met at a different time and under different circumstances.

Latter the demon awoke with look of profound surprise on his face-- reasonably so. Most demons would have left his foolish ass on the ground to bleed to death.

“Better already, I see,” I greeted him evenly, so as not to frighten him, “And after just four hours rest.”

He glanced down on his remarkably healed wounds, with confusion painted on his features so I supplied, “It was quite deep, so I treated it with an herb from the demon plane. Hope you don’t mind. You…uh… also talked in your sleep,” I knew I shouldn’t have gone there, but I couldn’t help myself. Foxes and curiosity are inseparable things after all. “About someone named Yukina. And your evil eye… your aura indicates you got it quite recently. That’s not something one acquires without a compelling reason. Is there a link between this Yukina and Eight-hands?”

“That’s none of your business!” He snarled at me, “In fact, I should kill you for what you know. But that would be ungrateful of me, so let me warn you-- Your humanity will prove fatal one day.”

Strange as it may sound, I liked him more and more with each poisonous word he threw at me. Then again I suppose I’ve always been sort of a sucker for a fiery and somewhat irrational personality. I once made a man like that my second in command of my band of thieves. Yomi… That one was selfish, reckless, and shortsighted. He lost countless men, but I kept him around for the longest time, just because I enjoyed toying with him and getting him flustered. But that was another story.

The small man I’d so suddenly taken a liking to was putting his shirt on and preparing to leave. I said, “You’re going out to fight again? I’m not sure you’re ready.”

“This can’t wait, and neither can I.” He said making it clear that there would be no debate on this. “The more Eight-hands eats the stronger he gets.”

“Will you at least leave me your name?” I asked.

“Hiei.” With that he was gone.

“So that’s the infamous Hiei.” I mused to myself, “He has quite the rep. on the demon plane. Still, I don’t think even he’s up to tackling eight-hands alone….” That was always the trouble with being attracted to impetuous men. You always had watch them do something stupid.

I didn’t think I’d ever see Hiei again, but then no sooner than I resigned myself to that, I received a phone call from one of my class mates. It seemed that Maya never came home after I left her to fight Hiei. It was the worst case scenario, the reason why I denied the pretty girl in the first place. Before my heart could even start to pound again I was out the door and on Hiei’s tail calling out, “I’m coming with you!”

Hiei used his Jagan to trace Eight-hands’ energy, which made things exceptionally easy. All I had to do was follow behind Hiei. If not for the anxiety of having to go up against a demon that was out of my current ledge and the guilt that I had caused an innocent girl to fall into the hands of said demon, I may have enjoyed the view. The place that Hiei led me to did nothing to settle my nerves. It was the old mannequin factory that had shut down about ten years ago, after one of the kilns exploded.

“A burnt out factory,” Hiei observed, “Just the place for third rate demon trash to hang out.”

All at once a booming voice sprung up behind us, “So glad you disapprove.”

Two massive fists came down with enough force to scar the concrete floor. It was a good thing both Hiei and I had enough wit to move out of the way.

Eight-hands taunted us, “Don’t give up, do you.”

“Never have,” Hiei shot back, “The ice maiden you ate, who was she?”

“We weren’t properly introduced,” the eight handed demon laughed.

At which point I snapped, “That girl you kidnapped today, where is she?”

“One of your little friends? Okay, I’ll give you a hint.” He produce a small severed foot from seemingly nowhere, “Know what this is?”

A cold chill ran down my shine as the realization dawned on me; I was too late. In a flash of cold fury, I summoned my energy into my grass-blade and rushed the giant demon, yelling, “You beast!”

I had not realized that Hiei had followed right behind me with his own attack, until I heard the “ting” of Eight-hands deflecting his blow. The same as he deflected mine. In the next second both of us were sent flying.

Eight-hands boasted, “I could easily swat 200 runts like you!!”

Separate attacks were useless, I thought and somehow I knew that Hiei was thinking the same thing. It didn’t take a word or a glance for us to communicate to each other what we had to do. It wasn’t telepathy either, even though I was sure Hiei’s Jagan granted him that ability. I did not hear his voice in my head. I just knew. It was a phenomenon that still puzzles me. The moment we need to, our bodies and minds synched up with each other’s and we moved as one. It was pity we’d never be lovers.

It was also a pity that the attack didn’t work. He blocked our combined blows.

“Impertinent microbes!” He laughed, “You’re no better together!!”

That’s what he thinks. We were great together. And he hadn’t seen anything yet! Hiei and I ran toward one another. He ducked behind me and I knew he was up to something crafty and I was to cover him. I rushed at Eight-hands with my blade. He blocked it, as I expected he would. He saw Hiei falling on him from above and readied himself to strike back.

“So easy to parry! No challenge at all,” he preened, “Cuz I saw it comin!”

He delivered a punch to Hiei’s face that surly would have ended the small apparition’s life… had it actually been his face. The head shattered like the cheap plaster that it was.

“What the--” Eight-hands exclaimed, “A doll decoy! Aww spit….”

By the time he realized his error, Hiei had taken his head off and I had separated his torso from his legs.

As Eight-hand’s pieces lay dieing on the ground, he confessed, “I’m impressed, so I will answer your questions. The girl is safe… and I never partook of an ice maiden. If I had eaten something so fine… you’d be the ones… on the ground… in pieces.”

We found Maya locked in an old storage locker. She seemed to have been knocked out the entire time. She stirred, however as I carried her home on my back. She thought that it had all been a dream.

“That’s right, a dream,” I told her, “One that you’ll forget when you wake up.” She’d forget everything she’d been through that day. She would forget my connection to the supernatural. And she’d forget her feelings for me.

“Dream flower pollen, to erase memories,” Hiei said. It was the first thing he’d said since hearing Eight-hands confession that he had not eaten the ice maiden.

“It’s for the best,” I told him. It was, too. Maya’s crush on me was a dangerous liability, both to myself and her. Besides, any interest I may have had in her was dissolved.

“As you say.” Hiei shrugged, “By the way, care to leave me your name?”

“Kurama.”

Even though I believed that I would never see him again, from that day forward I would be hopeless devoted to a small, brash fire demon.

TBC…
A/N: Hope you like. More to come. Please review. See ya Next Time!