Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ A Fox's Kiss: Love From Afar ❯ Inquiry With a Beauty ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 2: Inquiry With a Beauty

I love his red hair and his green eyes
I love every corner of his face
He's a beautiful demon in disguise
Just the site of him makes my heart race

I watch as Kurama's head jerks towards the door. My senses immediately kick in and I grab my bag. I make a dash for the exit, but all for nothing. He may not be Hiei, but he is still fast when he wishes to be.

He stands in front of me now. His eyes are wide and his face set in a dead-straight line. He grabs my shoulders and pain shoots through my body. But I don't scream. I can't show him that bruise, so I stare up into his emerald eyes and hold my breath.

Despite the situation, I can't help but think about his beauty. (A/N: Go figure, huh?) His fair facial complexion, his stunning red hair and his deep eyes. I feel his eyes trying to bore into my mind, but I force him out. I don't want him seeing my thoughts. Someday, maybe. But not yet.

"What did you hear?" he asks, seriously.

A strangled noise comes from my throat, but nothing decipherable. His grip tightens on my shoulder. I feel like my head is about to burst from all the pain.

"Answer me!" Kurama says. He doesn't say it loudly, not at all like a scream, but calmly and coolly. I would rather face my father than lie to him, and I admit that it would have been better if he screamed. Anything but the look in his eye.

So I stare him in the face and mouth the word, "Everything."

He looks around cautiously and leads me into the science room that he had been in earlier. He closes the door and puts a chair under the knob so no one can come in. Then, he takes some paper, black, from a low cabinet from the side of the room and tapes it over the glass on the door so no one can see in. I guess I made him realize how careless he had been acting.

I rub the spot on my shoulder where he had held on to; where the bruise is. It hurts terribly. But I can stand the pain. It's nothing compared to what my father did to me before.

Kurama's gaze once again falls on my face and my heart flutters. It doesn't matter if it is a harsh look or a passionate one; I still love to be caught in it.

"You're in my history class," he says. He recognizes me! "You sit behind that bothersome girl Cassidy. What is your name?"

I stiffen slightly and open my rucksack. "What are you doing?" I hear him ask, but I ignore him for the first time in my life. I pull out a pack of Post-It notes and a pen. He is still staring at me with an eyebrow raised as I scribble on the pad.

I rip off the sheet and walk up to him. I gently place the note in his hand and sit down at one of the lab tables.

He furrows his brow and me for a moment and then reads my note aloud:

" 'My name is Nobara Shigo.' "

He looks as me again and I can sense his suspicion grow. "Why didn't you just tell me your name? Are you a mute?"

I stare down at the notepad and close my eyes. I sigh. I have to tell him sometime; might as well be now.

" 'I am not a mute (he reads). There is nothing wrong with my vocal cords...' "

He pauses here and asks, "Do you just choose not to talk?" In response, I shake my head and point at the paper in his hand. He gets the idea and continues.

" '...at all. But it is very hard to pronounce most all of the letters, syllables, etc. without a tongue, so I choose to stay silent.' "

I look down at the table again, but I know that he is staring at me. I can almost feel his eyes upon my back and I want to cry. But I won't. Not in front of him. I promise myself that.

Suddenly he's in front of me, bent over in front of the table. He places a single hand on my check and opens my mouth with the other. His hands are so warms and soft and gentle. If I stop him, he'll only think that I'm lying, so I let him. I let him see the small, pink stub at the back of my throat. I let him turn away and hold his head in one hand. I let him.

He parts his fingers from in front of his face, but I can still hardly see him. "I will not go easy on you," he murmurs, "just because of your disability. I am still going to question you as I would any other. Now, why were you spying at the door?"

" 'I did not expect you to go easy on me. I don't want you to. (A/N: After writing half of my advice columns, that sounds so dirty...^_^) I was spying because I need to know what is going on.' "

"I don't understand. Why would you want to know what goes on in my life? I know that you saw Hiei; you must be very confused. Is that what you mean?"

" 'No. Hiei is a fire demon and of no concern to me...yet. Should he happen to get involved, then yes. It is you, Shuiic...no, Yohko Kurama that I need to deal with. It is you, Kitsune, that I am curious about.' "

I feel his sudden fear rise. He knows that I can dispose him at any time. But I don't plan to, ever. I am surprised at my own daring. I thought that talking (or writing notes to) a boy would make me embarrassed and I wouldn't be able to do it. But it is simple. It's like I've known him before; like an old friend that I never knew I had.

"You...how did you..." he stammers. I quickly jot down on the pad.

" 'I don't know how I know, I just do. I know all about you and your past, I know about Hiei, I know about those two human boys, about Genkai. I know about the Spirit World and the Makai. I thought that you might be able to tell me how I know.' "

I added the last line as a cover up. It wasn't a lie; I do think that he'll be able to help me. But I didn't want to tell him that my other reason for peering through the door was to see his beautiful face.

"You had better come with me," he says after a pause. I shake my head again.

" 'No. I must go home; my father is expecting me.' "

"Than I'd better take you home."

I shift my glance to him and I feel my face turn a slight pink. Did he really say he'd walk me home? I can't believe it! I should not get my hopes up, though. I know that he is only doing it to watch me and get some more answers. And probably to find out where I live so he can find out more information about me elsewhere.

But it still thrills me.
We enter my neighborhood about fifteen minutes later, walking swiftly. I told (or, rather, wrote) him everything that I know that he thought would be important. I even told him about he feeling I had had that morning. He seemed mildly interested, but when I told him that it had disappeared as the day ran its course, he dismissed it as a simple feeling.

He looks around the street. "Quite a classy community," he says. "I suppose that your parents make a lot of money."

" 'Yes and no. My mother was an author and got a lot of money for novels, but she died when I was seven. My dad doesn't work; he doesn't need to. When my mother died, her fortune was left to us.' "

I do not mention the fact that no one would readily hire my father for a job anyway.

I stop in front of my house. A few flowers grow in a small area where I keep them blooming, but he rest of the yard is bare and ugly. The grass is dieing and the trees wilting. A rather depressing atmosphere.

"Nobara," Kurama says, as I am halfway to the door. I snap around. That is the first time he has called me by name. "Tell your father that you will be late coming from school tomorrow. You, the others and I need to have a meeting."

I hesitate. I know that my father would never permit me to go if I asked him, but he can't keep me from going if I go right from school. I know that he'll be angry when I get home late, but I can try to handle it. So I nod and watch him stroll down the lane as if nothing had happened.

He's so beautiful.

I enter my house cautiously and remove the First-Aid Kit from its place. I might as well keep it up in my room from now on. But, as I tiptoe into the living room, I stop dead in my tracks. My father is standing at the bottom of the stairs, supporting himself a little on the railing.

"Daughter," he croaks. His words are slurred and I can smell the alcohol on his breath from across the room. "You're late. Now I have no supper."

I try to move, but he is already making for me. I'm frightened stiff and can't move as he smacks me across the face.

"Bitch," he mutters. "Just like your mother."

My eyes open and I glare at him, but nothing more. He kicks me in the knees for looking at him like that and I fall to the ground.

I don't move until he has left the room and then I run to my room and lock the door.