XXXHolic Fan Fiction ❯ Kitsune Bi - An xXxHolic Fan-Fiction ❯ Sixteen ( Chapter 16 )

Kitsune Bi - An xXxHolic Fan-Fiction
By Ookami Kasumi

All characters property of CLAMP
Warning: Mature (NC-17) - Yaoi content, adult language, mild violence

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Chapter Sixteen

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While the cleaning the upstairs was by no means easy, and playing hide and seek with some of the rooms drove him to screaming hysterics, it was very effective at keeping Doumeki off his mind.

--Until he found the hallway where Doumeki had kissed him.

Kimihiro stopped cold, staring at the wall he'd been pressed against. Truthfully, it had been a very stirring kiss.

“I won't apologize. I have no regrets.”

However, the feelings behind that kiss had turned out to be something other than affection. Doumeki's feelings toward him were something he didn't understand--couldn't understand. They were...intense, and frightening.

Even worse, Doumeki apparently couldn't understand Kimihiro's feelings either.

Kimihiro sighed. "I don't think Doumeki ever understood what I felt about anything."

Doumeki certainly hadn't shown one drop of remorse while doing whatever he felt like doing, despite countless attempts to get him to stop. Sure, the guy's actions had saved his life on several occasions, but Doumeki never seemed to care that while he going about doing as he pleased, he was also trampling all over Kimihiro's feelings.

He shook a finger at the wall. "You never bothered to ask me if I had a reason for anything I did. You just went ahead and did whatever you felt was right!"

Following him wherever he went, making demands, giving him orders, dragging him around by the arm, or the collar...

"No matter what I said, no matter how many times I said stop, you never listened. Not once!" Kimihiro rubbed his damp cheeks with the back of his fist. "Treating me like some clumsy, moronic manga heroine; like you know everything and I know nothing..."

Kimihiro looked up at the ceiling and released a cynical chuckle. "And Yuuko-san wanted to know why I didn't like him right from the start." His gaze dropped to the floor where his tears had made wet spots on the carpet. "I knew better than to associate with that stupid, pushy, nosy, bastard, but Yuuko wouldn't listen." He chuckled sourly. "Does anyone ever listen to me?"

Kimihiro watched more wet spots appear on the carpet. "I knew better and yet..." He closed his eyes. "I-- I thought, maybe I'm wrong about him? Maybe he is looking out for my best interests?" He took a deep breath. "Then when he started doing all that...romantic stuff, I thought, maybe he really does care about me? And-- And I let myself fall for him." He looked back up at the wall, his gaze narrowing into a glare. "I let myself fall alright. Right into his trap!"

"Now that I have you, do you honestly think I'll let you leave?"

Kimihiro shook his fist at the wall. "Entrapment is not love, you thick-headed, arrogant, ass!" Truthfully, he was still unsure about what love actually was, but he was damned sure that it didn't involve tying up and ra-- forcefully seducing the one you were supposed to care about. Not without their consent anyway.

To add insult to injury, the bastard had actually tried to blackmail him into signing adoption papers.

Kimihiro paced back and forth before the wall. "After tying me up and...doing that to me, did you honestly think I wouldn't know what you really planned to do with those papers?" Legal adoption wasn't just a matter of being added to the family register. Since he was still under twenty, he'd lose all rights to any form of legal independence. Anything he had to put his name on to get would require Doumeki's father's name too; from simply getting a cell phone to rental agreements, medical care, registering for school, and accessing his personal bank accounts. Kimihiro shook his fist at the wall. "Just how stupid do you think I am?"

The ass had even tried to cage him on the temple property with spells!

"You didn't even ask me if I wanted any of that, you selfish bastard! You just decided to do it all on your own!" Kimihiro stomped his foot hard and shook both fists at the wall. "I am not some pet to keep in a cottage that you visit on the sly like I'm some dirty little secret! That's not even close to love! That's ownership, and I will not be owned or controlled--by anyone!"

"You need a protector. Even Yuuko-san knows that."

"Protector, my ass!" Kimihiro shook his head fiercely, his gaze turning blurry. "I don't want a protector! I never wanted a protector! I want to protect myself!" With the back of his hand, he scrubbed at his watery eyes and wet cheeks. I will not cry anymore over that-- That asshole! He lifted his head to glare at the wall again and pointed his finger. "I'll show you! I will learn how to protect myself, and when I come back, I'll be so powerful you won't be able to lay a finger on me!"

Suddenly, Az's words crashed into his head. "The punishment should fit the crime. That means finding a way to make him feel helpless at the very least, and unable to stop you from doing...whatever, even if it's not seducing him."

Kimihiro blinked.

"--make him feel helpless at the very least, and unable to stop you from doing...whatever--"

Kimihiro blinked again. "That-- That's it...!" A sneer curled his lips. "That's how I'll punish that pushy bastard! I'll ask the general to leave Doumeki here to wait however long it takes for me to learn what I need to know, and he won't be able to do a damned thing about it! Then when I come back, he won't be able to push me into doing anything ever again!" Kimihiro set his hands on his hips and smiled smugly. "He'll have to beg me with his head on the floor, and maybe I'll let him have a kiss." His face abruptly heated. He looked away and crossed his arms. "That's if I feel like k-kissing him."

With a hard tug on his smock, Kimihiro lifted his chin and nodded at the wall. "That'll show you!" He reached down to heft his cleaning basket, turned sharply, and marched down the hallway feeling a hell of lot better about himself.

Filled with newfound vigor, Kimihiro attacked the rest of the upstairs cleaning with a fierce will.

---- xXx ----

Kimihiro wiped his brow then thrust his duster into the air with a heroic pose. "Upstairs complete!" He checked his watch. "Oh, and just in time to make lunch." He collected his cleaning basket and marched downstairs to the kitchen almost giddy with accomplishment.

Well, except that now he knew for a fact that his glasses weren't anywhere upstairs.

Kimihiro put the duster and cleaning basket under the kitchen sink with a frown. "Where the hell are my glasses?" He was pretty sure that he hadn't lost them like this since grammar school. Though, he couldn't put a finger on any one exact memory of losing them. It was more like a vague impression.

Kimihiro stood up to wash his hands thoroughly at the kitchen sink. "I definitely need to ask Yuuko if she or Mokona saw them somewhere." That was, if Mokona wasn't behind the disappearance. Kimihiro snarled. "I wouldn't put it past that pork bun."

Either way, glasses or no glasses, lunch had to be made.

Kimihiro opened the massive fridge to eye the contents. Food had been added since that morning. Food he hadn't gone shopping for. Not that he could go shopping while the house was parked in Hell. Chalking it up to yet another mystery of the house, he pulled out what he found.

Working swiftly, he quickly mixed up some tempura batter then poured oil into the deep fryer. While the oil heated to cooking temperature, he started chopping vegetables then slicing meat to make sushi rolls and sashimi.

"Oh my... Tempura, sushi, and sashimi for lunch?" A sultry feminine voice drawled. Yuuko stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the doorway. A smile curved her lips. "Feeling better, Watanuki?"

His hands busy slicing and dicing, Kimihiro gave Yuuko a hard smile. "I am, very much so, Yuuko-san."

"Oh?" A slender brow rose over one cinnamon eye. "Still determined to meet with General Osusuki as soon as possible?"

Kimihiro's eyes narrowed and his smile tightened with determination. "More than ever."

Yuuko clapped her hands together and her smile broadened. "Excellent! Because he will be joining us for lunch!"

Kimihiro's jaw loosened and his eyes widened. "W-what?" Already?

Yuuko opened her fan with a snap. "So make sure you make enough for all of us."

Mokona's plump black body abruptly bounced into the kitchen to land on the island counter, miraculously missing all three of the trays already filled with prepared sushi. "Plus Mokona! Don't leave Mokona out! Mokona wants lunch too!"

Kimihiro blinked. "The g-general is coming to lunch? Seriously?"

Yuuko nodded cheerfully. "Yep! Oh, but this time we're going casual, so you don't need to use the good service, and you will be joining us at the table. However, I suggest adding a few things to the menu, such as--" She listed a few choice items including inarizushi.

Kimihiro shook his head, still trying to process that the fox general would be coming for lunch, if he hadn't already arrived! "Wait... Did you say inarizushi? Do you have any idea how long it takes to make inarizushi? I'm not even sure we have enough tofu for that!"

Yuuko grinned happily. "Don't worry, I'm sure Az won't mind going shopping for us."

Kimihiro blinked. "Hell has tofu?"

Yuuko laughed. "No, no, no! Az will go to our local grocery store to get what we need."

Az stepped into the kitchen doorway, a slight frown on his lips. "I will?"

Yuuko lifted a brow. "You don't want to eat the lunch made by my Watanuki?"

Az's black eyes widened. "Oh, but of course!" He turned to grin at Kimihiro. "Just give me a list of everything you'll need. I'll be back in a matter of minutes!"

Yuuko lifted her fan. "And make sure you bring out--" She listed five different types of sake. "And a pot of sakura flower tea. The general is quite partial to it."

Kimihiro threw up his hands, one of which still held a very sharp knife. "Yuuko-san! Are you trying to work me to death?"

Yuuko blinked at him wide-eyed. "But I thought that's what you wanted, Watanuki? Especially after you cleaned the entire upstairs with such refreshing vigor."

Kimihiro pointed at the ceiling. "That was--!" He waved his hands--and the knife. "I mean, I was just trying to--!"

"Not think about a certain Doumeki?" Yuuko smiled sweetly.

"Yes!" Kimihiro blinked then abruptly shook his head. "I mean, no." He winced in mild confusion then set the knife down and lifted his chin. "I did do some thinking, I'll have you know!"

Yuuko nodded. "Oh I heard." Her smile broadened. "In fact, I believe everyone in the entire house heard you."

Mokona snorted. "Everyone in the entire house couldn't avoid hearing you."

Az carefully examined the wallpaper in the hall.

Kimihiro's face heated to the boiling point in pure embarrassment. Was I really shouting that loudly? He abruptly turned away to grab a notepad and pen from one of the drawers. "Anyway, I've come to a decision. I will prove to Doumeki that I don't need to be caged. I don't want a protector."

Yuuko smiled behind her fan. "But you do want a lover, no?"

Kimihiro turned back toward Yuuko and narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "I don't want a lover that treats me like some fragile object they need to keep under glass." He set the pad and pen down on the counter. "If he can accept me as his equal, as someone he can trust to protect him, should he need it...?" His face warmed and he looked away. "Then-- Then we'll see."

Yuuko lowered her fan. "Bravo."

Kimihiro ran through his mental list of what was in the cabinets and fridge and scribbled a list of what he needed to fulfill Yuuko's lunch menu, plus a few things he'd most likely need to make dinner. He handed the list to Az. "Thank you, for shopping for us."

Az took the slip of paper from Kimihiro's hand and grinned. "My pleasure, truly. You are an excellent cook." He turned away from the door and trotted down the hall at a fast clip, heading for the front door.

Kimihiro turned away to wash his hands then turned back to retrieve his knife to continue mincing vegetables.

Yuuko tilted her head to the side, her long black hair sliding across her bared shoulders. "You do realize that General Osusuki expects you to be his lover during your...training, do you not?"

Kimihiro froze mid-slice then took a deep steadying breath, but he couldn't quite make himself meet Yuuko's gaze. "If that's what it takes to learn how to protect myself, so be it."

Yuuko folded her fan and pressed the end to her lips. "My, my...! We have matured!"

Kimihiro rolled his eyes. "Yuuko-san...!"

She smiled broadly. "I'm sure you'll make a fine courtesan!"

Kimihiro's eyes widened. "What? A courtesan...?!" Wasn't that a fancy way of saying prostitute?

Yuuko looked upward and tapped her fan against her lips. "Mou... I guess I'll have to teach you to play the shamisen as soon as you get back."

"Ha...?" The shamisen was a hand-held stringed instrument generally played by geisha, but also the traditional entertainers that worked in the red-light, or adult, districts. Kimihiro shook his head. "Wait... Are you planning to sell my...services?"

"Silly boy! Don't tell me you haven't noticed that I've been doing just that all along? Though not that particular service. Well, better late than never!" Laughing merrily, Yuuko waved her fan and strode away from the doorway. "Oh my, I knew I should have held a proper auction for your mizuage!"

Kimihiro shouted after her. "My mizu-what...?" He blinked at the empty doorway. "Do I even want to know what that is?"

Considering that it was Yuuko...?

He shook his head vigorously. "Definitely not." He turned back to his lunch preparations and picked up his knife.

Several choice rolls of sushi were missing from the trays.

He screeched at an embarrassingly high pitch then shouted at the top of his lungs. "Pork-Bun! You are so going into the nabe pot!" He stabbed the knife into the cutting board deeply and loudly.

Unfortunately, it took more than a few minutes of rather frantic struggling to get the knife back out of the cutting board.

---- xXx ----