Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Uprising ❯ Called In ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

(Disclaimer:  I do not own Yami no Matsuei or Yu Yu Hakusho.  I can’t stress that enough.)

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Andrea sat up on the loveseat quietly, rubbing her eyes.  “W-What time is it?” she asked to herself before she looked at her watch.  8:30AM.   She heard a faint ringing and quietly but quickly went into her bedroom to find her cell phone and answered it.  “Hello?” she asked in Japanese.

“Andrea, I didn’t mean to wake you,” her manager’s voice came onto the other end.

“N-No, Mr. Uchiwara,” Andrea answered.  “I was awake.  What’s wrong?”

“One of the girls is going to be running late, Andrea,” he answered.  “I wouldn’t call you, but since you wanted some more hours...”

“Sure,” she answered.  “I’ll get dressed and be there in like thirty minutes.”

“Thank you so much,” Mr. Uchiwara answered.

“It’s not a problem.  I’ll see you then,” Andrea said and after exchanging goodbyes, she hung up.  Now she was in a pickle.  How to sneak out without Tsuzuki waking up.  She’d barely had known him a day and didn’t know what he was like, aside that he was a pain in the ass.  After changing into a pair of jeans with a lavender shirt, she peered into the living room at the man on the couch while pulling her hair up in a ponytail.

Tsuzuki was still asleep, snuggling the pillow on the couch as if it was made of marshmallows.  He looked like nothing would wake him, short of an explosion.

Andrea shook her head.  He was something else...  She looked back at the bedroom window and blinked.  Did he just save me last night? Andrea thought to herself.  Shaking her head again, she slipped her cell phone into her pocketbook as she picked it up and walked quietly to the door.  She quietly opened the door and left the apartment, locking it behind her.  Taking a deep breath, she headed down the stairs before heading to her work.

Almost an hour later, Andrea was working and manning the phones in Japanese.  She wore a blue yukata with small sakura blossoms all around with a tied pink belt around her waist.  In truth, she spoke it almost like she was a native.  Bilingualism was a big commodity in the workforce, and to speak Japanese and English was readily needed.  The phone rang again and Andrea answered it.  “Thank you for calling Ukai Toriyama.  Would you like to make a reservation?” she asked.  She penned down the reservation and after getting their confirmation, she thanked them and hung up the phone.

“Hey, Andrea.”

Andrea looked up and saw a teenage girl with jet black hair and doe like brown eyes in a maroon yukata with large sakura flowers all over with a tied pink belt around her waist.  “Hey, Mia,” she answered.  “Miyuki’s here?”

“Nope,” Mia answered, sitting next to the auburn-haired girl.  “But I’ll tell you who is.  There’s this really cute guy outside.”

“That’s your department, not mine,” Andrea answered, not even looking up from the reservation book.

“Well, yeah,” Mia admitted.  “But this guy’s like your age.”

“My age?” Andrea echoed, raising an eyebrow at her.  “You must have been watching too many romance movies at night again...”

“No, I’m serious, Andrea!” Mia said, grabbing the girl’s arm.  “He’s really cute.  And he wanted to see you.”

Andrea sighed.  “What are you talking about?”

“Well... he said that he wanted to see you about something important.”

Andrea blinked.  Who in the hell knew where she worked at?  Koenma wouldn’t dare appear as a toddler, Hisoka was at Kurama’s house, and Tsuzuki... well... nothing short of an explosion would wake him.  At least, she hoped so.  “What does he look like?”

“Well...” Mia’s eyes gave off a dreamy look as if she was talking of a sexy Japanese actor on television.  “He’s got the most gorgeous green eyes... they’re almost like emeralds...  Oh, and his hair is so nice.  It’s so long and red...”

At that, Andrea stood up almost too fast, the chair hitting the floor behind her.  Kurama?  What was he doing here?

“Andrea, what’s wrong?” Mia asked.  “Did you see a spider?”

“No,” Andrea answered.  “I’ll talk to him for a minute.”  She walked over to the door and stepped down to put on a pair of geta sandals.  Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the restaurant and sure enough, Kurama stood against the barricade.

“I didn’t expect to see you go to work,” his calm alto voice spoke.

“It’s called getting called in,” Andrea answered, standing on the bridge.  “When you go to work, you’ll understand.”

The silence between them was starting to get heavy.

“What are you doing here?” Andrea broke it almost as fast as the silence had started, her blue eyes looking out at the water and at the little koi fish that were swimming around.

“I wanted to make sure you were all right...”

“I told you, I’m fine,” she said, not even looking at him.  The words hadn’t meant to come out almost like venom.

“I know that,” Kurama answered, looking out to the water himself.  “You weren’t injured from the hailstorm last night, were you?”

“No.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear,” Kurama answered.  He took a deep breath in an effort to stop the silence between them.  “Listen...  about Demon World...”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Kurama looked down at the auburn-haired girl.  “Andrea...”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she repeated.  “I don’t.  I got to get back to work.”  Andrea turned on her heel and started to walk back to the restaurant.

“Andrea, I...” Before Kurama could finish, Andrea was already walking back.  It seemed like she wasn’t ready to talk about it.  And with him knowing the reason, he took a deep breath just as she had turned around.  “You have a good day, all right?”

Andrea nodded before she took off her sandals and stepped up into the restaurant.  As she picked up her chair and sat down, she saw Kurama walk away from the restaurant with his usual stride.  Why would she want to talk to him after what happened?

“Hey, you’re just letting that hot thing walk away?” Mia asked as Andrea took the pen in her hand.

“He’s not taken,” Andrea answered, trying to get her mind focused back on the work at hand.

“Oh, come on, Andrea... he’s cute.  Why don’t you give him a chance?”

“I did.  A long time ago.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.  I got over it and moved on.”

Mia looked incredulously at her coworker.  “Andrea, I’ve known you for a couple of years,” she said.  “How could nothing happen with him?  Like, you two didn’t kiss or anything?”

“Just drop it, Mia,” Andrea answered, her voice nearing a squeak.

Mia pouted before she pulled on her happy face and went to seat a couple of cute businessmen.  A little old for her, but Mia wasn’t complaining.  All the while, she wondered why Andrea never talked about a boyfriend or anything.

Andrea took a deep breath before pulling on her usual demeanor.  She looked up in time to see Mia with the two businessmen before she looked down at her work and sighed.  She did want something like that.  Really.  It was just... hard for her to get close to someone, and her schedule just didn’t have time for something like that.  Can’t do anything about it now.  Better get back to work, she thought to herself as she finished her shift.

Meanwhile, in Andrea’s apartment, the sunlight teased Tsuzuki’s eyes before he woke up.  He sat up on the couch and stretched.  “Mmm... good morning...” He looked over and saw the loveseat empty.  He looked at his watch.  1:35PM.

“Maybe she’s in her bedroom,” he said before walking to the bedroom and peered in.  No sign of Andrea anywhere.  He then looked in the bathroom, half-expecting to hear a scream and have something thrown in his face.  Nothing, not even a clue as to where she went.

Panic spread through his veins like a wildfire.  Where was Andrea?  She couldn’t have simply disappeared.  And she wasn’t in the kitchen or anywhere in the apartment.  He was about to check the door before he heard a click and saw it open.

Andrea opened the door and walked in the apartment but didn’t get far.  She looked up and was met with a pair of worried amethyst eyes in return.  She flinched as she saw the door close behind her.

“Andrea, I was worried about you...”

“Don’t be,” Andrea answered.  “I’m fine.”

She tried to walk past him but felt her wrist being held and her back being pressed against the back of the couch.  He was now merely a foot away from her, holding her wrist in his hand.

“I can see that,” he answered, the worried look in his eyes not leaving.

“What, I’m supposed to leave you a note or something?” Andrea asked, pulling her arms out of his hold.

“That would work,” Tsuzuki answered.

Andrea rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.  “You’re not my father.”

“So it’s a crime to worry about you?”

“I came back, didn’t I?”

“What if you didn’t?”

Andrea looked up at him.  “What are you talking about?”

“What if you were hurt?  Or worse?”

Now she knew he either had a point or was just trying to win the argument.  But Andrea wouldn’t admit the former, at least not to him.  She felt her wrist being let go.

“Andrea, I’m sorry...”

Andrea blinked up at him.  “What?”

“I just can’t help but be overprotective about someone.  I’m even overprotective with Hisoka, and he’s my partner.”  Apologetic amethyst eyes met confused sapphire blue ones.  “And I know you can take care of yourself...”

“It’s all right,” Andrea answered.  “I guess you can’t help being like that.”

“Nope.”

Andrea shook her head.  Yeah, he was definitely something else... definitely more than a pain in the ass.  "You're something else..." she mumbled.

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(AN:  Since I know someone will likely ask me about what a yukata is, it’s a summertime version of a kimono.  In the fall and winter months, you’ll see actual kimonos.  I promise you.)

(Other than that, I’ll try to write more now that I’m on break for the July 4th week.  I’ll try to, if the homework doesn’t plow me down more.)