Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Exploits of the Early Bird ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: Okay, okay, so I've already updated once for today, and I'm not going to turn this into a habit, but this isn't as long as the other chapters, so I'll go ahead and toss it up there. I have to say again, thanks to all you guys who've reviewed, and I know you're impatient to start figuring out who's who, but don't worry, it's coming. You're fabulous and terribly sweet for taking the time to comment on this, and I adore you. Now if you'll all excuse me, I must go hide from Kazusa. -blows kisses and waves cheerfully-

~*~*~*~

By Any Other Name

~Exploits of the Early Bird ~

"A list," Kagome was still shaking her head, sipping her tea slowly in her efforts to soothe her throat. Inwardly, she was hoping that she could find Kouga and Shippou again, if only to share this little bit of entertainment with them. After everything they'd been through in the past, they could use it.

"You have to be picky," Souta was still instructing, using his chopsticks to make a point before sneaking one of her pot-stickers and dodging the smack she'd aimed at his hand. "Well no one can compare to you, and it's not like we're desperate for money or a house or anything. So you can take your time."

Kagome rolled her eyes at him, this time swatting his hand before he made it to her plate, "That's sweet, Souta… impractical, but sweet."

His brows lifted in confusion, "Impractical?"

"I'm twenty-five, and I barely managed to pass high school before I -for all intents and purposes- dropped off the face of the planet, only to come back and manage to find employment because the ancestor of my oldest son owns and lives in a temple," her eyes were glowing as she smirked at him. "They can do better, runt."

"Don't make me kick your ass," he stuck the tips of his chopsticks in his mouth to smack her on top of the head lightly. "Besides, I don't think you really believe that, Nee-san."

"Oh?" one brow kicked up, their eyes meeting as she challenged him to expound on that accusation.

Souta nodded, slanting her a particularly sly look before he set down his chopsticks and propped his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers together to make a cradle for his chin, "Mm-hmm… See, I think that you're waiting for something. You've been looking around at actual faces instead of just staring around at the people. So… I think you're waiting to see if there are still youkai here, maybe a few specifically?"

Kagome's mouth fell open, stunned at her little brother's insight and content to just stare until he snickered and lost the effect. Her face instantly flamed, and her spine went absolutely rigid as she hissed at him, "That- that's ridiculous!"

"It'd be just like you to promise to wait until they could screen the ones wanting to chase you around," he composed himself and continued despite her hiss of warning. "You were so important to the bad guys in the past, so wouldn't it be the same here? Or is it something else? Maybe one of them had a thing for you-?"

"Don't make me beat your ass," she leaned forward and clapped her hand over his mouth to stop that flow of words.

Souta was right back to giggling, sticking out his tongue and grinning in triumph when she made a sound of disgust and yanked her hand back to wipe it on the leg of her jeans, "So I am right."

"Lucky guess," she muttered, grabbing her napkin and dunking it in her water to wipe at her palm while she wrinkled her nose. "That's gross, Souta, aren't you too old for that?"

"Not if it works," his grin widened proudly before he winked at her. "And `luck' isn't why I'm in training, Nee-san. I'm a monk in training, we can be very intuitive."

"Obnoxious punk," she stuck her tongue out at him, but her lips were still curving up as she set her napkin aside and leaned back to regard him with open speculation. "If I didn't think it would kill you, I'd probably train you myself."

Souta kicked her shin under the table, "That's mean! You can't say things like that when you don't mean it."

Kagome shrugged at him and winked right back, "Sorry, brat, but I do mean it. I have troubles going back down to the human way after what happened with the jewel. It's too much to expose anyone in training to."

"One of these days you'll have to explain how all this works," he pouted slightly at the silence following that vague statement. "It's really not fair when you keep all the cool stuff to yourself."

Kagome giggled and reached over to pat him on the hand consolingly, "Maybe if you study hard I'll tell you everything about what happened. But only," she pressed her finger firmly to his chest, "if you pay attention to Shinju-chan and develop your potential."

"You kidding? This'll be so much cooler than school ever was!" Souta snorted and tossed his head, gesturing around but remembering to keep his voice down when the crowds started to become a little thicker. "And you promised to stay with me and help, so we're going to have serious bonding time."

Her eyes softened, going practically liquid with emotion as she watched him accept their bill and dig out his wallet to pay for it. He had no idea how much that simple comment had just sent pangs of regret aching through her, but there was just something about the way he continued to repeat that promise with such excitement that nearly broke her heart. She'd missed so much of his life already, and really Souta had been the only one who never doubted that she would be coming home.

Kagome laced her fingers with his and couldn't help the affectionate smile that crossed her face when he closed his hand to grip hers tightly, glancing at her with eyes sparkling happily while he sent the server off to get change. Most boys wouldn't be so excited at the thought of having their sister living with them, she sighed as she reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes.

"You need a haircut," she teased when he glanced at her, the question in his eyes over her behavior.

"I will if you will," he turned his nose up. "Well? Don't think I haven't noticed that you seem to have a thing about letting anyone near you with scissors. You haven't been since you got back… or did you just get jealous of those guys you knew and you're trying to outdo them?"

"Now you're just making stuff up," she squeezed his hand, trying to draw him away from that very accurate observation about not letting anyone cut her hair. "I ought to hold you down and shave you bald the way most monks are expected to be."

"Aaaah, don't say such scary things, Kagome!" he reached up to put his hands on top of his head defensively. "No one on either side of the family has been bald, and they took over the shrine without any troubles!"

Kagome snickered at the horrified look on his face, propping her chin up on her hand again, "You sure? You might do that look well, you know."

"I'm going to make sure Shinju-sensei wakes you up with a bucket of ice water in the morning," Souta stuck his tongue out at her and sat back, folding his arms across his chest. "Aren't mikos supposed to be above threatening defenseless boys like me? Or are you not going to work at the temple like he asked you to?"

Kagome shook her head and laughed, her lips twisting in wry amusement as she leaned close to him and pinched his nose, "Maybe I should say no. Jii-chan would probably die of a heart-attack if he heard that we were both taking temple work seriously."

Souta blinked and then tapped a finger to his lips thoughtfully while he considered that, "You're right… Although that could be a lot of fun, and it might keep them from thinking we'll leave the shrine all to them."

"Okaa-san knows," Kagome murmured, turning to look over her shoulder into the café. "I… already told her that wherever you decide to go after your training is finished, I'll take over the shrine. We can't let the well or the Goshinboku leave the control of the family."

He paused and redirected to consider it from that point of view, nodding in agreement, "I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right… We really do have a lot of history to protect, don't we?"

Kagome smiled and nodded, "Once we read all of Shinju-chan's records, we'll be able to trace more of it, but yes we do. It's a big responsibility."

"So you're going to learn more about taking care of shrines here?" Souta tilted his head curiously. "Is it really that much different?"

"Night and day, Souta," she faced him again and reached up to rub her head. "The paperwork alone-"

A pair of hands slammed down on their table hard enough to make the dishes jump and clatter, jolting Souta and Kagome back defensively to face the man leaning down like some sort of avenging lord.

Kagome just barely managed to stop herself before she reacted more suspiciously than that, her eyes on those hands before they moved up to the rolled cuffs of a simple white dress-shirt and up to the blood-red hair spilling over his shoulders and framing a disturbingly handsome face.

She could feel herself relaxing more out of surprise than from lack of a threat when her eyes lifted to connect with flawless, deep emerald green, Oh wow…

"Please bear my child," Kurama's hands lifted, reaching forward and gripping Kagome's before she could pull them off the table.

~*~*~*~

Hiei actually lost his footing, slamming face first onto the pavement a his mind tried to process the words he'd just heard come out of Kurama's mouth.

He… he did not just say that, Hiei worked his hands underneath him and pushed his upper body up off the ground to gape at his friend in wide-eyed shock.

Kurama hadn't moved, his expression perfectly serious and even a little desperate as he held tightly to the obviously startled girl's hands, and refused to release her gaze. He ignored the outraged shout from the boy sitting beside her, not even fazed by the hand the boy wrapped around his arm in his efforts to gain that girl's release. He ignored the sudden silence that gripped the square, pedestrians stopping to stare at the unreal scene they found themselves witnessing; even ignored Youko's furious demands of what the hell he could possibly be thinking in using such a stupid line when they had hold of her.

His eyes had been on them the entire time he approached, watching the emotions play across her face and the subtle color shifts each one brought to the uncommon blue of her own eyes. He watched the way he moved, the open affection and love in the way she was touching that boy, and for the first time he could recall, they'd been jealous.

Even Youko was growling softly, muttering all the ways they could turn those looks and all that emotion onto them. For a little human to evoke such things in her, a human who could never compare to them… in that tiny space of time, the idea began to expound into something of a minor obsession.

Kurama had no idea what it was about this one girl, out of all the ones he'd approached since this ridiculous situation started, but this was the second time she'd managed to catch his eye across a sea of faces. She stood out, and they couldn't place why.

It was… compelling.

`Those hands can't be wasted on a human boy who can't appreciate them,' Youko purred inside Kurama's mind the closer they came to the table, his agitation adding to Kurama's own restlessness and inexplicable fascination. `The closer I see her, the more I'm convinced, Kurama. If you want me to be happy about the girl, this is the one we need to seduce.'

We will, he set his jaw when she smiled at him again, their heads close and voiced cast low in secretive murmurs. That had been when he'd reached the table, unaware he'd brought his hands down so forcefully until he saw them jump.

The boy looked up at his face first, scowling at the interruption and mouth open to snap at him when a quick flash in his eyes had that boy instinctively backing down to regroup his thoughts. That lull left Kurama free to dismiss any possibility of a threat from that end, turning his full attention to the girl staring down at his own hands as though the same fascination had gripped her as well.

Kurama was patient with her so very close under his supervision, more than willing to give her the time to admire him, to burn the image of him into her mind to haunt her the way he knew the sight of her was going to haunt him. Youko was insisting they speak, pushing at him while her eyes lifted and locked onto his, bemused and soft as she obviously tried to recover her own thoughts and question his appearance at her table.

He had no idea why he'd blurted out what he had, or why he'd picked that moment to grip her hands so possessively, inwardly kicking himself the moment the words left his lips and even welcoming Youko's added fury for their lack of finesse. He was absolutely certain that his eyes clearly reflected his unvoiced plea for her to withhold and outright rejection, squeezing those lax hands in his own as he prayed to any of the gods he and Youko could remember that he hadn't just terrified this girl into running away so soon. It would make the chase that much more difficult for them…

And yet-

Kurama held his breath when he saw those soulful eyes fill with tears, her fingers curling around his as she searched his face almost hungrily, as though peering into his soul to search for something there.

"Miroku-sama?" Kagome whispered the question tentatively, scarcely believing that this inhumanly beautiful man sending youki tingling down her skin where they touched could be the reincarnation of her "husband" from the past. But that question… No one else would say such things to her but Miroku's descendants or his own reincarnation, would they?

Souta stopped trying to yank Kurama's arm away from his sister when he heard that, letting out a low hiss and instead reaching over to grasp her shoulder, "Kagome-?"

~*~

Takashima shot away from the wall, mouth falling open and eyes huge with horror before he instantly took up a string of blistering curses under his breath and started to frantically search the surrounding area, Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!! He's going to kill me… but this idiot's going to charm her right here if I don't get her the hell away from him!

~*~

Hiei's own amazed focus snapped around to the girl so rapidly, it was a miracle he didn't break his own neck. There was absolutely no way in hell that this was a normal person if she reacted like that such a brainless, blunt demand, let alone saying a name in that tone of voice unless…

His eyes went wide and he shoved himself up in a rush when he realized just who it was that the kitsune had a hold of, Kurama, you bastard, that's-!

Before he even finished the furious thought, someone shrieked to their right and turned their eyes automatically to the side just as Takashima came skidding to a stop directly behind Kagome's chair. His hand bit into the wood, yanking it back so hard that Kurama lost his hold, and were it not for the arm Takashima snaked around her waist, she would have gone tumbling to the pavement.

She's barely opened her mouth when Takashima had her thrown over his shoulder, twisting in the same moment and propelling himself away from them at breakneck speed, skating in and out of the stunned onlookers with remarkable precision.

There was a beat of disbelieving silence, broken only by the distant sounds of traffic, street-signs… every day things… until Souta managed to gather his twice-scattered wits and yell out in alarm as he sprinted after them, "Nee-san!"

Her… brother…? Kurama was staring in rather blank confusion after them, feeling oddly disconnected as he tried to adjust to the situation himself, mainly to the fact that the girl they'd finally decided on and approached had just been snatched out from under them… Literally.

`Goddamn fucking worthless sonofaBITCH!' Youko's enraged shriek was enough to even get Hiei wincing at its `volume,' shoving violently at his confines in their human guise as his brain went into overload. `That little investigator punk just stole her from us, Kurama! From ME! Fucking hells! Get moving, get moving NOW! I want that girl!' he enunciated those last four words with deadly focus, the plant-life around them shifting and swaying in its desire to bend to his mood, but unnoticed in the chaos already surrounding the square.

They could hear the humans around them speculating on what was going on: kidnappings, botched proposals… every possible scenario they could come up with, but Kurama didn't hear any of it. His brows were lowering furiously, Youko's anger at such an insult reverberating deep in him as well to add to his own strained frustration until his temper snapped as well.

Fox- Hiei started in a warning tone when he heard the low growl emitting from Kurama's throat, casting a glance between him and the vanishing figures he wanted to chase after just as badly.

"I am not prepared to let the very first female we've agreed on to get stolen from me," Kurama's voice was low and deceptively flat. We made a reputation and a life from being what we are… it's simply not acceptable. …Besides, she didn't say no, and that means, she's ours now.

`She'll explain herself when we catch her,' Youko promised as they turned to follow the obvious trail the younger brother had left behind for them to follow.

Hiei was stopped by the hand coming down on his shoulder, only Yuusuke's distinctive aura and voice stopping him from breaking that arm for restraining him, "What the fuck is going on, Hiei?!"

"This is a matter for us, not you," Hiei muttered back at him, slipping out from under that hand effortlessly and pausing only long enough to give one last order. "Wait here," he didn't even look to see how that magnanimous statement went over, dodging into the first alley to take to the roofs and follow that way, completely confident he'd be able to overtake Takashima with little effort.

"The HELL I will!" Yuusuke was shouting after them, looking around at the people eyeing him curiously and gritting his teeth at being turned into a spectacle. "Dammit to hell and back," he hissed to himself and shoved through the people in his way, beyond irritated that he was the last one to get in on the chase.