Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Erotic ❯ The Spooky Kids ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimers: I do not own YYH or any of its characters. I'm just a stingy high school student trying to save up as much money as I can for an anime convention coming this March.

This fic is rated R for sexual situations, nudity, sadomasochism and the heavy involvement of the porn industry. If you don't like this or the coupling, get out and save yourself some time.

AU possibly some OOCness. Kurama is a sophomore in college. Karasu comes back but as a very popular porn photographer, but has no memory of what happened. Find out what happens when they meet again. KarasuXKurama.

Wow you guys are totally amazing. Thank you all for the reviews, I'm glad ya'll liked chapter seven. It was a bitch to finish, but it was my favorite.

NOTE: In this chapter Raven will speak a lot of Spanish. For those that do know Spanish, I am using some of thevosotros form when he speaks to people. This is how they speak in Spain and I just want to keep that feel.

Another note: After I submit this chapter, I will do a “slash-and-burn”, which is basically where I fix all my errors in the text and get rid of anything that will get my banned from This will also be done in except I will not edit any taboo scenes.

Also if you have a problem with the whole atheist thing from chapter 5, please leave it alone. My comments will be also in the slash-and-burn cleansing.

------Chapter 8: The Spooky Kids

“Dolores no quiero.” Dolores I don't want to.

“No tenemos otra opción, Emilio. Anda, ve a tu clase.” We don't have any other choice, Emilio. Come on go to your class.

“Está bien.” Alright.

Eight years old and little Raven Cortez was forced to leave him homeland Spain and enter another world where they spoke a totally foreign language. It was his first time seeing children with dark colored skin, but he was used to it since many Arabs and Gypsies lived in Madrid. He was not surprised to see other kids with slanted eyes, being raised by his Japanese mother and visiting his family back in Japan several times. But he felt like an outcast on the first day.

Raven hardly knew any English. He could catch some of the words that were similar to his native tongue, but after that he was lost. What made the whole situation worse was that Raven had been learning Japanese from his mother for some time and it didn't help his problem.

The teacher was a kind lady with a faint smell of lilies, who looked about in her forties. She led the boy to his desk where many of the surrounding children spoke nothing but English.

Raven felt awful. He understood nothing that was taught, only the math part since he did learn most of it during his early years of school back in Madrid. But the reading was more difficult and with more rules. How was he supposed to know that you were not supposed to pronounce the E's at the end of a word like kite? And that the vowels put together or separate didn't have the same sound as in Spanish and Japanese?

When it was lunchtime, Raven was exhausted. He was so used to taking siestas, but the school didn't permit it. He didn't find it fair that the children from pre-kinder and kindergarten got to take naps while all the other children didn't. It was only eleven-thirty, but by God he wanted that siesta.

After eating, Raven put his arms on the table, laid his head on the natural cushion and fell asleep. He was about ten minutes sleeping when some children poked him awake. Boy was he cranky.

“¿Que quieren?” What do you want?

“Huh? Why can't you speak English? Are you stupid of something?” replied Bryan, the leader of the group.

“Dejame en paz.” Leave me alone.

“Man this kid knows nothing,” replied a second child.

“Let's show him to the playground,” commanded Bryan and pushed Raven to the playground outside of the cafeteria.

“¡Sueltame!” Let go!

“Let's kick him and see if we can take the stupid right out of him.”

Three of the six boys pushed Raven to the ground roughly. He was about to get back up when the leader kicked him in the face. This encouraged the rest of the boys to kick and punch Raven's small form. Raven prayed to God for them to stop. He kept yelling “¡Parad¡Parad!” Stop it! Stop it! But to no avail.

Suddenly without warning, Raven grabbed Bryan's leg and tripped him. All the boys stopped and watched the two boys fight each other.

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” they chanted, huddling over them.

Bryan unfortunately had more of the upper hand being that Raven was more injured than him, and won. The boys laughed and kicked dirt on Raven's face, which had been bleeding from the nose. Raven didn't cry, only tears began to form in his eyes.

“Look he's gonna cry!” taunted a kid.

“Crybaby! Do you want your mommy? He's a mama's boy!”

Raven glared angrily at the boys, but had more hatred with the leader. The boys walked off to go back into the cafeteria. But then Bryan stopped and turned to look at Raven. He had stood up.

“Shit like you should be on the ground? Who said you could stand up?”

Raven continued to glare, holding his hands in tight fists, shaking violently. “Vete al Diablo.” Go to hell.

Taking another step, Bryan began to scream, holding his stomach in immense pain. “AAAHHH!”

The boys were about to run for help when Raven relied. “Os no vayáis a ningún lado.” Ya'll aren't going anywhere. When he uttered those words, Bryan vomited blood causing the boys to scream in horror.

It took about forty-five minutes for the ambulance to arrive and carry Bryan away to the hospital. Had Raven not been beaten so badly, the school would have suspected that he had done this. But the medical personnel had assured the principal that it was impossible for a child his age to cause someone to vomit a lot of blood.

It also seemed that the paramedics were on Raven's side seeing that the boy broke a rib and required stitching. Plus most of the boys the witnessed it were very bad liars and was evident that they were the ones that caused the whole problem. (Also that other people had seen what happened too, saved Raven from trouble)

At the hospital, Raven was kept on a separate floor from Bryan. About two floors to be exact. Raven had gone to the ER because of internal bleeding and was kept under the watchful eye of his mother, Mirei. While Bryan went into the Intensive Care Unit and was watched by his mother as well.

Many strange things happened to Bryan while at the hospital. While Raven muttered angry words in his sleep, Bryan's oxygen cord snapped, almost causing him to suffocate, but was saved by the nurses that heard the beep from his monitor. That same night the monitor broke, giving no indication to the nurses that he was having an asthma attack. His grandmother saved him this time. The next day, the IV fluid began to change burn his veins. When he screamed, he vomited more blood again and was rushed into the ER again for complications.

When Raven was admitted from the hospital, all the unlucky occurrences stopped abruptly and Bryan was able to recover in peace.

From then on, they had not seen each other or even walked down the same hall. Raven found friendship with the Mexican boys that spoke Spanish and quickly learned fluent English by the next year in the third grade.

They separated their ways when they entered middle school and never saw each other again.

It was a miracle that Bryan had lived. Everyday Raven wondered if he had been the one that almost killed the boy or that he had already had those problems before. He couldn't help but feeling that it was his fault. Yet he had been right for the feeling of guilt. Deep inside of him still lurks the power of the dead tengu [1] known as Karasu.

-----Kurama's apartment.

Knock, knock.

“Coming!” replied Kurama as he opened his door. He was taken aback when he saw Botan, the grim reaper, floating on her oar with her usual pink kimono.

“Hello Kurama, I have some news for you.”

“Come right ahead,” answered Kurama, closing the door after Botan stepped into the apartment.

“Koenma has a special assignment for you. Apparently that Raven Cortez guy is much more powerful that we anticipated. Just about a week ago a strange power began to emit from him and caused the death of a human. Your job is to watch him and prevent him from using it. The more he uses his powers, even if unintentionally, Karasu might come back and wreak havoc in the human world.”

“I see. You know there was a reason why I told you about my concerns with Raven before, and now you've barely figured out that he's dangerous.”

“It's not that Kurama. Usually demons that end up like Karasu have powers, but not as powerful as his. Sometimes there are exceptions and do prove to be a hazard to itself and its surroundings. We believe that Raven might be one of those.”

“I understand. Is there anything else you would like me to do?”

“Hmm…” said Botan, putting her finger on her bottom lip and made a look of wonderment. “Only to watch out for chances of Karasu returning. Last thing we need is a demon to end up in the human world and do damage. Other than that, you have nothing else to do.”

-----Ginza Center

Raven walked with Karin to the Ginza to go window-shopping. Karin decided to depart early and head on home, leaving Raven alone to shop with his eyes.

Upon leaving an ice cream parlor, his eyes followed a very peculiar woman in the strangest attire to wear in the brightest of afternoons. She was very tall, but it could have been attributed to the long black boots that reached a few inches above her knee. He couldn't help but to notice how long her legs were, but as he looked at the rest of her outfit he discovered that her super short black dress created the long-leg illusion.

Right above the woman's boots were about four inches of fishnet stockings. Her dress, which was actually a very skimpy black skirt, with a tight black corset and silky black bra, had turned many faces, even those of women. What was really shocking was her hair! She had jet-black hair, which was pretty normal, but the style made people think they were watching an anime. She wore a loose bun on her hair, but through the hole came two long pigtails that reached down to her knees. The strange part about the pigtails were that they never mixed together, but were always at a distinct distance from one another and remained to have that straight and combed look.

Her face was slim and milky white. Her eyes were a vivacious violet that pierced into your soul. Something about her was different and definitely unique, but Raven couldn't seem to put his finger on it. Yet for some reason strange images began to enter his head when he saw her. Were they just random or did they really mean anything?

------Madrid, Spain

“Mirei, is there anything else that we need from the store other than milk, eggs and coffee?” replied Jose Luis.

Mirei was a dainty Japanese woman of average height, about five foot five, and was fifty-six years old. She went to Spain for college, despite her family not approving of her going, and fell in love with Jose Luis Miguel Cortez. (Jose Luis being his entire first name.) She was not accustomed to Spain's touchy-feely ways or their boastful loudness, but eventually got used to the estranged culture and even assimilated it into her own.

She married at the age of twenty-one and had Dolores two years after. The Cortez and Hanai family had fallen in love with little Dolores Aya, always fighting over whose turn it was to carry the first grandchild of both sides of the family.

Despite being from total different backgrounds, races, and struggling against disapproval, Jose Luis and Mirei remained happy for their thirty-five years of marriage.

“Oh honey can you give buy me some ice cream? Preferably something from Frigo?” [2]

Jose Luis smiled as he grabbed his scarf from the coat hanger, “Sure, the usual Magnum right?”

“Thank you, honey. Oh I think we're running out of toilet paper too.”

“Alright. I'll come back as soon as I can,” replied Jose Luis giving his wife a quick kiss on her cheek and left.

Mirei sighed happily as she began to watch the television. She flipped through a few channels, got bored, and then switched it off. She decided to continue on with her knitting, eager to finish the scarf that she worked on for the past month. It would normally have taken her only two weeks, but because of procrastination and other factors, it took longer than expected to.

She walked to a small cabinet, took her knitting materials and the unfinished scarf, and sat down on the large love seat beside the television. Slowly she began to think about how was knitting supposed to be done, then after barely a few seconds, Mirei rapidly began to knit without any thought, like those old grannies in television.

She chuckled thinking about her grandchildren and how playful there were. She loved her little Lucia and her curly locks of golden hair. She simply adored her Peter always so playful, never shy about anything, asking questions and poking about things. Mirei looked at the scarf and thought about her son.

`No grandchildren from him yet,' she thought. `My baby… I think his work is preventing him from giving me any.'

She paused from her work and looked at the pictures of her children and grandchildren around the room.

How long had it been since the whole family had come together and feasted? Had it really just been a year ago? It felt like an eternity to the grandmother. Perhaps there was a way for them to come together again and be a family once more.

Seeing that no work was being accomplished, Mirei hurriedly started to knit. The scarf was made of very soft yarn material and was in two colors, black and grey. It was to be at least five feet in length and would have diagonal squares of the black and grey. When Mirei had started on it, she thought of giving it to her husband, but as she progressed with it, she felt that it would be better if she gave it to her son.

“My dear Raven…” she smiled, continuing the knitting process.

There were many things that she tried not to think about in regards to her son. One of them was his promiscuity and the fact that he was a bisexual. Another was his job as a porn photographer. Yes she could think of many things that weren't so favorable about her Raven, but no one is perfect right? There were many things that she could say about Dolores and herself. So instead of thinking of the bad, she filled her mind of the good things about her children, which outweighed the bad.

But there was thought that she continuously tried to erase or repress in her mind. For years she fought it, but she could no longer hold back.

As Raven was growing up there had been many peculiar things that revolved around him. She remembered when he was about four that he heard him giggling in his room. Now there was nothing wrong with his laughter, but Mirei wanted to see what he was playing and perhaps join him. When she entered his room, she almost screamed. His toy cars were floating above her small child, while little Raven was making vroom and streaking noises, perfectly happy with the game.

“Emilio!”

He lost concentration and the toy cars fell, one landing on little Raven's head. “Uy!” he replied in pain, rubbing his head.

It was an awkward moment for the two of them. Mirei had decided that it was probably just stress, while Raven had forgotten it like nothing had happened.

Yes there were many strange incidents where Mirei could have sworn that her son was a telekinetic. But she refused to believe so. If any of that information leaked, people would come and take her son away, doing tests and experiments and God knows what else to her baby.

Maybe the reason why Mirei chose to keep quiet was to protect him. Or could it have been some kind of fear that something was different about her son from the rest of the kids? She didn't say, but she did know that her son had to be protected and dealt with carefully. Who could tell if any small thing could trigger an enormous psychic tantrum?

The Cortez family was lucky that it never had happened, even when Raven was spanked and reprimanded.

Suddenly the scariest and the worst memory of Raven came into her mind. For so many years she tried to reason with herself that it was nothing and that she was just seeing things. Nothing else that her son had done had ever scared her like that. Actually, to be honest, it wasn't her son's fault at all.

-----Flashback

“Jose Luis!” screamed Mirei as she began to give birth.

“Now calm down Mrs. Cortez,” replied the nurse at her side. “Your baby is going to be alright.”

“He's two weeks early!” she yelled, holding her husband's hand tightly. “What's wrong with my baby?”

“Shh…shh…” replied Jose Luis, squeezing back. “It's okay Mirei. Just push, our baby will be fine. Just push.”

She pushed and pushed until she heard a loud cry. She sighed in relief and began to weep. “Where's my baby? Jose Luis, my baby!”

The nurses began to crowd around Mirei, trying to fix her up while the doctor and some other nurses tended to the newborn's needs.

“Doctor what's wrong with our baby!” asked Jose Luis.

“Mr. Cortez your child was born two weeks early because he was choking on the umbilical cord. Many babies that go through that immediately begins to escape the uterus and try to be born.”

“Is he alright? Where is he?”

“He's fine, Mr. Cortez. We were able to free him from the noose and he's doing just fine, despite being two weeks premature.”

The nurses finished cleaning the baby and handed him to his mother. Mirei's eyes were filled with tears of joy, seeing that her baby boy was alive and well. Her lambkin began to cry, searching for a source of food. Mirei no longer cared who was in the room and began to breastfeed her son, slowly bonding with the child.

Two months had passed and baby Emilio began to develop normally for a child his age. Mirei had left Emilio's the room for a few minutes to check on Dolores.

She opened her daughter's door and saw that she was sleeping on her tiny pink bed, hugging her little Usa, the bunny doll. She pulled over the blanket over her little one and kissed her forehead. Suddenly she heard her son begin to cry.

“I'm coming my darling,” she replied happily in a singsong voice. The baby's cries began to wane and he finally stopped crying

…but Mirei wasn't in the room yet…

Mirei sped up her pace, fearing that her son might have choked or suddenly stopped breathing. When she opened the door to her baby's room there was a dark figure in her room. Mirei was in shock and was too afraid to say or move anything, not even to blink.

The dark figure turned around to face the baby.

It was a woman! A beautiful woman at that.

She was draped in a dark kimono with very long sleeves and carried baby Emilio. Her face was like white porcelain with very lovely pink blush on her cheeks. Her eyes were violet and were filled with tears. Her long hair was so sleek and glossy and reached below her knees. Mirei thought she was hallucinating, but upon seeing that the stranger was touching her baby, a small yelp escaped her lips causing the strange woman to see her.

Mirei blinked, and like nothing, the woman had disappeared and her baby was back in his crib. She ran to her child and carried him, nuzzling her boy, whispering words of assurance to herself.

“It's alright…it was just my imagination. That's right. Maybe I'm just tired…”

Baby Raven began to cry again, searching his mother's bosom for his food yet not finding anything to appease his hunger. Mirei snapped out of her trance and began to feed her infant.

“Please God, don't let any harm come to my baby.”

-----End of Flashback

“Mirei I'm back!”

Mirei jumped in alarm, not expecting anyone to disrupt her train of thought. “Oh hey honey.”

“I got you the ice cream, love.”

“Thank you.”

Jose Luis kissed his wife and handed her the ice cream. “What were you thinking of?”

“Oh nothing. Just our son,” she answered opening the wrapper.

Jose Luis smiled, “Looks like you finished the scarf you made for him.”

Mirei looked at the scarf. She had forgotten about it while she was thinking about her son's past. Jose Luis expanded it over his head. “It looks like you went overboard. This thing's taller than me!”

She smiled, “Oops. Looks like our Raven will have to get used to it.”

-----Tokyo, Japan

The very woman that Raven had seen today had encountered Kurama near Erotic's building. She stopped him, pretending that she needed the time, but the real reason was because she could sense Yoko Kurama's presence within the redhead.

“Yuko?”

“Yes that's my name.”

“I see, so what do you need?” asked Kurama.

“I'm looking for a Raven Cortez, do you know who he is?” replied the stranger.

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“What did that idiot do to you?”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind you. I want to know about Raven.”

“Before I even tell you anything, let me ask you this. What is your relation with Mr. Cortez?”

“I'm a fan.”

“Then I can't tell you about him.”

“Well he also gave me a job and I want to know more about him.”

“I can tell that you're lying. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get to work.”

“Wait!”

“Yes Miss Yuko?”

“Cut the formalities boyo and just call me Yuko. I want to see you again. What's your name?”

“Shuuichi Minamino.”

“That's a lovely name you got there, boyo. So let's restart.” Yuko bowed, “My name is Yuko. Pleased to meet you Shuuichi Minamino.”

Kurama bowed as well. “Likewise Yuko.”

“Would you like to go get some coffee?”

“I can't. I have to go to work.”

“Where do you work?” she replied grabbing Kurama's arm and holding on to it. “I can walk you there.”

“Oh it's right over there at the corner of this street.”

“Oh you work for Erotic!” she jumped, almost seeming to be floating for more than the normal time and landed without a thud.

`This girl isn't normal,' thought Kurama. `And she's very good at hiding her energy levels too. She must be a demon, a very experienced and powerful demon at that. I'll need to talk to Yusuke and Koemna about this. Better that I just observe this woman and keep her at bay.'

“If you want we can have some coffee at Erotic's café on the third floor.”

“Really? That'll be really nice. I hope I'm not a bother, boyo.”

“Not at all, Yuko.”

-----Near Yusuke's College

“Man that test was hella hard,” said Yusuke.

“Yeah I don't know if I'm gonna pass it or not,” replied Kuwabara.

“Calculus two sucks. Why do we need it anyway? I mean unless any of us are going to be doctors or something fancy and sciencey then it will be necessary. I think they're trying to kill us.”

“You think Kurama's having problems with this?”

“I doubt it. He studies too much and takes school way too seriously to fail or much less make a B.”

“Yeah that guy's a genius. Think we can ask him to help us study?”

“Maybe if he's not too busy.”

As the two detectives walked from their school, a tall man bumped into Kuwabara on accident.

“Watch where you're going punk!” yelled Kuwabara.

“I'm sorry,” replied the man. “I was just in a hurry.”

“Well I guess that's okay,” said Kuwabara. “Err good luck going where you need to go.”

“Thank you I- wait a minute. Perhaps you two can help. Have you seen a woman about yea high,” holding his hand to his shoulders, “with a really strange hairdo and clothes you shouldn't wear in the day?”

“Eh?” they both replied.

“I apologize. I guess you haven't seen her. I'll be on my way then.” Without another word, the man left.

“Whoa that guy was weird. Or whoever he was looking for sounded pretty weird,” Kuwabara said scratching his head.

“Yeah but that guy kinda looks familiar. Where have we seen him before?”

Of the very few minutes that they conversed with the man, Yusuke took note on his looks and tried to examine his energy levels and anything that could indicate that the man was either not human or a human like Kuwabara and himself. But he couldn't find either.

Yet his looks were so familiar to him. He tried to remember where exactly did he see this man before or whom he appeared to be like. Very tall, perhaps about six-three. Long black hair in a loose ponytail. He wore black robes, which was weird for anyone to wear in this day and age, and sandals. Maybe he was a monk. Or a friar from that church a few blocks from here. His skin was porcelain white and his eyes were garnet blood red. Very slim too, added Yusuke, despite having the robes.

Yusuke began to think where he had seen the same features before. He knew it wasn't anything like déjà vu or something trivial like seeing someone in a store. It was something more serious. Something that happened not to him exactly, but to one of his friends.

“AH HA!”

“What the hell was that for?” asked Kuwabara.

“I know that man! I know where I've seen him!”

“Huh? You do?”

“He looks just like Karasu from the Ankoku Bujutsukai, except his eyes are red and Karasu's were purple.”

“Seriously! Now that I think of it, he does look like Karasu. But uhh are you sure that's him?”

“Well I didn't find anything wrong with him. He would seem normal to me if he didn't wear those robes. I dunno about you but that screams something's strange about him. Makai strange.”

“Yeah. Think we should tell Botan or Koemna what we saw?”

“I think so.”

-----The Makai (Demon World)

Hiei was out training in his usual spot. Everything was the same old, same old. No one ever dared to bother the fire demon in fear that they would be killed. However there were a few individuals who could care less about Hiei's strength and threats.

“Hello Hiei, nice to see you again,” said an echo among the trees.

“Whose there?” demanded, not asked, Hiei.

“Oh I'm sure you know who I am,” replied the voice, finally revealing himself.

“Kageromaru.”

“Hiei.”

“What do you want?”

“You're always so tense. Actually I have a favor to ask of you.”

“I don't do favors for children or anyone at that.”

“I'm not a child, I'm 421 years old. I look about seventeen in the human world.”

Kageromaru was a second-class demon amongst the richest in all of the Makai. His rank, which is often confused with class, is rank B.

The difference between class and rank is that the demon's ancestry determines class, while rank deals with power. Most demons that appear to be human are of the highest class, the more nonhuman in appearance the less the class. But if the class is low and the rank is up to S, the demon is well respected as if their birth class never existed. Kageromaru, however, is not one of those demons.

The young demon was tall, perhaps the height of Kurama, and somewhat clumsy. His hair was black, a bit below his ears, messy and ruffled about without any care. His red eyes matched perfectly with the studs of his earrings and the random jewelry he wore. He was barefoot, seemed to be very fond of nature, and wore very baggy black pants and no shirt.

He was too whimsical for Hiei to even bother with.

“Big deal.”

“I need you to do that favor for me.”

“I already told you, I don't do favors.”

Kageromaru jumped and hung upside down from a tree, and was eye level with Hiei. He chuckled softly then began to talk. “At least hear me out. Well I can't get into the Ningenkai.”

“Why would you want to go to the Ningenkai?”

“Some demons just got in. I need to bring them back.”

Hiei began to laugh under his breath, “Kageromaru, you have a lot of nerve to ask me this. I know you'd just go into the Ningenkai just to torture the humans and wreak havoc among them.”

“I'm not lying,” replied Kageromaru, still hanging upside down from the tree. “I'm afraid.”

“You afraid? Why should you be afraid? Is this a confession from the pompous brat prince I hear?”

“Yes,” he answered slowly bringing himself up and resting on the branch.

The answer took Hiei by surprise, “What?”

Kageromaru's usual cheery happy-go-lucky face disappeared and became serious. “It's coming and there's nothing much anyone can do about it.”

In a blink of an eye he disappeared, not leaving a trace of anything. Hiei, however, did see his rapid movements without any problem and wondered why the boy left.

“Good riddance,” said Hiei to himself. “He was beginning to annoy me anyway.”

-----Erotic Building

“Mmm this stuff is good. What do you call it?”

“A cappuccino.”

“It's delicious,” replied Yuko.

Kurama sipped some of his coffee and looked at time. “I have a few minutes before going to my shoot.”

“Then you should be off.”

From the far side of their spot, almost hiding behind a tall plant, Megumi was watching them. At first she thought that Kurama was talking to a fellow model, but having a closer look she discovered that this woman was not even an employee of the building at all.

This was it! This was the moment where she could go and tell Raven that his precious Shuuichi was seeing another girl and even brought her to Erotic! Now she could finally have her Raven for herself only. Nothing could save Shuuichi from Raven's wrath. And that woman? Well she's probably going to get kicked out by security or by Raven himself.

She quickly got her cell phone from her purse and called Raven's cell. Megumi prayed that Raven wasn't busy or that he had it on.

“Moshi moshi?”

“Raven, it's me Megumi.”

“Oh hello Megumi. Before you say anything, have you seen Shuuichi? He's a bit late and I need him to be on the set now.”

“Well I saw him at the café but he was with this chick who's not even a model or worker. I think he brought her here to let her see him at the shoot.”

“What? He'd never do that.”

“Well I dunno. I kinda just saw him kissing that girl on the lips several times and holding her hand. But that's what I saw. Maybe it's an act, I don't know at all. Oh I gotta go. I have another call. I'll see you later.”

Click.

`That should teach that little shit not to take my Raven away.'

Once Megumi hung up, Raven ran, no sprinted down the halls and into the elevator down to the third floor. Megumi had to be lying! There was no way that his Itooshi would ever do something like that! But there wasn't much reason why not. Kurama was officially an attractive single man. He had not asked the fox to be steady with him or anything, giving Kurama no thought of them actually being in a relationship. But Raven had to see for himself or else he'd live I doubt. And the last thing he wanted was to doubt his beloved.

The elevators were stopping at each floor, which took too long for Raven. He stepped out from the sixteenth floor and ran down the stairs. After jumping and sliding down the stairs with a speed he never knew he possessed, he finally made it to the third floor.

He ran into the café and saw Kurama and Yuko talking. He panted heavily, grasping for as much air as he could, but couldn't take another step. His body ached from the run and the almost countless flights of stairs, but his mind was still active and eager to kill something.

Raven took a few steps when Yuko gave Kurama a big hug and kissed his cheek. His heart sank and felt like it literally broke into a million tiny pieces. The woman left and entered the elevator and left Kurama alone. The fox stood up to leave, when Raven grabbed his arm furiously.

“You're fired.”

------Karin's Dressing Room

“Hey girlie,” replied Goh.

“Hey Goh, what's up?”

“Nothing much.” Goh began to undo his large box full of makeup. “Oh but you have to hear this. This is like the biggest gossip that's come up this month.”

“What is it?” she replied with interest as she sat down in front of the mirror.

“Well apparently,” Goh mixed water with some cosmetics and added it to the brush, “Shuuichi brought this girl into the café on the third floor. And like I guess he doesn't know about the policy about bringing visitors without Raven's permission, but anyway someone saw them together. And they were hugging and kissing and doing all that stuff. But I dunno, they say there were kissing, but that's just from the grapevine.”

“So what happened next?”

“Someone called Raven and like, I swear to you, he ran like he had seen a ghost or something. I actually saw him running down the halls today, so I guess there is some truth to it. Some people saw him running down the stairs after giving up with the elevator. Some say he ran from the twentieth floor to the third, I heard other numbers like sixteen, twelve and twenty-six. But if you ask me, I think he was crazy to do that.”

“But like who called him?” Karin was eager to know what happened. She hadn't heard any rumors or gossip when she entered the building. Maybe it was because she didn't bother to stop and talk to people that day, but the point was that she didn't know of this until now.

“No one knows. It's like you know when people say “they say” and you wonder who's they? It's kinda like that except it was one person. The only guy that knows who called Raven is BTV himself.”

“Then what happened?”

“After he ran down all those stairs he finally saw them. I heard that he saw them hugging and kissing. That's when he went berserk and fired Shuuichi.”

“And the girl?”

“She left before Raven got to Shuuichi.”

“Poor Red. I feel so sorry for him.”

“Yeah me too, but like it serves him right for playing Raven like that. I mean the girl had to have been Heidi Klum or that Tyra Banks to have chosen her over him. I liked Shuuichi and all but he broke Raven's heart. And I really wanted to see that guy with someone for once, even if it wasn't me.”

“I don't think Red did anything wrong,” she whispered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing Goh, nothing.”

Karin began to think. Who could have possibly told Raven this? And it wasn't their business to tell him? Maybe that person made up the whole kissing thing and the woman just happened to have kissed him goodbye. This didn't make sense at all. Why would they do that? Everyone in Erotic knows that Raven's after Kurama. But there had to be someone that didn't like that. Someone that just didn't-

Megumi…

“Goh I have to go.”

“But I'm not even done yet, girlie!”

“I'll come back,” she answered putting a robe over her clothes and leaving her dressing room.

She walked down the halls to where Megumi was doing a porno and grabbed her right in the middle of the movie before she got naked.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I know what you did.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about, Karin.”

“You were the one that called Raven about Shuuichi.”

Everyone at the studio got quiet. They either wanted to know or they wanted to watch a cat fight that seemed to have been brewing.

“Why do you blame it on me and not anyone else?”

“Who else could have done it? You have this sick obsession with Raven and I know you're crazy enough to sabotage any of his love interests.”

“You have no proof!” replied Megumi. “All I see is you blaming me over some stupid assumption. Hasn't anyone told you not to assume things?”

“You stupid Asian bitch, you fucking did it!”

“Shut up you Western trash! Go back to your rat infested country!”

“No one calls my country rat infested without looking at their fucking stupid ass racist country!” Karin slapped Megumi with all her might. “You don't know how it's like to be a Westerner in a racist ethnocentric eastern country that's running out of their own people.”

Megumi slapped Karin back, “And you don't know why no one likes your France, with their pompous and disgusting language and their revolting food.”

“In case you haven't noticed, your language is repulsive too.”

“Mesuinu.” [3]

“Catin.” [4]

And like nothing, the two porn stars were in a catfight. Megumi grabbed and pulled Karin's curls, while Karin moved closer to ease the pain and punched Megumi's stomach, which caused the blue haired girl to let go.

Slap! Slap! Punch! Punch! Kick! Kick!

Megumi punched Karin, causing her nose to bleed profusely all over. But that didn't stop Karin. Oh no, not at all. It only made her angrier. She punched Megumi's breasts, making Megumi yelp and giving Karin the chance to tackle her.

The two rolled around, trying to be on top and beat the living crap out of each other. No one bothered to stop them, but huddled closely to watch the fight. Some of them said “Go Megumi kick her ass!” while others yelled “Get that bitch Karin!” The whole scene was awful. It looked like it would go on forever, until Raven came through those doors and stopped the fight.

“Get back! I said get back dammit! Somebody get those bitches apart now!”

One of the cameramen grabbed Megumi, while Raven held Karin back. Despite being separated, the two continued to struggle to get free and lash out at each other.

“That's enough! What's this about Karin?”

“That bitch called you about Shuuichi didn't she? How do you know she wasn't lying? Just because you saw something doesn't mean it's there! Did you even talk to Red about what you saw? Let me go Raven!”

“That bitch is lying!” yelled Megumi. “She started to blame the whole thing on me and tried to beat me!”

“LIAR!”

“SHUT UP!”

“Let me go! I can take that bitch on!”

“Will you both SHUT UP? Look at yourselves. You're getting into a fight about nothing! Stay out of my life for once and leave me alone. I can fire anyone that I want, and yes Karin I fired Shuuichi.”

Karin began to struggle more in Raven's arms, “You son of a bitch! How can you let that piece of shit make you fire Red? She was lying! She's lying dammit!”

“Fuck off bitch!” yelled Megumi.

The both began to kick and try to escape the men's grasp, but to no avail. Karin stopped fidgeting and began to cry. Raven let go of model and watched her sink to her knees.

“Why do you have to believe her? You saw something but you're…you're… you're a goddamn hypocrite!” She got to her feet and faced Raven. “You're always talking about how there is so cold and un-touchy-feely Japan is and now you're going against that! And you had to take it out on Red!”

Karin stormed out of the studio and went into her dressing room. Everyone began to leave the scene, to evade any sudden angry outbursts from their boss. The cameraman let go of Megumi and went back to his station. Raven looked at the ground, defeated, letting Karin's words sink in.

How could he have been so stupid? After so much ranting about Japan and what it doesn't do compared to the United States and Spain, he himself was caught doing what he hated. Hypocrite, he thought. Nothing but a hypocrite. Now Karin was upset with him and Kurama was fired. The whole situation was so out of character for him. Why was he acting like this? Why did he suddenly feel like jumping or escaping everything, including life?

`Why can't I be normal?'

He knew what he had to do, but for some reason he didn't stop himself from walking up to the rooftop of Erotic's building. He looked down at the traffic and the pedestrians on the sidewalk. So familiar was the scene, as he had done this before. What he should have done was leave the building and go to Kurama's home and apologize, but he didn't. Raven went to the edge and stood on it as he did many times.He spread his arms, like a crow's wings and let the wind take him away, falling into oblivion.

“Save me again Nissho…one last time.”

------Koenma's Office

“Did you tell him Botan?”

“Yes Koenma, sir. Well so far nothing new happened. May I ask you a question sir?”

“Yes?”

“I understand why we must watch Raven Cortez very closely because of the sudden release of energy, but why else? Is there another reason for this?”

Koenma sighed, “Yes Botan there is and please say hello to our guest, who shall explain it all to you.”

Botan looked at the corner of the room and saw a dark figure within the shadows. Although not walking any closer, she took a better look and gasped. “Oh my! I am so sorry for not noticing you.” She bowed reverently to the shadows.

“It does not matter to me,” replied a soft and beautiful woman's voice. “You wish to know the other reason why there is so much interest in Raven Cortez?”

Botan nodded, afraid to talk in case if she said something rude.

“Do not be afraid of talking to me, Botan. I shall explain everything…”

------End of Chapter 8

[1] Tengu, well at lease karasu tengu are crow demons.

[2] In the United States it is known as Good Humor. Every country around the world that hosts this ice cream brand has a different name but always the same heart logo. For Spain it is Frigo, Mexico is Holana, France is Miko, and England is Walls.

[3] Mesuinu is Japanese for bitch. Although there are other words to say bitch, I chose this one because I found it more offensive. Basically Megumi is calling Karin a slutty dog.

[4] Catin is French for bitch. At least that's what the dictionaries said.

Oh my, oh my what the hell have I done? Raven has fired Kurama and jumped off a building, but is not commiting suicide. Some weirdos are walking about. And... I've done too much.

This was my hardest chapter to make because it was not planned and see what happened? I planned every chapter except chapter 8 and even the others ahead. That sounds weird doesn't it?

What is Raven doing jumping off the building? Who is this Nissho? Who's the woman in Koemna's office and what does she want with Raven? Will Kurama and Raven ever do the horizontal mambo?

Well let me tell you the answer to the last question: yes and it'll be in the next chapter. Chapter 9 is when they go at it like rabbits.

Please R & R!