Note: Some of this may seem familiar if you've read 'Of Roses and Sisters', a YYH/HG fic of mine. That's because while I was figuring out the plot for this fic, it crashed into the other fic. 'Of Roses and Sisters' has been discontinued, however, the basic premise will be continued in this fic. (Not very difficult, since I never did figure out a plot for that one...)
"Tadaima!" Kurama called out, toeing his shoes off by the front door.
"Shuuichi!" cried his mother, sounding extremely upset as she hurried to the door. Kurama's heart sank. He had hoped that nothing had happened during the time he could not remember, but now it seemed as though something had. Something that had upset his human mother.
When he had abandoned his own fatally wounded body and taken up residence in an unborn human's body, he had not considered how it would effect his new mother, or how she would effect him. It had been simply another territory to conquer, another item to take, another life to keep himself alive. The only difference - or so he had thought - had been the unpleasantness of growing up as a human. He had improved his new body as best he could, but there was nothing he could do to grow faster. By the time he could go back to the Makai, however, he had had a change of heart. Now he devoted much of his time and energy into being Shiori's perfect son Shuuichi. How else could he repay her - kind, gentle, sweet, loving Shiori! - for stealing her own human daughter? And now, apparently, he had done something which had upset her. <How am I supposed to think up a good explanation when I don't have the slightest idea what happened?>
"You're all right!" she half questioned, half stated in relief, stopping in front of him.
"Hai, Kaasan," he replied, stepping closer and bringing her into a light hug. <She is so fragile!> She clung tightly to him as he laid his cheek on her hair, his own bright red hair contrasting sharply with her black.
"I was so worried when they couldn't find you," she said as his stepfather and stepbrother - ironically another Shuuichi - hovered near the entryway. "Where were you?"
Kurama frantically racked his brain for a reasonable answer, but the big whole in his memory left him with nothing. With a mental sigh, he reluctantly decided on his last possible option: the truth.
"Ano…I don't know," he responded sheepishly. "I was in class, and then the next thing I remember is wandering around the streets." Gently releasing his mother from his embrace, he added anxiously, "What happened?"
"A monster appeared at your school and started attacking students," replied his stepfather. "And then the Sailor Senshi came and stopped it, but Meiou High is completely destroyed."
"Several of the students had to go to the hospital," his mother added, "The school called when they couldn't find you." She frowned anxiously. "You don't remember what happened?"
"Iya," he said, and then, as a possible excuse came to mind, "I've heard that some of the people who have run-ins with the monsters the Sailor Senshi fight can't remember what had happened later." <And don't I wish that was true…Maybe the Sailor Senshi have something to do with why I cannot remember?>
His family seemed satisfied with his excuse, and his mother calmed down.
"Too bad you didn't get to meet the Sailor Senshi!" exclaimed the younger Shuuichi.
Later, as they ate their Chinese take-out dinner - no one had felt like making dinner - Kurama considered everything he knew about what had happened. An unidentified monster - he would have to talk to his classmates and see if he could find out more about it - had shown up at the school and attacked the students. It may or may not have been looking for him. He did not go by his Ningen name when dealing with youkai or his Makai name at school, but it would hardly be difficult to track down a tall, long-haired redhead with bright green eyes who sometimes wore a pink uniform and lived in Tokyo, and his work as a Reikai Tantei made sure he had even more enemies now than before being reborn. Which said a lot, since the beautiful, cold, and ruthless Youko Kurama had made many enemies, only partly because of his thievery. The Sailor Senshi had appeared. The Sailor Senshi who had been running around Tokyo lately may or may not be related to the Sailor Senshi of the Silver Millenium, he had been too young back then to say for sure. The monster had been defeated, although it might have just escaped - something else he would have to talk to his classmates about. The school had been destroyed. He didn't remember any of it. His memory problem was probably the result of either something the monster did or something the Sailor Senshi did, and may or may not have been done on purpose.
Out of all the things he did not know, the worst was not knowing what he had done during the fight. For all he knew, he could have had a strange reaction to something or the other, transformed into his Youko form, started terrorizing the students, left when the Sailor Senshi arrived, and eventually came back to himself in that park earlier. He did not think it likely, but he needed to keep it in mind. At least it would be easy to determine if he had been in Youko form; the many girls who followed him incessantly would take notice of Youko Kurama. His previous body had influenced the growth of this one, so he looked similar. Not enough that people would be likely to link the two of him together, after all, as a Youko he had fox ears, a tail, and stood a foot taller. The dramatic differences in color would also throw people off. As a Gingitsune, or Silver Youko, he had the coloring of his race - silver hair, extremely pale almost silvery skin, and pale eyes, in his case gold. It still surprised him sometimes to look in a mirror and see the startlingly vivid coloring of his human form, the bright red hair, and brilliant emerald green eyes. There were also a few other physical differences - instead of his waist length flowing hair he now had slightly unruly hair that fell midway down his back, and instead of the narrow golden eyes that reflected the coldness and the cunning he needed to survive in the Makai he now had big grass-green eyes that reflected a misleading gentleness of spirit.
One thing he did know for sure; he needed to stay away from his family for awhile. The three general possibilities for what had happened at school earlier could all lead to danger for them, and that was completely unacceptable. Possibility number one-a random monster had shown up at the school. Not very likely, but it could have happened. If so, he may have caught the Sailor Senshi's attention, and he had no idea what they would do to the family of a youkai, even if said family was not aware he was a youkai. Possibility number two-a youkai had shown up to attack him. If so, it may have escaped from the Sailor Senshi, and if it had been willing to attack a school full of students it would have no compunction about hurting his human family. It also might have had friends or allies working with it. Possibility number three- he had been the monster, either from an accidental cause or by an enemies design, in which case it could happen again and he might hurt his family himself.
So. He needed to move out for awhile, in order to keep his family safe. He also needed to find a new school in Tokyo to go to. The obvious solution would be to go to Shinobu's school; the all-boys school was even more prestigious than Meiou High, and many of his classmates would no doubt be trying to be accepted into it now that they no longer had a school of their own. He knew Meiou High's top student, the polite and studious Minamino Shuuichi, would have no trouble getting accepted. He had also heard weird things tended to happen at the dorm Shinobu lived in, so his own quirks would not stand out as much. The downside - it was in Juuban, the Sailor Senshi's stomping grounds, and Shinobu himself might be put in danger. On the other hand, Shinobu's psychic abilities might come in handy and he was better able to protect himself than his own parents and younger brother. Making a decision, he spoke up.
"Kaasan, Tousan, do you have any objections to Ryokuto Academy for my new school? I know it is a long commute, but I could stay in the Greenwood dormitory with Shinobu."
"What are we looking for again, Ami-chan?" asked Usagi.
"Anything out of the ordinary, Usagi-chan," sighed Ami. Yet again, the Sailor Senshi were investigating the strange power readings Ami had picked up on her computer. Only this time, the entire gaggle of Sailors, feline advisors, and Mamoru had tagged along, because of what had occurred the last time.
"But you don't have to look yet," she added, "I'm not picking up anything out of the ordinary."
Three food breaks, seven arguments, four romantic interludes between Usagi and Mamoru, and several hours later they had canvassed that entire section of Tokyo with the same results. Plus sore feet.
"Well," said Ami, discouraged, "I can safely say those readings are not a constant. Either whatever produced them is no longer in the area, or they don't let off that much energy all the time."
"Or both," suggested Luna.
"I think I have a blister on my heel," moaned Minako.
"You shouldn't wear new shoes when you're planning on walking a lot," Artemis chided her.
"I wonder what produced those two readings, anyway?" Rei asked.
The two readings in question had been enjoying the day as spectators at a Martial Arts Tournament in Nerima.
"Man," said one of them, a youth with slicked back black hair, "that was way cool! I never heard of Martial Arts Log Rolling before, but those people sure knew their stuff!"
"Yeah!" the other, a tall boy with orange hair, agreed. "Especially that Saotome guy. Of course, we could both beat him easily in a real fight. There's no way he could stand up to the might of Kuwabara Kazuma, Reikai Tantei extrodinaire!" His companion rolled his eyes at his friend's extravagance.
"He can't compare to the powerful youkai I've beaten," he declared.
Greenwood Dormitory
Outside the dorm, Nagisa waited for her prey. She impatiently paced in front of her black Mercedes, her long wavy black hair swishing as her high heels clicked against the cement. Two of her suited henchmen stood next to the car.
Despite her striking looks - long, beautiful wavy black hair and bright blue eyes - most of the residents of the Greenwood dormitory made a point to be elsewhere, even the first year students. If all their sempai were actually going out of their way to avoid such a lovely woman, there must be something really wrong with her. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, school was out for the weekend, it was a beautiful fall day, and no one wanted to be anywhere near Shinobu's crazy - and dangerous - sister. Even if she was pretty - okay, gorgeous.
Four of them had overcome their extreme reluctance enough to keep an eye on her. They huddled in conference behind a bush just beginning to lose its leaves: Mitsuru, third year student, Shinobu's roommate and the former dorm head; Hasukawa, second year student and current dorm head; and Aoki and Sakaguchi, second year students. Their attempt to hide was probably ruined by the bright red hair of one of their member - Hasukawa - and the fact that the bush had started to lose its leaves. All of them looked worried.
"Man," said Mitsuru, his lavender eyes anxious, "did Shinobu really agree to go with her?" In one of Nagisa's previous attempts to get the better of her brother, she had kidnapped him. Shinobu never lost his composure when dealing with her, and no matter how hard she tried, he always managed to not only ruin her plans but also to humiliate her.
Aoki and Sakaguchi nodded. "We're afraid so, Mitsuru. We were there when he saw her during lunch. He told her he had to see the Principal after school, but after that he would go with her."
They all winced as Nagisa let loose with a particularly shrill cackle.
"He told me," Hasukawa said hopefully, "that he wanted to see me in your room after he was done with the Principal, so he must have a plan to get rid of her quickly."
Mitsuru looked relieved. "I wish he'd told me that. I'm going to do my homework, before our room gets too crowded. See you later."
"OK. I'm staying here to keep an eye on Nagisa." "Me too" "Yeah, so am I" The blond boy nodded in acknowledgement and walked off.
Five minutes later, Nagisa was still cackling and ranting about her brother Shinobu.
Ten minutes later, Hasukawa got a nosebleed.
Turning around, the other two looked in the direction Hasukawa stared spellbound at, only slightly prepared for the vision of exquisite loveliness that graced their eyes. Surrounded in pastel sparkles, she was dressed in a flowing yellow chinese style tunic, carrying a black and green duffel bag. Her bright red hair, somewhat darker than Hasukawa's, fell halfway down her back, except for two sidelocks that fell in front of her ears. Her big, vividly green eyes sparkled mischievously in the sun. The tall girl moved so gracefully, it took the three of them a while to realize what direction she was going in.
"Oh, no! She's headed for Nagisa!"
"Quick, do something!"
"WHAT!? I can't think of anything!"
Or maybe only two of them realized. Hasukawa was still drooling over her, and didn't seem to be aware of anything else, including the danger she was in. <She's perfect,> he thought dreamily. The sound of her voice, low for a woman, sent shivers up Hasukawa's spine. The meaning of her words only penetrated slowly through the hazy sparkles.
She had called out to Nagisa. By name. Her first name.
As the three of them tried to figure out what this beautiful vision wanted with Shinobu's psychotic sister, Nagisa turned around to see who had called her. And froze, a look of shock on her face.
"Sh-Shuuichi-san!"
The sparkles abruptly disappeared. Aoki and Sakaguchi facevaulted, while Hasukawa looked disgusted. "That's a guy's name! I wonder if he's related to Shun?! Girly looking guys run in his family."
The other two were still in shock when Shuuichi reached Nagisa. "What a surprise! I haven't seen you in ages, Nagisa-san. Did you come to visit Shinobu?"
Nagisa was still frozen in shock.
Shuuichi produced a red rose from….somewhere, and started to hand it to her.
She gave the rose a look of pure panic and fled.
"It was nice seeing you again, Nagisa-san," Shuuichi called after her as the black car screeched away. Looking around, he saw the other three boys looking at him from behind a bush and started walking purposefully in their direction. Hasukawa stood up nervously. The other two still seemed to be in shock. <You'd think they'd be used to weird things happening around here by now,> he thought in disgust. <He's even prettier and more girly looking close up!> Shuuichi stopped in front of him.
"Hello, my name is Minamino Shuuichi. Do you live here?"
"H-hai."
"Ah." The longhaired teen smiled at him. "Perhaps you could show me where Shinobu's room is? He told me to wait for him there while he talked with the Principal."
Hasukawa blinked. "Hai! Shinobu's room is right next to mine. Follow me!" Stepping past the still unmoving forms of Aoki and Sakaguchi, he led the other redhead into Greenwood.
In room 211, Mitsuru tried to finish his math homework. Shun had come over, and the feminine looking boy was fidgeting with his long light pink hair and talking nervously, which made it hard to concentrate. Mitsuru reminded himself that getting irritated would NOT get his homework done, and had just resumed working on it when someone knocked on the door to his room.
"Come in," he called.
Hasukawa came in, followed by another, much prettier, redhead around his own height. From the way he moved and held himself, Mitsuru could tell the stranger knew martial arts of some sort. <Why is he carrying a rose?>
"This is Minamino Shuuichi," Hasukawa announced, "and this is Shinobu's roommate Ikeda Mitsuru, and my roommate Kisaragi Shun."
Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. "Relative of yours, Hasukawa?" <Not many people have that color hair.>
"Iya," answered the newcomer, "actually I'm a relative of Shinobu's. I was going to school at Meiou High - did you hear about what happened there?" Receiving three affirmative answers, he continued, "Now I'll be going to your school and staying here at Greenwood." Idly Mitsuru wondered if Hasukawa had mistaken Shuuichi for a girl. At the beginning of last year, he and Shinobu had made Shun help them convince Hasukawa that Shun, his roommate, was really a girl who had to pretend to be a boy for unspecified reasons. The proceeds from the betting pool on how long it would take Hasukawa to figure it out had been quite profitable.
"Maybe Nagisa won't bother us as much then!" exclaimed Hasukawa. "But why is she scared of you? I didn't think she was sane enough to be scared of anyone!"
"NANI?" Shun and Mitsuru cried out.
Shuuichi smiled faintly. "Several years ago, when my mother and I were visiting our relatives, Nagisa fell into a rosebush. She kept insisting I made the rosebush attack her. Ever since, she's been terrified of me, especially when we're around roses." He looked just a little TOO innocent.
<Poor Shinobu! > thought Shun. <His family has such trouble getting
along! >
<Is EVERYONE Shinobu's related to strange?>
<Note to self - Ask roommate how dangerous his cousin is.>
"Hello, everyone." Shinobu called from the open doorway. "I see you've met Shuuichi." He asked his cousin, "Did Nagisa decline the chance for a family get-together?"
"Hai," Shuuichi said, while Mitsuru looked at his roommate in sudden realization.
"Wait a minute! There aren't any empty rooms right now; there are a few rooms that can be fixed up, but they won't be ready to live in for a week at the very least. If he," he indicated Shuuichi, "is staying here, he will have to stay in someone else's room..." Mitsuru trailed off while looking suspiciously at Shinobu.
"I already told my cousin that, Mitsuru. You don't have any objections to him staying in our room for a week, do you?" Shinobu calmly inquired.
"If it is a problem, I am sure I can find another room to stay in," Shuuichi offered.
"No, no! It's fine," insisted Mitsuru. "I was just surprised, is all." Turning toward the shorter redhead he added, "You're the Dorm Head now, Hasukawa, you need to see about fixing those rooms up. I'm sure Minamino isn't the only student from Meiou High who'll be transferring here."
"Do you want a tour of the dorm?" Shun exclaimed cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "I'd be happy to give you one!" Shuuichi smiled at the bouncy boy.
"That sounds like a good idea," he observed, looking inquiringly at Shinobu.
"You go ahead with Shun," Shinobu said. Shuuichi nodded acceptance and put his duffel bag down near the bunk beds.
"Oh, good!" Shun cried out, and then grabbed his roommate by the arm. "Come on, Suka-chan! Ne, Shuuichi-san - you don't mind if I call you that, do you? - what kind of shampoo do you use? Your hair looks gorgeous! Our room is right next door, number 210. Do many people mistake you for a girl? People mistake me for..." Shun's happy chatter trailed off as the trio moved down the hall.
Mitsuru closed the door gently and then leaned up against it, facing his lavender haired roommate. "Why don't you fill me in on your relative? He is going to be staying in our room for a week, after all. What's with him and Nagisa?"
Closing his lavender-gray eyes briefly, Shinobu collected his thoughts. "Shuuichi's father, who died when he was very young, and my mother were siblings. I haven't seen much of him lately, but when we were younger he was my favorite relative. Most of the time, he is very calm and unruffled. Occasionally he gets extremely mischievous; it is best to play along with him then and not get angry. He is usually easy going, but when he or someone he cares about is threatened he strikes swiftly and decisively. That's what happened between him and Nagisa; she made the mistake of threatening his mother. Three days later, she was admitted to a children's mental hospital, insisting he made a rosebush grow and attack her." Shinobu paused, as if debating what to say. "Why don't we go see how they're doing?" he suggested. Mitsuru mentally frowned. There was more to this than what Shinobu had said; he had spent enough time with his friend and roommate to recognize when Shinobu didn't want to talk about something.
"Sure," he said, and opened the door. It wouldn't do to press him about it; that never got him anywhere. He would have to wait.
Akane stormed out of the house, slammed the door, randomly chose a direction, and stomped down the street. She had to get away from that… that jerk Ranma! He had been being nice for a change, and then he had to go and ruin it, just like he always did! Grrr!
"I hate boys, I hate boys, I hate boys,…" she chanted down the street, a faint blue aura surrounding her. No one gave her a second glance. Well, one person did, but that marked him as someone from out of the area. Akane glared at him. He eeped and backed away. Didn't look like he would be spending long in Nerima. Good. One less idiot to deal with.
Thunderclouds began to form out of a previously cloudless sunny blue sky. Akane continued stomping down the road, not paying attention to the strange weather patterns. Well, strange for anywhere other than Nerima. In Nerima, all bets were off as far as the weather went. A torrential downpour started as Akane reached a canal, drenching her. She stood near the edge of the canal, glaring at the water below her as wind lashed the rain into her face.
"My pet..." a voice whispered, seeming to come from everywhere at once and echoing oddly in her head. A voice that was terrifyingly, hauntingly familiar, that she had somehow, thankfully, managed to forget until just now. Whirling around her eyes darted frantically trying to find the person, monster rather, attached to the voice. She couldn't see him! Whimpering slightly, she held still not knowing what direction to run in, and knowing it would do no good to run. It never had.
A figure detached itself from the shadows. "Ah, my pet," he smiled and Akane shuddered. "I have a job for you, my dear. Come along." At his words, Akane found herself cut off from her own body - a painfully familiar sensation.
"Yes, Gorun-sama," she heard herself say docilely as she moved toward HIM, reduced to a passenger in her own body. Her body was his to command. Mentally she screamed - howled! - and clawed desperately at the shield that had closed her off, but all her efforts were in vain. He led her away as she tried desperately to regain control of her body, if only for a second.
The rain continued to lash the now-deserted street.
End Part 2
Note: This fic started out as a parody of all the Ranma-chan as a Sailor Scout fics (Which I *like*, it's just that there's so many of them!), and all the fics that assume Kurama's human body was originally female (which I also don't dislike). It then crashed into a couple of other vague fic ideas I had, including 'Of Roses and Sisters', and mutated into something resembling a semi-serious story.
Please tell me what you think!
Gingitsune - silver fox
Hai - yes
Iya - no
Kaasan - Mom
Makai - Demon World
Ningen - human
Sempai - upperclassman
Tousan - Dad
Youkai - the demons seen in YYH, including Kurama
Youko - Fox demon