'Kitsune Training'
Thicker then Water, chapter 3
He was fighting the demons again at the streetlight, Jonathon had disappeared some time ago. He held them at bay, but then he fell through an unseen hole as he backed up. As he gasped for air from having the breath knocked from him when he hit the ground, he looked around and saw that he was in a cave. Suddenly a flare of power burst into the rocks next to him, splinters of rock cutting into his clothes and skin, and he started to run as someone laughed triumphantly.
He ran through a series of caves, not knowing where to go. He looked back to see who it was chasing him, who it was flinging power at him(barely missing), but it was so dark, he couldn't see anything... Thrusting a hand in front of him, he grasped at the wall, trying to find a way out, but eventually only found the end of the cave. A small hole near the caveroof admitted light through, mocking him with the ability to see his surroundings, but no chance to escape through it. To the right was a chasm that dropped into darkness, and around him were walls of granite. His clothes were torn in many places, bloody around the many wounds all over his body, evidence of his earlier struggles with his attacker. It was an effort to breathe, his lungs were stabbing with pain after his flight.
His attention was diverted by the sight of his pursuer, shrouded in a black cloak, with only one visible ice-blue eye glittering in malice and hate. He shook his head, his voice suddenly gone so he couldn't speak; he fumbled for anything to defend himself, but could find no weapons, his coat had fallen long ago. His eyes widened as the cloaked figure held up a gloved hand, and sliced the air between them. He fell to the ground, gasping as *something* entered his chest, preventing him from breathing. He clawed at his chest, trying in vain to pull the invisible thing off his chest so he could breathe, having enough sense to look up as his pursuer leapt on him, gloved hands reaching for his neck. They slipped off the ledge in the struggle, and the light died as he started to lose consciousness, falling into the darkness--
"Shoji!!" Something slapped at his face, and he scrabbled with his hands at his attacker. "Shoji!! Wake up!!" A wave of cold water hit him, and Shoji gasped, wide-awake and blinking as Yusuke stared at him with a very scared expression on his face and a cup in his hand. Windows, which had not been there the day before, were letting in the morning sun, revealing several small fresh scratches on Yusuke's face and chest.
Shoji blinked again, the tattered remains of the nightmare were disappearing, but he remembered enough of it to realize what had happened. "Yu..Yusuke..." He gasped, cold water dripping off his hair, and hugged himself as he started to shake in cold and in fear.
Yusuke sat on the bed, and held Shoji even though Shoji was drenched. "There, there, it's all right, it was just a nightmare..." Yusuke stroked Shoji's hair, kissing his forehead, as Shoji clutched at him. He began to tell Yusuke about the chase in his dreams brokenly, fighting back tears as he started to feel guilty about the unintended injuries to Yusuke.
Eventually Shoji calmed down, though he was still a little cold. He took a deep breath, and gently touched some of the scratches on Yusuke's face. "I'm sorry, Yusuke, I didn't mean to..." Shoji felt Yusuke's head shake, and Yusuke pulled away to smile at Shoji. "Shoji, I've been through many fights, died twice, became a youkai, and had many other things happen to me and my friends." His face took on a wry look, "These are nothing, though I think the others might have some other ideas as to how they got there..."
Shoji blushed, and Yusuke laughed. "Good to see you got over your scare. I was a little frightened when you started to scream in your sleep." For several moments then, Yusuke did nothing but gaze at Shoji's face. Shoji blinked, and felt at his own face, in case he had done the same. "Is there something wrong?" he asked Yusuke. Yusuke just shook his head, and looked a little sad, "No, just... between what happened last night and hearing about your nightmare... I'm just... happy that you are all right..." Yusuke smiled, though there was still a touch of sadness in his eyes. He pulled Shoji to him, and began to kiss him. "I couldn't think of what I'd do if I lost you." Shoji responded to the kiss, knowing that Yusuke needed comfort right now. He didn't feel cold very much long after that.
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Kalerin woke up, and opened his eyes. He had to close them again after the light hurt his eyes. It felt like many demons were stamping on and in his head. He didn't remember much of last night, maybe up til when he had noticed someone drinking a pretty blue drink, and demanded the same thing from the bar. Now he knew why Kurama had tried to stop him from finishing the rest.
"Owww..." He whimpered, putting a hand to his head, hoping that it would keep it from throbbing. A slight knock on the door made him wince, but he told whoever it was to come in. Kurama's voice was low, knowing full well what condition his young charge was in. "I told you so, my young fox..." Kurama chuckled a little as a gentle hand probed Kalerin's forehead, and Kalerin couldn't help but try to hide his face into the pillow. He was a little sore, not used to sleeping as a human, but he couldn't remember much of last night anyway...
Kurama smiled, "Now, now... We can't have you doing that... Here." The sound of shades being drawn made Kalerin open his eyes again, but this time, the room was blissfully darker. Kurama was smiling by his bedside, and was holding a glass and a small tablet in his hand. "You need to get used to this, there will be many times you will need to drink, although I wouldn't recommend something as strong as what you drank last night..." Kurama gave him the tablet to swallow, and held out the glass to drink it down.
Kalerin had swallowed the tablet, and was drinking the fizzy drink(he hoped it wasn't an alcoholic drink!), when Kurama started to laugh. Kalerin put down the glass, "What happened last night? Did I do something funny?"
"Well," Kurama sat on the bed next to him. "I think that was the first time someone managed to steal a kiss from Hiei..." Kalerin blinked, stared at Kurama for a moment, then put his head into his hands. At least the bad headache was going away... But what could he say to Hiei?
Kurama patted his hand, "Oh, don't worry! He was far enough into the cups that he probably enjoyed it, the little prude..." Kurama started to chuckle again, and Kalerin started to smile also. "You didn't do anything else, though I imagine quite a few people that you danced with at the club wished you had." Kalerin blushed, "Huh? I danced??" Kurama nodded, "Very well, too." He touched Kalerin's forehead again, "Looks like you're losing the hangover, little fox... I intend for things to go better the next time..." Then Kurama grew serious.
"Something happened last night, Kalerin. Shoji was attacked, and an attempt was made to kidnap him."
Kalerin's eyes grew wide, hangover forgotten, "Is Shoji all right? Where is he??" He was prevented from running to Shoji's door by Kurama holding him down. "Shoji is all right, he's just bruised a little, and he's sleeping in his room now. It was a good thing that his cousin is umm... very well trained in fighting demons, otherwise we would have had a mess on our hands, especially where Yusuke is concerned."
Kalerin nodded, knowing now a little about Shoji and Yusuke, and sighed. "I feel sorry for him, and we were supposed to go shopping again today... Maybe we still can, if he feels up to it?" A growl from his stomach told him there were other pressing matters, and he quickly dressed so he could go eat some breakfast.
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Shoji was taking a shower, and looking at the bruises left over from the attack. They spread from his arms, where he guessed the demons had grabbed at him to carry him off, to his neck and around his nose - whoever had tried to knock him out had been rough. He did have Yusuke's assurance of some medicine that would take care of most of the bruises so they weren't too evident. Yusuke was using the same medicine right now, looking in the bathroom mirror as he dabbed it on the scratches. "I'm very glad Koenma keeps a full stock of medicine in each of the bathrooms here..." Yusuke said, rummaging through the big chest on the shelf. A bottle of scented hand lotion caught his eye, and he couldn't help but smile.
Shoji, now used to Yusuke being in the bathroom with him, blinked, and looked out of the shower. "When did that get there? And the windows? It wasn't like that before..."
Yusuke smiled, "Consider it an upgrade, like the outside common room is, you also have a computer, a bigger bookshelf for all the books I imagine you will buy, and a bigger bed too, though I think that was Koenma's touch..." He winked and grinned at Shoji's naked body, and Shoji yelped, jumping back into the shower. "Yusuke!" Shoji couldn't help smiling though, but he was hungry for food this time. Yusuke could wait...
Maybe.
Or maybe not, as a hand pulled the curtain back to reveal a naked Yusuke grinning at him. Shoji, after the initial surprise pulled him in...
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An hour later, Shoji was eating breakfast while Kalerin was spastically making sure he was all right. Shoji looked up, the bruises faintly visible on his face, and smiled at Kalerin, "Of course I'm all right. We did make it through the Makai, and it was as bad as that." Shoji finished eating, "Do you still want to go shopping?"
Kalerin nodded eagerly, "Yes!" Then he folded his arms and looked determined, "But with Kurama, I'm not taking any chances and I'm not letting you out of my sight either." Shoji smiled, "Yes, my honored Bodyguard..." and began to laugh. Kalerin smiled, and glanced at where Kurama was talking with Yusuke and the others. "Besides, Kurama and I want to teach you the ways of the kitsune, that way you arn't so unprepared next time."
Shoji had heard about the same thing from Kurama earlier, so he nodded. "Well, since I don't want to interrupt their meeting, can you tell me some things now?"
Kalerin nodded eagerly again, and started to tell him about when he was growing up. Some of it was things that Kalerin had told him before, but he was very amazed at everything Kalerin had been through. His own life, even with all the training paled in comparison. He thought it was very lucky that he would have not only one, but _two_ full kitsune to teach him later today. Shoji finished eating at about the same time the meeting ended, and he got up to go with Kalerin and Kurama. Yusuke was going with Hiei and Kuwabara to search near the place where Shoji and Jonathon had been attacked, as well as several other places that had seemed suspicious.
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'Why did I think that this was a good idea...' Shoji groaned as he looked up at the demon simulation frozen above him, and again struggled in vain to move his body. After a bit of shopping and lunch, Kurama had shown Kalerin and Shoji to a special room he explained was where the Reikai Detectives practiced. Kurama had wanted to see what Shoji was capable of before they started training him, hence the demon that looked like one of his attackers from the night before. He had started well, deflecting the physical hits with his kodachi, but then the demon had unleashed a spell that tied him in invisible bonds so tight he had fallen hard on the padded mat. For an instant, he remembered his nightmare, but fought down the panicked feeling of helplessness, taking deep breaths to relax.
Kurama turned off the program, and Shoji finally could move, sitting up and reaching for his kodachi which had fallen out of his hand. "Hmm... I knew you hadn't gotten much training in magical attacks, you are just lucky that they didn't use any last night," Kurama said as he walked onto the mat. Shoji nodded, knowing that Kurama was not meaning anything bad by his words, he was just stating a fact Shoji was very much aware of. He didn't think Jonathon or his Uncle Shin ever thought about power attacks, even he hadn't been aware of magic like this until he had gotten to Tokyo. Kalerin nodded, "But we'll teach you!" He smiled eagerly and helped Shoji to his feet.
"First off, you are used to fighting as a human," Kurama said grimly. "But you are not just human, you are also kitsune, so we will have to work on you using that part to fight with as well. Plus if you have to escape, you can easily change into your fox form to squirm out of any situation." He shook a seed out of his hair, and stared at it for a second before it sprouted spines that glistened with a yellow liquid. "Every kitsune has a few magical powers, other then the ability to change from a human appearance to the fox form." He thought for a moment, as the spines retracted back into the seed. "I think your starting ability is that you can see the true forms of disguised demons, we'll see if we can find out other traits for you to work on."
Kurama turned to change the program into one that resembled the Makai, saying "but for now, let's work on the basics. Let me see how you change into your fox form." Shoji sheathed his kodachi, and after taking off his coat, changed into a fox. Kalerin was also a fox by now, and was watching him also. They spent a few minutes critiquing his change, Kalerin pointing out things that Kurama didn't catch. They also showed him how to extend his field of magic even while he was a fox, shielding himself from any attacks. Kurama tested Shoji by flinging several plants at him as he was in fox form, and Shoji had barely managed to dodge almost all of them or block them with his shield. It took an hour, but Shoji was actually able to change into his fox form almost instantaneously in time to block Kurama's attacks, then change back to use his kodachi.
After some more time of practicing, Shoji was tired, and had changed back into his human form, holding his bleeding leg where Kurama had scored a hit. He applied some of Kurama's green leaves that he knew healed wounds as he took a break from the training. But then he watched in amazement at the scene before him. Kurama and Kalerin, both in fox form, were feinting at each other with their powers. Shoji had only just found out the day before that Kalerin had psychic abilities, and now he stared at Kalerin using telekinesis to fight off Kurama's plants. Shoji drank some water from the cup near him, and then held out another cup as Kalerin, back in his human form, sat down heavily panting for breath.
Kurama smiled at them, not even the least bit winded as his charges were, "You both made a lot of progress today, I'm very proud. But I have one more challenge for you both. There is a form that we kitsune use when we need to use hands as well as our powers, which become amplified for a short time - this form is called the 'Youko' form." He closed his eyes, and _shifted_, he grew taller, his hair turned from red to silver, and his eyes changed from green to gold. He shook out his hair, and silvery ears popped out of his hair.
Shoji was staring at the beautiful form and he shook his head to focus on the way that Kurama had _shifted_. Kalerin was open-mouthed next to him(apparently he'd never learned this either, Shoji thought). "Just think of like when you change to fox form, but don't make the change completely," Youko Kurama said, his voice had even changed. "Just imagine yourself looking like you do as a human, but with kitsune features. Kalerin, you first please?"
Kalerin blinked, and nodded. He stood up and concentrated, Shoji could see the waves of power collecting around Kalerin. "That looks about right," Kurama smiled as he walked around the now Youko Kalerin, though except for the silver ears and the tail, Shoji didn't see any difference in Kalerin's appearence. 'In fact, he looks even more like Kurama does now...' Shoji thought. Kurama turned to him, "your turn now, Shoji."
Shoji stood up and closed his eyes, imagining his human form with kitsune ears and the tail. He felt something like a blanket covering him as he concentrated, and opened his eyes when he sensed Kurama in front of him. "You'll have to try a bit more, Shoji, your tail is only half-formed..." Kurama said gently, and an embarassed Shoji turned to look at his grey stub of a tail. He shut his eyes again, and concentrated more, actually *feeling* his features change this time. "There, that looks better, Shoji," Kurama said, his voice showing approval. Shoji opened his eyes to find a mirror held in front of him by Kalerin.
'..I look ... different as a youko..' Shoji said in kitsune, then he realized how easily he was able to speak it in this form as opposed to when he was human. The second thing that struck him was _how_ changed he was. Gone was the purple hair, now his hair reaching down to his waist to touch his long flowing grey tail was the same grey as his fox form's fur. Not human ears but fox ears jutted out out of his head, and he felt one with his hand to trace where they started. He also noticed with some surprise that he was a few inches taller then Kalerin, whereas in his human form they were about the same height. He also felt different, more confident and clear-headed.
"Very, very good. Now we'll stop for today, and continue tomorrow." Kurama had changed back into his usual red-haired human form, and was turning off the programs he had used on them. "I think it's almost time for supper, so we'll head back upstairs." Kalerin and Shoji followed suit, changing back also into their regular human forms to return to the suite.
tbc