Chapter Two

Murakumo stood on top of the buildings overlooking Momiji's school, light breezes causing his long ebony hair to lift from his shoulders. He could see Kusanagi snoozing in the giant tree that spread over the brick wall of the schoolyard, no doubt waiting for Momiji. Soon, Murakumo thought, gritting his teeth. Soon it would be time to put his plans into motion. And those plans called for a certain Kushinada, but not quite yet. He pondered the courses of action open to him. He needed to get the Kushinada inside the cermaic field again in order for everything to work out properly, and he knew he had to be subtler about it this time. Any rampaging monsters destoying schools would surely raise suspicion and tip off that annoyance of a protector. That was just one more hassle he just didn't need to deal with.

The solution came to him so suddenly he was left smirking at his own sheer intelligence. He would just make this silly slip of a girl trust him! He had seen the way she had looked at him when they first met, her green eyes were shining with admiration and maybe something a little more. It would be easy to cause her to think of him as a friend, or even something else. Yes, that was it. He knew how superior his physical appearance was, and he had heard how teenage girls could be. All he had to do was act like the royalty he was and she would be eating out of his hand in no time. He would have to swallow his monumental pride, of course, something that would be difficult but he would give anything for his vision. The thought of he, Orochi, future King of the Arigami palling around with a 15-year-old human girl was enough to turn his stomach and he could feel his lips curling contemptuously. Fighting down the naseous feelings, he let a cold sharp laugh escape his lips as he saw his quarry emerge from the large double doors of the school. Let the hunt begin! Murakumo thought exultantly and flew down towards the tiny redhead.

~*~*~

Momiji was walking along the street towards Mr. Kunikida's house, eyes unfocused as she daydreamed about the strange dark-haired man. Just as she was getting to the good part, the part where he decided to ask her on a date and she felt a foolish grin on her face, she ran straight into a very large, solid mass. Bouncing off she fell on her backside, tossing books everywhere and landing with a heavy thump on the concrete sidewalk.

"Ouch!" she cried out amid the snowshower of loose papers that fluttered around her. Straightening herself up with a frown, she began looking around for her scattered books and papers. Momiji suddenly froze, bent over in the middle of piling her belongings up as a low, smooth voice with a slightly mocking tone reached her ears. "You really should watch were you are going…Princess."

Emerald eyes flying wide open in shock ,Momiji forced herself to look upwards at the source of the purr. Feeling her face flame, she finally met the eyes of the voice's owner, and her already wide eyes somehow managed to get even bigger as they met a pair of steely grey ones. It's him! Momiji thought to herself, flustered.

Chuckling slightly, Murakumo bent over to pick up the rest of Momiji's books. The girl just sat there gaping at him until he placed the pile in her hands and stepped back, laughing to himself at how easy this was going to be. Snapping out her trance, Momiji scambled to her feet, her already pink face turning a few shades darker as she stammered out a thanks.

"Don't mention it, Princess," he purred, staring intently at her green eyes. Momiji could do nothing but stare, feeling like a mouse that was about to be trapped by the cat but not really caring at the moment. Those grey eyes had her mesmerized, and she would have stood in that position until he looked away. Suddenly an urgent voice broke into her reverie.

"Momiji!" she could hear Kusanagi's voice, sounding as if it was coming from a thousand miles away. "Momiji!" it came again, a little louder. Murakumo, turning and seeing Kusanagi coming down the street towards them, caught up Momiji's hand and pressed it to his lips, keeping his eyes locked on hers the entire time as his silky mouth brushed the back of her hand. "Until next time then, Princess," he murmered against her skin, then in a flash he had dropped her hand and flown into the air, dissapearing in seconds.

Kusanagi approached her and saw that she was still in the same position she had been when the strange man had left, mouth slightly open in shock and one hand held in front of her. "Momiji," he said, reaching her side and putting his gloved hand on her shoulder. Startled, she jumped and her eyes snapped back into focus, blinking up at Kusanagi in confusion before clouding over in anger.

"Kusangi!" she cried furiously, and hit him in the arm with her fist.

"Ouch!" he yelled, rubbing the offended limb with one hand. "What did you do that for, Momiji?"

"You scared him away, idiot! It was perfectly lovely, he was being such a gentleman and helping me and then you had to show your fat head and he ran off. Now who knows when I will see him again??" she wailed.

"But Momiji, how do we even know whose side he is on? What if he is on the Arigami side? He is an arigami, after all," Kusanagi fired back.

"Well, so are you, blockhead! And whose side are you on, eh? Why do you have to be so negative all the time? Why can't you just accept that he might be able to help us, and he can do things that you can't?" Momiji rattled off in her anger, then stopped when she saw the frown on Kusanagi's face. He was trying to hide it but she knew that he had hurt him. "Kusanagi, I-" she began to apologize, but he cut her off midsentence.

"Forget it Momiji. You have your fun with your little make-believe prince, but don't come whining to me if he doesn't turn out to be everything you imagined!" Kusanagi growled, and in an instant he too bounded away out of sight. Momij was left to pick up the rest of her belongings alone, and sighed. She didn't mean to yell at Kusanagi like that. She had to admit, this new Dark-hair was intriguing, but she knew that she loved Kusanagi as well. She would just have to try to apologize again the next time she saw him. Sighing again, Momij balanced the load of books and headed off towards home once again.

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