Cursed Hearts

“Your book,” Shinbe smirked wondering what she was thinking. “There seems to only be one.”

“Oh. Yes.” Kyoko nodded sliding the book between them as he slid his chair right up against hers. She silently wondered if it was a rule somewhere that the new girl had to blush all day long.

Looking past him at Tasuki, she noticed her new friend’s smile had vanished and he was rapidly tapping his pencil against his desk as he stared a hole in her new partner. He wasn’t the only one staring. It seemed every girl in the room decided they needed something out of their book bag so they could turn and look.

Shinbe placed an elbow on the desk and leaned in to block her view of the guy he’d seen lead her up the stairs from the office by the hand. “Looks like you’ll have a partner after all. Name's Shinbe,” He winked wanting her full attention.

An hour later Kyoko was almost sad to see class come to an end. Shinbe had turned out to be a lot of fun as they did that day’s science experiment. Only their table and Tasuki's table had gotten it right.

Shinbe picked up their shared science book the same time she did. Placing his hand over hers, he pulled her toward him. As she stared up at him with those big emerald eyes, it was all he could do not to wrap his arm around her waist and bring her flush against him. “I’ll keep this,” his voice was husky then evened out as he added, “Since there’s no homework.” His thumb caressed the back of her hand as he listened to her heartbeat speed up.

Kyoko nodded, feeling herself go weak in the knees, then pulled her hand away from his reluctantly. There was something about him that made her want to crawl up in his arms and that was just disturbing. She turned around to grab her backpack off the floor but noticed someone else’s arm already reaching for it.

Tasuki scooped the book bag up before she could and quickly squeezed in between her and Shinbe. “Ready for calculus?”

Kyoko nodded glad for the distraction. “Never.” She laughed at the look on Tasuki’s face.

Tasuki caught on to the joke, rolling his eyes and groaning. “Yeah, every time I think I have math figured out, they throw something even stupider up on the chalk board just so they can laugh at me.” He grabbed Kyoko’s hand, pulling her behind him, “Come on, I’ll show you the way to hell.”

Shinbe watched them leave with his eyes narrowed on the hand that was holding hers so possessively. “He thinks he knows what hell is, eh? I can show him the real thing.” Shinbe whispered jealously under his breath. He shrugged off the need to break the boy's fingers.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he let his powers fan throughout the school in a wave as he searched for any signs that demons were on the prowl. When the wave passed Kyoko and her friend, Shinbe frowned. It wasn’t that the boy was a demon… the aura was strangely familiar.

In the next classroom, Tasuki started to take her toward the table he knew was open but suddenly stopped in his tracks. Kyoko followed his gaze, and everybody else’s in the classroom. Her eyes widened seeing the long silver hair of the guy she’d seen arguing with the secretary. As if sensing he was being watched, his head slowly turned and his liquid gold eyes captured hers and held her immobile.

“How many new people do we have starting today?” Tasuki asked no one in particular.

“Six,” Kyoko answered him remembering what the secretary had said.

“My seat is way up here,” Tasuki said broodingly as she slowly walked past him.

Kyoko felt a sense of déjà vu when she noticed one math book and that he had already slid it between the two seats as if waiting for her. She pushed the thought aside thinking maybe the teacher had asked him to share it with her before she’d come into the room. The closer she got to him, the more disturbed she felt. It was as if every hormone in her body had just stood up and taken notice.

When she sat down, he scooted his chair closer and she felt heat creep into her cheeks. Looking out across the room she noticed a couple of the girls were now frowning at her. Knowing this was going to be the longest class in history, Kyoko closed her eyes and rubbed her temple.

As soon as the math class started their assignment, Kyoko struggled to remember how to do the problems even though she’d learnt this the year before at the boarding school. Seeing Kyou’s hand nearly flying across the page, Kyoko sighed inwardly having become stuck on the second problem.

The teacher was walking the isles and noticed Kyou was almost finished with the page. “I see you have already learned how to do this Kyou. Would you do me the favor of helping explain it to Kyoko?” The teacher smiled sweetly but didn’t wait on an answer as she turned up the next row of students.

Kyoko was mortified. She stayed completely still as she watched him push his own papers away. When he leaned toward her to draw hers closer, a lock of his hair slid across her hand. Feeling the cool silkiness, Kyoko confirmed her worst fears… she was so going to fail math this year.

The corners of Kyou’s lips tilted in the barest hint of a smile as he heard her thoughts. Leaning down so he could look her directly in the eyes, he placed his hand over hers and whispered, “I won’t let you fail.”

By the end of class, Kyoko had remembered how to do the calculus problems. They’d even finished that night’s homework assignment before class was over. Déjà vu knocked again when he offered to keep the book for them. Seeing Tasuki waiting for her next to the door, she hurried.

“Do you really have home economics?” Kyoko asked him to keep herself from looking over her shoulder at Kyou.

“Sure. As a matter of fact, it’s mostly guys taking the class this year.” His eyes sparkled as he winked. “We men have to know how to cook for our sweethearts and keep them happy.” Tasuki smirked, “Besides, we get to cook almost every day so it’s kind of like getting a snack before lunch.”

“Ha! So the truth is finally out. I knew there was a reason I wanted to take this class.” Kyoko gave him a cheeky smile knowing she needed this class probably more than the others. Until last night, she’d never been allowed in a kitchen and wondered if she would even be able to fake it enough not to become the class clown. Now that she was cooking for herself… it was either pass the class or learn to love Cheerios.

This class was set up completely different from all the others. There were tables and chairs like in a lunchroom instead of desks.

“No assigned seating.” Tasuki wiggled his eyebrows and quickly led them to a table toward the back of the room. The whole right side of the room was made up of everything they needed to cook, including five stoves. Kyoko quickly looked around counting five tables and assumed each table would be cooking together.

Two other guys joined their table and Tasuki introduced her to Yohji, who looked like an all-around American jock. When he asked the name of the other guy, Kyoko realized he must be one of the new students. Again she felt like she was drawn to him by some invisible magnet that only worked on new students.

“Hi,” she whispered as he smiled and nodded. He was just as striking as the two other new guys she’d met this morning. His hair was awesome… it was dark and light at the same time, with amethyst highlights all over the place. It was shoulder-length but untamed, like he’d been in a windstorm and his eyes… they weren’t a color… they were every color, and she could swear they sparkled with unnatural light.

He seemed to be looking at her just as hard as she was looking at him. When their gaze met, Kamui smiled a smile that would have won the devil himself over.

“Would you two please get a room?” Yohji complained, causing Tasuki to growl and Kamui to laugh.

“Only if we can lock you in it,” Kamui smirked at Yohji when he stiffened. He tried not to laugh out loud when the thought struck him that the jock was claustrophobic. “I was just choosing the person I was cooking for. What’s wrong? Jealous? Do you want me to cook for you instead?”

Yohji shrugged deciding to go with it, “Only if it makes you happy sweetheart.”

Tasuki sat back in his chair watching the new boy watch Kyoko. They were wrong. It wasn’t Yohji that was feeling the needles of jealousy. Maybe it was time to get to know the competition. He glanced over at the happy smile on Kyoko’s face and decided he’d best come up with a plan.

“Today we will be making Halloween candy from scratch,” the teacher announced as she passed out the recipes.

“And now we get to eat the heads off of monsters!” Kamui added as if he had just won the lottery. When Kyoko started laughing with him, Kamui felt his blood heat up and he found himself fighting the need to reach for her. He silently wondered if his brothers were fighting that same craving.

Each one of them picked a different Halloween-shaped cookie cutter and made ten cookies each, placing them on an oversized pan. When they were done, it was Kamui who was there to take the pan out of the oven. Seeing Kyoko’s pumpkin shaped cookies were badly deformed, he whispered a quick word in some forgotten language as he drew the pan out of the oven.

“How did that happen?” Kyoko asked in awe as he brought the pan to the table. Her cookies were perfection and the guys cookies looked like five-year-olds had done them.

“And this is why mostly guys take the class,” Kamui smiled as he took a bite out of Kyoko’s cookie then blinked when he heard a faint growl come from Tasuki. Taking a better look at the guy that had appointed himself Kyoko’s bodyguard for the day, Kamui tilted his head at the sense of foreboding.

Chapter 4 “Bad Boys and Romeo”

Lunch was next and when Tasuki got in the cafeteria line, Kyoko glanced out the large glass windows and started toward the outside eating area. Seeing tables scattered everywhere on the concrete, she looked past them and notice a of couple picnic tables under beautiful shade trees.

Needing a few minutes of solace to calm down from all the morning's excitement, she picked the biggest tree and sat down at the base of it, facing away from the school.

Hyakuhei leaned against the tree beside Kyoko, though he knew it was a moot point to do so. His eyes were dark, without any emotion at all and his lips held no hint of his mood. He was already tired of being invisible to her but he knew he had to bide his time. How could he comfort someone that didn’t even know he was there?

Reaching into the backpack, Kyoko pulled out the small soft cooler that she’d stuffed full of grapes and relaxed against the smooth bark of the tree. Hearing a motorcycle close by, she glanced up. A guy wearing dark shades, dressed in black, with long layered hair slowly road by the curb. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she could tell he was looking directly at her.

She couldn’t decide if it was because she hadn’t been around the opposite sex, or if it was simply the fact that this school was full of guys that would graduate only to become super models. She could just picture the guy on the motorcycle on the cover of some movie about sexy bad boys. She ate a couple of her grapes and closed her eyes trying to block out the yummy site. Her hormones had already taken a licking today and she was starting to feel bent.

It wasn’t like any of this really shocked her because at the boarding school she had gotten away with one thing… reading. When the other girls would go to the public library, she would always give the one infatuated with rock stars a list of books to get for her. She would then take the cover of a Shakespeare book and wrap it around the book she was reading so no one would know her guilty pleasure… Romance books of all kinds.

She’d started out with historical romances where the Indian would kidnap the white girl and take her to his teepee, keeping her there until she fell in love with him. Then she had branched out to paranormal romance… vampires were also known to kidnap the girl and keep her until she fell in love with him. Those books leaned closer to erotica and she blamed them for her hormones being out of control now.

For the last year, she’d been reading every kind of paranormal romance she could get her hands on and the darker the better. Kyoko blew her bangs out of her eyes knowing her innocence was gone… if only mentally.

Hearing the school bell, she cringed, realizing she hadn’t even eaten more than three grapes. Stuffing the container back into her book bag, she was startled to find a hand reaching down to help her up.

Tasuki knelt down in front of her as he took her hand. “Are you ready?” he slowly smiled when he noticed she got the same look on her face for him as she did with the new guys. Maybe he hadn’t lost after all.

Kyoko returned his smile, “Lead me to Shakespeare.”

“How did you know?” Tasuki looked confused.

“Because I couldn’t get lucky enough to think the world literature class would allow us to read a vampire series.” She laughed when he cocked a dark eyebrow. When they entered the class, Tasuki pointed at the empty desk in the back, then went to see if the teacher had an extra copy of Romeo and Juliet.

Kyoko was already seated and getting out her notebook when the chair beside her scraped across the floor. She glanced up and her breath caught in her throat. The guy she’d seen watching her from the back of the motorcycle during lunch was throwing his leather coat across the back of the chair.

Tasuki turned from the teacher with the copy of Romeo and Juliet in his hand when he noticed Kyoko was no longer alone. “I just can’t win, can I?” he asked the air in front of him as his grip tightened on the defenseless book.

“Excuse me?” the teacher asked thinking Tasuki was talking to him.

Tasuki glanced over his shoulder, “I don’t guess you would happen to have two copies?” He motioned toward Kyoko’s desk.

“We did have extra copies, but it seems someone broke into the supply closet and raided the 12th grade books last night. Strange though… it’s hard to believe someone would want a bunch of math and science books.” The teacher shrugged as he turned around and started stacking the papers on his desk.

Tasuki took a step forward before realizing just what the teacher had said… Math, science, and the Romeo books were missing? Now that was odd. He looked at the guy beside Kyoko suspiciously. “What do you know about all these new guys that showed up today?” He quickly asked.

“Not much. Just that there are five of them… adopted into the same family and all in the same grade. They’ve been home schooled up until now.” He laid the papers back down on his desk and shrugged, “Just ask them to share.”

Tasuki’s shoulders slumped and he was suddenly feeling out numbered. As he closed the distance between them, he felt a little taller at the smile Kyoko gave him. Handing her the book he leaned down and whispered next to her ear, “There’s only one copy… sorry. But if there is homework then we can both use my copy and do it together.” He hid his smile when the guy next to her flashed a dark look in his direction.

“Thanks,” Kyoko mouthed the word then turned to the guy beside her. Her lips parted to tell him that they had to share but the words stuck in her throat. He was looking directly at her while pulling his shades off. His eyes were ice blue… not the normal pretty blue that people lusted over, but really like a deep blue ice. It reminded her of the color of a black light but bluer.

She felt her hair move against her cheek as if a slight wind was blowing even though they were inside and she wondered at it. “We have to share.” Kyoko’s voice was breathless.

“I’ll be Romeo if you’ll be Juliet,” Kotaro said in a voice that was meant for seduction.

*****

Kyoko walked beside Tasuki on the way to drama class. She was still tripped out that a guy that looked like the leader of the bad boy biker gang could read Romeo as if he’d practiced it all his life. She snapped out of her daydream when they entered the doors of the school auditorium and she realized it wouldn’t be a classroom they were having drama in.

“The class has been getting things together to decorate for the masquerade ball Friday night,” Tasuki clued her in. “It’s going to be in the old school building just behind this one.” He noticed all the boxes lined up on the edge of the stage and the students that were grabbing them up and walking out the back door with them. “I guess it’s time to decorate.”

Tasuki grabbed two boxes and paused at the end of the stage waiting on Kyoko to join him. When she picked up a box without looking to see what was in it, he watched her stagger from its weight. Before Tasuki could set his boxes down and run to her, someone was already there.

Kyoko cringed knowing she was going to drop everything as she fell. She blinked when the weight of the heavy box suddenly vanished. The box was back on the stage as if she hadn’t moved it and two strong arms were around her from behind to keep her from falling.

Warmth… she felt so warm. Strong arms, she could feel the hard muscles of his chest and couldn’t help it as she leaned back against his strength. She had never felt as safe in her life as she did right at this moment and she wanted to stay.

“Are you alright?” Toya asked as she melted against him. It was all he could do not to bury his face in her hair and kiss the soft skin at the arch of her neck. Everything within him wanted to keep her. ‘Mine,’ Toya whispered inwardly when he felt their heartbeat pound at the same time.

Kyoko started to close her eyes but someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the warmth.

“Kyoko?” Tasuki couldn’t hide the panic in his voice. “Talk to me. It looked like you almost passed out just now.”

“I’m fine.” Kyoko blinked and glanced behind her. Her hero was leaning over to pick the box back up when their eyes met. Electric eyes like melted gold… just like Kyou’s. He had ebony hair with that same color of silver highlighting it, this time in streaks and very long layers. She instantly wondered if he and the guy from calculus class were brothers.

He’d felt so strong… unmovable, even though he wasn’t much bigger than Tasuki. But something about the way he moved gave him a sleek, predatory grace that reminded her of a panther when it was on the hunt. The way he was looking at her made her feel like the prey.

Seeing the other guy giving him a hard steady look from over Kyoko’s shoulder, Toya picked the box up and started past them. “I’ll carry this one.” As he moved around them, he swallowed the taste of jealousy when he noticed that the guy still hadn’t let go of her wrist.

As soon as he was out of their sight, Toya leaned against the brick beside the door and listened to make sure she really was going to be okay. Satisfied that she was, he closed his eyes savoring the way she’d felt against him. He pushed away from the wall feeling for the first time in a long time that he had a reason for existing.

Kyoko’s lips parted realizing she hadn’t even told him thank you. Stepping back from Tasuki, she started to grab another box so she could catch up with him, but Tasuki held onto her wrist and swung her back around.

“Kyoko stop. Take a moment to breathe and tell me what that was,” Tasuki insisted when he noticed the panicked look in her eyes and the way she was suddenly shaking.

Knowing he was right, Kyoko leaned back against the stage and took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’m sorry Tasuki. The box was too heavy and I think maybe I did almost pass out. I really haven’t eaten much the past couple days because of the move.” She wasn’t lying so maybe that had been it.

Kyoko glanced again toward the door. “I didn’t even get to thank him for catching me.” The thought saddened her. “Do you know him?”

Tasuki’s eyes darkened as he shrugged, “I suppose he’s one of the five brothers that started today. It’s strange how every single one of them has found a way to be close to you on their first day.” Seeing Kyoko’s frown, he tried to turn it into a joke. “I guess they just want to be near the prettiest girl in the school.” He winked and checked the weight of the boxes behind them until he found one that was almost empty. “Here, you can carry this one.”

When he placed the box in Kyoko’s arms, she held it up with one hand. “What am I? Five?” She giggled as they went across the school grounds toward the older rundown building. Her mind backtracked to what he had said about the new guys. “Brothers? Then how come they’re all in the same grade?”

Tasuki smiled, secretly thanking the lose-lipped teacher that had answered his questions. “Adopted, and until now, home schooled.” He quickly changed the subject not wanting to share her any more than he already had today. “Are you coming Friday?”

“Where?” Kyoko lost her train of thought.

“To the masquerade ball,” He nodded toward the box she was carrying, “It’s Friday, Halloween night.”

“I don’t know,” Kyoko smiled as she thought about the freedom of finally getting to go somewhere like a normal teenager, but at the same time she hadn’t a clue where to buy a costume. “Is there a place that sales costumes this late in the game?”

“The mall has a costume shop that only opens up for a couple weeks out of the year. Since this masquerade party is a school tradition, they have a very wide selection.” He wanted to ask her to go with him but the thought of her saying no actually made his stomach hurt. He had a vision of one of the new guys asking her to go and he stomped the vision into a greasy spot within his jealous mind.

“It might be a lot of fun if we go together,” Tasuki held his breath mentally kicking his own ass.

“Okay,” Kyoko smiled a real smile as she said yes to her first date. “Oh wow!” Her emerald eyes lit up seeing the transformation of what should have been a dark dusty old gym. The students had scrubbed it so clean that it nearly sparkled and now they were adding the darkness of Halloween.

“Yeah,” Tasuki smiled, suddenly the happiest guy in the world. “It will look even better by Friday night.”

Toya kept his distance after hearing her tell Tasuki she’d go to the masquerade with him but he didn’t have to be close to hear every word that she said. This masquerade party would be a really bad idea for her to come too, but seeing the happiness on her face… he wouldn’t have tried to stop her for the world. It looked like he and the other guardians would just have to find a costume and pry her away from her date.

Toya’s hands fisted at his sides when Yohji tried to get her to climb a ladder to hang decorations. The pervert pissed him off, but before he could step in, Kyoko put her hands on her hips and looked at Yohji like he was stupid and it made him laugh.

Kyoko’s gaze scanned the room looking for the echoing laughter but gave up when Yohji was dim enough to ask her why she wouldn’t hang the decorations when everyone else had taken their turn.

“I’ll make you a deal Yohji,” Kyoko gave him a cold smile that should’ve warned him. “I’ll bring you a short skirt tomorrow and we can take turns hanging the decorations.” She turned to go back to the auditorium for another box.

Yohji lowered his gaze to watch her skirt as she walked away. He started after her but pulled up short when Toya stepped directly in his path.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Toya's voice was low and dangerous and if Yohji had looked, he would’ve noticed the strange silver color that was starting to bleed in with the gold of Toya's irises.

Sadly, the dumb jock wasn’t known for his brains. “Is that a threat?”

Toya's face was dead serious, “You bet.”

Living up to his reputation, Yohji started around Toya only to wind up flat on his face when he tripped over something. “Oww, what the hell?” Yohji cried out reaching for his ankle and looking around for whatever he’d tripped over. Not seeing anything, he started to glare up at Toya but couldn’t find him anywhere.

Tasuki stepped over Yohji on his way to the door. “It doesn’t look like you’ll be doing much dancing Friday night.” Concern was absent from his voice.

Kyoko made it back to the auditorium but as soon as the door closed behind her, she knew something was off… way off. For one thing, the whole room was pitch black and totally silent. Hearing something scurry across the floor toward her, she turned and rushed back out the door and right into a brick wall.

Toya’s arms instantly went around Kyoko to steady her. He felt the evil mingling within the darkness as the double doors slowly closed behind her, trapping it inside. As he wrapped both arms around her he asked, “Are you okay?”

Kyoko nodded as she laid her cheek against his chest. That was the second time he had asked her that. “I think there’s an animal or something in there.”

“Tasuki is looking for you,” Toya lied as he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently moved her around him. Before she could say anything, Toya was inside the building with the door closed firmly behind him.

Kyoko realized he had done it again… disappeared before she’d even thought to thank him. Reaching for the doorknob and turning it, she frowned. Locked?

Tasuki had seen her in Toya’s arms from a distance and the sight made him grit his teeth. Before he could catch up to them, Toya was already inside and Kyoko seemed to be locked out.

“What happened this time?” Tasuki tried to hide the annoyance that was building at the speed these new guys at the school seemed to have for coming on to Kyoko.

Kyoko pulled on the door one more time then gave up. “I think there’s some kind of animal in there, but Toya locked me out so I’m not sure what it was.”

Tasuki shook his head, “It’s probably just a Halloween prank to keep up the tall tales about the town being haunted. Strange things have been going on around here since I was little. I wouldn’t worry about it. Come on, class is over in a couple minutes anyway.”

Chapter 5 “Phantom of the Opera”

Toya heard the locks click on the surrounding doors and could feel his brothers closing in at a fast pace. When the room lit up with shimmering light, his gaze searched for Kamui recognizing that it was his magic illuminating the room. Seeing all four of the brothers headed toward him, his senses went on full alert.

“Any idea what kind of demon it is?” He backed up in line with his brothers when the heavy stage curtains fell from the ropes that held them up, barely missing him.

“I’m guessing it wants to be the phantom of the opera when it grows up,” Shinbe stated then they heard a clicking noise that sounded like claws tap-dancing across hardwood. It moved so fast all they saw was a streak of darkness.

“Come out, come out, where ever you are,” Kotaro called making his voice echo softly in the theater.

“Nice touch,” Kyou complimented him with a raise of his eyebrow. “Now can we please be grownups and kill this thing?”

Toya nodded toward the darkest area of the stage. As everyone’s attention focused on it, the shadow stretched and rippled, peeling itself from the walls and floor. Blood red eyes flashed open but its form wasn’t so much humanoid as a twisting between human and arachnid. Its upper body remained mostly shadow, while its legs filled out with sharp bony spikes at the joints and tips. Its mouth opened like the cheese on melting pizza and it let out a screech as it took off up the wall and across the ceiling.

“It’s a good thing it’s almost Halloween or we’d have a hard time explaining that spine-chilling sound carrying through the halls of the school.” Kamui shivered shaking the creepy sound off. The last period bell sounded causing the demon to screech again as it ripped the speaker off the upper edge of the wall then threw it at the guardians.

“Good… no witnesses.” Kotaro eyed the creature wearily, taking note of the fact it was getting ready to jump.

“This thing's gonna be a pain in the ass,” Toya growled right before he was slammed into the row of seats behind him. He quickly pulled his silver dagger from his waist and swung his arm sideways, slicing the deformed demon across what could only be described as its stomach.

Nasty-looking tentacles erupted from its back just as Kotaro tackled it, trying to pull it off Toya. The tentacles wrapped around him, joining with Kotaro’s momentum and sling-shot him across the room and into the edge of the stage.

Toya watched the dark apparition riding the spider demon lean toward him and inhale like some demented vacuum making his hair lift off the ground. The spider’s fangs were showing as it slowly opened its jaws to attack.

“Damn it! It smells Kyoko on me.” Toya’s arms were now wedged underneath its heavy body leaving him at a disadvantage.

Kyou raised his hand, forming a glowing ball that became oblong as he moved his hand from side to side. Slinging his hand out, the shape streaked across the room, stretching out to form a whip and lashing itself around the head of the demon. Jerking his hand back, Kyou ripped the demon off Toya, but he had to struggle with it to keep it from returning to Toya as the silver guardian picked himself up off the floor.