The lights were turned down low. Kari leaned her hip against the counter as Kojiro finished up tossing food around a skillet. Kaoru watched hungrily. The smells that wafted over him was making him drool. He didn't like that! Using a napkin he had to keep dabbing at his lips.
Then his stomach decided to betray him. It growled so loud, he swore it echoed around the diner! He ducked behind his fan to hide the heat that sprang to his face. Reki laughed.
"Don't be embarrassed! We are all starving for whatever smells so delightful!" He crowed.
Langa nodded enthusiastically at his side. The small cat boy was perched on the edge of his seat, a knife in one hand while he held chopsticks in the other. His eyes followed the Fu dogs around unrelentingly. The doors chimed as a clown and a tall lanky guy walked in.
"Why the show, Shadow?" Kari called out.
The clown glanced around. He had white face paint on with green markings. His orange hair made him look both intimidating and ridiculous at the same time. He laughed sticking his long tongue out as he saw the Kitsune watching him.
"Just feeling it today!" Shadow called back.
"Set the wards." Henry called from the front door. He had just come back from locking up the rest of the place.
Kari and Kojiro moved to the center of the room. Kaoru sat up straighter. He had never witnessed this before. Assuming, that when Kojiro was here by himself, he must have set the wards as he locked up. All eyes were on the twins.
They stood facing each other in the center of the dinning room, right under the glowing paint that the Kitsune had imbued with his own magic. Their large hands hovered before them. Neither was touching the other. As Kaoru watched he felt his hair starting to stand up.
Mia giggled as he brushed at his tail. Reki turned to point to Kaoru, he moved closer to attempt to smooth down some of his fur on his own tail. The Kitsune smiled but gently shook his head. There would be no use to smooth the hairs until the Fu dogs reigned in their magic.
A small spark leapt from Kojiro's hand to Kari's. It grew brighter in the female Fu dogs control. Suddenly it was such a bright glowing blue white that it hurt to look at it. Before Kaoru blinked, he saw the ball shoot up. It hit the ceiling some of it disbursed before the rest shot through the wood as if it were nothing.
Miya jumped up. He ran to the door. Curious, Kaoru followed him. Reki and Langa hot on his heels. Kaoru was pressed to the glass as the others watched with him. Sparkling stars began to fall from he top of the building. They rained down bouncing off the parking lot in jumping little flashes. It was beautiful to see. Kaoru turned to watch the Fu dogs.
They stood, oblivious to the others in the room. Their eyes locked on the one before them. Kojiro's glowed a welcoming blue. It was clam almost tranquil. If Kaoru hadn't been held to the door by the Yeti, he was sure to have meandered his way to that safe glowing warmth. Kari's eyes glowed a fierce and brilliant white. They were so stark that Kaoru felt almost intimidated just by looking at them. He shivered.
"Kaoru watch!" Miya cried, drawing the Kitsune's attention back to the parking lot.
It was as if a soft curtain of the night sky had fallen around them. The world outside became black, sparkled with little sprinklings of twinkling light spots. It was beautiful. Kaoru gasped as he saw a shape that resembled him. There was Henry, Miya, Reki, everyone that was inside was replicated by the sparkling lights.
Slowly they faded until only darkness could be seen. After another moment the faded light of the nearby street lamp came back into view. Langa sighed behind Kaoru, then both their stomachs growled in unison!
"Yes, I get it. TIME TO EAT!" Kojiro yelled while chuckling.
Kaoru rushed back to his seat. Reki and Langa had placed together two long tables. Kaoru sat in the middle, he faced the cat boy. Langa was beside Kaoru while Reki sat across from him. Oka sat down on the other side of Kaoru. Across from his sat Shadow. Henry sat next to the clown.
Kaoru watched as the twin Fu dogs brought out mouth watering smelling plates. They zipped them along so quickly it was a wonder they didn't fall to the ground. Hungry hands snatched the plates to their spot before the person. Kaoru smiled as a heaping plate landed before him.
Kojiro then sat at the head of the table next to Langa. Kari took the other side. Kaoru pouted. He hadn't known where they would sit, but Kojiro always sat beside him.
"Switch." Reki called.
Suddenly the Yeti was on his feet. He pushed Kaoru down. Plopping back down, Langa grinned. Reki laughed as Miya called them both slimes! He was, once again, across from Kaoru. Kaoru smiled silently to himself. He began to eat. The talk was light as the food was out.
Kojiro often touched Kaoru's hand while he was gesturing around. Kari was just as loud as her brother. Kaoru was beginning to get a headache. Kojiro lowered his voice as the plates began to vanish. The food gone, wine, coffee or in Miya's case a tall glass of milk, was passed out. The silence was deafening.
"So, our objective is to defeat Ainosuke Shindo." Kojiro began.
"On his own turf!" Shadow growled.
"Yeah, we have two weeks to teach these two how to beat him!" Miya hissed.
"Dose the Kitsune even know how to skateboard?" Kari asked.
"Probably not!" Miya snarled.
"He did fine when I took him to town." Reki shrugged.
"I was raised in the mountains. We used to snow board there before it became a thing humans did!" Kaoru spoke softly.
"So, you're like Langa then? That could work." Oka nodded.
"I am vastly different than. Yeti!" Kaoru growled.
"For one my center of gravity is much lower! I have a slimmer build for faster take offs and quicker gathering of speed." He insisted.
"Then there's Joe!" Kari was glaring along the table at her twin brother.
Kojiro laughed as he pounded one hand on the table.
"Wow, sis! It's been a hot minute since anyone's called me that!" He laughed.
"Joe?" Reki scratched at his head.
"You don't mean that famous S skater from back in the day, do you?" his amber eyes flashed down. Kojiro sat looking smug.
"I heard he founded S with Adam." Miya whispered.
"Why can't we get Adam to skate for us!" Langa groaned.
Reki looked at the blue haired Yeti as if he had grown a third head.
"You're not serious!" He muttered.
"What?" Langa gaped at him.
"Adam IS Ainosuke, duh" Reki laughed.
"How dose a slime like you, figure that out?" Miya mewed.
"I've seen them both skate! You can change your clothes, throw on whatever makeup you want but you can't change how you skate!" Reki cried.
"Or those eyebrows!" Kaoru added.
There was silence for a time. Then everyone laughed at once. For a few minutes there were insults tossed around about the insanely crazy way Ainosuke had his eyebrows trimmed. Finally they settled back down as Kari, laughing, got them all under control again.
"So, what's the plan?" Oka asked.
"We take the two weeks to train you both up on how to beat that trail?" he added.
Kojiro rubbed at his chin. "No." He shook his head.
"I will do my own training. Yeah it's been awhile since I allowed Joe out of his cage, but I have a feeling he will be back and bold as ever." He smirked.
His eyes scanned the group around the table. Reaching out he cupped one large hand over Kaoru's soft long fingers. Kaoru looked down glowing in the warmth of the touch.
It was a moment before he realized everyone was starring at them. He yanked his hand away, tucking it beneath the table. Gulping down the rest of his wine, he tried not to let their stares get to him.
Kojiro chuckled. His fingers brushed Kaoru's as he took the glass from him. Kaoru watched the Fu dog stand. He went to get the wine chillingly a bucket on the counter. He refilled the glass, while everyone watched.
"We aren't thinking the way we should be. I mean..." Kojiro turned.
He used the wine glass to gesture down the table.
"We have a tiny ferret of a demon ourselves. I'm sure he could weasel in on whatever Tadashi is going to do." Kojiro smirk was as dark as they could come. Kaoru shivered feeling heat rise between his legs. He cupped his hand over it.
"Then there is the Yeti. We never said it was going to be a fair fight. Langa can practically fly anyway!" Kojiro offered.
"More like fall from a higher plane." Miya snipped.
"True." Kojiro made his way toward the table.
"There is our little devilish panda! What he can't do to a skateboard, can't be done, or undone. He knows my style so building my board won't be hard for him." Kojiro pointed out.
"Yeah, but who knows Kaoru's?" Reki pondered looking at the Kitsune.
"Make it a long board and I can do the rest." Kaoru insisted.
Reki nodded but still looked quizzical. Kaoru felt as if the teen was trying to figure something out about him, on a fundamental level.
"We have Shadow who is known for his distractions." Kojiro went on.
"Oka will offer us anything he has." He added.
Kojiro smiled, from behind Kaoru. "Miya is our sneak in disguise. He could get Adam turned around for sure. You will work on him for the next two weeks, got it?" Kojiro grinned.
The evil was reflected in the cat boys eager smirk. Kaoru felt something stir inside him. It had been so long that he felt any sort of rising power! Kojiro's next words nearly made the magic in Kaoru burst out right there.
"Then there is the matter of fact that we, ..." Kojiro waved the wine glass to indicate everyone at the table.
He circled it around to hold out to Kaoru as he leaned forward capturing the Kitsune's hand. Kojiro kissed Kaoru's knuckles.
"Have a Kitsune." He purred out over them. Kaoru gasped. What was his plan?