The Dark Half p3

The Dark Half part 3....             (Moderate language warning!)
      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        "Don't worry, Kazuki. It WILL be just like before. My feelings haven't changed."
       Kazuki smiled, leaning back. He relaxed a bit. "Oh, good!! I was worried I'd end up getting dissected or something in a government laboratory..."

      Later, in StudyHall, Kazuki sat in his desk, concentrating hard on his math homework. He scribbled down something and then stared a moment. He erased it quickly. Suddenly he jolted forward, a wadded up ball of paper conking him on the back of the head. He curiously picked it up off the ground and uncrumpled it. He read the scrawled writing on it to himself. 'Are your parents demons?' it read.
      The demon turned around to find Hiroshi waving at him with wide eager eyes, waiting impatiently to hear the answer. Kazuki nodded slowly, sighing to himself. Hiroshi nodded back enthusiastically and smiled, looking back down at his homework. The sophomore turned back to his homework, sighing. 'Yes... exactly like before...' he thought.
     He leaned down, looking at the next problem. It was a hard one. He held his pencil tightly and leaned down, scribbling out some work off to the side. Then another wadded up piece of paper flew at him, but since he was bent over, it flew right over the top of the oblivious teen's head. It sailed past him and flew right to the front of the room. In fact, it flew so far, it landed right in front of the teacher.
      Hiroshi looked up worriedly. 'Please... don't notice...Don't look down....' He prayed. He realized that the note made perfect sense to him but if anyone else saw it.....
      "What's this, Mr. Hiroshi?" The man asked, adjusting his glasses. He bent down and picked it up. "Is this for me?" He was a little surprised a student would pass him a note. He wasn't the most popular teacher.... Hiroshi sunk down into his seat, avoiding eye contact.
      The man uncrumpled the note and read it to himself. This one read 'Are you doing anything after class? Come over to my dorm room! I want to see your tail!'
      Hiroshi blushed and sank lower into his chair.
     The teacher's eyes widened and then narrowed. He recrumpled the paper and tossed it at a wastebasket. It missed. "I'll be seeing you in detention Mr. Hiroshi..." he growled angrily, not even turning to see if he made the shot or not.
      The teen smacked his palm to his forehead. "Ah.. shit.." he mumbled.
       Kazuki turned around slightly to look at him. He had on such an unhappy face. Kazuki sighed again. 'God, he's going to owe me for this one....' he thought.
     The teacher turned back to the chalkboard he had been writing on. "And now..." he mumbled to himself absently. He was writing down some notes on the board for his next class. But as he touched the chalk to the board, a pencil hit him in the back of the head. He whirled around. "Who threw that!?!?  DETENTION!" he shouted.
      The students all looked around. Some of them started snickering amongst themselves. The teacher was only further ticked by their laughter. "You people think this is funny??" he snapped. The people only laughed more. "Should I give ALL of you extra work instead of individual detentions? Huh? Because I could do that!" he challenged them. He narrowed his eyes at their blank expressions. "Good. Th-" Suddenly everyone picked up their pencils. "Ah!" he cried as he ducked and a wave of pencils, notebooks, and wadded up papers flew at the board right behind him.
        
       Later, at lunch....
       Hiroshi set his lunch tray down at the lunch bench where Kazuki was sitting. He smiled at his friend. "I really owe you one, Kazuki. Thanks for that!" He sat down across from his demon friend.
        "Aw, it's no problem," Kazuki modestly dismissed. He was happy that they were acting more normal now. "I figured you'd rather have extra homework than a detention with him after that..."
      Hiroshi nodded. They both ate for a moment quietly. Then Hiroshi spoke up. "Um... Kazuki? I know we're at school, but.... Can I see your real teeth real quick??" he asked excitedly.
       "Real quick...." he answered reluctantly. He leaned toward his friend and smiled with his teeth showing. They turned from normal to sharp and pointed. "Shee tem?" he mumbled. He closed his lips again and they turned back to normal human teeth. "But really... We should be very careful. I don't know what would happen if other people saw me. I trust YOU of course! But.. Maybe we should only do that when alone, ok? Just to be sure?" he asked worriedly. He didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings, but was also worried for his own safety. That, and Kazuko was having a fit in is mind.
      But Hiroshi had his eyes closed and was practically swooning. "Man that is soo cool!! He has fangs!! Awesome!!!" he mumbled happily to himself.
      "Gah! Hiroshi! Are you even listening!?!?" he snapped. "Hiroshi!!"
       The Junior laughed. "Alright, ok! I'm only kidding! We can keep it a secret! Trust me." He smiled genuinely. "You and me are buddies, remember? Now, fork over some fries, 'buddy.'"
       Kazuki gasped, faking shock. "Blackmail!!"
       "Yep." Hiroshi grabbed a handful of fries from his plate.
      Kazuki rolled his eyes dramatically. "Well, alright... I guess my life is worth a couple of fries...."
      Hiroshi took a big mouthful and smiled at him. "I dunno... These are damn good fries...." His friend gaped at him, but he quickly snickered. "Kidding!!"
       The demon smiled happily and shook his head, chewing a mouthful of hamburger.  
       
       Later, in Kazuki's dorm room....
       The boy was holding a bag of chips, munching on them. "Man. I'm gonna get so fat eating as much as Kazuko wants..."
        Hiroshi looked up from his book. "You look great even though you eat for two. Don't worry."
       Kazuki smiled. "Aww, thanks."
       Hiroshi set the book down for a moment. His friend had relaxed since they were alone and he again had horns and such. His tail flicked around down by his feet like a cat's tail. He looked so interesting. Any other person might have looked evil, but he managed to make the horns and tail look cute. His clawed hands were not threatening, nor were his sharp teeth. His eyes were just as bright and happy. Maybe even more so now that he had opened his heart. He was still himself. The person Hiroshi fell in love with.
       Hiroshi remembered what he had almost done. Maybe he should be honest like Kazuki was with him. He had risked his life telling his friend what he was. He could have gotten turned in and dissected but he trusted him. Certainly he would at least still stay friends even if he were disgusted by Hiroshi. Hiroshi just hoped he won't react like he did when he learned his friend's secret.
       "Kazuki... Um... Remember when I said I wanted to tell you my secret?"
       The boy looked up from his bag of chips with those big blue eyes of his. "Oh! I do! I'm so sorry, I completely interrupted you before with my secret. Well, I won't this time, I promise! Go ahead. Lay it on me."
       Seeing his eyes and smile like that, his confidence instantly fell. 'No,' he thought. 'Don't give up. You almost did it before. You can do it again. He told you his. Yours is nothing in comparison. Come on, be a man about it.'
       "Alright. I'll just say it. K-" Hiroshi started.
       "Wait a second! I forgot to tell you something," Kazuki said seriously. He paused. "I can fly."
        They stared at one another for a moment.
        "Kidding! Aw, I'm sorry, Hiroshi. Bad joke. Go ahead.." The boy rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. He sighed, waving him to go on, not wanting to open his mouth and say anything else that stupid.
         Hiroshi exhaled sharply in a half-laugh, relieved it was just a joke. "Oh... oh, ok..." he snickered at how high strung he was. He'd believe it if he had said he was an octopus in disguise. "Um... What I was going to say was... I love you." He quickly said it. Quick as ripping off a band-aid. He realized he was holding his breath and let it out, looking up at Kazuki with slightly desperate eyes. He needed a reaction.
         The boy leaned in a little closer, his eyes confused at the words. "...What did you say...? What do you mean by that...?"
        Hiroshi took a quick deep breath. He couldn't take it back now. He'd already started. "I mean... I'm in love with you.... Like... That way..." He swallowed hard, looking away and blushing. The other boy did not say anything for a moment. Hiroshi felt like exploding in shame and embarrassment. He forced himself to look over at his crush again.
       Kazuki had on a very blank expression, which seemed a bit odd. Suddenly his bight blue eyes changed from blue to emerald green.
       Hiroshi no longer looked away in shame. He leaned forward, staring wide-eyed.
       Kazuki's horns began to grow, becoming longer and thicker and darker. His eyes became darker and his teeth grew a bit longer. His nails extended and his tail swished back and forth wildly. His body stayed mostly the same, just tiny minuscule details changed. Yet his chest seemed broader and his hips wider and more powerful. Perhaps it was only the way he was holding himself. More confident and brash. His blank expression became a smirk. "I knew it..." Even his voice was a bit deeper.
       Hiroshi leaned in closer, looking oddly at his different colored eyes. "Kazuki? What's wrong?"
       "Sorry, kid. It's not Kazuki anymore. Take another guess...." the demon smirked, standing up.
        Hiroshi stood up, too. "Wait...... you're.... Kazuko..?" he guessed, looking at him strangely.
        "Ding ding ding. We have a winner." The demon's tail swished mockingly. "It's a great pleasure to meet you..... for me." He approached the teen slowly, looking him up and down. "I've met you before, though. I see what Kazuki sees. So I've seen a heck of a lot of you..."
        Hiroshi didn't quite know what to say. Something in the back of his mind wanted to stress the 'multiple personality disorder' but he was so different.... The way he spoke, the way he held himself, and the horns and eye color.. It was undeniable. This was a different person.
         The demon spoke for him. "Yes, Kazuki wasn't lying. I'm Kazuko." He held out a clawed hand to him.
        Hiroshi looked down at it, struck for a moment. Then he slowly reached out and shook it. His long black nails poked him a bit. The demon brought his hand back.
       "So, Fairy-boy.... You're in love with Kazuki..." he snorted.
         The human blushed. "Yes... I am," he stated.
        Kazuko looked at him in the eyes, smirking. He stared a moment and looked away, bending over and picking up the bag of chips and continuing to eat them. He snickered in between mouthfuls. "Forget it."
       Hiroshi gave him an indignant look. "Forget it...? I can't just forget about loving him...!"
       The demon raised one eyebrow but didn't really take him seriously. "Well, you better. It wouldn't  work out between Kazuki and a human like you. You might as well suck it up and forget about it. In fact, continuing this whole friendship is something you may consider stopping. We're needed here for the moment but soon we'll move on. It'll hurt if you're close. So my advice to you, fag, is to just give up now."
       Hiroshi stared at him in shock. "What did you say!? Stop being friends with him!?" he couldn't believe this guy. Calling him a faggot..!?!? This was definitely NOT Kazuki!!! "Why couldn't it work out?? We've been just fine being friends so far!! I'm not going to tell anyone who he is! So what's so wrong with it!?!?"
       The demon was not fazed at all. He flopped down on the bed. Somehow even that ticked Hiroshi off even more. It was Kazuki's bed, not this guy's. "Don't yell at me. It's not my fault. In fact, I'm being real nice, looking out for you like this. If you didn't mean so much to him...." he paused, sighing. "It's because of the things you don't know about. If you knew, you wouldn't be so quick to want to fuck him." Kazuko chuckled at Hiroshi's angry expression.
        "That's not what it's about!!" he snapped. He was shocked at his blunt rudeness. Hiroshi wasn't about that kind of thing! The thought making out even made him blush.
        Kazuko interrupted him. "I don't care what it's about. For your own sake, just forget about loving Kazuki. I guess I won't stop you being friends.... I kind of want to see your face when you find out he left without a trace randomly one day.... But it's out of the question for anything more." Hiroshi opened his mouth to snap at him again. Kazuko again interrupted him. "And don't be so quick to piss me off. Kazuki didn't mention it before, but I control the memories."
      Hiroshi froze a moment. "What...?"
       "I control who receives the memories the eyes see and the ears hear. The whole shebang. As Kazuki would put it, it's part of my 'abilities'.... my 'purpose'....I control what he remembers while I take over. So I could make him forget this whole incident...."
     Hiroshi exhaled sharply. He couldn't believe it. Kazuki was right. No, he understated it. This guy was horrible!! He made his skin crawl and he had only known him a few minutes now!
        "Don't worry, I'll leave soon enough," Kazuko sneered as he took Hiroshi's face in his hands. Hiroshi pulled back, disgusted by him. "I wasn't going to meet you but you suddenly became more interesting. And Kazuki is too much of a pussy to tell you it wouldn't work. Ah... He's a good kid, though. You don't have bad taste. A body like this," he rubbed a hand down his hips. He then paused, seeming to remember the angry human in the room. "Let's hope we don't meet again. I only come out when we're at.. 'work.' So don't cause any major problems and I'll let you hang around my Kazuki. It's been fun," he said unenthusiastically. He pointed to the door with his tail's point. "Now leave. Tah-tah."
       Hiroshi happily took up the offer. He quickly made for the door. He kept his mouth shut all the while, not trusting what would come out of it if he opened it. The very thought that Kazuki had to live hearing this guy's thoughts...!! Hiroshi would rather stab his eyes out than have to share a body with that bastard!!
        He grumbled to himself as he quickly marched back to his own dorm room. A couple of people waved at him but he completely ignored them. A teacher approached him but he simply gave her a death glare and kept walking. He had left a book in Kazuki's room, but he didn't care about it. He was simply eager to go to sleep, forget about this incident for a while, and see Kazuki again. He wanted to talk with him. HIM. Not this Kazuko. The thought of his name made his teeth grind.
       He slammed his door shut and flopped down on his bed. It took him quite a while to finally get to sleep, his angry thoughts buzzing around like ticked off bees in his mind.