- Part I -

On Dating a Demon

Chapter One

Roses are Red

Tokyo was in every way different from London as one might expect: different language, different culture, loud, bright advertisements around every corner, and seemingly more people packed together on a similarly small island in the middle of a sea.

Even though she was from another large city on a rather small island, Ashley Wright found herself increasingly overwhelmed. Even though she had studied the language and culture for years, two minutes off the plane and she was left babbling like a schoolgirl lost for words. Being here, in Japan, was her next big adventure. It was the one she had longed for for years, even before graduation. But now, being here in the thick of everything, hesitation and wariness clawed at her nerves, fraying them until she was left an anxious mess.

Was Dad right? Had she truly made a mistake? This "mistake," if it indeed was one, would cost her a year minimum, if that was really what it was. Not only that, but she was traveling abroad in the middle of the "demon crisis" as world leaders called it, and she had arrived in the place where most of the demons who had appeared seemed to originate from.

Mistake or no mistake, danger or no danger, she couldn't think of that at this moment. Her luggage would be arriving for pickup soon and she had to keep moving. Pulling herself together she set off through the terminal trying to read the directional signs and figure out exactly where she needed to go, eventually finding herself at the luggage pick up.

Gaijin. The word screamed in her mind. Outsider. She'd been prepared for the outright staring that was common for non-Japanese people to receive. It was obvious she wasn't Japanese, from her typically British accent, slight upturned nose, and honey blonde hair which made her stick out like a sore thumb. What greeted her, however, was not the open stares of a people obviously noting she wasn't like them, but rather, she was completely ignored. Of course, in this airport, Tokyo's international airport, she was just a face. Another person traveling through this hub and blending in with the diverse faces of the crowd.

Thankfully, the wait for her luggage was a short one. One suitcase, and one pet crate. Knox whined as she lugged him off the conveyor belt. "Hello, there, love," Ashley greeted her friend, a parting gift from her brother, Oliver, who insisted she take a piece of "their culture" over to Japan as a joke. Oliver had always loved Queen Elizabeth's many corgis, and had given Ashley the round tuft of fluff as a parting gift. But of course, she couldn't turn down the puppy, and so he also got onto the international flight with her.

Making her way through the airport, she finally passed the exit gates, immediately scanning the crowd for the young woman that Mushiyori University said they would send to pick her up. Kuwabara Yukina. Ashley repeated it in her head like a broken record. Knowing her history with forgetting names as quickly as she learned them, this was one introduction she couldn't mess up. Yukina, whomever she was, would be Ashley's link here in Japan, and the person who would be showing her around.

"Don't be weird, Don't be weird," Ashley muttered to herself under her breath. Of course, it dawned on her at the same moment that her eyes landed on the slight woman who matched her photo perfectly, that she was talking to herself, and that wasn't considered normal at all.

"Ashuree Wrighto?" Yukina called out in her own accent, saying Ashley's name in the order that the young woman was used to, raising a hand in greeting to get Ashley's attention. Not that it was necessary. As soon as they made eye contact from across the greeting area, Ashley made a beeline for her.

"Hi," Ashley greeted the young woman with a bow. She looked about as old as Ashley herself: early-twenties, or possibly a little older. Yukina's skin was flawless, and held a glow of youth that was hard to nail down an exact age for her. Mint hair was pulled back away from her face, and, Ashley noticed with a drop of her stomach: scarlet eyes. Could her guide really be a demon? Ashley panicked at the thought, butterflies twisting her stomach, but forced her smile to remain. Remembering what the forums had said that she had read in earnest during her preparation for the job, she reminded herself not to assume. Yukina could even be an avid cosplayer with hair and eyes like hers. Perhaps it was just a wig and contacts that she wore.

Even if she was a demon, which Ashley didn't know for certain, Yukina matched her photo that the University had provided perfectly. Yes, Ashley believed this was the person who would be guiding her for the next few weeks as she made her new home in Sarayashiki. She didn't even need to confirm, except for formality. "Kuwabara Yukina?" Ashley asked with a raised brow.

Yukina's eyes, scarlet though they were, crinkled in a smile as she bowed, hands clasped in front of her. "Yukina is fine," she said as Ashley inwardly cringed. Please don't let her be as proper as everything I just left. She sent up a silent prayer to whomever was listening. This was her chance to get away from all the upper-class expectations that life had laid out for her back home. "Can I help you with anything?" Yukina offered, noticing the suitcase and crate that Ashley carried.

"Oh, no," she replied, gripping Knox's handle more tightly. "I can manage. Where are you parked?"

Ashley followed Yukina through the throngs of people all trying to find their parties to a car waiting just outside the doors. A young man hurried out, running around the side of his car to help her get her suitcase into the trunk. His hair was a wild orange, and styled in a very American way. It almost reminded her of John Travolta's character in Grease. "Let me get that!" He exclaimed as Ashley handed it off to him and got into the car with Yukina, taking Knox with her.

He was back in the driver's seat in a hurry and pulling away from the curb.

"Ashley," Yukina said through her accent, motioning towards the young man in the driver's seat. "This is Kuwabara Kazuma." Ashley, noticing their differences in appearance, immediately put together that this man was not her brother. While Yukina was a delicate person, Kazuma was… sturdy. Broad shoulders, strong jawline, and he looked like he could easily bench this car.

"Nice to meet you, Kazuma," Ashley said, catching his eye in the rear view mirror, and dipping her head in a bow. He nodded to her in greeting before his eyes darted back to traffic.

"Kuwabara's fine," Mr. Orange said, waving her off. His voice was deep, almost gravelly. "Everyone calls me by it."

"I can do that," she replied, clutching Knox's crate as they swiftly rounded a corner. He wasn't the worst driver; that award would likely go to her sister, Sophia, as she was always terrified of driving in London and was rash as well. "One of my friends back home only goes by his family name as well. Even his wife calls him 'Perry'."

He grinned broadly. "Is this your first time in Japan?"

Ashley nodded, then realized that Kuwabara couldn't see the action with his eyes on the road. "It is," she spoke up, trying not to focus on the streets or his driving too hard. It'd be embarrassing if she were to squeak or otherwise react to his erratic driving. Thank goodness I'll be taking the rail cars. Trying to distract herself, she said, "I nearly came over for high school. Dad wanted me to go to a school over in Bunkyo several years ago, but I convinced him to let me stay in London."

"What was the name of the school?" Yukina asked, turning around in her seat to better look at the other girl.

Ashley had to pause to think for a moment. "Ouran? I think? It's been years." She finally said, waving it off. She didn't explain that the only reason Dad didn't force her to go was because she promised him she'd go to the university of his choosing and get a degree. So, four and a half years later, she'd graduated with a hard-won degree from Cambridge, his alma mater.

The drive took nearly an hour and a half, but by the afternoon, they had made it to Sarayashiki, Kuwabara and Yukina talking about dinner plans they had made for that night with some friends.

"You should come!" Yukina told Ashley, twisting around in her seat to face the girl again.

Caught by surprise, Ashley could only gape in the suddenness of the request, trying to find the words to respectfully decline, however Yukina beat her. "They're all our friends. We're all so busy these days that we try to get together when we can, usually once every month or so."

"Then I really shouldn't intrude," Ashley finally found her words, but Kuwabara cut her off.

"You're not intruding if we're asking you to join us," he said. "Come on, you're new here. We can show you the neighborhood and if you come you'll know a few more people besides just us."

Yukina seemed to remember that she was being overly excited with her proposition. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, but you're welcome to."

Ashley turned the offer over in her head. "Can I let you know?" she finally said. "The University gave me your number; I can text you."

Yukina nodded, pleased that Ashley wasn't going to shoot down her offer at the first pass. "Just let us know, and we can stop by to get you." Ashley returned her smile hesitantly.

It wasn't long before Kuwabara was turning into a parking garage for one of only a handful of high rises in the city. He helped her unload her suitcase and they walked with Ashley up to her new flat.

It was like an efficiency, thankfully. The kitchen was more like a kitchenette. It was made up of a small refrigerator, a two-burner stove, and a microwave above the sink. The bathroom was across from that, and through a sliding door was a kontatsu that sat before a small television. Her futon pushed up against the opposite wall. A small closet faced the futon, across the room from a small balcony that barely overlooked the city from the third floor.

Mine, Ashley thought to herself, excitement flushing through her veins. It was University-given, of course, and the bare minimums, but so much simpler than the opulent wealth that she'd been surrounded by since childhood.

Kuwabara and Yukina stuck around for a few minutes more, enough time for Ashley to let Knox out to explore and say hi, and then they left, leaving Ashley and Knox to their new flat.

"Well, then," she said aloud, hands on her hips, taking in everything.

Twenty hours ago she was boarding her flight to Tokyo, saying goodbye to her parents and Oliver, and rushing around in the light drizzle that had formed and parked itself over London, as light drizzles usually did. She'd had a toothbrush and paste in her purse on the flight, allowing her to brush her teeth, but she still wore the navy slacks and light pink blouse she'd put on nearly twenty four hours ago. Even though she felt disgusting, the first order of business was to clean out Knox's travel crate of the pee-pad she'd put in, and then take him outside to properly relieve himself. As soon as they were back inside the flat, however, Ashley was stripping off her clothes and stepping into the shower, letting the warm water wash over the tight knots that had formed in her shoulders during the seventeen and a half hour flight.

Feeling refreshed, and with a towel wrapped around her hair to get the extra water out, she set about working to unpack and find a place for everything she'd brought. The usual must-have items: leisure clothes, work clothes, shoes, toiletries, then the items she didn't have the heart to leave behind: her favorite, "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster that she hung above her futon, and several of her favorite classics. Dickens, Dickinson, Shakespeare, London, Woolf, Faulkner, Thoreau, Twain, Austen, Rowling, of course, a bound edition containing the complete works of the Bronte sisters, and even Atwood.

The books were the sole reason her suitcase was so heavy to begin with, but that wasn't something she wanted to acknowledge.

Shelves were built into the wall between the futon and the closet, and as she started shelving the books, she spoke aloud, the words tumbling out, "Do you think I'm making a mistake, Knox?"

The corgi in question cocked his head, tongue lolling. "I mean, I haven't told you this yet, but I never wanted to help Dad with the company, and coming here has been something I've wanted for years. It's the whole reason I convinced Dad to let me study Japanese instead of Mandarin in the first place.

"I mean, I've wanted this for so long, I don't know. Did I really make a mistake? Am I even qualified to teach English?

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Knox," she said. "Yes, I'm qualified, but do I really know the language and culture as well as I think I do? I mean, I don't want to offend anyone with a mishap, or saying the wrong thing-" Her attention caught on the photo that fluttered out of the copy of Romeo and Juliet in her hand. Stooping to pick it up, she turned it over to be met with Isla's grinning face on the other side.

A smile crept over Ashley's face as she straightened, photo in hand. Isla was her best friend, having met during freshman year at Cambridge. She was there to study Chemistry, and they'd had their A Level Mathematics class together. Professor Arden had insisted on assigned seats, and Isla had happened to be sitting to Ashley's left when Arden had announced that the seat they'd chosen when they sat down that first day would be their seat for the rest of the year.

Isla and Ashley had become study buddies immediately, and had learned that they had quite a bit in common: both of their families ran influential companies. It was a wonder they hadn't met previously, especially since their families were both part of the same upper-class social circle. But it was a fast friendship: Ashley kept Isla on her toes, and Isla kept Ashley grounded when she started freaking out about her grades.

Isla grinned at Ashley through the photo, camera reflecting in her American-style aviators, black hair braided down her left shoulder, and capturing some of the London ferris wheel in the background.

At Cambridge, Ashley had decided to study physics, which she hated and was horrible at. Class after class she failed, until she realized that her parents wouldn't be backing down from their promise to pay for her entire education, no matter how long it took or how expensive it turned out to be. It was Isla who'd given her the advice to make the best of the situation, knowing her friend wouldn't be backing out of the degree any time soon. No, Ashley's pride was too great for that.

"What's that thing that Shakespeare wrote? Something about roses and names?" Isla had asked, sitting next to Ashley on the steps of the physics building, nursing a coffee while Ashley drank her usual mint tea.

Ashley had chuckled, knowing the quote immediately. Isla wasn't one for literature at all, but the fact that she was trying to relate this entire situation to literature for Ashley's sake was kind.

"What's in a name?" Ashley had begun, quoting the words dramatically for effect. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Isla perked up immediately, "Yeah, that one! Anyway, my literature teacher told us that it doesn't matter what you call the thing you're trying to describe. It's still that thing, you know? Like, a rose is still a rose, even if you call it a…" she searched for a gibberish name, "A walkazoo. It's still going to be a flower with petals that open outward and smells pretty, right? It doesn't matter what you actually call the thing. Am I making sense?"

Ashley had nodded and sighed, knowing her friend was right. After a beat, she said, "You know I hate roses, right?"

Isla had pushed her in mock-frustration.

After that, after trying to follow Isla's advice of trying to make the best of her degree, Ashley had realized she actually enjoyed physics, especially quantum physics. She was still horrible at it, but after putting forth the effort, all the effort she had, she'd earned the damned degree, even if all the classes barely had a C in them.

And now she'd wormed herself into another situation where she needed to follow Isla's advice. Make the best of it. Call it anything you want. Whether a mistake or an opportunity, she was still here, after years of wanting to be here, and she was going to enjoy herself.

Digging her phone out of her pocket, she found Yukina's number already plugged into her phone. Thank goodness for foresight.

-Count me in.-

The ramen shop was quaint and easy to miss. If Ashley hadn't been with Yukina and Kuwabara she would have passed it by and subsequently gotten lost.

The only sign out front identified the shop as "Yukimura Ramen," but otherwise the storefront was unidentifyable. A hole-in-the-wall kind of place with a simple wooden exterior.

The food, however, was heavenly.

The restaurant, Ashley learned, was run by Keiko's parents. Keiko who was Yukina's friend, Kuwabara's old school mate, and Yusuke's girlfriend. But also old school-mate and overall childhood friend. Kuwabara and Yusuke had taken up some sort of job together and had met Yukina, Hiei, and Minamino through it - Minamino who's always late because he works in the city. They didn't get into details and Ashley didn't ask. Just trying to keep everyone straight and whose names belonged to whom was difficult enough without trying to figure out the details that went with the friendship trees.

Yusuke, who was working to help prepare food, had been the one who'd had the hardest time pronouncing her name. "A-Ash-ree."

"Ashley."

Keiko tried to give it to him in her accent, "Ashuree."

His brows furrowed. "A-shu-"

"Ashley," Ashley tried again. She could see his brain trying to compute how she pronounced her name with his language. Two consonants never went together in Japanese. It was always a consonant and vowel pairing.

"Ashu-"

"You want to just call me Ash?" Ashley finally suggested, feeling for the poor guy. She and Keiko been trying to show Yusuke how to pronounce her name for the better part of five minutes and he was no closer to getting it now than when he started. Hiei, lounging on a barstool with one foot resting on the barstool next to him, never said a word, but Ashley was sure he was listening to this exchange, too. "That might be easier."

He grinned widely, eyes crinkling in his smile. "You got it!" More seriously, he said, "Thanks. I've never been much of a student."

The group naturally divided itself with Kuwabara shoving Hiei's foot off the barstool he wanted to sit in, and Yukina heading over to the table that Keiko had been sitting at before they'd arrived with Ashley in tow. Ashley didn't need to be trying to show someone how to pronounce her name to feel every pair of eyes on her. Back at the airport, she hadn't felt it, but here in this small-town restaurant where tourists rarely frequented, Gaijin hung over her like a cloud. She was very aware of the mutters and staring she received from the other patrons when they walked in, and the feeling only multiplied as she had given Yusuke a lesson in the pronunciation of her very English name. She tried to push the feeling of self-consciousness to the back of her mind as she sat down at the table with Keiko and Yukina. Tonight was about having fun with new friends.

Keiko had left the table when they walked in, leaving the book she'd been reading open. Now, as they sat, she bookmarked her page and slipped the novel into her purse. "What were you reading?" Ashley asked, curious if she might know the title.

"It's called A Grim Love," Keiko admitted. No, Ashley didn't recognize the title. "One of my friends lent it to me to read. She was dying to talk to someone about it, but I don't really see what the big deal is. It's just vampires and zombies." The young woman lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Nothing I haven't read before, you know?"

Ashley nodded and made a mental note that Keiko liked books as Yukina asked, "How have the children been?"

Children. Plural. Ashley stared at Keiko. Surely the girl in front of her was her age. Early or mid twenties. If she started young, she could have children, plural, Ashley assumed, but the thought of children at her age, barely twenty three, made her stomach churn.

Keiko, however, smiled. "Class starts tomorrow, so we'll see. I haven't met any of them yet, but I'm supposed to have nineteen."

"Teacher?" Ashley asked, and Keiko nodded. Relief flooded Ashley, relief she didn't realize she needed.

"I'm first grade, so they're still really good at that age." Keiko grinned then, seeing an opportunity. "At least most of them are good. I'd hate to have been Yusuke's teacher in the first grade!" She yelled over the boys' chatter so that Yusuke could hear.

Whatever Kuwabara had been saying was immediately cut off when her words reached Yusuke and he yelled back, "Oh you know I'm nothing but well-behaved!" The boy cackled like a demon as Keiko rolled her eyes. Yusuke carried himself with a staggering confidence, even while working.

Seeing them all together, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei, Ashley couldn't help but notice exactly how fit they were. From Hiei's lean muscle, to Kuwabara's sturdy build, to Yusuke's biceps straining against the black t-shirt he wore under his apron, Ashley immediately felt intimidated. She'd picked up running at university to ease the stress of her studies, and had refined her figure over those years, she thought, but just being in the same room as these men carved from stone, she felt more out of shape than she had in her entire life.

Ashley forced herself to turn away from them and focus on what Yukina was asking Keiko - something about a date.

"It was just the normal thing, you know?" Keiko said, her hands wrapped around her water glass. "Dinner and a movie at home. Nothing very spectacular."

"What if you did something different?" Ashley spoke up, but when Keiko turned to her without an idea in mind for what might be different for them, Ashley floundered. Why had she suggested that? She didn't even know what was around here to do to begin with, and she certainly didn't know Keiko or Yusuke.

"You may already know this," Yukina began, an excited light in her eyes. "But there's a new light exhibit at the university. It doesn't cost a lot. Maybe you could go there?"

Keiko turned an eye towards Yusuke, who was joking with Kuwabara about something. Keiko plopped her chin in her hand. "It would be better than what we have been doing," she mused.

"How long have you been dating?" Ashley asked, curiosity piquing. The brunette had mentioned previously that they'd known each other since they were children, the same age that Keiko was about to teach. Nearly twenty years having known each other. Just incredible, Ashley pondered. Knowing someone nearly your entire life like that was nearly impossible to imagine.

Keiko glanced to Yukina, eyebrows furrowed. "What's it been, now? Eight-?"

"Eight years, I think," Yukina softly replied.

"We were eighteen, at least." Keiko said, replying with a concrete number. "We're engaged, technically, but haven't set a date. Trying to save and all that."

"Kur-" Ashley glanced up quickly; Kuwabara sounded like he was choking on something before he called out, "Minamino!" He raised his beer to greet the young man who slipped quietly through the entrance. Ashley turned in her chair to catch a glimpse of the man approaching the bar. Just the same as the other three, Minamino was more than a little on the muscular side. How on earth did these young men maintain such incredible physiques, Ashley wondered. Perhaps there was something in the water. She eyed Keiko's glass of water, the condensation having made a small puddle on the tabletop.

"Ah, it seems we have a guest tonight," Minamino commented, catching Ashley's eye.

Upon first glance, Ashley's excitement grew as did a sense of camaraderie. Here was another non-native Japanese person! There was no way to describe his hair color except to say it was a deep red. It was similar in color to the gemstones that Mum's twenty fifth wedding anniversary necklace held. Red beryl, Ashley could swore it was called; her mum's favorite. But, as Minamino approached their table, it became obvious that he was, in fact, Japanese. He just had a peculiar hair color. Surely not natural, but Ashley still found herself sneaking a glance toward the crown of his head when he was not looking to try to see if dyed roots were showing.

Sharp emerald irises met her own gray, and a gentle smile tugged at his lips. "Minamino Shuichi," he said, bowing to her.

"Wright Ashley," She greeted in return, standing and returning the bow.

"Same as last time, buddy?" Yusuke asked as he handed him a beer of the same kind as Kuwabara.

"Are you seeing anyone, Ashley?" Keiko asked as Ashley turned back toward the ladies at the table.

Ashley shook her head, the memory bittersweet. "Not since university, honestly," She said, remembering how Emmett, her boyfriend of a year and a half, had sat her down one night and told her that he was gay. For how hard that conversation had been for her, she could only imagine it was infinitely worse for Emmett. She couldn't imagine the pure fear that he had gone through that she wouldn't accept him and wouldn't want to stay friends once he told her. That fear had turned to relief after they spoke. Even now, two years later, he was still a dear friend. "Plus, I was so focused on my grades I didn't even try." After she and Emmett had ended as a couple, she didn't want to try dating again, especially with her grades struggling. "But, you're with Kuwabara," Ashley said to Yukina, "And you're with Yusuke," she caught Keiko's gaze. "What about Hiei and Minamino?"

"Oh," Keiko said with a laugh, mirth lighting her eyes, an inside joke hidden in their depths. "Hiei doesn't have a love life."

Said person turned in his seat to face the girls. "What did you just say?" The words more closely resembled a growl, with his voice at such a low resonance. They were possibly the first words Ashley had heard him speak all night.

"Just telling Ashley how you don't have anyone special in your life." Keiko said, prodding him with her words. He glared at Keiko for a long moment, something unspoken passing between them, and Ashley used that moment to take in Hiei for the first time.

With a strong jawline, sharp crimson eyes, and messy raven hair, Hiei wasn't unattractive, Ashley found herself noticing. He lounged on his barstool as if it was territory that he'd claimed for himself, but back slightly hunched, as if he was on defense. Eyes sharp as a blade flicked to Ashley as he felt her stare on him, but she held his gaze even as her stomach threatened to drop. Like Yukina, Hiei had eyes of a red shade, and held himself in a way that didn't remind her of any human she'd ever met. Possible demon, but also not her business.

"Alright!" Yusuke crowed, a delighted grin breaking across his face, and forcing Ashley and Hiei to end their staring contest. "Who's ready for food?"

Once all the bowls were down, and the boys had come to the table to sit, Yusuke launched into what had happened with a customer who'd come in demanding a half-priced bowl. The table fell into relaxed conversation, and even though Ashley didn't know half of the places they named or who the people were who filled their stories, she found herself enjoying the evening, and glad she'd decided to come.

Too soon, the night came to a close as Kuwabara had to get home to sleep for work the next day, as did Ashley, Minamino had to get back to the city, and Yusuke had to close up the shop. Hiei was the first to depart, however, after everyone had risen from their seats and were finishing their conversations outside in the brisk night air. Even with it being April, the last chills of winter hung in the breeze.

As Hiei left the group, walking out into the night, hands shoved deep into his pockets, Yukina noticed Ashley's attention on him. Upon asking what she was thinking, Ashley whispered into Yukina's ear, "He's so handsome!"

Ashley, however, had no idea that her whisper was loud enough to catch the attention of Kuwabara, who stood directly behind Yukina. It was with this off-hand comment that an idea formed in Kuwabara's mind.

- End of Chapter One -

Please review and leave some love if you enjoyed it!

Thank you, Star Charter, for the very helpful pointers and for calming my nerves. (Go check out her work if you're not familiar with it!)

I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, or ideas of the Yu Yu Hakusho universe created by Yoshihiro Togashi. I only own my own characters and plot.