"Good Stuff!"

A lot of people would not only stop and look for it, but already a small crowd surrounded the bright, beautiful young youko.

Kinno smiled, fanning himself with one of those richly decorated fans of  his, in a fancy way.

"Are you ready for some Good Stuff? Ladies, d'ya want it? Hey guys, you gotta have it! Good Stuff!"

There was a line being formed. All types of youkai, waiting for a chance to settle business down with Kinno. The golden youko placed his hands on either sides of his hips, insinuating his fresh, young beauty towards the greenish, four eyed youkai who stopped before him.

"Hey, baby..."

"Say it, dear!"

"How about givin' me some of that good stuff?"

"Well, You just need to pay and you can take as much of it as you want."

"How much?"

Kinno showed his open palm before the youkai's eyes, fluttering his five long, well manicured fingers in the air.

"Is there any extra?"

"Sir, just take it home and you can have it the way you prefer! It's your choice!"

"Say, blondie, do you have any special place in mind? Where can I go to have your good stuff?"

"Anywhere! You can take it home or have it here in the street if you're in such a hurry..."

Kinno winked one eye at the youkai then, and he smiled, showing a large line of very sharp, saber-like teeth...

"I like the idea...  Tell me, kid... Is it big?''

The golden youko made a generous gesture in the air while speaking.

"It's this size, and this thick... It's the biggest in Gandara, you won't regret it!"

The four red-eyes of the tall, lizard-like youkai twinkled in expectation.

"It's really big..."

"It's big, juicy and very delicious! I have lots of customers, they come for some of my good stuff everyday! If you put some in your mouth you will want no other's!"

"Yeah, I do want some!" The youkai placed one clawed hand upon Kinno's shoulder then. "Let's go somewhere else; I'm hungry for it!"

Kinno dodged from the youkai's touch with a smart move, bending over to reach into the basket he kept covered with a cloth on the ground by his foot.

A murmur in unison was heard from the crowd, and all tilted their heads, aiming for a better view, as Kinno wore very brief, tight shorts, disclosing the contours of his behind with an enticing perfection; it was almost as if he wore nothing.

"Here you have it, sir!"

Kinno stood there, showing the youkai a large cucumber he nestled in the palm of  both his hands. He smiled, waggling his tail contently, brushing his own thighs, and attracting all the ogling eyes.

"But... I... No, It's not what I..."

"And you get a bonus kiss!"

The youkai seemed in such an astonished state, he extended his hand to receive the cucumber Kinno handed him. He looked at the smiling pretty youko in confusion, and in an unconscious attitude, his fingers wormed into the bag hanging from his belt, and he counted, without looking down, the five golden coins which were the local currency.

"Is it all you're selling?"

"Sure it is! What do you think?"

"Well... Aren't you a... a street hooker?

"No, sir! Not anymore! I'm a respectable youko now! I've got a family to look after me! My Daddy is Class A, and my Uncle is a class S youkai, so I'm very well protected!"

"But I..."

"Sir, don't you insist or I'll call the guards!"

The youkai looked around, observing everybody. The line was carefully organized and kept by some of Gandara's guards, who had arrived with menacing spears and bad looks, but now ended up also taking their chances in the line, probably attracted by Kinno's flamboyant beauty.

He just knew he didn't want to end up in Gandara's dungeons...

"Yeah... Here you have it..."

He passed Kinno the coins then, getting the cucumber to disappear, embarrassed, into the crowd.

Kinno smiled to himself.

"Gee! He even forgot his bonus kiss! Next!" Kinno exclaimed, joyfully, putting the coins into the leather pouch which hanged from his belt, tinkling in the same tone as the colorful beads in his tresses, every time he moved. He was doing great businesses in Gandara's market.

A guard cut in, standing between Kinno and his next customer...

"Hey, Where's your vendor's permit?"

Kinno seemed not to have heard it.

"Hi! I love youkai in uniform, honey, but you'll have to stand in line like the others..."

It was then he smiled. And his face shone with so much beauty, the guard was the one to be arrested by Kinno's enchanting appearance. His eyes ran along his young, sensual form in a long, slow motion, as he enjoyed the almost nude body of the golden youko...

"I'd love to make friends with you, but now I have to work, right dear?"

Kinno reached out to pat the top of the Guard's helmet, then.

"Join your friends, and after we might go out for a drink! I can call my friend Hikaru! It will be a lot of fun!"

The guard hesitated, but only for an instant. He looked at Kinno, in an entranced, thoughtful mood for a moment. He stared well at the golden youko, pondering, and apparently more and more interested...

He had never seen any youkai so sexy like that in the whole Makai...

He looked around and joined the others who waited in the line.

"Good Stuff!" Kinno started shouting out again, as he smiled before his newest customer.

"Don't you wanna come with me and be my pet, kid?"

Kinno smiled slightly, refusing the invitation with a casual flip of his fan.  It was his second day at the market, and he already had a long collection of flirts. He was starting to suspect they were buying those vegetables merely because of his bonus kisses.

Kinno blushed... He was sure if he kept his former kind of business he'd be very rich in a city like Gandara. But his daddy Kurama would never accept him if he kept offering himself for sexual hire.

"I can't! I gotta go back to  my daddy's home!"

He reached down again to get his vegetables, and the whole crowd accompanied his bending over with very avid, wide eyes again.

He waggled his tail up in the air, collecting the cucumbers, when he noticed someone had pushed his customer away.

Someone with very shiny leather Boots had just stood right before him. He loved youkai in black leather boots!

He looked up then, straightening up. Boots, Black Trousers, a long, heavy military style coat, long, shiny black hair, pink eyes and three pretty horns; one pointing up, at the middle, and two curved downwards at either side of his brow. And he had the most lovely long, pointed ears he had ever seen!

What a cute youkai!

He glared violently at the guards who stood on the line, shouting at them with a voice which he struggled to keep low and firm, but which had a tint of a child's one underneath. He clenched his fists and gave them the blackest look.

"Imbeciles! Go back to the garrison before I present a formal complaint to my father and the other generals about your behavior!"

Those guards didn't hesitate at all, running down the street back to the High Tower of their headquarters, just some hundred meters further down the avenue.

Other guards had arrived, in a tight formation.

"Clear the area! Guards! You are here to call on some order! Clear the area now or I'll have you under Martial Court! Disperse! Disperse!"

Kinno's smile disappeared when he saw the line of clients he had being rudely disbanded by those guards. What was happening? Why couldn't he sell his daddy Kurama's cucumbers on the street?

He looked right at the shorter, cute, but angry youkai who was commanding the operation. He was too pretty!

"I want order! I don't own the city but my father does! If I say jump, you ask how high, do you understand!?"

The soldiers marched all around, scattering the crowd, and surrounding Kinno and the other youkai, forming an armed circle around them.

The three-horned young youkai approached Kinno, with a careful, annoyed expression, and his hands stuck deep in the pockets by the side of his long, knee length coat.

"You caused such disorder here yesterday I was informed about it."

Kinno just smiled.

"Daddy says Trouble is my name..."

"Who are you?"

"Kinno! And you, sugar?"

The youkai seemed offended somehow. He frowned at such a comment, annoyed with Kinno's frolic.

"I'm no sugar! My name is Shura!"

"It's a beautiful name! Did your father name you after the son of Gandara's King? How nice!"

Shura looked up at the purplish sky, and then stared at Kinno... How could someone in the city not to know who he was?

His pink eyes followed a downwards course then, appreciating the almost naked body he had before him. Unconsciously, he licked his own lips, starting to feel a strange kind of discomfort...

"It doesn't matter! I just need to see your permit! Is there an inspection seal on your fruit?"

Kinno offered Shura a shy half-smile, blushing and cuddling to himself in a girlish, charming way, apparently very embarrassed.

"Oh... Sugar, I'm not open to business anymore, but I'm not sealed..."

Shura frowned at that.

"Nani?"

"Don't you wanna try my cucumbers?"

The golden youko showed Shura one of them, smiling insinuatingly.

"I don't eat vegetables."

The golden youko took one step closer, standing near Shura, almost leaning on him. He was taller, and Shura could even feel the scent of those full strands of  blond hair falling around the youko's shoulders and arms. The brunet looked up, and he had to swallow hard when he stood there, eye to eye with the youko.

Shura wanted to stand back, to try to escape the warm allurement of the youko, but he couldn't...

"You need to eat vegetables, sugar! It's good for you!"

"Ahn?"

"I'll give you one free sample for you to try!

"I eat whatever I like, who are you to..."

Kinno interrupted him with a smile and a very soft, candid voice.

"And I'll give you a special bonus kiss because you're the cutest youkai I've seen in the city till now!"

Shura stood there, frozen, open mouthed, and tiny droplets of sweat sprung on his brow. He grew paler yet than he was already, and he even tried to pull himself away, but he... He wanted to be near that blond youkai; it was an attraction he could not fight...

"But I..."

Something big and cold, was placed in his hand, and he held the cucumber with tight, nervous fingers, just watching Kinno inclining over him. He closed his eyes, parted his lips, and came to touch his dry lips with his warm, velvet ones, in a tender but innocent smooch.

Shura squirmed and quivered, his whole body tight in a tense knot.

"Ah..."

He looked at the youko, not believing the tingling sensation which grew all along his body now. He held the cucumber tight, taking it to his bosom, crossing his arms around him, and around his own chest, embracing himself.

He looked helplessly at Kinno and breathed in very deeply.

"Do you intend to be here selling these vegetables everyday?"

"Yeah, honey; that's my spot. Come back whenever you want more of them! It's really good stuff!"

"You'll need a permit..."

"Oh, yeah? Really?"

"I can get you one. I'm very influential around here, you know..."

"Thanks sugar!"

"I can..." Then the straight-haired youkai stopped to look around him, bothered and suspicious. All the guards, who had finishing putting order to the chaos that part of the street had sunk into, were looking at him and that  youko, baffled. Shura frowned; he hated to be spied upon. "Go back to your posts! At once! Back to the Headquarters! March!"

Shura smiled. It was a very shy, hesitant smile, a small, almost imperceptible curve in the corner of his lips. But his pink eyes smiled also, brightening his young face. He waved to Kinno then, and walked away, up the avenue, looking over his shoulder once in a while back to where the golden youko stood.

Kinno waved also, till he could see no more of that young youkai.

"It's so easy to make friends around here...."

He grabbed another cucumber, holding it up and waving it in the air, starting to cry out his slogan again. There were just some more left, and then he could call it a day.

"Good Stuff!"

Hikaru looked around, very quietly. It was enough to detect a commotion to know Kinno was close. They'd arranged to meet in the city since Kinno had started that zany business Youko Kurama had assigned him.

At least that would keep the golden youko busy.

He breathed in a long, slow manner. He didn't feel comfortable in that city. There were too many people on the streets, the high towers and buildings surrounded everything, concealing the green landscape where the city had been erected. And he felt watched, under surveillance, as if everywhere he went there was someone paying close detail to his actions, his words...

Definitively, Gandara's streets, corners and buildings, not only walls, had ears. And the thought startled him.

But he could stay there for a while, at least till things calmed down, and Kinno's escapade was no big deal any longer.

He was not used to the customs in Gandara. Everything was very different from all he was used to in the Youko's territory. He would need some time to get informed and accustomed to that different lifestyle.

He took one look at the place where he stayed, not far from the Inn, or better, the hotel where he was living. Hikaru had just learned it was an open air Tea House, from where at least he had a good overall view of a beautiful landscaped park which stretched till the edge of the forest.

He reclined lazily against the chair's back, and took one suspicious look at the decorated sunshade atop his head. He crossed one leg, keeping his tail and his long hair laid neatly across his lap, while he sipped some tea.

He was sure about one thing; if the Ningenkai was similar to Gandara, he would always avoid crossing the border between the worlds.

The striped youko had spent those days trying to reach a conclusion about his new business, but still could not get any. In that city, a tavern would be too old fashioned; a place doomed to bankruptcy right before being erected. The crazy idea Kinno had given him about the nude bar was starting to sound tempting... Also, he had to forget the idea of putting up his own place. Here he'd need far better architecture than the one he was able to provide with clay, rocks and bricks.

He'd have to sell some of his family gems and jewels to settle any business in Gandara. That city was too expensive!

He sighed, very pessimistically. Meanwhile he needed to find a job...

He looked up, his blue eyes accompanying the smiling young friend as he found his way down the street. It was enough to give the kid one day and he was already too popular there.

Discretion was a word Kinno would never understand... The kid was a kind of a nuisance sometimes, but even Hikaru had to admit; living all alone was not the most pleasant thing.

Well, at least there they were safe. Everywhere he looked a guard could be seen. It seemed Kinno had made friends with some of those guards, enough for him to have someone to help in case that loathsome You-Know-Who showed up in Gandara.

The kid sat down, smilingly. The large basket he used to carry his vegetables was already empty.

Hikaru showed him the plate with biscuits and the tea pot and the spare cup, making a kind gesture for him to serve himself -  He was being awaited.

"You've sold out already?"

"And I'm already sold out for tomorrow! A crazy youkai said she'd buy all my cucumbers because she loves my kisses."

Kinno grabbed a handful of cookies. All that activity made him hungry, but it was all very fun. Better than staying back home alone and infuriating his father with his presence, and annoying his uncle with all his interruptions.

"Oh... Well, you better watch out or soon you'll be selling more than kisses again."

Kinno's smile faded away for a moment.

"No, Hikaru. I promised tou-chan and ji-chan I wouldn't do it anymore!"

"Maybe I am the one who needs do it. This city is too expensive! The taxes I need to pay in order to try to settle a business are too high."

"But there's a lot you can do, Hikaru."

The grey youko took one hopeless look to the sky, and sighed.

"They only want females with large breasts as waitresses."

"You told me of all the things you can do; you're a noble, you're educated, it must be easy for you to find something to do!"

"I guess I'll work as a tutor again..."

Kinno grabbed more cookies, nodding, as Hikaru always reprimanded him for speaking with his mouth full. However, he smiled, acquiescing vigorously to his friend's idea. He had never understood why a youko such as Hikaru enjoyed so much to wait on drunken Youkai..

It was when they heard a deep voice calling him; not his name, but his nick - Now he was known all around as Cucumber Youko...

"Hey, hot pants!" The youkai who was coming by added, showing a famished smile, showing long, sharp tusks.

And he was not alone. Another youkai, a shorter one, with a broader build and weird horns and one single eye in the middle of his brow approached one on either side, as if surrounding him.

 Hikaru's eyebrows curved in a very annoyed scowl as he saw the two youkai closing by.

"They're two of my customers!"

"They're not nice ones, I'm sure."

Hikaru kept looking at them from the corner of his eye, feigning to be looking to the other side. There was hardly anything which infuriated him more than those macho youkai who had their brains between their legs.

"Hey blondie, let's go somewhere else, so I can show you my own good stuff? "

"And I can have your pretty grey-furred friend. That's gonna be fun!"

Kinno smiled. He had always been told by his masters to be nice to all kinds of youkai.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna stay here. I can't go out with strangers anymore, sir..."

"I won't take a No for an answer, blondie." The tusked one vociferated.

The tallest of the two grabbed Kinno by one wrist, pulling him to stand up.

"I've heard youko like you are real hot! Don't you wanna show us why?"

"I'll have to call the guards, let me go!"

"You're a good piece of tail!"

Hikaru's voice was very soft, yet he said it in such an imperative way, both youkai looked at him, defiantly.

"You'd better leave. We have no intention of spending our time with any of you."

Hikaru's cold, calm way of saying it seemed to infuriate the two scoundrels. He looked at either one, face to face, with a placid, fearless expression.

"Maybe this grey youko wants us both only for him!"

"Yeah, let's get some youko hole!"

It was the chance Kinno needed to escape the tight grasp on his arm. He ran away from them, standing up behind Hikaru, and already looking around for guards...

But it was not necessary.

He just observed, his friend's slow, calm movement as he extended his leg, placing both his feet, dressed in delicate brown leather slippers, onto the ground.

It was just a second, and only a soft blueish luster could be seen around Hikaru, before the ground started to tremble. The youkai wanted to get him, but they could not walk, and were almost tumbling down, loosing their balance.

A low roar started to arise from the soil, rumbling, making the ground shake more intensely.

Kinno looked around. Hikaru was putting on a good show; everyone was looking at them.
 
The striped youko seemed so calm. He stood up then; the ground trembled only around those two braggarts. The paving stones started to shake and pop, and a lot of people stopped to watch what was going on.

"I'm not that type of youko." Hikaru declared, with a very clear, calm voice, firm, and very controlled, displaying none of the anger he must be experiencing. "This is the only hole you're gonna get from me!"

It was then a loud sound was heard, and the ground burst in a large crack under their feet, a small crater, which swallowed them up.

"I like to be treated with respect." Hikaru stated, with an immune, however gentle tone of voice

Kinno giggled, clapping his friend's deed, cheering his attitude. Just like his Ji-chan Hiei, Hikaru was so cool sometimes!

He looked down from the edge of the hole, which reached almost ten feet down. And the youkai were on the bottom, one tumbled over the other, dirty, confused and still trying to guess what had happened, looking up and screaming loud curses at them.

"Sayonara... You better behave next time..." Kinno said, waving to them.

"Let's leave. I don't appreciate calling attention..." Hikaru proposed, uneasy with all the varied eyes of all the youkai around aimed straight at him and Kinno.

Hikaru took an instant to leave some money on the table to pay for the tea and cookies. Then he followed Kinno out of that place. And he didn't even care to look down the edge of the hole. They could consider themselves lucky for he didn't make up his mind about shutting the crater on them.
 
"Let's go shopping?"

Hikaru tilted his head a bit, bringing one delicate hand to his own hair, brushing the strands which covered his shoulder, arranging his mane to fall straight and full along his back, like a brilliant greyish cape.

He smiled to Kinno, and nodded softly in agreement. There was yet much in the city he needed to get acquainted with.

"You know, Hikaru, I like to be here. I'm glad daddy made me come to Gandara everyday! I'm having a wonderful time here!"

The three-horned young youkai walked a quick straight line along the two columns of guards. Normally he'd be paying attention to every detail, inspecting the guard with a keen eye, watchful of  the slightest recklessness.

But he didn't care now.

Inside one of the pockets of his long coat he still kept that strange green fruit, which he didn't have the courage to let anyone see, but also didn't want to throw away.

It seemed his mind was like that also, undecided, and confused. He wanted to forget, but he kept the image and the sensation in his memory.

At the end of the corridor, there stood the short counselor Yoda, right in the crossways which separated the hall leading to his quarters and his father's.

"Shura-San. You are awaited at the training court. There is a special fight practice scheduled for today."

Shura looked down, startled, as if it was the first time he had ever seen Yoda in his life.

"I don't feel like it, Yoda. I wanna talk to my father."

He didn't wait for an answer. He knew his father's counselor would say Yomi had requested not to be disturbed.

And Shura knew why...

Those damned flowers!

He left Yoda behind, going through the corridor to reach the large metal doors of his father's quarters.

The doors slid ajar just in time to let him pass through, in an exasperated and confused hurry. He didn't know what was happening to him, and he had always been used to getting all the answers.

So, what was going on now, what was that intense heat, that startlement which stirred his thoughts, and made his legs tremble?

He passed all of the decorated, large rooms, and didn't take the smallest instant to give a glimpse at the beautiful and imposing view from the panoramic windows of their sky-scraping castle.

He only stopped before the door to his father's sleeping room. The door was locked, but it was only necessary for Shura to stand up before the sensors for it to slip open, with a long swooshing sound.

He entered, and the door closed at his back.

There was his father, sleeping very deeply, embraced to a huge pillow, with many others on his back to support his head. He was slightly lying on his side, the only comfortable position he had to sleep with all those horns on his head.

Unconsciously, Shura touched his own ones.

He liked them, but he didn't want them to grow too much. It would be very difficult to sleep, to brush his hair, to get dressed, and even to... to...

Well... He'd have to be very attentive not to hurt his girlfriend.

Shura blinked them. He'd better reconsider some facts...

Well, his boyfriend, most likely.

He bent over his father, grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him, trying to wake him up.

As he did it, one of those flowers fell out of Yomi's hand, and dropped to the floor.

Shura cursed those flowers once again, with a bad-tempered murmur.

If he could find out and get his hands on the bastard who had addicted his father to those flowers he'd make mince meat out of him.

It was most certainly a conspiracy to ruin Gandara!

But what the traitor didn't know was that his father was still very dedicated to his Kingdom, because Shura was there to help and keep everything in order.

"Papa! Papa! I need to talk to you! Wake up, Papa!"

It took a while till Yomi shifted slowly in bed, stretching himself a bit, and sitting up.

He had a smile on his lips so insinuating Shura blushed. It was a kind of smile he had never seen on his father's lips...

But it lasted only a moment. Yomi's pale face tuned back to his normal cold, placid expression. But there was a slight curve of disappointment altering his eyebrows.

"Shura?"

"Yes, Papa. Who else would it be?"

Yomi said nothing. He just arranged his robe, pulling up the hem falling down his shoulder. He sat up, apparently composed of whatever startling dreams he might have had, and patted the bed by his side for his son to sit next to him.

"Say it, Shura. Any problem on the frontiers?"

Shura shook his head.

"Something in the main city? Riots or any disturbances?"

"No, Papa."

"Is it your training? Isn't it hard enough for you now?"

"It's not it... I want to know more about the Youko."

Yomi grew paler. His face showed a serious, worried expression, and he turned to his son, reaching out to touch his shoulder, in a very discreet caress.

"What?"

"Can you tell me more about the youko? You and Youko Kurama were in the same gang, isn't it? What do you know about youko, papa?"

Yomi was so startled, he could not say anything.
 

To be Continued...