Scared

She knew she should be terrified of aggravating him. After all despite the fact he has shown an immense patience in the face of stupidity, even he had to have a limit. She licked her lips and tried to suppress the large grin that had graced her face since she heard it.

She had a feeling Inari would be listening to a great deal of curses in the next few hours. Then again this time the Kami might not side with her. If that was the case she would be testing her luck, which after she thought about it, had failed her a time or two.

Taking a deep breath she tried to hold down her amusement. The air rushed from her lungs as well as her ability to control her slight giggle. Inari-sama, have mercy on her twisted soul, and if he's listening, Koenma-sama have mercy as well.

Currently she was tiptoeing down the hall of a house she had been to a few times. It was easy to get in through the backdoor. Not only did he consider her a friend, but he even told her where the spare key was.

The carpet of the hallway muffled her movements, but she knew that only helped were humans were concerned. Her target was definitely not human, even if he tried to act like it. She took another soft breath to control her body, before her fingertips ghosted over the doorknob to his room.

Her night vision goggles worked wonderfully as she carefully began to work setting up things up. She glanced a few times at his sleeping form, but was glad to see him snoring deeply. Or at least as deeply as he'd allow himself, since she knew he didn't snore loudly like Yusuke tended to do.

Several minutes later, the four speakers were safely hidden in the four corners of his room. She timed her steps to his exhales and ghosted out of the room unnoticed. She marveled once again at how relaxed youkai could be when they didn't sense any malicious intent in the air.

She moved to go back down the hall before pausing.

Two doors down stood another innocent looking door. This one though was slightly ajar with the faint glow of a night light illuminating the frame. She weighed her options before giving into the curling urge to add insult to injury.

In for a penny in for a pound, her old friend from America would say.

She gently pushed her way into the room, careful of the slight squeak from the hinges. One day she'd invite herself over during the day and request to use the bathroom. That way she could tell him to oil the hinges without giving away how she knew they were horribly noisy.

Shaking her head she went straight for his shampoo. Grinning almost evilly she pulled out a small plastic vial and dumped the contents into the container. She paused for a brief moment before checking her equipment and rolling her eyes.

She'd have to stop by her storage locker on her way to the temple, but this would be worth it.

A few hours later Keiko was giggling to herself as she entered her home. The look on Kurama's face was so priceless she was glad she hid those cameras. In fact just the memory sent her to her knees in another fit of laughter.

Her laughter paused only briefly at, "YUKIMURA KEIKO!"

She peered up through her watering eyes to see Inari-sama in his golden haired male form towering over her with his hands on his hips. For a brief moment she thought he'd pull out a paper fan and begin to waft some air at his flushed face. The mental image sent her back into hysterics.

"Honestly woman, do you have a death wish?" Inari said narrowing his eyes down at her while she gasped for air.

"I work for you, what did you expect?" She said between giggles.

"Inari-sama, why are you yelling at Keiko-san?" Bui said entering the hallway wearing a neon green leopard print apron over his usual shirt and training paints.

"This little missy is a step away from becoming fox chow." Inari said motioning to Keiko before doing a double take at the apron. "What are you wearing? Don't you know that color clashes with your hair?"

"It was solid red once. Then Kuronue washed it on laundry day." Bui said getting a baffled look from the Kami.

Inari gave an explosive sigh and shook his head. "How did I end up with four almost criminally insane subordinates?"

Bui gave a pause then, "I don't think you would like my answer, Inari-sama." He said simply getting a nod from his superior. "So why are you yelling at Keiko-san again?"

"She has done the unthinkable." Inari said dramatically with a sweeping hand over his eyes. His shoulders slumped as he turned his face heavenward. "And worse of all, she's getting away with it."

"Please," Keiko said her voice low and breathless as she began to regain her composer, "you probably enjoyed it just as much as I did."

"You do realize walking in on that comment when you sound like that is rather intriguing Keiko-chan." Kuronue said from the doorway as he stood there with two brown bags full of groceries.

"I doubt it's what you think, bat, now move. Your ice cream is melting while freezing my arms." Karasu said from behind him also holding an armful of groceries.

"I would but Keiko-chan is currently blocking out way." Kuronue said over his shoulder. Keiko smiled slightly and slid so she was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.

"Don't trip," she said motioning to her legs.

"You're lucky I'm not wearing a skirt." Kuronue said with a dramatic sniff.

"I'll shoulder my disappointment proudly, Kuronue-chan, for we all know you set fire to your sailor uniform the moment you got your diploma." Keiko said with a mocking half bow from her sitting position.

"Well you are in a playful mood." Kuronue said grinning at her as he passed by.

"I agree." Karasu said before giving her a narrowed eyed look. "Do we want to know why?"

"Eh, I don't have it recorded." Keiko said with a shrug.

"But I do." Inari said holding up a triumphant finger with a winning grin.

"You do?" Keiko said her eyes wide.

"Yes I do. I even have the 'La Cucaracha' incident recorded."

Shock and mild fear crossed Keiko's features swiftly, "You don't."

"I do!" Inari grinned down at her with his hands on his hips. "But it shall remain in my safe keeping for now."

"Trust you to blackmail me later." Keiko said with a pout.

"Of course, I have enough on the whole lot of you to blackmail you into the next century if not longer." Inari said making a show of examining his nails.

Bui cleared his throat.

"Oh yes, so why don't you boys put those groceries away. Keiko-chan, come help me set up the TV. Something tells me they'll want to see this." Inari said waving the boys off towards the kitchen.

"Yes sir," the quartet said before Keio scrambled to her feet and followed him into the living room.

"So you are really going to show them?" Keiko said with a raised eyebrow.

"Only because I know they'll enjoy this. Besides I couldn't stop laughing for the past few hours." Inari said with a grin. "Lucky for them I cut it so they'll only see the best parts. But I have to ask, have you seriously considered the consequences if he ever caught you?"

"I have." Keiko said noticing Inari's look of interest. "Frankly that's why I take such precautions not to get caught."

"Well I'll have you know my kitsune have started a betting pool." Inari said smirking as he sat down on the couch now finished with his self-assigned task.

"What exactly are they betting?" Keiko said eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"How long you can outfox Kurama before he catches on you're the culprit." Inari said with a shrug. "So far no one has lost yet."

"I shudder at their confidence in me." Keiko said giving a dramatic shudder for emphasis.

"Of course you do." Kuronue said coming in with a tray. "Karasu has made us tea."

"What's he trying to poison us with this time?" Keiko said with a smirk.

"Smells like jasmine," Kuronue said setting down the tray.

"Oh good, do you have anything to snack on?" Inari said eyes brightening in delight.

"We have some left over strawberry shortcake and I think sponge cake in the pantry." Keiko said thoughtfully.

"The shortcake is gone," Bui said bringing in another tray of sweets, "but I managed to find some brownies and cookies."

"Perfect," Inari said making the four roll their eyes as they got situated.

"So what are we about to watch?" Karasu said eyeing the blank TV.

"The madness Keiko has been up to today, although I never did figure out why." Inari said eyeing the woman sitting next to him.

Keiko shrugged, "It just struck me out of the blue while listening to songs at a rave."

"You went out and partied without us?" Kuronue said looking scandalized. "How could you? I thought you loved us!"

"I would have taken you, but Inari-sama needed you three to deal with that hanyou the other day. Do you really want me to spend my lonely days wallowing at home in misery?" Keiko said in with a look of mock hurt. "What sort of older brother figure are you?"

"Not a very good one." Karasu said with a nod. "I on the other hand am glad you took an initiative and left the house. Though I do hope you brought along pepper spray for extra protection."

"I never leave home without it, considering you handcuffed it inside my pocketbook." Keiko said getting a smirk from Karasu.

"Good girl," Bui said before raising an eyebrow at Kuronue.

"I suppose I can agree with our resident hippie on this one." Kuronue said dramatically before turning to Keiko. "Am I forgiven?"

Keiko made a show of thinking about it, "Maybe just this once."

"Awe, you're the best Keiko-chan." Kuronue said giving her a big hug.

"Now that family bonding time is over, can we turn our attention to the screen children?" Inari said getting laughs from the four before they agreed. Inari grinned as he pressed play.

They got a good look at Kurama waking up before the electric sound of a keyboard sounded in the room. The red head narrowed his green eyes suspiciously as tried to find the source of the music that seemed to come from all around his room. It wasn't long before his eyes widened and his mouth dropped in shock.

The Fox by Ylvis was blasting through his room rather loudly. Kurama cringed as he listened to the lyrics, but he didn't move to hastily. He obviously remembered the 'Shout' incident from a few weeks previous.

Luckily for Kurama this time there was no immediate prank awaiting him. In fact as he edged out of his room he passed a sensor that shut off the music. Sighing he made his way to the bathroom, only to have the music resume as if it had never stopped.

Keiko giggled as Kurama left the bathroom so annoyed with the repeating song he hadn't even realized his hair was full of glitter just yet. She glanced around to see the boys grinning at the fox's misfortune. But she knew it only got better from there.

For the whole day that song haunted Kurama wherever he went. It was played on the radio. It was played at the café he went to for lunch. It was even blaring the moment he stepped into the temple.

The red head looked ready to kill something or someone. Especially after Kuwabara of all people asked him why there was glitter in his hair. Kurama retreated to the bathroom to deal with the glitter while the vein near his temple was obviously throbbing.

The real kicker came when he was on the streets though. Where ever he turned the song followed him like a nagging elderly woman after he failed to be polite. The real insult was when a street performer dressed up in some furry fox costume started dancing to it.

The boys were laughing by the time Kurama finally lost it. The red head was soon replaced by a very annoyed cursing Youko who retreated to the rooftops to growl at the world. He soon took off for Koenma's office, only to have the song mysteriously begin to play there as well.

Thus began an hour long rant about how a fox doesn't make any of those sorts of noises. In fact Youko was so incised he started to grow a very dangerous jungle in Koenma's office, while still ranting that he never sounded like a dying cat in his life. The Reikai Prince just watched semi-fascinated semi-terrified.

In the end Koenma offered the kitsune a job in Makai hunting down someone smuggling rare plants into Ningenkai. Youko didn't even pause to think about the assignment, instead just left with what few details Koenma could tell him over the music that slowly began to increase in volume to drown out their voices. The kitsune didn't even bother to clean up the mess he had made of Koenma's office either.

With the fox gone, Koenma was left in sudden silence blinking at the room's state. Then for a lack of any other reaction, the toddler began to laugh hysterically. The recording cut off there, but it gave a good enough impression about what had went on the majority of the day.

After the screen went blank, it took the occupants of the room a few long moments to regain their breathing. Keiko and Inari were the first to recover since they already knew what was going to happen. Still it would be a while before Keiko could look at Kurama without a large happy grin.

Needless to say, Kuronue nearly lost it the next time he saw his old partner. In fact the bat could barely say "What do you say?" without cracking up. The sudden violent glare the redhead had given him was worth the chance of death in Kuronue's opinion.