Let's Fly as the Birds Do...
chapter 29
by Hikari
“Let’s Fly as the Birds Do…” Chapter
Twenty-Nine
8/1/02
By: Hikari
E-mail: hikari1612@netzero.net
Site:
www.oocities.org/hikari_nanase/
Notes: My poem again ^.^() This chapter sucks. Gomen ne…
Music theme to chapter: Track 8 and 9 of the Rurouni Kenshin Instrumental
Soundtrack.
~*~*~*~
A glowing star in the night
A seemingly untouchable beauty,
As untouchable as its own light…
Lighting a path for me to follow…
Lighting a path for me to find my way…
Through the thicket and through the wood…
Leading me to you, my ray…
A glowing star in the night
A seemingly untouchable beauty,
As untouchable as its own light…
And yet you are standing right next to me,
How funny fate is…
Star crossed lovers…
~*~*~*~
The three-bell chorus sang, and
everyone sprinted in chaotic directions. Kurama walked down the hallway toward
the exit where the gymnasium was, when he found Arisu and Shidou waiting for him
from the other end expectantly. Arisu smiled and waved her arm in the air
cheerily- her smooth white-gold hair swinging to her lively movements. Shidou,
on the other hand, wore a smug smirk with a pose of one hand on a jutted out
hip. From beneath his dark emerald strands of hair, Shidou winked. Curious,
Kurama picked up the pace until they met together by a foot’s distance.
“Hey, won’t you be late for
class?”
Shidou smacked him on the shoulder.
Tenderly, as you would expect, since he didn’t want to agitate any one of
Kurama’s bruises… if any. “Shuiichi, come on. It won’t hurt if we’re a
little late…” He toned himself down- falling serious. “…So how’ve you
been?”
Kurama grimaced. At the moment he
wasn’t very appreciative of the school body’s present nonchalant nature
towards him, and with Arisu and Shidou acting as though nothing came between
them, his mentality simply did not know what to think. The redhead furrowed his
brows together, and narrowed his eyes. Sensing his old friends’ anticipation
for his reply, he thrust his troubles to back of his mind. “Well,” Kurama
began airily. “I was on my way to track practice-”
“Oh!” Arisu piped up, breaking
the mood. “ I forgot to call you! I’m sorry…”
The other two turned to her and
blinked in sync. Noticing their unison, all three of them laughed lightly-
though Kurama felt somehow peculiar doing it. The girl calmed herself, clearing
her throat, and pulled some loose strands behind her ear. “As I was saying,
Yatori-san was fired about a week and a half ago…”
For a second, Shidou glanced up to
the ceiling thoughtfully, when his short-term memory managed to switch on a
rusty light bulb. “Oh, yeah! It was after the investigation when Tetsuji and
Kao were taken into custody. The whole team is in question, and several other
guys are in Juvy too.”
“Wha- what? Why?”
“Well, apparently, Yatori-san was
more involved in the gang-up than we thought. He’s also the one who ruined
Kairu-san’s reputation and made her lose her career.” The expression on
Arisu’s face went from vibrant to solemn. “Lots of people pretty much knew
that he had… eh… certain goals with her, and since she technically rejected
him and chose to help you instead, I guess he held the grudge all the way.”
Shidou put an arm around Arisu’s
waist and gave her a short squeeze. The blond patted him affectionately on the
arm, letting go of a well held-in sigh. The redhead stood before them both,
relatively dumbfounded at the facts.
“I knew he was a jerk.” Kurama
started. “But I didn’t know he was a bastard…”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought
too. Gomen, Shuiichi, Miss Kairu shouldn’t have put in such a situation… And
yet…” Her eyelids lowered, as Shidou hung his chin over the top of her head.
She clutched onto her boyfriend’s hand, her fingers tracing his. Kurama,
waiting for her to continue, discovered himself to be filling up slowly with
jealousy. He tried to forget about it. Hiei would come back. He always did.
“And yet…” Arisu pursued.
“She was willing to risk it because she cared.” She broke from Shidou’s
embrace and placed herself in the redhead’s arms. Her friend gasped, first
unsure as to how to react, but was soon able to tentatively place his delicate
hands on her curled up shoulders. “ What’s wrong with us?” She cried.
“WE should have been the ones who were there for you, Shuiichi-kun! Now
someone else had to suffer because of dumb gossip… You will never look at us
the same way again…”
The redhead noticed Shidou stand by
and swallow. He motioned to Kurama to follow him to the staircase so they could
at least sit down and talk this through all the way. It seemed they would be
ditching first period.
Arisu stiffly came out of Kurama’s
arms and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. She tried to smile given her
sudden change in temperament. Shidou settled on the bottom step of the tiled
stairs, whereas Kurama sat on the third and Arisu on the fourth. The redhead
leaned against the wall and pierced his lips. Arisu draped her arms about her
knees and stared at Shidou- her eyes begging him to say something.
Hesitation lurked about Shidou’s
expression. What to say? He opened his mouth slightly a few times, but he
couldn’t find a place to start. Kurama and Arisu waited patiently. The third
frowned, took a breath of air, and his jaw clamped shut again.
“We’re just idiots, Shuiichi.
We’re all idiots.” Okono Shidou raised both his arms and gripped onto the
black rail he seated beneath. His elbows dangled lazily, as did his hair as he
bowed his head in deep construction for words. “We’re selfish idiots.” He
continued. “In a world like ours, it’s dog eat dog, and I guess we were
animalistic enough to abandon you for the sake of our own names…”
“When you think about it Shidou,”
Arisu put in. “Even animals have a better sense of loyalty than people do…
Animals don’t stab you on the back, remember? And furthermore…” She gazed
into Kurama’s forest-like irises. “Animals are vicious when they need to be.
But people- people are vicious when they choose to be.”
“And it’s sad to think, Shuiichi,
that we sank to that level from one stupid chain letter.” Shidou looked up,
honey colored eyes glowing. “We jumped from one conclusion to the next, and
not only that, we completely threw away all the good times we had… We
disregarded all the times we stuck together- like the three musketeers.”
“Because of what? This?” The girl
pulled out an old crumpled sheet of the scandalous picture from her skirt
pocket. She opened it up carefully, and observed it from a distance. “You
know, the more I look at this photo… the more I realize it’s not disgusting
at all. No, I think it’s really beautiful- especially since it’s so much
harder to admit these kinds of emotions when it’s not the norm…”
“That’s our stupidity… All of
us- in this whole damn school. We… crushed the most important thing to you,
and that in turn almost killed you.”
Kurama sighed, raising his head
against the wall- making some of his hair stick upright. ‘The dove… and the
ice blue rose…’
Arisu scooted closer to him, and took
the redhead’s hand into hers. “You’ve brought a lot of the people in this
school happiness when you were happy, Shuiichi… You even brought Shidou and me
together.”
“Plus you’ve tutored practically
half the student body…”
“And the track team needs you too-
eh heh… though track is kind of nonexistent at this point.” She took
Shuiichi by the tip of his chin to make him face her. Her eyes darkened, and her
face became startlingly intense. “Could you believe that we disregarded the
best kind of friend? What a loss on our part.”
The other young man let go of the
railing and moved toward Kurama and Arisu’s loose huddle. Sheepishly, he
placed both his palms on top of his friend’s knee. “It’s always when
things go too far that people finally react. Most of the time, that’s the only
way some people actually change. I guess, what I mean to say is… Well, you
taught us something that no professor or adult could ever explain.”
“Revere. Fidelity. And love.”
“The three most important things to
learn from the world in the first place.”
It was then that Kurama felt his lips
tremble, and soon hot tears peaked from the corners of his eyes and spilled down
heavily from either cheek. Arisu wiped one tear away, while Shidou another.
Their friend shook in his place, trying in valor to keep himself in check. The
girl rubbed him gently on the back, as he covered his face with an open palm.
Lengthy fingers had tangled with thin silky strands of crimson, and Shidou tried
to peel that hand away in order to see the condition of Kurama’s face. His
face was warm- almost hot. He jittered giving effort to speak. “I’ve- I’ve
lost all three of those things…”
Shidou squeezed him on the knee.
“What?” he asked softly.
“He’s gone, Shidou… Hiei left,
and I haven’t seen him since the hospital.”
“You mean he ran away?” Arisu ran
her fingers through Kurama’s scalp comfortingly. From beneath her touch, he
nodded and looked up at her with such a visage that she winced. “Well, he’s
bound to come back, right?”
“But I’ve waited for so long
already! I must have- must have put him through so much stress he doesn’t WANT
to come back…”
“Don’t say that!” The other
scolded. “Something else is up.” Losing his awkwardness all at once, Shidou
rubbed Kurama’s knee and stared at him directly. “Listen, after school, all
three of us are going to go out there, and look for him- even if it means going
missing ourselves…”
“Shidou, don’t…”
“Oh, to hell with it!” He shouted
ardently. “And yes, we CAN do that, because we’re stupid and stubborn.”
They laughed, and even Kurama was
beginning to feel better again. It felt incredibly uplifting to have his friends
back. Arisu was right, however, things wouldn’t be the same among them.
Conversely, Kurama also knew that the best friendships survive the worst traumas
and strains. Kuwabara and Yusuke reflected this, as did he and Hiei; and if Hiei
could forgive his clan for throwing him down a chasm, as well as Kurama’s own
betrayal to him- then there should be no reason that Kurama could not forgive
his own companions too.
The bell rang.
“Well, that’s a fine way to start
your first day back…” Arisu quipped, standing from the staircase as a
stampede of students ensued from upstairs. Shidou and Kurama followed her
example- helping each other up. “So… forgive and store everything in the
furthest, darkest, unfound depths of our memory?”
“That won’t be a problem for
SHIDOU.” Kurama cracked.
“Oi! It’s too soon to be making
fun of me! We still have to re-develop our relationship!”
Arisu slapped him on the back.
“Baka! Are you cheating on me now?!”
Her boyfriend crossed his arms, and
rubbed the tip of his chin with his fingers in mock-deliberation. “Well, I
have to say that he DOES cook better than you…”
“Oi!” She squeaked.
In reaction, Kurama bit his thumb and
closed his eyes to suppress more giggling.
“After school then, Shuiichi?”
He looked up, his demeanor refreshed
and bright. “Hai…” The redhead nodded. “ Thank you.”
*****
By fifth period, Kurama settled into
school relatively comfortably. Teachers would touch him lightly on the shoulder,
ask if everything was okay, and give an assuring nod. Those from his track team,
most of them at least, gave a formal and sincere apology- which he acknowledged
with no question. It still felt a little bizarre, however, because he knew it
was like speaking to the undead when people approached him. His keen
observations clearly told him who was being genuine with their regrets, and who
was putting up a lousy- not to mention resentful- front. Being prudent, of
course, he made no complaint and smiled back when the same was offered to him.
But the communication… it was so stiff, and if it wasn’t then he’d have to
have nod his head over and over in order to assure things were fine- even when
it started to get irritating. The efforts, nevertheless, were meaningful to him.
In due time, Kurama knew that they would forget, and life would ease down to
it’s natural flow.
A spit wad hit him from behind the
neck. He turned around.
The guy with the straw grinned from
ear to ear, and winked with one eye. The guy standing by him swiped the straw
from his hand, snapped it, and gave him a noogie for the good of it. When the
two settled down from their short roughhousing, the boy standing strolled up to
Kurama casually, and said:
“Don’t mind him, he’s just
being himself… Sorry about that.”
The redhead beamed gently, and
glanced back at the other. Now he was throwing pencils up at the ceiling.
“It’s all right, I don’t think
he meant anything by it, Mirogi.”
Mirogi blinked as a spit wad hit his
left eye. “Ah… Damn it.” He rubbed his face. “Anyway, I organized your
make-up work for you.”
Kurama shook his head slightly.
“You did?”
He nodded. “Yup, it’s all in my
folder. I’ll give it to you after class, ‘kay?” Friendlily he sat on top
of Shuiichi’s desk and gazed off into Haru’s empty seat. “Hm… He’s
been missing for a while now too.”
Following his stare, Kurama saw what
he was looking at. “Haruhiko? He hasn’t been coming? How come?”
“Oh, well…” He shrugged.
“It’s a confidential story that only a few people know.”
Resting his head against one fist,
Kurama lowered his eyelids smugly. “And I take it you’re a part of that
few?”
“Yup.”
“Mind telling me?”
“Nah…” Mirogi waved his hand.
“It’s no lie either, just to let you know. I found out from Tetsuji when I
visited him at juvenile hall. Those three, really, BAD news… You know the
Kyoto train station?”
How could he NOT know? That city and
its hotel nearly made him snap his feet off. “Yes, what about it?”
Mirogi began tapping on the wooden
desk with his fingers. “Well, they have connections all the way in Kyoto for
some sort of underground econ. Needless to say, I’m talking about Ecstasy.”
Bottle green eyes widened. “They
were dealing E?”
Another nonchalant bob of the head.
“Yeah. They kept their transactions super hush-hush by using one of the
convenience lockers at the station. Their package was supposed to come the day
of your track registrations for the regionals- pretty weird, huh? At any rate,
they ran into some trouble with a competing dealer, and one thing led to
another.”
“Then… what exactly happened to
Haru?”
“Oh, poor guy- he got jumped.
There’s a reason why he was willing to go underground for money, actually, and
I was really surprised to find out what that was.” He looked down on Kurama
from his sitting, and cocked his head to the side. “Haru’s got a little ten
year-old sister… and she… got molested a few years ago by some sicko.
Haruhiko has a pretty jacked-up family, by the way, so I guess he decided to
take matters into his own hands and track down who did that to her.”
“But… what does that have to do
with the drugs?”
“A LOT. I don’t know the details,
but Haru was able to find out that the molester was a junkie- a transvestite
junkie. He was expecting to find a guy, but in the end, he wound up with a girl-
er- technically.”
“So for payback, he started dealing
E in order to find him directly?”
“Bingo. Plus some extra cash for
his own pocket.”
Squinting, Kurama tried to make sense
of the boy’s logic. “But why didn’t he notify the authorities?”
“Like I said: jacked-up family.
They don’t want to waste money on an investigation- they live on welfare,
Shuiichi. And… Haru is just plain confused. Imagine this living situation: his
parents are divorced, but they live in the same household for cash purposes.
It’s a crazy, inconceivable situation, but you already know how strange the
world is- uh… don’t take that the wrong way.”
Kurama fell extremely silent, as he
tried to absorb the conciseness and implausibility of this information. At first
it seemed as though Haruhiko merely had an attitude problem, but then, how can
you have an attitude problem if you didn’t have a bigger issue behind it in
the first place? The redhead frowned, and pinched his nose bridge. Mirogi
inspected him briefly- cocking his head to the side.
“No wonder he hates me so
much…” Kurama muttered.
“Hm? Oh…”
“Yeah… Thanks for telling me.”
“No problem.” He hopped off the
desk, while Kurama shifted his vision to the window.
‘I hope he’s alright…’
*****
Meeting Arisu and Shidou at the quad
area, the three of them walked off campus and toward the city block. Before
going into random searching, Shidou understood that they needed to organize some
sort of plan. Much to their surprise, a silver Acura pulled up to their
sidewalk. Kurama batted his lashes in disbelief.
“Kaasan?”
Her right tinted window rolled down
to reveal her in a stylish pale blue suit. “Hey, where are you three off to
this afternoon?”
Arisu peaked from the left most side
and smiled brightly. “Hiei-hunting, mam!
“Arisu!” Kurama hit her on the
arm and she flinched visibly.
“Oww…” She whined, rubbing her
side briskly. “What were you thinking, Shuiichi? I’m not made of firm muscle
like your boyfriend, you know… Oww! Don’t hit me again! You’re mean!”
Shidou and Shiori looked at each
other and snickered. An adorable pout had crept upon Arisu’s childish face,
whereas an indignant glower took over Kurama’s. Shidou tactfully stepped
between them, resting both hands on either of their shoulders. The redhead
blushed slightly as he crossed his arms and huffed. The blond, however, took
everything in good nature and grinned pleasantly. It wasn’t very often that
Shuiichi’s buttons would be pushed, and now that she discovered what and where
those buttons were she simply couldn’t help herself. After all, everything was
out in the open now- why not make a joke of it?
“Hiei-hunting?” His mother asked.
“Well, it certainly won’t be easy playing the game on foot…”
The boy raised an eyebrow, while the
other two blinked. “Game?”
Shiori pressed the button to unlock
all the doors of her car. Leaning over the passenger’s side, she unbolted that
one and pushed it open. “Hop in, I’ll give you a ride around town.”
The trio immediately took the offer.
It was hot out today, and from all the sweat build-up involved in walking for
what may be hours, terrible body odor would be embarrassing. Kurama seated
himself in front, while the others took the back. Strapping on their seatbelts,
Shiori pulled out of the curb and re-entered the main street. The redhead
glanced at his mother, who happened to also glance at him in the same moment.
They both smiled. Turning away from her, Kurama could feel a familiar tender,
snug feeling spread from the core of his chest and further.
“I thought you had work…” He
whispered.
“Well, Shuiichi-kun,” The woman
began, clicking on her tongue. “There are some things more important than
living in my office.” She paused for a moment, and then continued adding:
“And as you’ve said, I haven’t given up on either of you yet…”
Approaching a stoplight, Shiori
opened her glove compartment. Resting there, among driving gloves for winter,
shades, and- oddly enough- pepper spray, was a folded up map. She took it out,
and handed it to her son, who promptly opened it.
“Here!”
Kurama turned to the back to find
Arisu with her arm outstretched with a neon green highlighter. “Mark-up all
the spots you think we might find him.”
He thanked her, and proceeded to do
just that. Kurama found, with little to his surprise, that all of Hiei’s rest
spots and perches were located in either dense forests- including parks- or the
tallest sites in Japan- including the Tokyo Tower. His lips curved slightly when
he took surveillance of the fact that all these landmarks started exactly within
a one-mile radius of the Minnamino household. From that radius, more landmarks
were located at a distance of exponential intervals- forming a sort of firework
pattern on the city map. Kurama stifled a chuckle. It was all so carefully
intended. During the drive, Shidou asked for them to stop at a café to
facilitate where to start, how to spread-out, and where to meet. Shiori nodded
in approval of the boy’s idea. It would be useless to jump around and waste
energy.
Finding a suitable restaurant,
Shuiichi’s mother parked in the lot, and they stepped out the vehicle without
delay. They walked into the café with highlighters, pencils, and notebooks in
tow. As they were about to be ushered into a table, Kurama spotted an all-too
recognizable group gathered around one of the booths. A tall carrot-top, a
bubbly blue-haired girl, a brunette, a Koorime, an old sensei, the prince of
delinquents, and the prince of the dead- without his pacifier and in human
attire. One of Yukina’s ruby irises suddenly sparked from the corner, and
instantly she stood to wave at Kurama and his company. The redhead was taken
aback, but sighed at the apprehension that this was Hiei’s sister. If her eyes
were just as red as his, then it would be natural that they would be as equally
sharp.
The redhead waved back, causing those
with him to look at whom he was returning the signal to. Then and there, the
others at the booth turned their heads at jolted with stun.
“Kurama!” Yusuke hollered.
Kurama gasped at that, and his
teammates had the same reaction. Botan took the liberty to step on Yusuke’s
foot, while Keiko shook her head dully. Arisu and Shidou were about to ask
‘Shuiichi’ about the weird name, when Shiori suddenly filled in for him.
“It’s his nickname.” She
answered affectionately. “Don’t ask me the story behind it though… Hiei-kun
told me it was a well-guarded secret. I suppose… I’ll have to respect
that.”
Easing, Kurama led his friends and
mother toward the gang. Politely he gestured to each of his friends and
performed the introductions. As his mother already recognized some of them, she
only then came to know Botan, Koenma- who named himself merely K, and Yukina.
Upon hearing Yukina’s name, and seeing her angelic face, Shiori recalled a
short and rather terse conversation she had with Hiei while setting the table
for dinner. The woman was about to say something as she pulled up a free chair
to the table, but instincts told her not to get involved. Instead, she lent out
a hand to the young girl, and shook it congenially. How cool her little hands
were, just like Hiei’s.
At the disclosure of Yusuke and the
gang’s similar hunting plans, Kurama could not resist grabbing Koenma by the
wrist and bringing him up for a pretty violent embrace. Koenma gave a lopsided
smile and patted the redhead on the back inelegantly. “Uh… It’s
nothing.” He said, continuing his monotonous patting. “Uh… yeah.”
Letting him go as he sensed the
prince flush, he, Arisu, and Shidou pulled up three more chairs. Kurama drew out
the map and set it before them all to see.
“Looks like a sparkler.” Keiko
noted, eying the distinct splotches of luminous green ink.
“Dang,” Yusuke remarked,
scratching the back of his head. “Does Hiei actually measure how far one post
will be to the next? It’s so precise, it’s kinda scary.”
“He’s good at estimating.”
Kurama replied. “But I’m afraid I haven’t seen him any where near my
house, so that cancels out about half of the landmarks.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Shidou
leaned in closer. “It seems that a majority of his spots are highly
concentrated where you live.” He lifted the end of his lip mischievously and
nudged his friend at the side with his elbow. Kurama grimaced, sensing his
mother’s- as well as Kuwabara’s- astonishment.
“But look here…” Botan piped
up, bending over as well to point on the large spread of paper. Her finger
dragged from the most concentrated points to where the landmarks suddenly grew
further and further apart in addition to fewer and fewer in number. “These
less concentrated areas are spread all throughout the city. The furthest point
is in the metropolitan area.”
“Hmm…” One of Genkai’s
calloused fingers traced about. “That’s if you’re looking east. To the
west, the furthest point is somewhere near my temple.” She turned to the young
Koorime. “Have you seen him anywhere there recently, Yukina?”
Her minty tresses swung as she shook
her head sadly. “No… I even checked by the creek where we normally talk, but
he wasn’t there either. I’ve been going there once a night and once an
afternoon in hopes to see him, but…”
The corner of Kuwabara’s eye
twitched with what could have been jealousy or concern, but he controlled it
later by squeezing Yukina on her petite shoulder. “Don’t worry, Yukina-san.
We’ll find the lil’ squirt.”
“So what’s the plan?” Koenma
asked, folding his arms over his chest. “It will be a lot harder to find him
if evening falls. We should start as soon as possible.”
Shiori pulled the map closer to her,
and scrutinized as best as she could. Her brow furrowed a tad in concentration,
when she lifted her sight up to the others. They were all looking at her
expectantly, and to their stare, she bowed and took out one of the notebooks
they brought.
“We know he isn’t near our
house.” She explained, writing neatly on some lined paper. “ So that cancels
out these areas. We also know he hasn’t been to Genkai-san’s temple… so
that cancels these two marks. Do we have any more clues?”
“More likely than not, Kaasan, he
won’t be near the city area. He… doesn’t take too kindly to noise.”
“I dunno. Is it smart to cancel out
all the eastern areas?” Inquired Yusuke, who was leaning lazily against his
elbow.
“Probably not.” Agreed Arisu.
“If he were to be in the city, where would he be?”
“The highest points. When I say
this, I mean the tops of buildings and such.”
Honey eyes widened upon hearing this.
“What the heck?” He glanced at the map to confirm this, and sure enough, all
the highest buildings were highlighted. “Why would he be there?”
A shrug escaped Kurama’s breath.
“He is who he is. I suppose that besides enjoying silence, it’s safe to say
he takes pleasure in interesting views.”
“Strange guy…”
“Not really…” The redhead spoke
quietly, lowering his countenance. “If you visit any one of his posts, I’m
sure you’ll be captivated with what you see. If it’s not the glowing lights
of the city, then it’s the pink and purple sunset or the glimmering stars. He
can be very-”
“I think we’ve heard enough,
Shuiichi-kun.” The blond interrupted, facing her boyfriend quite furiously.
“Shidou, that’s it, take notes on some of these spots. The only place you
ever take me to is the movie house!”
“But, Arisu-chan…” The boy
pleaded as she turned her back on him. “The only beautiful view we need to see
is each others’ faces!”
“But in a movie house?! I can’t
even kiss you straight in- ”
Clearing her throat, Shiori stood.
“I think we’ve figured out what to do. We’ll look at all the high points
in this area and meet back at the café at…” She glanced at her watch.
“Six-thirty. Better yet, we’ll meet at Genkai-san’s temple instead. That
way we can continue looking around the western portion of his sites for a few
more hours.”
“Who’s got a cell?” Shidou
pulled out his from his pocket, whereas Shiori, Arisu, Kurama, Kuwabara, and
Keiko took out theirs. Technically, Botan had one too, but it was the compact
communicator. She figured it was wiser not to say anything about it lest three
more people must be introduced to the wonderful world called Reikai. “Okay,
we’ll split-up into…” He did a quick head-count. “Groups of two or
three. I’ll go with Arisu, since she wants to see these sites so badly…”
The girl bopped him on the head
playfully, then kissed him on the cheek.
“I’m with Yukina!” Carrot top
announced in that screechy tone that could only be his. Kurama contemplated over
what his lover would say had he been with them. Kurama cringed, and later
giggled. He had amazing friends indeed.
“I guess I can go with K.” Botan
said, and then whispered into Koenma’s ear, saying: ‘I’ve got my Youkai
Whistle, did you bring yours?’ He simply nodded. In his own mind, though, he
knew he would be enjoying this. For all the turmoil Reikai’s offices have been
going through, he was going to make-up for it by blowing-up the fire-demon’s
eardrums.
“Yusuke?” Keiko turned to the
other quite sweetly, and asked in such a delicate and quiet way that all Yusuke
could do was look at Kurama and Kuwabara in remorse, and heave out a heavy sigh
before accepting.
“And that leaves the three of
us.” Voiced Genkai, who eyed the redhead as well as his human mother.
“Perhaps it would be practical if I started around my area to save time. I
believe it would also be of good medicine if the two of you talked some more,
yes?”
Shiori, at once, concurred. “I’ve
written down all the best possible sites to check.” She put down the notepad.
“Each pair can take up to three.”
“Then it’s settled.” Yusuke
stood. “Whoever finds Hiei first gets a prize! A giant, stuffed Badtz Badtz
Maru!” He placed one foot on the table as he rose in his chair and pointed to
the doorway. “Let’s go!”
They rolled their eyes.
*****
A strong blast of air hit Keiko and
Yusuke’s faces as they entered the Toshiba Corporation building. The brunette
seized herself with her palms, rubbing herself vigorously. Walking into the
building was like walking into a meat locker. Taking a peek over Yusuke’s mug,
she could tell that his sentiments foretold of the same thing. Their shoes
clicked and echoed throughout the edifice, and Keiko looked up to the
building’s seemingly untouchable ceiling. Stunning steel rafters crossed and
bridged like Gothic buttresses, but with a contemporary appeal that was more
welcoming.
Yusuke glanced about, until his
chestnut eyes found an elevator. Taking Keiko by the hand, he led the way and
they boarded the lift. A few employees dressed in stiff black or dark blue suits
made Yusuke vaguely recall an old American flick he saw a few years back. With
the addition of sunglasses, the whole get-up would have been complete.
His friend started humming to herself
as executives and janitors boarded on and off the elevator, all the while they
waited patiently to hit the roof. In due time, the pair became aware of their
shared solitude, and when that happened, Keiko stopped humming.
“Something tells me he’s not
gonna be here.” Yusuke sighed.
The girl raised an eyebrow as one of
her irises drifted to its corner. “If you think so, Yusuke, then why did we
come here in the first place?”
He grunted. “You never know. And,
besides… I’m actually kinda curious about what’s so great about the top of
this building. I mean, all you’d probably see is a bunch of people-ants
walking on the street, right?”
“Hmm…”
Ding. They bounced slightly when the
elevator stopped. The primary steel doors opened, followed by the folding of
steel black gates. They stepped out, and came upon a small flight of stairs.
Unhesitating, they climbed them up and opened the door at the very top of the
flight.
Pushing the door open, with
considerable effort because of wind resistance, they shielded their eyes with
their hands as the suns rays poured over them in generous quantities. Taking his
eyes away from the glare, Yusuke strode to the edge and looked down. He was
right. All he saw were a bunch of black dots walking around, with the occasional
bird flying here and there. The tops of cars, too, weren’t very interesting.
“Yusuke! Look!”
He turned around, and his eyes
widened. The ocean. They could see the ocean from here! At this hour, the
strings of light the sun offered dove into the bluey depths of water- making it
look like sapphire and crystal. It was so… serene to look at. The sunny orb in
the sky, made a perfect reflection on the water’s surface. The slight waves
and ripples made the reflection bounce and swirl. Absolutely gorgeous…
The boy whistled, and came to
Keiko’s side. The wind made the material of her blue sailor skirt blare like a
flag, and along with her skirt, her coffee hair and yellow scarf drifted-
drifted, Yusuke mused, like waves themselves.
“It’s so different…” Keiko
whispered. “Looking from afar instead of up close. Up close, you miss the big
picture- the main idea as well as all the little details that really count…”
Crossing his arms, Urameshi shook his
head and closed his eyes before smiling. “You sound like a teacher… But…
Yeah, it’s better than being at the beach…”
*****
“Yukina-san!!!” Kuwabara sang
from below the tree trunk. “Need help?”
“I’m fine!” She sang back,
although more gracefully, and carefully reached over for another close branch.
From there she cautiously settled her foot in an eye of the tree, and used it to
push herself upward. She and the love-stricken human had been scouting the park
for a while now, and at last they stumbled upon a tree high enough to suit her
brother’s escapist needs. As soon as Yukina disappeared entirely from sight,
Kazuma grew very wary and decided it was best to follow right after her. After
all, what if she fell or slipped? Who would catch her? Wait… if he were in the
tree with her, how COULD he catch her? He sighed in defeat. Fine. He thought
being alone in a luscious tree was somewhat romantic- even if it belonged to his
mortal enemy.
He was shocked to see how fast Yukina
was, and he felt dually impressed, as he was embarrassed for being so slow to
catch-up with her. His size, not to mention weight, definitely weren’t
helping. A gulp or two declared Kazuma’s nervousness as the branches bent
beneath him. The branches were practically screaming for Kuwabara’s
relinquish.
Staring upward, his eyes adored
Yukina’s delicacy and poise as she moved deftly from one part of the arbor to
the next. When he heard her gasp, carrot top picked up the pace- at the cost of
destroying a few branches, but that didn’t bother him. Reaching the top, he
settled his stand where Yukina was and pushed the brush away to view the
scenery.
“Oh… How pretty!”
Kuwabara was slightly distracted as
some twigs and leaves got snagged in his curly hair, but when he pulled them
out…
He whistled. “Like a painting.”
He gazed at Yukina. “But it’s even prettier with you in it.”
The Koorime giggled and smiled,
bobbing her head. “Arigatou, ne…”
*****
“Koenma-sama! Stop blowing that
whistle! You’re ruining my ears!”
Naturally, from all the blowing,
Koenma didn’t hear Botan himself. In the course of two straight hours, he had
frightened every dog, cat, and bird within the vicinities. It was quite funny,
as he strut down the street, with the youkai whistle in place of his usual
pacifier, blowing ever breath he took. His assistant started out by following
closely behind, but gradually she started lingering further and further away
from him. It was a good thing that humans couldn’t hear the high-pitched
sound.
He blew and blew, like a kid with his
first New Year’s noisemaker. Several times Botan tried to jump and grab it
away from him, but all those times Koenma subtly evaded by ducking or turning to
the left or right. All Botan could really do was put her hands to her ears as
they continued down an alley. In spite of all the whistling, the poor girl could
still hear the screaming and barking of cats and dogs in agony. Going further
down the alley, she heard a cat fall out of its windowsill and land violently in
the trash bins.
‘And, of course,’ Botan groaned
to herself. ‘Koenma just HAD to take the only pair of ear plugs we had!’
On the bright side, several demons
emerged from their hiding places and begged for bloody mercy. More than half of
them turned themselves in as illegal aliens in Ningenkai as well as fugitives.
The fairy had to call Reikai assistants to ship these guys out of there. She was
a little tempted to be thrown into prison herself.
*****
“Oi! What are you doing?!”
“Huh?” Shidou spun around with
both hands holding on tightly to the telescope he had. Arisu crossed her arms,
and tapped her foot- eying her boyfriend up and down. The other stiffened, and
later stood upright, laughing nervously and brushing the nape of his neck.
“Eheheheheh… I figured I could make use of the telescopes in Tokyo Tower.
You can see a lot of things with these babies, you know?”
Click.
“Ahh! No, my time ran out!”
Shidou’s shadowy green hair swung about as he frantically searched his pockets
for more change. The blond sighed, and inserted another coin. It clanged inside
the heavy machine, and Shidou’s ears could hear the shade-lens slide down. As
fast as lightening he put his eyes through the viewfinder again, swinging around
the contraption lightheartedly. “Neato!!”
Arisu shook her head and took out her
cell phone. She pressed on speed-dial and contacted Kurama and Shiori.
“We’ve haven’t had any luck.” She said with a heavy sigh, watching her
companion swish around with his new plaything. “And I’m afraid we- or rather
I have a problem… Yes… He got hooked onto a telescope again. Yes, I know you
warned me. Well, how was I supposed to know? I didn’t think he’d react to
the thing like a two-year old! Sou… Sou…I’m sorry, but he was so happy, I
wanted to pay for just a little more time. Mm… Ja’.”
Deciding it would be a while before
Shidou’s time ran out again, Arisu took the viewfinder next to his and slipped
another coin. Gazing out, she carefully surveyed the tops of all the buildings
around them. Shidou was right, this WAS very helpful. To her dismay, however,
she couldn’t find a familiar petite figure clad in ominous black. When she
faced her telescope to the south, she nearly jumped out of her shoes as she
viewed a magnified pair of light auburn irises. She gasped, and then drew away
from the lenses.
“Are you mad at me?” He asked.
“Not really, more like frustrated.
We’ve checked more than five buildings, and every time there’s nothing…”
Her tone drifted. “Nothing, but a good view…”
Shidou folded his arms over the
telescopes end- forcing it to go down due to gravity. He pulled his smile from
ear to ear, and batted his lashes lovingly. “I’m actually not worried.” He
spoke, telescope bobbling beneath him. “There’s only one person who can win
this hunt, and I know that you know who it is…”
“And what if HE doesn’t find,
Hiei? What then?”
“Then we’ll keep on looking until
we get lost, like I promised. Obviously, though, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Are you certain, Shidou?”
The boy winked. “If Shuiichi was
able to survive that gang-up three weeks ago, then that should tell us a little
something about fate…”
Arisu let go of the handles on her
viewfinder and ruffled Shidou’s hair. “Je tem vous… Mi Shidou…”
*****
“Well, at least Shidou’s having a
fun time.” Kurama blanched, putting away his phone in his pocket.
“I’d hate to admit it, but I am
too…”
“Hm?”
Shiori crossed her arms over her
blazer and gazed out the glass window of their elevator. The elevator was
definitely an architectural feat as it was located at the edifice’s side and
was shaped like a cylinder. Moreover, it was comparatively fast and very smooth-
unlike the ones at regular apartment complexes or hotels. As their lift soared
up towards the roof of the building, his mother exhaled deeply, watching the
distance between them and the ground grow to immense proportions. “I never
took the time to slow down and think about things so sensitively before,
Shuiichi-kun. This- this is incredible. It has never actually crossed my mind as
to how great something as simple as watching everything from above is. This must
be what the birds see…”
Kurama touched the glass pane and
looked down, his head swimming because of their altitude. It was a bit scary,
even though he knew that their transport was perfectly safe, however the added
detail of the floor being a thick layer of glass made things more surreal. He
remembered the first time he took Hiei here, and the fire demon was adorably
shaken to see his feet abruptly rise off the ground.
Stepping away from the pane, he moved
toward the ‘stop’ button of the elevator. Their lift slowed and jerked
slightly, and as soon as it ceased moving all together, Kurama hit the button
for the ground floor. Shiori blinked at his actions.
“Shuiichi…?”
“Mother,” He began detachedly.
“When Hiei helped me, that day, how did he know I was in trouble?”
“I don’t know- he was dreaming,
but I suppose he…”
“He sensed me, mother. He felt my
tears, he knew I was in pain- he knew I was praying for him to be at my side.”
The redhead bit on the tip of his lip severely as the elevator began to descend.
“I don’t feel anything in this city. I can’t sense his presence at all.
We’re- we’re not looking for him correctly. That’s why we haven’t found
him up to now…”
The woman listened keenly to his
words, and slowly took his hand. His hand was dry and heavy, nowhere near its
normal feel of suppleness and warmth. “What do you want to do?”
Her son stared at their joined hands-
idly admiring their entwined fingers of mother and child. “I want to stop.”
“Stop?”
He nodded. “Let’s call everyone
and go straight to Genkai’s… There’s no point in draining our time
here.”
“And then what’s the plan?”
“I- I really don’t know. There
are some things in life that you honestly can’t prepare for…”
“Like love?” Her velvety voice
spoke.
He turned to her, a sad grin arising.
“Like love…”
*****
Shiori and Kurama drove out of the
city and up the hill where Genkai’s temple was situated. Genkai frowned
slightly, one out of surprise of their sudden appearance, and two out of the
failure of her own searching. The sensei had been doing a trek of nearly the
entire area- including the hot springs. The only things she encountered were
fawns and does, squirrels, and a lot of sleeping owls. It was by sheer chance
that she returned to the temple when the two arrived, and this was a good thing
when she considered the idea that they might have went through the forest to
look for her.
Courteously, she escorted them
inside. Leading them to the floor table, she left them momentarily to prepare
some fresh tea in the kitchen. When she returned, Shiori did the honors of
pouring the tea, and it wasn’t long before the screen door was opened to
reveal Botan and Koenma, who were later followed by Yukina and Kuwabara, Arisu
and Shidou, and lastly Keiko and Yusuke. All of them shook their heads dismally,
and shrugged their shoulders.
They sat around the table, serving
one another tea and looking at the redhead warily. The redhead said nothing, but
accepted his tea- sipping inaudibly. None of them could tell what Kurama was
thinking, in spite of all their gallant efforts to crack through his mysterious
face. Every now and then, he would pierce his lips- the shimmer in his eyes
fading along with the sunset. What was he thinking? Each of them wanted to say
something reassuring, counting Koenma, however it dawned on them that their
friend didn’t want any bullshitting if it could be helped. So they let him
think- or meditate- whatever he was doing. It was the most they could do,
truthfully. There’s only so much that your friends can help you with in the
world, and Kurama was acutely aware of that. What they were offering him now,
and everything they offered within the past six hours, was unreservedly
generous.
Kurama sighed heavily and looked out
through the open screen door. The others watched him forlornly as his eyes
seemed to glaze over with disappointed tears. He didn’t shed them, however,
they just welled in his eyes and stayed there. As he rested against the pane of
the door, Kurama ran his fingers down the smooth, dark wood of the temple. It
was pretty out tonight. The air of spring was marvelously cool as it carried
dewdrops in its wind. The atmosphere was scented of fresh flowers and honey- so
sweet it was almost intoxicating. Everything was bathed in silvery blue, making
the moist grass and leaves more enchanting. The redhead looked up to the stars,
watching all the whitest ones that seemed to be winking at him from the heavens.
He tore his gaze away from the sky,
and gripped onto his slacks angrily. His mother stood from her haunches and he
could hear her pad her way up to him. Shiori kneeled at his side and hugged him
from behind- encircling his hard shoulders. Kurama looked up again and saw
something streak across the darkness. It’s amazing glow pulled across the
pitch-black sky and disappeared among the pine trees deep within the wood behind
Genkai’s temple.
“Hiei…” The redhead whispered,
abruptly breaking away from Shiori’s embrace and standing. “Hiei…”
“Shuiichi-kun…?” The woman
looked upon him from her kneeling position, when out of the blue her son dashed
out of the temple- long ribbons of scarlet red flying behind him as he jumped
off the temple’s deck and sprinted.
“But I’ve already looked in that
area…” Yukina cried softly.
Shidou stood, and helped Arisu to her
feet. “Let’s follow him.”
“Wait…” They averted their
attention to the sensei’s raspy voice. In her hands were two high-powered
flashlights. “You’ll need these.”
*****
Faster and faster he sprinted through
the thicket- jumping over fallen lumber and splashing into small brooks. Leaves
and twig crunched violently beneath his steps as he went past the small clearing
where Yukina and Hiei had their heart-to-hearts, and further. The growing number
of trees accompanied with the utter obscurity made it difficult for him to see,
even with his fox senses. To make things more strenuous, the ground was slowly
getting steeper as he continued, as best he could, in a straight line. It came
to the point where Kurama could no longer run as the surface was rising to such
an angle that it pained him to do so. Several times, he nearly tripped over
embedded stones and got whipped in the face by low overhanging branches.
Finally, nothing. Kurama’s vision was lost on him. He stopped, and raised his
arms- using his hands to prevent him from running into the trunks of trees. If
only his hair wasn’t so short that it prevented him from hiding even just a
few glow-flower seeds… Not even the penlight on his key chain was strong
enough when he tried it. All it did was shoot a thin line through the forest. As
for the moon and all it’s stars, they were completely shielded away by leaves
and brush.
Kurama found himself breathing
deeply. From stress, fear, or exhaustion, he didn’t know. He stood, still as a
statue, and thought things through. He couldn’t turn back; he didn’t WANT to
turn back. Kurama had to keep going, but how?
He closed his eyes.
They were useless anyway.
One step. Two steps.
‘Watch out, there’s a crevice.’
Three steps. Four steps. Five.
‘Duck down, Kurama, there’s a large branch right before you.’
‘I… have no doubts in you, Hiei.’
The redhead thought to himself. ‘I’ll pretend… WE’LL pretend, that
we’re in that funhouse again. You’ll lead the way…’
‘Raise your legs; there’s a
sudden dip in the creek.’
‘Step aside to the left, another
branch.’
‘Keep going… Wait, careful.
There’s another rock you can’t see.’
He continued his journey this way.
Depending on nothing, but the deep voice of his lover that he could only hear
from the depths of his heart.
A bit of soft light was breaking
through the tall standing trunks. He carried on slowly, following that light,
and steadily the environment began to re-discover its material forms. Leaves and
fallen pinecones established their shapes, as did the moss and grass. At last,
the earth began to level. Kurama had reached the top of the mountain, and
stepped through the two trees before him like a gate.
Lifting one hand to shield his eyes,
Kurama’s evergreen irises and pupils adjusted to the sheen of moonbeams. His
eyes found the moon, and from his point in standing, it appeared so large
compared to how it looked in the city… and… beneath that moon, draped in the
silky sheets of its light, sat his lover- on a large boulder with his pale,
alabaster skin soaked in the milkiness of space’s holy glow.
“Hiei…”
The fire demon turned to him from his
seating- his eyes sparkling in wine-red. Silver touched and caressed every curve
and line of his features. Glitter kissed him on his small lips, his sharp
lashes, and delicate nose. A gust of wind came and brushed his weightless
obsidian hair- settling moisture on his bare neck and lean, but carved arms.
“Kurama…”
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