Before I start the story. The (. . . ) are line breaks since I don't know how to format those damn things myself.
Very few things surprised Kurama, after years of avoiding traps that killed many sought after thieves, he always thought one step ahead. He almost never flinched, never showed the extent of what he truly felt during a situation, never lost his composure.
Now was not one of those times.
"Hey Suiichi Minamino right?" a pale man with rough jet black hair tugged on his sleeve, catching him off guard.
Kurama's eyes widened as he stood there rooted to the ground. There was something very striking about this young male.
"I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Kyo Okada and I'm in the same Japanese mythology class as you are," Kyo grinned, reaching out for a handshake.
There was something familiar about him. It was the way his shaggy short hair was somehow the perfect shade of black, how his skin was the same pale color Kurama has known all too well, most of all, those dark eyes were the most familiar, for a moment, staring down at him as though he knew something.
"Ah, I'm sorry if I approached you at a bad moment, you seem kinda busy," Kyo smiled sheepishly after Kurama failed to return his awaiting handshake.
"I'm sorry if I seemed out of it, you just reminded me of someone familiar," Kurama apologized, grabbing his hand and shaking it apologetically. He felt sick to his stomach, this guy was the splitting image of—
"Kuronue," Kyo said, as Kurama snapped out of his reverie.
"I'm sorry what?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to study together. I signed up for this class thinking it would be an easy A and I mean come on, it has demons! Who wouldn't want to study them right? Anyways, Professor Takeda's class was harder than I thought and I'm actually starting to struggle. Word on the street was that you were pretty smart so I was thinking what the hell, why not be study buddies."
Kurama raised an eyebrow at the term "study buddies" and the fact that Kyo was blatantly asking him for help on his paper.
"But you said something about Kuronue if I'm not mistaken," he could still feel his heart flicker at the name.
Kyo thought for a moment, trying to remember where he left off in the conversation. "Oh yea! I wanted to do a report on Youko Kurama and Kuronue, you know the legendary thieves or something like that. They seemed kind of interesting, plus we only briefly covered them in class and Takeda seems like the guy who wouldn't want his information reiterated on paper," Kyo paused to look at Kurama. "So what do you say?" he asked hopefully.
"I don't know, I'm fairly busy at the moment," Kurama lied. Truth was, after the Spirit Detectives, he was pretty much bored out of his mind. Besides the occasional missions Koenma still had them do, university was ridiculously easy and barely made a dent on his spare time.
Kyo gave an exasperated sigh, running his hand through his hair, "I'm kind of desperate, I really need to pass this class. Please, I'll do anything, I'll buy you lunch every time we study. Just..." he trailed off before collapsing on the ground kneeling in front of the startled red head. "Please take me as your student!" he yelled, grabbing Kurama's leg, attracting the attention of everyone around their proximity.
Usually this didn't really phase Kurama. He's been kidnapped and cornered before by his peers, but doing this dead middle of the hallway right after all the 4:30 afternoon classes ended was something that required, for lack of a better word, balls.
He leaned forward, grabbed the collar on Kyo's jacket, and yanked him up. "Fine. Meet me in the general library at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow. If I'm going to be helping you we're going to be doing this at my time, so if I say I'm only available at 5 in the morning you either take it or leave it. Understood?"
The grin Kyo gave looked like it could light up all of Tokyo as he practically leaped on Kurama and gave him a huge hug. "Thank you! I swear you won't regret working with me!" he yelled across the hall as he sprinted to his next class.
Kurama smirked, not knowing exactly what he got himself into or how to process what just happened, but he was never one to turn down interesting offers.
. . . . . . . . . .
Kyo was remarkably punctual as Kurama found him sitting in front of the General library holding two cups of coffee and takeout boxes. If it wasn't for his pale face and the light radiating from the library, he would have been nearly invisible in the dark since he was clad from head to toe in his black overcoat.
"Hey," Kurama said, startling the young man.
"Oh, hey," Kyo replied, rubbing his hands together to keep warm from the cold air. He seemed a lot calmer than yesterday.
They stood awkwardly in front of each other for a few moments, before Kyo began to speak. "Hey I got us take out! And coffee if that's fine with you, since I figured we were gonna stay up for a while," he handed Kurama the heated beverage. "Anyways, they probably won't let us eat in the library but I know this cool little room that we can study in. I kind of found it by accident but it's a quiet place to work" Kyo continued, as he grabbed Kurama's arm. "So come on, let's go."
Kurama figured that he's never met someone as touchy as Kyo. The thing about this man is that all his actions seem completely genuine, not really leading to any hidden intentions other than the prospect of actually studying. Of course, his initial instincts always tell him to keep his distance, always observe, never trust, but something about Kyo made it hard.
Kyo lead him to the basement level which Kurama could only describe as something straight out of a horror game. The only thing in their field of vision were bolted military green doors and cement walls, the bad lighting that kept flickering on and off didn't help the ambiance either.
"This all seems really sketchy," Kurama chuckled, "Wouldn't it be easier if we just sneaked into one of the back tables and ate our food there?"
"Nah, now where's your sense of adventure?" Kyo asked in a challenging tone, leading the fox into another winding hallway.
He rolled his eyes,"I thought you wanted me to study with you."
"Trust me, this room is worth it," Kyo smiled as he opened a door with the painted numbers 221. The green door looked old and scratched up with the rusty doorknob being the cherry on top. If it wasn't for Kyo, Kurama would have nearly missed the door since it happened to be located in a small section that could be easily be mistakened for a dead end.
The inside was... Not what he expected. The room itself looked like the size of a normal classroom, one used for small lectures, with a functional light and chalkboard and the desks that lined facing the chalkboard were stacked in a way where all of them created a massive super table. The thing that struck the most were the little light bulbs on strings that hung from the ceiling and the knickknacks that lined the room. Around the room were various baubles. Globes, old books, and little cigar boxes neatly lined the surrounding area. It gave a feeling of an old attic, a place were forgotten memories were once stored.
"This is my pad, my bat cave, whatever you want to call it. Although the best definition would be my illegal storage space where I hide all the useless things I find," he said proudly. "An argument could be made for hoarding I guess," Kyo replied, suddenly aware of all the mess.
"No, it's wonderful! How did you find this place?" Kurama asked incredulously, examining an old book. In a way, this little cave reminded him much of his old life.
"Every place has a hidden area, nooks and crannies people often overlook. I've just always been really good at find things," Kyo shrugged, picking up a little music box and tossing it back and forth. "Apparently before building H was created, some of the classrooms were held in the basements of this building. It was so long ago that most people forgot about it, but maintenance comes down here once in a while to spiffy the space up. Although most of the the rooms are used to store random things. I found this room all dusty and empty, probably because its so hard to locate. I guess you could say that I'm kind of lucky," he stroked the wall fondly.
"And you bought all of this?"
"Most of them I find, I have a keen when it comes to shiny and antiquish things ," he stated.
Kurama could feel himself tense up, trying to shake off the nagging feeling he had in the back of his mind.
"We should start working soon," he took a long sip from his coffee. "We got a long night ahead of us."
. . . . . . . . .
For a guy who was desperate enough to go on his knees and beg for help, Kyo was substantially prepared. Besides his laptop, he had at least half a dozen textbooks regarding Japanese mythology and Kurama found himself working on his own paper rather than helping Kyo. Most of the time, they would sit in silence, working on their report, and from time to time Kyo would ask him a question about a passage and Kurama would help clarify. Sometimes Kyo would ask what he was working on, he'd lean right next to Kurama, leaning close enough for Kurama to smell his aftershave that reminded the fox a little of mint and sage. Kyo sat beside him and honestly their closeness was a bit too intimate for strangers who only met moments ago, but for some reason Kurama allowed himself to let his guard down.
By the time both of them decided to call it quits, it was already one in the morning and although their brains were exhausted, the cheap instant coffee that flowed through their bloodstreams made it impossible for them to sleep.
"I hate it when this happens. Where I just want to crash but for some fucking reason caffeine won't let me do that. Have you ever felt that before?" he complained.
Kurama shrugged, "I don't really sleep much in the first place. I find it doesn't get much done."
Kyo climbed onto the mass of desks, spreading himself on top of it like a lazy cat. "I'm glad that I at least know something about you," he muttered as he stretched himself along the desks.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Kurama raised an eyebrow.
Kyo tucked his hands under his head and gazed at the hanging light bulbs, trying to think of what he was going to say. "Well.. you're an enigma," he started. "No one really knows anything about you, besides the fact that you're smart, and kind, and good looking," he paused at the last part, smirking at the redhead. "But no one that I know of has ever gotten close to you, actually I'm surprised you even accepted my offer, seeing how you're so notorious about keeping your social life so hidden."
"Honestly, I don't really know why I agreed to help you myself," Kurama paused. "But I guess it's cause you reminded me of someone," he leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes.
"Then that person must have been special huh?" Kyo asked. "Who was she?"
"He," Kurama corrected. "And just because you reminded me of someone doesn't mean they were linked to me romantically," he retorted.
"Well if I reminded you of this person, they must have had some type of emotional connection to you. And I can't help linking emotional connections to romance, blame the media, not me," Kyo shrugged. "But how was this person like?"
"He asked a lot of questions and could be a bother sometimes. And he was stubborn and pestered me quite often," Kurama said, shooting a glance at Kyo. "But he was very intuitive. He would reassure me when things would go wrong, and was always beside me when I needed him. He was kind.. smarter than he ever gave himself credit for," Kurama closed his eyes and sighed a deep sigh. "I just wished I could have told him that."
Kyo paused, not knowing what to say. "Did you love him?" heasked after a while.
"In a way, I guess I did," Kurama thought. He didn't exactly know why he was telling this stranger everything about his past life, but Kyo made it so easy for him just to spill everything.
"How did I remind you of him?" Kyo asked, choosing his words carefully.
"You're persistence, definitely," the fox chuckled. "And the fact that both of you look strikingly similar. You're both pale and you both wear black all the time..," Kurama trailed off. "But I guess it was the way you presented yourself, how even being with you for a mere couple of hours made me feel like I've known you for a while," Kurama said truthfully.
A blush crept onto Kyo's face as he cleared his throat, "Ah, well I guess we should get going," he got up from his position on the desks and jumped down.
"Yea it's pretty late," the fox said as he started collecting his belongings.
"Hey, this report isn't due for another three days and I'm not completely done with it yet..." Kyo began. "So I was wondering if you wanted to do this again, or at least until the deadline is over."
Kyo was basically on the balls of his feet waiting for an answer, only to slightly exhale in relief as the redhead replied with a curt, "Sure."
Kurama tried to wave it off nonchalantly, but he couldn't help smiling at least a little bit.
(A/N): Anywhooo I promised my readers a new Kurama/Kuronue story, and welp. Here it is. Not much to it ahahaha. Aaaand like most of my stories, I have no freaking clue where the hell it's heading but I'll just go with the flow (although that hasn't worked all too well in the past) , but I'll take this plot as a personal challenge. Er something. Anyways, thank you for reading the first chapter, it really does mean a lot for me and I hope you enjoyed it. Even if you didn't, thanks for sticking through. And if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to know what you think (whether it be in a review or a PM), since it would help greatly with my writing process.
Anyways, I will hopefully see you all in the next chapter~
PS. Novus Initium is latin for the words "New Beginning"
P.P.S sorry if some parts seem off. I don't have a beta and I suck at spelling (even with a spell checker) ; most importantly, I cringe when I re-read my own work.