[Authors Note] Hey everyone! Jozei back with another oneshot, cause I'm one afflicted with a short-attention span. It's a Saturday, and unfortunately I haven't succeeded in another chapter from The Fear Of Blood, so I'm uploading something that I already had finished and wasn't sure about to show you all that I am actually writing (Even though it doesn't look like it. I'll have to take a screenshot of my story hard-drive for you all to see what I get up to, and see how many stories I'm in the process of updating.) It usually depends on the mood I'm in. If I'm in a happy mood but with no inspiration for my other stories just yet, I usually end up writing whatever will work, and thus a new story is born! Then I flick back to other pre-existing stuff and work a bit on that until my level of inspiration has worn off, then move onto another story to kick-start the inspiration kick. Yes, it sounds like a pain in the ass, cause it honestly is. Anyway, this is really a oneshot that if you guys want to see more of this, it can also count as chapter one. Just putting it out there. I do have more for this story XD
In any case, this is just a oneshot story that I thought of uploading. It's of another Yuyu girl of mine, except this one is for fun. If you are after a longer, fun Yu Yu Hakusho story on here, then I highly recommend you visit BlackBelt's profile on here =) She has a real cool writing style and her character Callie is hilarious, no matter which story you read. And her chapters are LONG! If you can't find her by searching her username, then search in the stories 'Dragon And Money' and you should find her Another Universe story XD. This one is also very cool and well worth the read if you don't mind Another Universe stories. Personally I think they can be really cool!
And I have finally devised a rating level for my stories, cause not everyone loves psychologically driven stories you have to read inbetween every line to understand (I do, and I have a feeling I'm probably the only one) so I thought of implementing it. If you're interested, then please check out my Bio; I've got the system there (I've only just uploaded it along with this, so it might not show until tomorrow T_T) Let me know if you all either like/dislike the rating system/story I've uploaded for you today! A little R&R goes a long way! And as always, I hope you enjoy and have an awesome day/night!
Ooh, and PS, if any of you people are looking for new music to listen to, then I have a recommendation for you all! I just got back from Melbourne in Australia three days ago and saw one of their local bands live. They are freaking awesome, and well worth the investigation. They are called Aural Window! Well worth the listen if you like rock and female vocals. Stones and Sounds is my favorite of theirs at the moment.
~Jozei / MuffinxXxSyndrome out!
Real Force – Yu Yu Hakusho
Springtime – A season of Renewal and new life. The return of life after the snow, and the sign of bright, warmer days ahead. For the most part, spring was a season of festivities and fun; For more than just humans. Birds nested in trees over eggs and insects began to come out of hiding. Festivals were also held throughout the season, and were lively and full of cheer. Spring as a season was certainly a sight to behold.
The cherry blossoms began to grow flowerbuds along all branches, a sure sign that spring certainly was here. The cherry-trees that lined the roads were a popular attraction for most people, and rightfully so; In just over two weeks, the streets and parks would be ablaze with a floral curtain of pink and white, in true springtime for Japan.
However, there was one particular girl, who didn't have it in her to view Springtime with as much glee as most other people. She dragged her feet as she made her slow approach towards a large building, identified with a sign that read 'Sarayashiki High School'. She looked to be about seventeen years of age, with appearingly flat grey eyes, and very short honey blonde hair with a long sweeping fringe and side-bangs. Her outfit of grey pleated skirt and white blouse was sign enough that she was a school student, if her destination wasn't obvious enough. As she turned around the last corner before school, she shifted her long fringe out of her eyes, and let out a weary breath
Her name was Himari Kobayashi, and spring signified just one thing to her; Graduation.
While most people would look forward to graduating school, in Himari's case, she was actually dreading it. The schools career counselor had been pestering her for years about what she wanted to do when she finally graduated school. When the middle-aged man asked that all-too-familiar question the first time, Himari had initially been surprised before quickly shrugging it off and forgetting about it. It was just something that Himari didn't want to think about at the time. She was more of an 'In The Now' kind of person, and never really liked to think too far into the future; It wasn't like most girls where thinking about the future could scare her – Oh no. In Himari's case she just functioned better if she just thought two days ahead, and had fun.
But two years had passed since the careers counselor had asked that one question. What do you want to do when you graduate from high school?
A simple enough question, right? When you're really young, you just see something that looks cool and think to yourself 'Hell, I want to do that when I grow up'. Or even if you don't think like that, you at least have interests and have an idea on what you want to do with your life in connection to your interests. People who are art-orientated in interests usually end up in the art's industry as a career. The same goes for people who love animals; They become veterinaries or zoo-keepers or even animal-rescue workers.
Unfortunately for Himari, she still had no clue about herself.
She was in her final year of high school, and graduating in less than a month. As it stood, she had until those trees finally burst into their colourful display to figure out what she was going to do with her life.
Her Best Friend called Chad was an animal-lover, right to the core; He adored cats and was studying to become a veterinary. He came across as a punk in the beginning and didn't seem like someone who had any real goals in life, but compared to the clueless Himari, he knew what he wanted to do, and was in the process of achieving it. He had his acceptance letter to college for his studies; He showed her the letter himself and proceeded to brag about it for the first two hours of school last week.
Himari wasn't a pessimist, but ever since her Mom had mentioned that Graduation was less than a month away, Himari was stressing. And stressing was something that Himari could do very well. She lost sleep over the predicament, and had even experienced a lack of appetite. This wasn't the 'In-The-Now' attitude she preferred to maintain, but with graduation speeding up to punch her in the
stomach, she had no real choice but to worry about it. Everyone else knew what they wanted to do with their lives.
Just not Himari.
Chad wasn't much help with the Career problem, Himari had no real choice but to admit. The guy was a lovable softie, but he really wasn't that good with constructive idea's. At least in Himari's case. The guy had good idea's, but talking with Himari was like trying to convince a small child that there really were no monsters hiding in the dark. She just didn't understand what he was talking about; Whenever he'd try and bring up her possibilities, she would end up picking up on the words she didn't understand and everything else would go out the window. It got so bad yesterday, that when Chad tried to suggest that Himari should try an aptitude test for the Arts Industry, she misinterpreted the word Aptitude for Parachute, which ended with her focusing on that word … and that's when the suggestion turned into a debate about Himari's attention span.
It wasn't that she had a poor attention span, or that she wasn't a smart person; She was normally on the ball with thoughts and conversations. The stress that Graduation was putting on her was turning her into an inept fidget, and she couldn't function very well anymore. Himari was just hoping some resolution would hurry up and run her over. She wouldn't mind the concussion or the broken bones from such a violent collision with resolution, so long as it got her out of this mess.
The warning bell began to chime as Himari reached the door of her classroom, causing a faint sigh to escape her. The walk had take her so long she nearly didn't make it to class in time. She tapped the toes of her shoes to the floor momentarily before she reached to the handle of the door, and slid it open.
The interior of the classroom was mostly empty; The odd student filled the desks here and there, and other than that, the room was rather pleasant in both volume and atmosphere. Everyone had already taken their exams, and those who had left over things to do at school all came to school; But considering that everything was ahead of schedule, students were allowed to stay home if they wanted to. Even Himari had finished all her exams, and had a passing grade of B's, she still brought herself to school in the hope that a resolution will come to her. Nothing was going to come to her if she stayed home and wiled away the time watching anime.
But then again, her stomach told her that nothing was going to happen by just coming to school, either.
The talks with the Career Counselor yielded her no result. Mr Nagakura just rambled on about college, and menial day-to-day jobs, like working at the fast food places, and handed her a whole heap of booklets about those places. The guy had basically given up hope in Himari's chances at landing a good career. But it wasn't like Himari could really blame him for it. It was just in her nature to ignore everything until it came hurdling at her from around the next corner.
Letting out a faint breath, Himari made her way towards her designated desk, and dropped herself into the chair. The faint sounds of murmuring from the other people in class began to drown out to just white noise to Himari, where random songs began to pop into her head out of boredom. The teacher hadn't even turned up yet; She had wondered if she should ask the woman about what idea's she had.
"Hey, 'Mari." Came a voice all of a sudden, along with the sudden sensation of a large and warm hand landing upon her shoulder in what she immediately knew as a warm greeting. Before Himari even realised it, a broad grin had snapped in place across her face, and energy filled her once again. It appeared that her drastically reduced attention span had just clicked over, and her thoughts had been immediately replaced with glee at her best friend's arrival.
"Chad!" Himari squeaked loudly, snapping her gaze up to the young man's face as he stepped past her and took his place in the seat right in front of hers. "How're you doing?"
"Huh." Chad spoke, a frown touching his face as he turned to gaze at Himari's excited expression. His tall stature was made even more so in appearance by his ginger pompadour hair-style, and his rather beady brown eyes were narrowed upon her. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue button-up shirt, and came with a lack of a bag – he was obviously just here for the socialising, today. "I woulda thought you'd still be depressed."
"What?" Himari spoke, blinking momentarily as Chad took to staring at her blankly.
"Graduation."
Himari's expression blanked for a few moments as she processed Chad's one word.
"Oh!" Himari finally squeaked, smiling sheepishly as Chad continued to stare at her. "I am, but I'm always happy to see you, Chad!"
"Right." Chad commented, turning on his chair to face her properly as he decided to continue their discussion. "You do know my name's actually Kuwa-"
"Chad!" Himari announced, not at all bothered by the irritation she was causing her best friend.
"Do you really have to call me that name?" He asked, clasping a hand over his face in a facepalm at Himari's lack of compromise. "Everyone else call's me by my name, you know? Kuwabara? Hell, Even some people call me Kazuma!"
"But you're Chad! I've always called you that." Himari replied easily, leaning forward to slump over her desk. The young man who was really called Kuwabara seemed to sigh, before letting his hand slide from his face. He couldn't help but shoot an exasperated frown at her.
"Yeah, I guess you have."
"For years!"
"Remind me; why is that?"
Himari let a broad grin creep across her face as she straightened up in her seat. Her thoughts about career choices had gone from her mind completely the moment Kuwabara had walked in. She had a feeling he was going to hate the reasons why she continued to call him Chad.
"Because you love cute things, even though you won't admit it!" Himari remarked, straightening the pinky of her clenched right hand as she began to list off reasons. "You're a huge guy who looks intimidating as hell, but really is a softie. You get into fights, and because you're awesome friend material! And let's not forget the fact that you begrudgingly let me call you Chad because you just can't be bothered in arguing with me about it after the first ten or so attempts!"
Kuwabara seemed to stare at Himari for a few moments in silence, before he finally let out an exasperated sigh, and slumped against his chair.
"You gave me the name of an anime character?"
"Not just any character!" Himari remarked, lowering her hand and grinning even more at her continuing explanation. "If you were Mexican, that woulda sealed the deal! No! I'm talking about my favorite character from Bleach!"
"I should've known." Kuwabara groaned, however he didn't really say or do anything to complain about it; Just like she had said. He begrudgingly let her call him Chad because he just couldn't be bothered in getting into an argument over it. Himari just continued to grin at her little victory, all the while not noticing that Kuwabara had straightened up and pulled out a piece of paper from the front pocket of his button up shirt.
"Anyway, getting back onto the important topic." Kuwabara remarked after a few moments, snapping Himari out of her little victory trance; her expression became blank once again as all of her attention snapped to Kuwabara's face. "Have you had any luck with figuring out what you want to do? Graduations on the 31st of this month; That's Twenty-Three day's you have to figure out what it is you're going to do. Any longer than the 30th, and there won't be any University or College that will take you if you wanna study."
"No..." Himari spoke, letting out a breath and dropping her gaze to the desk in front of her. "I've been wracking my brain for the past week! I think I'm doing myself so much brain-damage worrying about it constantly that my attention-span's permanently shot."
"And don't forget the out-of-whack mood-swings." Kuwabara added, clearly intended as a joke, but all it did was actually make Himari feel even worse. "Look, it's just stress, like you said. You'll probably have an easier time at thinking if you just stop stressing about it."
"Say's the person who keeps on making me stress by constantly telling me to hurry up."
An awkward silence echoed between the two, until Kuwabara let out a weary breath.
"...Sorry." He apologized, looking down at the piece of paper in his hand once again. He seemed to stare at the words scrawled upon the paper for a few moments, before he placed his gaze back upon Himari's face. "By the way, can you remember what your scores are?"
"My scores?" Himari repeated, blinking momentarily as she tried to follow what he meant.
"Your exams." Kuwabara clarified.
"Oh! Better yet, I actually have them here." Himari smiled sheepishly as she reached down to her bag on the floor next to her, and began to unzip it. Inwardly she was really hating how slow she had been. If anyone who didn't know her tried to have a conversation with her today, they would just assume she was mentally handicapped. Which unfortunately might be an appropriate description of her mental-ranges today. At least, in the back of her mind, she felt this was an accurate description. Finally, after a minute's of searching through her tightly-packed bag, Himari pulled out a rather crumpled up photocopy of her Exam Overview, stapled on top of several other pages that looked like a small child had scribbled over them.
"Great." Kuwabara spoke as Himari placed the stack on the desk facing him. The photocopy was rather crumpled up, and there were many scratch marks in red pen scrawled over the blank spacing around the edge of the page, however the actual printout itself was easily readable, as long as you could read Himari's overly abstract handwriting along every spare patch of paper.
For all core subjects, like language and maths, Himari's scores were rather basic C's, with language being a D for English. But for Himari's optional subjects of Drama, Photography, Sewing and Music, they were all A's, except for Photography being a scraping B. It was rather obvious that Himari was more suitable for the creative subjects by those scores; When it came to more structured and less imaginative subject, Himari tended to sink a little below normal. There were other scores for minor assessments the school made previously through the year, however they didn't hold very much when it came to the final scores.
Kuwabara remained silent as he seemed to scan the scores for whatever information he was looking for. Himari chose to remain politely quiet, inwardly hoping that he wasn't associating her obscure handwriting with her rather appalling language scores. However, it didn't take too long for Kuwabara to break the silence once again.
"You didn't have any plans today, did you?"
"Huh?" Himari was caught off guard by Kuwabara's rather out of the ordinary question. She actually had to repeat his question in her head once before she actually realized what he meant. "You mean after school?"
"Yeah, or now if you want." Kuwabara shrugged slightly glancing down at the piece of paper that hadn't left his hand since he pulled it from his pocket. "I was gonna ask Kurama about idea's, but I think it'll be easier for him to give any idea's if you come along. You know, so he can see what kind of person you are."
"Kurama?" Himari repeated the name slowly as she tried to think of where she heard the name before; But she came up short. "Is he one of your out-of-school friends?'
"Kinda – He's someone I used to work with a while back." He remarked with a shrug, however he snapped his gaze back to her face as he seemed to remember something. "Oh! His name's actually Shiuchi Minamino; Kurama's just a name we call him."
Now Kuwabara's words were beginning to confuse Himari; It was out of ordinary for him to want to hang out all of a sudden, especially when he seemed to want to hang out with his out-of-school friends whenever he could. Himari wasn't sure why, but she got the impression that he tried to keep those friends separate from school life … No, she was certain it was the other way around. It was just something about the way he avoided the topic on any other occasion.
Himari decided to let this piece of information leave her overstrung mind for now as she chose to answer Kuwabara's initial question. She had to look at the fact that since Kuwabara was now all of a sudden going to introduce her to one of his off-limits friends, as she put it, it meant that either she had been accepted as friend enough to have such a privilege, or her situation was dire enough where he was going to do this to really help her out. Himari decided to go with the first; The second still felt like a depressing insult to her.
"I'm free." Himari finally spoke, lifting a hand to ruffle up her short hair at the back of her head in what was associated as a kind of sheepish body language. "If you think he'll be able to give me idea's, then I'm all for it."
"Cool." He spoke as he rose to his feet all of a sudden, a faint smile touching his face as he finally folded up the piece of paper in his hand and placed it back in his pocket. "In that case, we'll walk back past your house, yeah? I don't think you wanna carry all that across town." He then motioned to her overly large bag before Himari had a chance to let out her familiar 'huh?' out of confusion.
"Uh, okay?" Himari replied, however she rose to her feet, and picked up her bag carefully to zip it up again before slinging it over her shoulder. It took a few seconds for her to realise that Kuwabara had also picked up her scores, and had them in his hands as he flicked through the pages slowly. "So we're going now?"
"Yeah." Kuwabara remarked, glancing at Himari, before he began to lead the way out of the classroom, with Himari following behind quickly. "I wanna get there before Urameshi turns up."
Himari was tempted to ask about that, however she pushed it to the back of her mind for now; It probably wasn't the best time to ask, considering that he had only just given such information to her, given how secretive he seemed to be with the topic beforehand.
"So … what's this Minamino like?" Himari asked as they finally walked through the front gate of the school, and into the early spring streets. "Is he like a super genius or something?"
"I guess you could say that." Kuwabara remarked easily, as if he were talking about a member in the same class as her. Himari would have cast a kind of gaping look up at Kuwabara, had she not been required to basically sprint to keep up with his walk. "It's hard to explain really; he's like a scary-kinda smart."
"Evil genius smart?"
"No –- Nothing like that." Kuwabara replied, however a hearty chuckle echoed within his tone of voice; Obviously Himari's question was rather humorous to him. "How can I put it … It's kind of like he's so smart that he uses it as a weapon if he wants to. After knowing the guy for so long, you kinda start to see how he uses his smarts to get what he wants, when he wants, with basically no effort on his part."
Himari didn't speak at first; She was kind of stuck on the weapon part, and was beginning to wonder if it was actually safe for her in her scatterbrained state to meet such a frighteningly intelligent guy, as Kuwabara was making it seem.
"Are you sure he's not evil?"
"Positive." Kuwabara remarked with confidence, however Himari was still skeptical. "He's pretty cool – Just stop thinking he's evil and you'll see."
"Hey, Chad?"
"Yeah?" Kuwabara replied, however Himari hesitated for just a moment; Was asking him about it going to have a negative effect? Ooh, Himari just couldn't stop thinking about it!
"How come you're all of a sudden happy to mention your other friends to me?" Himari spoke, biting down on her bottom lip as she saw Kuwabara actually look at her in confusion. "I mean, you've always practically refused to even mention their names, let alone actually talk to me about them."
"Oh." Kuwabara seemed to let out a breath after a moment, however he neither slowed his pace, or look away from her; He just seemed to think about his answer for a few seconds. "I guess I've realized you're weird enough where you'd probably fit in with them. No offense, or anything."
Himari would have regarded that as a joke about her personality, had a familiar, yet uncomfortable sensation not overcome her at his words. It was like her ears were suddenly exposed to a burning sensation that dragged tingles through her actual eardrums. It was sharp and sudden enough where she had actually flinched in discomfort.
It was a familiar sensation, because it was one that she had learned to associate with words themselves. She got this feeling not from words she didn't like personally, but just any time and any place. It could just be something simple as saying one didn't like pickles, and all of a sudden Himari would be struck with this feeling. It was kind of like that dropping-feeling people get in their stomach when they feel like something's gone wrong; It was a feeling that seemed to be some kind of warning, but Himari didn't know enough about it to know any further than that.
But what was it? It was going to drive Himari insane not knowing what this blasted sensation was trying to tell her!
"What do you mean by that?" Himari managed to ask, blinking up Kuwabara's form as she shook her head marginally to try and wave off the lingering pain.
"Don't worry – I was just teasing." Kuwabara replied, however he did glance at her over his shoulder curiously. "I guess it just feels like the right time to introduce you to them, you know? Can't really say much more than that."
That burning sensation didn't come back, allowing Himari to let out a faint breath and focus on pushing her thoughts elsewhere. She got the feeling that she should probably stop asking about the reasons for her introduction to his friends now. Maybe that was what that sensation was telling her? Stop prying into other people's business? Still didn't explain why she'd feel it for other unexplainable and stupid things, however.
As Himari was about to speak up an apology, she noticed that they were now standing in front of her house. It was easy for her to recognise the Limestone walls with the white floral garden, and she was immediately a little surprised that she hadn't noticed before. She didn't even remember stopping at the shoe lockers to switch shoes over.
"Guess I'll be a minute, then." Himari spoke, however she didn't really wait for any response from Kuwabara before she began to make her quick ascent up the three limestone steps to the front door. No words echoed from behind, and even if they had, they would have been cut off from the front door quickly closing behind Himari. Without pausing to take a breath, Himari began to make her quick jog up the stairs after kicking off her sneakers. The interior of her parents home was rather modern in design; Wood floors with dark caramel walls, and the furniture was a dark wood against a white ceiling. The house was silent, however, and only Himari's footsteps echoed throughout the expansive house.
Mom and Dad were both at work, and Himari's brother was at the last Kenpo competition of the year. So there was no one to really hold her up on her mission of discarding her school stuff and getting dressed before retreating again.
Himari quickly slid the door to her bedroom open as she slowed to allow for the motion, revealing a brightly coloured bedroom within. The bed was adorned with a green and orange cover, while the walls were yellow, and the carpet a strangely complimentary pink. However she had very little time to actually appreciate the fact that she was home after no more than an hour. Instead, she quickly tossed her bag onto the bed and stripped down to her underwear. Even though she didn't understand the situation that well, or even felt comfortable with the sudden change in Kuwabara's decision to keep her separate from his other friends, she still felt that she should be a bit more presentable to these people than just a school uniform. It was obvious Kuwabara held these people in high regard; The least Himari could do was at least be presentable when he introduced her to them.
It was no more than two minutes, but felt more like ten minutes before Himari had managed to throw on a pair of black leggings, short denim skirt, and an electric green tank top with hot pink squiggles along one side of her hip. She made a quick job of brushing her hair before grabbing her orange shoulder bag on her way out of the room.
With the door sliding shut behind her, Himari quickly made her way to the landing room, where she quickly pulled on a hot pink and black pair of roller blades. It was pretty exhausting keeping up with Kuwabara, even without her heavy school bag on. And besides, Himari loved to wear these; Rollerblading was one of her favorite things to do. Pausing to place a pair of gym shoes in her shoulder bag, Himari lifted herself to her bladed feet with ease, and began to make her way out of the house.
Kuwabara was leaning against one of the limestone pillars that held the gate up as Himari locked the door behind her, his gaze scanning the pages of Himari's score pages. He had a scowl across his face, as if he was having trouble finding something he was looking for, but Himari didn't place any real thought into it as she slid her way over to him with ease.
"Sorry for taking so long!" Himari chirped as she came to a stop, catching Kuwabara's attention rather quickly; He snapped his head up to look at her, as if he was actually surprised at her appearance. "I'm good to go!"
"That's cool." Kuwabara remarked, pulling away from the pillar to make his way down the footpath to Himari's left. "Kurama said he's at his Mom's today, helping out. So we don't have as far to walk as I thought."
"Oh!" Himari squeaked, blinking quickly as she began to skate after Kuwabara. "If he's busy … we don't have to bother him, hey?"
"Huh?" Kuwabara seemed to look over his shoulder at Himari in surprise, which caused Himari to blink up at him once again. "He's not busy!"
Himari remained silent as she tried to actually comprehend.
"You just said he's helping his Mom – So he's obviously busy!" Himari explained, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion as she fell into an even pace with Kuwabara. "Or what …?"
"Oh, right!" Kuwabara let out a faint chuckle as he placed his gaze ahead of them once again. "No, his Mom's about to have a kid! He's just keeping her company and making sure she's comfortable."
"That's what you meant?" Himari sighed in exasperation. Her poor mind was actually aching from the strain of everything, and Kuwabara's confusing words were making her headache even worse! "Geeze, you made it sound like he was actually busy helping her!"
"You're the one jumping to conclusions!" Kuwabara retorted, however his voice still held the tones that hinted at a chuckle hiding there. Himari had no real choice but to pout as she picked up on it.
"Not my fault you only give me half an explanation!"
Himari let out a huffing breath as Kuwabara just chuckled. Great – She was now providing the huge man entertainment. She almost decided to head back to school and continue her mental torture.
The walk took longer than Himari thought it would have; They'd crossed close to what Himari believed to be half of town before Kuwabara began to slow in front of a friendly looking house. For the most part, it looked like a very normal house to Himari; A fence with a gate framing a two-leveled house, and a large tree stood to the left side of the house. One thing that did come to Himari's notice was that there were many window-boxes full of a wide assortment of different plants. She wondered if she'd seen many houses with window-boxes, however her memory came up empty.
"Is this the place?" Himari asked, looking up at Kuwabara from the house itself.
"Yeah. Pretty nice, ain't it?"
"I guess." Himari placed her gaze back upon the house as Kuwabara began to walk up the path to the front gate. From the large array of plants she didn't recognise, to the way the house stood, Himari began to get a rather weird feeling about it; It wasn't uncomfortable or alarming like her burning sensations, but just … like there was something about the house she couldn't put her finger on. It was probably the windowboxes on every windowsill doing this to her.
The house was quite friendly in atmosphere.
Himari began to skate after Kuwabara's walking form, before he disappeared and left her standing on the street like an idiot. He was just in the middle of knocking on the front door as Himari came to a rolling halt just behind him.
"Hey, Chad?" Himari piped up after a few seconds, however Kuwabara kept his gaze upon the front door.
"What's up?"
"Do you think your friend can actually help me figure out what I want to do?"
Kuwabara turned a little on his feet to look at Himari over his shoulder. He looked somewhat surprised at her question, if not a little worried.
"Guy can think of anything; He'll be able to think of something." His brows knitted together as he continued to gaze at Himari. "What's wrong?"
"I dunno why that popped up … I was just thinking this place seems a little weird, and then I go and ask that ..." She spoke honestly, lifting her right hand to rub the back of her head lightly. "I really must be doing some serious damage to my brain."
A chuckle escaped Kuwabara, however Himari thought she heard the faintest hint of … nerves? Himari dismissed it as fast as she thought it; Now she was certain that she was going insane.
Finally, the door opened with a faint groan after a few moments, however Himari failed to see anything onwards with Kuwabara's form standing in the way.
"Oh Kazuma!" Came a pleasant sounding voice, belonging to a woman from what Himari could guess. "It's good to see you! Shuichi didn't tell me you were visiting!" This was obviously the Mother of Kurama; Himari almost found herself shrinking in discomfort.
"Hi Miss Minamino!" Kuwabara spoke, his tone sounding rather happy; he was obviously grinning from ear to ear. "It's kind of a late-notice stop; My friend here needs some advice, and Shuichi said to bring her over." Himari blinked as someone poked their head around Kuwabara's large form to gaze down at her; It was a friendly looking face belonging to a woman with long, dark hair and a fair complexion. She looked rather delicate from what Himari could see, and it had her feeling real nervous all of a sudden.
However the woman soon adopted a warm smile as Kuwabara stepped aside to allow the two females to look at each other without looking around him. As Kuwabara had mentioned on the way here, the woman had a really swolen stomach. She looked like she was about ready to have the kid at any given moment.
"H-Hi. I'm Himari Kobayashi..." Himari managed to speak, tipping her head forward slightly in a bow. "It's nice to meet you!"
"Likewise!" The woman replied, returning the gesture with more comfort than Himari could muster. "I'm Shiori Minamino."
"Mother?!" Piped up a different voice all of a sudden, causing Himari to blink in confusion as the woman turned her head to look at something within the house. "What are you doing up? You should be resting."
"Oh, I'm alright!" Shiori piped up, smiling at the person that was obviously this Kurama that Kuwabara was friends with. "Kazuma and his friend are here!"
It was in this moment that Himari finally laid eyes on Kuwabara's friend. He was a tall young man with locks of long, rose-red hair and emerald green eyes. He was dressed in an outfit of jeans and a zip-up brown jumper. His outfit was rather laid back, however the way that the man help himself told Himari that he was usually a formal and proper person. This information did nothing to help her growing case of nerves.
"Ah, you must be Miss Kobayashi." Kurama spoke, smiling slightly at Himari as Shiori actually disappeared from the door and retreated back inside now that her son was here to address his guests. "Kuwabara has told me a lot about you."
"Huh?" Himari almost gaped at the young man, however she instead turned her gaze to look questioningly at Kuwabara. Her look however, went unnoticed.
"Well, shall we talk inside?"
"Uh-" Himari squeaked a little as she snapped her gaze down to her rollerblades quickly.
"We'll be inside in a sec; That alright?" Kuwabara piped up all of a sudden, catching Himari by surprise.
"Of course. I'll bring some drinks and snacks upstairs."
"Awesome." Kuwabara piped up, and with that, they were left alone on the front step. Himari let out a breath as she crouched down to unbuckle her feet from her rollerblades, inwardly still reeling over Kurama's statement of 'Kuwabara has told me a lot about you.' So Kuwabara actually talks about her to his friends from outside of school, and he had previously made an obvious attempt at not doing the same with Himari?
Yep, Himari's suspicions were proven correct.
"You abour ready, 'Mari?" Kuwabara asked after a moment, however Himari merely shrugged as she carefully stepped out of her blades. She picked them up by the back of the wheels, and straightened up to gaze up at her strange friend.
He seemed to watch her for a few seconds, before he pushed the door open and lead the way inside.
The interior of the house was much like Himari's parents. The floors were wooden with white ceilings and tan walls here, instead of the dark caramel of home. The furniture was more comfortable looking than her parents, too. As Himari carefully placed her rollerblades on the floor next to the front door, Kuwabara began to make his way through the landing, and through a doorway that lead into the other parts of the house.
"His room's this way." Kuwabara piped up, leading the way through what Himari immediately recognised as a loungeroom, and up a flight of stairs. The house was rather quiet, however it was comfortable. Still, Himari could still feel that tiniest bit strange about this place; Instead of leaving her the longer she was here, the feeling just sat there with her, and yet she still couldn't put her finger on what was so strange about this place.
Down the passageway, Kuwabara gently pushed open the door at the end, to reveal a rather normal sized room. Within the walls of the room stood a single bed, a desk adorned with many books, and a small wardrobe. There was nothing about the room that really gave it … personality, as Himari would look at it. The room was very proper, much like the impression Himari got of the obvious resident of this room.
"Make yourselves comfortable." Came Kurama's voice from behind all of a sudden, causing Himari to actually flinch as she looked around. Kurama carefully stepped around Himari, with a large tray holding a plate of dango, and three large glasses of what Himari immediately recognised to be Barley Tea. Kuwabara flopped down on the bed with a great sigh as Kurama set the tray down on the desk, leaving Himari to stand nervously. She wasn't quite sure on what to do; And it was beginning to bother her.
"So." Kuwabara chose to break the silence after several moments, causing a faint flinch to shoot through Himari's form as she looked up at him. He seemed to be looking over at Kurama in what Himari guessed to be a kind of curiosity as he reached over for one of the glasses of barley tea. "Guess we should get started, then?"
"That sounds like a good idea." Kurama agreed after a few seconds; However he didn't sound the least bit bothered or uncomfortable; It appeared Himari was the only one that was feeling such feelings. She hesitantly shuffled over to lean against the window frame, just a few feet away from Kuwabara; For some reason, she felt more comfortable here, where she could feel the breeze gently cooling her shoulders and neck.
"You obviously don't mind if Kurama looks at your scores, do ya 'Mari?" Kuwabara piped up all of a sudden, however Himari found herself immediately surprised as Kuwabara simply passed her the glass he'd just picked up. "Don't worry; I already told her that's a nickname." Kuwabara remarked, causing Himari to look up at him again. It appeared that Kurama had shot Kuwabara a rather startled look, which soon faded to understanding. Himari wasn't sure if she was imagining the glimpse of relief she'd just caught.
"I don't mind; You've been reading them the whole way from school." Himari shrugged slightly, however she wasn't sure why. That odd feeling hadn't left her at all, and instead seemed to be prodding at the back of her mind, as if the reason was on the tip of her tongue and she didn't know it just yet.
"Cool." Kuwabara remarked, and after a moment, he passed Himari's stack of scores to Kurama's outstretched hand. Himari was once again left to stare awkwardly down at her glass of tea. "So I already explained Himari's problem, didn't I?"
"Somewhat." Kurama replied as he carefully lifted up the top page of Himari's score stack. "That explanation was rather brief in comparison to what it could have been. I know more about her companionship with you than her actual predicament at the moment." He lifted his gaze to smirk at Kuwabara for just a second.
"Right, right." Kuwabara seemed to wave off Kurama's statement, however Himari felt that it hadn't been entirely dismissed.
"So, Himari – Is that alright?" Kurama spoke all of a sudden, catching Himari by surprise; Her tea sloshed around the lip, and almost spilled as she managed to steady herself. She blinked momentarily as she looked at Kurama. "Kuwabara had told me yesterday that you prefer not to be called Kobayashi, if it can be helped."
"That's right." Himari responded, resting her glass in the palm of her right hand. "My brother's in our class, so it's just less confusion if people call me Himari, and call him Megumi."
"I see." Kurama spoke, understanding showing across his face as he looked back down at Himari's papers. "My brother is also called Shuichi, so I can understand."
Himari wasn't sure why Kurama's mother would call both her children Shuichi; To her, it sounded like some kind of cruel joke, but having said that, Himari found herself unsure if this was the case – There must be a reason for the two names. However, she chose to push these thoughts from her mind; It felt like she was beginning to pry in thoughts again.
"Could you give me an idea about what difficulty you're actually having at the moment?" Kurama asked after a moment, however Himari was expecting it this time. She let out a faint breath as she tried to sort her mind out enough to actually answer; And it seemed to work a little. That weird feeling was beginning to fade from her notice, at least for now.
"I uh, don't know what I want to actually do when I leave school." Himari began, biting on the inside of her right cheek as she leant a little more against the window frame just behind her. "I''ve never thought about it before; I'm more of a 'In the now' kinda person, I'd say. But considering that graduation is just under a month away, and with Chad's constant whining about it, I'm kinda wracking my brain about it so much I'm probably doing permanent damage."
A chuckle escaped Kurama at Himari's words, and he didn't seem the least bit confused at Kuwabara's nickname. Himari guessed the ginger-haired man had already informed Kurama about this part.
"I can understand that." Kurama replied, glancing down at the paper in his hands as Kuwabara shot a small frown Himari's way. "And I would expect that's why you're more reserved and timid today, than what Kuwabara had described."
Again, Himari chose to remain silent in this moment; She still found it a little awkward that Kuwabara had obviously talked about her a great deal, and yet she knew basically nothing about this young man, who was flicking through the last pages of her score sheets.
"She's usually an energetic ball of annoying when she's not bothered about this." Kuwabara remarked. Himari lifted her gaze to throw him a petulant frown, which she immediately followed up with poking her tongue out at him.
It appeared that Kuwabara chose to ignore this.
"Well, your scores are rather interesting." Kurama piped up, setting the papers upon the desk next to him as he chose to lean forward and lift a skewer with Dango from the small stack on the tray. "Have you ever thought about taking an aptitude test?"
A groan escaped from Kuwabara, and Himari almost winced.
"I suggested that!" Kuwabara remarked, slapping a large hand over his face as he obviously recalled yesterday's debate. "She thought she heard 'Parachute'."
"Shut up!" Himari squeaked, throwing Kuwabara another frown. However once again, he felt this went unnoticed.
"I see." Kurama remarked, however he wasn't bothered – instead, a chuckle escaped him as Himari took to taking a small sip of her tea. "Well, how about I just ask you a few questions, and we'll see what we can come up with from that."
"That'll probably work." Kuwabara remarked through a mouthful of dango. Himari inwardly frowned at this as she glanced at the tall ginger. Judging by the faint scent she could pick up, it was Mitarashi Dango, and she had to resist the urge to crinkle her nose in distaste. "She answers the first thing in her head, so that'll do her some good."
"You're really making me out to be some tactless and inept idiot, you know!" Himari grumbled, however again, she was either ignoried or not noticed. This was beginning to irritate her.
"I'm going to give you some words, Himari – All you have to do is say the first thing that come's to mind."
"Sure." Himari replied, however she was a little skeptical; She'd taken tests like this before, but she had the feeling that this would really make her appear to be a lunatic or something. Or at least really stupid.
"First. Children?"
Himari blinked at this word, and found herself speaking before she even knew what she was thinking.
"The Sound of Screaming."
Silence echoed through the room with noticeable intensity as Himari realised what she had said; She actually began to feel her face heat up from embarrassment.
"Teachers?"
Again, her mouth formed a word before she knew it.
"Hedgehogs and Cacti."
This time, the silence was broken with the sounds of Kuwabara letting out a cough, obviously to cover up a reaction of some sort.
"Animals?"
"Real-Life Pom-Poms." Himari began to gnaw on the inside of her right cheek as she felt like her face was actually on fire.
"Music?"
"The Art of Emotional Expression."
Kurama seemed to pause for a moment, as if something about her responses were beginning to make sense to him. Himari just hoped it wasn't something negative or unpleasant.
"Dancing?" Kurama spoke, and this time Himari wasn't sure which word to use; She was actually silent for a few seconds, before her mouth formed an answer for her.
"Nothing but Body Language"
"Sharks?"
"Too freaking huge." Himari responded, blinking momentarily as Kuwabara seemed to try and stifle what she guessed to be laughter. She couldn't make out much, but the look across his face told her that he was finding this rather entertaining.
"Spiders?" Himari actually shuddered at the word, which seemed to earn a faint smile from Kurama. He seemed to accept that as as response enough, as he moved onto the next word. "Subconscious?"
Himari once again fell silent as she tried to find her words. However, for this one, she couldn't grasp it. She lowered her gaze to her glass of tea as she ran the word through her head. Subconscious seemed to be a rather particular word to her; Like those burning sensations. It was just … weird, but prominent to her. She had no real idea why, but finally spoke what occurred to her in that moment.
"Burning Words."
It was silent for a few moments, however this time it held a strange touch to it. It was as if her words had confused the two in the room with her, and she had no idea why.
"Fire?"
"Greatly Misunderstood." Himari finally spoke after a second. It appeared another look of understanding had touched Kurama's face. Himari just hoped she could understand what it was the young man was learning from this.
"Actions?"
"Silent Confessions."
Silence echoed once again, however Himari found herself wondering if she was even making any sense.
"Lies?"
For some reason, Himari found herself feeling rather sure of this one, and yet she couldn't really comprehend why that was. She released the inside of her cheek, and lifted her gaze to look at Kurama.
"The veiled burdens we refuse to relinquish."
Himari wasn't sure about it, but she felt like the silence that had descended upon the room was too uncomfortable for just a test of thought reactions. She shifted her gaze between the two makes, who looked rather unbothered, however she got the impression that this was a front.
"Did I pass?"
Almost immediately, Kuwabara let out a sigh, and waved his Dango-free skewer in Himari's direction.
"You can't pass a reaction test, 'Mari!" He remarked, before reaching over to grab another dango skewer. Everyone's reactions are completely different, making it impossible to grade anyone on that!"
"Ignoring Kuwabara's explanation." Kurama began, recovering Himari's attention from Kuwabara after a few seconds. "Have you ever thought about possibly working as an emotional mentor for high-school students?"
Himari remained silent as she tried to comprehend that.
"You mean I learn Psychology?"
"Not quite." Kurama replied, leaning back into his chair as Himari stared at him blankly. "Your exam scores tell me you're a more creative-minded person, however, your smaller assessments hint at you having a comfortable grip on emotional and psychological tasks."
"You'll have to spell it out for her – she won't understand" Kuwabara cut in, however Himari barely had a chance to throw him a glare, let alone hiss out a retort of 'Shut Up!'
"Sorry, what I mean, is that you have a rather abnormal view of how words and emotions work." Kurama paused for a moment, as he seemed to think for a moment. "There is a higher demand for mentors at schools for students to talk to."
"Isn't that what school counselors are for?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yes, but it's become common knowledge that it's uncomfortable for a lot of students to visit someone who's going to psychologically test them, especially for something trivial, or something that might be against school regulations, if you catch my meaning." Kurama proceeded to explain, turning his gaze back to Himari as she remained silent. "In some schools in Australia, they have a Mentor Program, where the students take an hour out of school to spend with an approved Mentor to help with homework, advice, or just to help them calm down if anything happens."
"And you think 'Mari's got the smarts to do something like that?"
"I believe it's a good avenue for her to look into." Kurama replied.
Himari remained silent as Kuwabara continued to speak with Kurama about her scores and possible career choices for her, lowering her gaze to the tea in her hands as she tried to think about it. In reality, the option had never occurred to her, of course. But it didn't sound like something she'd actually mind. Much the opposite; Himari rather found herself liking the idea of being just someone for people to talk to; She liked talking. And besides, if it didn't require Psychology Diploma's, then Himari was happy. The last thing she felt she needed was to study a course that would never make too much sense to her in the end, anyway. Himari nodded to herself slowly as she decided to investigate this suggestion that Kurama had given her. It was beginning to feel right, the longer she thought about it.
A faint knocking sound echoed from right behind Himari all of a sudden, however Kurama and Kuwabara were still engrossed in their little talk. It sounded much like a footstep, or something, and the curiosity had Himari turn her head to look at the window behind her.
For some reason, though, Himari wasn't expecting the sight she ended up looking at.
Standing upon the windowsill was a young man she had never seen before, dressed in an outfit of black boots, black pants and a black coat resembling a kind of trenchcoat. He also wore a white bandanna, and a white sash around his neck. He appeared to have black hair that stood on end upwards, with a white patch in the front of his head. However, she was too alarmed in finding someone standing there with a glare across his face to really pick up on anything that was happening around her; All she knew was that he really was glaring at her with his red eyes.
"U-uh..." Himari couldn't help but gape like an idiot as her mind continued to splutter along. Silence overcame the room all of a sudden, signifying that Kurama and Kuwabara had both finally noticed the newcomer standing upon the windowsill.
"Wha- Hiei?!" Kuwabara's voice pierced Himari's eardrums with a painful pitch, causing her to wince in pain. She quickly snapped her gaze to Kuwabara as Kurama made a quick movement to the window she was standing in front of.
"What- What's going on?!"
"Uh, He's ..." Kuwabara seemed to trail off as he looked at Himari hesitantly from the young man that Kurama was quickly speaking with. "One of our friends – God, I didn't expect him to turn up here!"
Himari blinked quickly as she snapped her gaze back to the window behind her, but for some reason the young man had suddenly disappeared.
"That was Hiei." Kurama piped up as he began to make his way back to his seat, causing Himari to place her attention to him. "The last we had heard, he was living out of the country. You'll have to forgive him, though. He's not really friendly when it comes to strangers."
Kuwabara scoffed from his seat in reaction to this.
"When it comes to strangers? The shrimp ain't friendly full stop!" Kuwabara seemed to retort, however Kurama didn't exactly say anything to contradict Kuwabara. Instead, he lifted his gaze from the window, and placed it back to Himari.
"I can go if you guy's want." Himari bit the inside of her bottom lip as she looked from Kuwabara, to Kurama, and back again. "If he's just back from out of the country, then obviously you guys wanna catch up; right?"
"Indeed." Kurama spoke after he let out a weary breath, running a hand through his rose-red locks as he looked at Kuwabara. "I hate to cut our talk short, but I should hear out what he wants, after all."
"Sure – No problem." Himari nodded slightly as she pulled herself away from the window, and began to make her way towards the bedroom door. She hesitantly placed her tea down on the desk with the others glasses, and smiled at the two who were watching her at that moment. "Thank you for all your help, though. I've got some stuff to really think about."
"It's my pleasure." Kurama replied, however he seemed to glance at Kuwabara momentarily. "Are you fine to head home on your own? It is getting rather late."
"It's all good! I remember the way back." Himari replied as she took a hold of the door handle. "Anyway, have a good evening, guys!"
"Later, 'Mari." Kuwabara spoke, waving slightly as Himari opened the door, and left through it.
She let out a faint breath as she began to walk down the hallway towards the stairs, her mind still seeming to splutter slightly at the events of the day. So much so that she had forgotten to say goodbye to Kurama's Mother, and had already pulled her blades on, and was out of the front door.
The sun was beginning to reach sunset, and clouds were beginning to mass over the oranging skies like a kind of mold on bread. Himari had no real choice but to shake her head in dismay at the weird metaphore she had for the cloudy sky. But in reality, there wasn't much her overworked mind could really comprehend, as she began to make her rolling way down the path, and towards the road. She could feel a kind of sensation overcome her as she reached the footpath running parallel to the road, which told her that someone was looking at her.
She chose to ignore it as she began to make the long trek back home. Her mom was probably wondering where she'd gotten to.
But the visit to Kurama's place had given her some idea's. Himari could go study to become a student Mentor, as Kurama had put it. It was something she could do, and if she didn't, or couldn't do that after all, Himari had the feeling that she could still expand on it; She had never thought that being a person to talk to could be something for her, but here she was, actually enjoying the idea.
It was something for her to accept and grasp hold of, and that was better than nothing.
Himari soon found herself grinning, and singing one of her favorite songs as she turned down the end of the road, and began to make her way east.