1
(A year and a half after the end of Imaginary Houseguest, during the summer before Gwen's senior year of college)
"Just close your eyes and hold on to me," he had said as they walked into the woods with their backpacks and a suitcase. If anyone had been around to witness the strange sight they undoubtedly would have stopped to stare. 'Close your eyes,' since when had Gwen ever listened to instructions like those if it didn't mean her life? The 'hold on to me' she had been fine with.
They were falling through a black void, the ether that filled it rushing past their ears to create a troubled roaring as they broke far more laws of physics than was normal. Her eyes were held wide open, staring with delight at the gaping nothingness and her hands were clenched on his arm in the way one holds the handrail of a rollercoaster going down the first hill.
'Inter-dimensional travel is the shit,' she declared mentally as a pinprick of light appeared before them, gaped suddenly and swallowed them whole. Then they were falling for real, with a faintly glowing sky pink with light pollution, and green, green grass rushing up to meet them.
"Shimatte," he breathed, dropping the bag and grabbing her around the waist. Then they weren't falling so much as gliding, slowly, gently towards the ground.
"You know there was breakable stuff in there don't you?" she asked as she watched her duffle bag hit the trees and plummet through.
"We can buy a new hairdryer, Gwen."
"But still—"
"—it's the principle of the thing?" he finished her sentence and she giggled while reaching up to bat at him. They were quickly approaching the trees now and she craned her head around to look up at whatever plant it was he was using to slow their descent. It was some great purple-pink leaf that from her angle looked a bit like a hang-glider with one end jutting into view.
"Kurama, I didn't know you were also a butterfly demon," she said as they drifted by the first few branches.
"Ah apparently I forgot to mention a few things, did I also leave out the information about my chrysalis stage?"
"Oh no, I think I caught the whole part about you going from strong, powerful demon to little human boy."
He laughed at that and suddenly they were falling for real again. But aside from the sudden flip of her stomach due to acceleration she wasn't frightened. He found her absolute faith in him unnerving sometimes, almost like a burden, knowing that someone had that degree of trust, but it gave him strength as well. He knew that in an emergency she would do whatever he told her first and wait for him to explain afterwards. And she had followed him; she had trusted him enough to come to his world, completely separated from everything that she knew. He caught a branch and swung them both onto it.
"The gateway was not that high before," he remarked as she scooted out along the branch to get a better view of the city. "I'll have to talk to Koenma about anchoring it more securely a safe distance from the ground."
"That was awesome!" she exclaimed, looking back at him with shinning eyes and a wide grin. "Can we do it again?"
"Maybe another time," he smiled back. "But right now we should head over to my apartment. Yusuke and Keiko said they'd finished moving out yesterday and they promised to stop by tonight.
"Excellent, so I finally get to meet everyone in person!"
"Well except for Hiei, he shows up when he feels like and there's no predicting him. He probably won't be making an appearance."
He offered her his hand and she took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet on the branch before he grabbed her around the waist once more. With another swish of movement they were on the ground, Gwen having hardly felt the descent. Once they found the suitcase Kurama slung it over his shoulder and they started the trek towards his lodgings.
"It's cute," Gwen said and he had to catch himself in the doorway to keep from falling.
The American stepped forward, kicking off her shoes before stepping up and tiptoeing across the tatami of the main room towards the small kitchen. She skirted the neat stacks of books he had left ages ago by the wall and leaned through the doorway to eye the range and mini refrigerator.
"Very cute," she said again, though this time he was prepared for such a denouncement as she shuffled past the windows and towards the bedroom. "Ooh you have a nice big bed, yay for not sleeping on a futon!"
"But Gwen," he called as he stepped out of his own shoes while balancing her bags. "I thought you were sleeping out here on a futon."
She leaned out of the bedroom to pull a face at him and roll her eyes before she disappeared again. A second later there was a thwump and Kurama heard the bedsprings groan.
"Gwen, if you're jumping on my bed—!" He rushed forward but needn't have worried, for instead of jumping on the bed the girl was curled up in it, the blankets pulled completely over her head. "Gwen, Yusuke and Keiko were sleeping there and I doubt they've washed the bedding."
"AGH!" She shot straight up and fell over the side only to crash to the floor with the sheets still wrapped around her legs. Her knight in shinning armor took his time in rushing to her rescue, laughing rather openly as she struggled to get free and rub injured parts. "That's so nasty," she muttered as she was pulled to her feet. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"Actually, I'm fairly certain that Keiko has done the wash, and while they were staying here they undoubtedly used their own bedding."
"Then why did you make me fall like that?!" She went from verge-of-tears to wrathful vengeance-seeking in less than ten words.
"I hardly expected such a forceful reaction. If I had known I would have made sure to have the camera ready when you fell."
"You asshole!" She spun and smacked her half-closed fist into his chest. "Ow…"
"I keep telling you not to do that," he chuckled as she clenched and unclenched her injured hand.
"Kurama, stop being so mean to me or I'll make you take me home!"
He chuckled even more at this and ran a hand the wrong way though her hair before walking back into the main room. "Well," he called back to her, "do I have to do everything myself or do you want to eat sometime today?"
"Fine, I'll help you unpack you lazy kitsune! But I hope your Japanese food is better than your American."
"I think I might take offense at that," he said as he leaned back into the room, his wide-eyed expression contrasting with the veiled threat he was teasing her with. "You've never complained of my cooking before."
"Who could?" she said, returning the innocent look. "You're way too scary."