The breeze that blew through his back hair was chilly like the upcoming fall would be. Days have passed since he had any interaction with his friends. The time had come that his anger and seclusion was not all that he wanted anymore and his friends could not quench a feeling deep within him. Desperation had not yet overcome the young fire boy, but the seclusion had taken its toll and made him angrier at the world. How was he going to find someone to be with when he could not even stand to constantly be around the people he called his friends? A mate was someone he would have to spend a lot more time with than the others, but he had to love her first or he would never want to try to be less antisocial. The closest thing he had ever gotten to that feeling – love – was his sister Yukina, and she did not even know that he was her brother.
Tearing his thoughts from his hidden and dormant feelings, he jumped from the tree he had been perched in. The few friends he had walked by only moments ago as his thoughts forced him into a daze, and he knew the fox had noticed him because he had not even concealed his aura yet. There was no use hiding from them now; his own thoughts had gotten him caught. Watching them walk in the distance, he realized that they were headed to the college campus to start their first day of college. He had not bothered to sign up for any classes even though they had made him enroll. At the time he saw no use for the classes or the contact between humans and him, but now since he had made the decision that would change his life and hopefully bring a certain closure to it, he immediately rethought the idea.
To catch up with his friends would mean explaining his reasoning for going right away and he had not thought up an excuse. It had to be a good lie or Kurama would be suspicious. The fox always seemed to know when he was lying and dancing around the truth, even when it had came to his sister. That meant that he would have to either take completely different classes then all four of them, or that he would have to enroll in just the ones he was interested in. Either way he would have to find a way to get there unnoticed by them, at least for today, so he could sign up for the classes. Suddenly he wished that he had paid more attention to them when they talked about the ones they were in, but since he was almost as good at reading people as Kurama, he could probably guess them perfectly.
It only took him a couple minutes of walking to get close enough to them that he had to stop and jump into a tree. They had stopped walking to let Yusuke and Kuwabara fight with each other out in the grass of the campus, which was attracting people. Since Kurama had already sensed his aura, getting any closer to them would be running the risk of getting caught. If he stayed further away, Kurama would think that he was watching them from a distance like he normally did when they went out. The people coming around to watch the fight were also something he wanted to avoid. He was very short and had only grown a couple inches since the Makai tournament, and Yusuke had made sure that everyone, including himself, knew it. Being around them during the scuffle would only get him harassed and teased., possibly even called a sibling of theirs. Just that thought alone was enough to almost enrage him.
After the fight was broken up by the Dean and Yusuke was sent to his office, normality ensued and the group walked on towards the building where their classes were. This coincidence left him open to walk around the campus without worrying about being caught. As his eyes wandered, he noticed how small the place really was. Not many people could have been going there or there would not be any room for all of them. There were many girls though, which made him start to think about the kind of girl he needed to look out for.
Never before had the fire child flirted or tried to court a girl so he knew nothing about it. Wrong: he knew a lot of things he should not do, courtesy of Kuwabara and his obsession with women, especially his sister. Though he practically hated the man, he knew had to thank him one day for the tips. That left his other problem; was he really going to give his love to a human girl? Yusuke did to Keiko, but they were both in love with each other before they knew he was a demon. Maybe if a woman fell in love with him before she knew he was a demon? That way he could just pretend that he did not know and they could live happily ever after.
The last thought sickened him slightly in the fact that he was thinking such things, being who he was. Was he even capable of living peacefully being the angry and lonely fire demon he had always been? Kurama did not even have a mate and he was much older, and seemed as though he did not need one. Of course, it was always hard to tell what was on the foxes mind so he was not really sure about his assumption at all. As his thoughts of their similarities in the "love" department continued, his senses suddenly spiked. He could sense no demonic aura around, but a familiar scent caught his attention as he walked. The prickling of the hair on the back of his neck was the last straw and he turned around, his eyes widening.