It was a lazy April day and Kurama was confined in his human history classroom trying desperately to keep his mind on the subject at hand. The blossoms on the sakura trees surrounding the academy had just begun to bloom and the fox was trying to ignore his desire to skip the rest of the school day and apply himself fully to his studies. As a beautiful pink petal drifted by his sight and his teacher droned on about the importance of the samurai during the Edo period, Kurama noticed a small figure waiting at the school gates. "Hiei..." whispered Kurama to himself. This was the third time in the last week that Kurama had thought he'd spotted his best friend, and crush, lounging around aimlessly in the Ningen world. I truly am a stupid fox, there is no way Hiei is back, Kurama quickly chastised himself and in doing so, flipping a strand of blood red hair behind his ears. "Mr. Minamino..." a voice called waking Kurama from his trance-like state. Kurama blushed, realizing most of the class was staring at him and carefully replied, "Yes Sensei, I apologize my allergy medication was getting the better of me." The boys in the class snickered as Kurama's teacher said "Ahh Mr. Minamino so you have decided to join us, I would you like to tell us why the samurai became less in Japanese culture after the Meiji revolution." "But of course..." Kurama quietly replied and began to perfectly answer the question as the class looked on in awe.
About ten minutes into his speech, the bell rang signaling the break for lunch. Kurama welcomed the bell with a sigh of relief, and stood up to go outside and search for the fire-demon who so often eluded him. As Kurama walked out the door to the classroom, he was stopped by a group of nervous girls. "Hello" Kurama courteously offered, trying to squeeze past them to the open door to the staircase. "Shūichi..." one girl cautiously said, Kurama's human name sliding off the girl's tongue as though she had practiced in the mirror for hours. "Yes, how can I help you today?" Kurama flashed a small smile, he had a feeling he knew where this was going and he was not in the mood, but it would be rude of him to dismiss the girls without at least finding out their intentions directly. "Shūichi-san will you... will you... will you please have lunch with us?" the girl sputtered eyes closed she reached out and grabbed Kurama's hand. "I am truly sorry, but I have plans for this period," replied Kurama as calmly and evenly as ever. He extricated himself from the girl's grasp and walked toward the staircase. Before he reached it the girl cried out, "Shūichi!" Kurama turned to look at her. The girl trembled as she spoke, "I speak for the whole group when I say we really like you Shūichi-san, please eat with us another day." Kurama stared; the girl wasn't bad looking yet neither was she attractive. 'She's too plain' voiced the Youko inside his head. But still, Kurama thought..."alright, another time it is, see you later" Kurama replied before hurrying down the stairs before he could be cornered again.
'I don't see why you don't just turn them all away immediately, you really are too emotional' criticized his Youko side. Kurama ignored him, choosing instead to make his way to the front gate and search for any sign of the forbidden child. "I guess it really was a figment of my imagination," Kurama sighed. "It's been seven months since he went back to the Mikai and he probably won't be back for another seven months the way Mukuro works him," Kurama groaned. Finding himself suddenly empty, Kurama balanced against the stone of the school wall for support, his blood red hair fell lightly onto his face, obscuring his vision. 'When he gets back you are actually going to tell him how we feel won't you' whispered the Youko. Kurama didn't answer and stared aimlessly into the curtain of red-hair in front of his eyes.
"Hey FOX BOY!!" a voice shouted. Kurama looked up startled. Only a few people called him fox-boy and sure enough one of them was marching up the street toward him at that moment. Yusuke Urameshi wasn't alone, however, he was surrounded by an assortment of their friends. Kurama noted that Keiko- Yusuke's longtime girlfriend was clinging to his hand tightly - so as not to let him run away, Kuwabara had his arm lazily draped over the shoulders of Hiei's sister, the ice apparition, Yukina. Also in the group were two of the former foes and now friends- Touya and Jin- both dressed as normal ningen teenagers so as to hide their obvious demon characteristics. "Fox Boy!" Yusuke's loud voice disturbed Kurama's silent appraisal of the group. "Hello Yusuke, everyone, it is truly a pleasure to see you but I am confused as to what I owe the pleasure" Kurama replied. "Ha! Like we need an excuse to visit a friend and take him to a picnic, now come on" and with that Yusuke grabbed the cuff of Kurama's school uniform and proceeded to attempt to drag Kurama away from the wall. "Yusuke, it is the middle of the school day... My studies are important to me Yusuke, I am sorry but I cannot possibly attend" Kurama stated coolly and locked his knees to prevent the former Spirit detective from taking him any further. "What the hell are you talking about Kurama, if studies are so important to you why are you outside of school? Shouldn't you be inside and studying like a good fox-boy?" Yusuke's banter was beginning to get to the spirit fox. Kurama sighed, "I thought I had saw someone, its not important I was just about to go back inside." Yusuke positively shouted his response, "Well now you're not going back, Keiko made you chicken, and damn it even Botan and Koenma are meeting us at the park, so LETS GO!" Kurama groaned and realized there was no way he was going to win this argument and excused himself to collect his bag and give lame excuse to the school office.
When he returned, only Yusuke and Kuwabara were waiting for him. "They went ahead" Kuwabara answered Kurama's unspoken question. "Yeah cause we want to have a talk with you fox boy, before we get there," said Yusuke darkly. Kurama looked at both of his friends, his eyes full of questions and hurt. They began to walk, and for a few minutes the only sounds made by the three were the sound of shoes connecting with concrete. Kuwabara spoke first, "We had to drag you to a picnic with your friends, what is up with you? You aren't yourself Kurama. Before today, I can't remember the last time we got together when it wasn't a Sunday night dinner at the temple. We know you only go to those because you promised Hiei you'd keep an eye on Yukina..." Kuwabara stopped his tirade as Kurama visibly winced at Hiei's name. All three were silent again. Kurama's head hung, his hair covered his eyes. Yusuke and Kuwabara watched Kurama's back, his slumped shoulders indicative of his inner-pain. Kurama made his way to the group of people gathered around the blanket that was serving as seating for the meal and offered his greetings. The group watched him as he took a plate and filled it with chicken, noodles and vegetables from the ramen shop. Kurama then perched at the edge of the blanket, almost completely turned away from his friends and proceeded to quietly pick at the food.
"What the hell did you say Yusuke?" Keiko whispered harshly in the former spirit detective's ear, "you two were supposed to find out what was wrong and CHEER HIM UP not break him, poor Kurama looks so sad." "Hey it wasn't me if you want to blame someone blame Kuwabara" Yusuke whined. "Very mature Yusuke blame your best friend," Keiko stated softly as Kuwabara began to shout, "Urameshi, you're a real tool you know that, I was just telling it like it is..." They stopped looking at the plate of food to the left of Kurama. The food was picked apart, but none was missing from the plate. "He's not eating" said Yukina, taking her place by Kuwabara's side "his ki is lower than it should- especially for an S-class. I wonder how long it has been since he ate a proper meal," she mused. "Damn it Kurama!" Yusuke growled, "What the hell is going on with you?"
