My fun little one shot, a little story devoted to all things mother and son.
Summary: Goodbye is the toughest thing in the world for someone to say. That's probably due to the fact that you never know when it could be the last word spoken to someone you love. "Goodbye, Mother."
Hello, Goodbye
Beep...
Beep...
"Hello, Shiori Hatanaka speaking, can I help you?" It was a standard greeting, so simple and mechanically spoken that it shouldn't have sent a lance of pain ricocheting through his heart like a silver bullet. He licked his lips. It was now or never.
"Mother...?"
"Oh, Shuichi! I didn't know it was you! Where are you calling from?" The pleasant recognition in her voice spoke exactly what she was thinking: she was glad to hear from him after almost two weeks of zero calls.
Kurama hesitated, "I...I'm calling from Yusuke-san's cell phone. Mine ran out of batteries." That was a lie. In fact, his cell had been knocked out of his pocket during a brawl, swallowed and digested by a low level demon. Kurama's nose wrinkled at the memory of the disgusting D class.
What a pity, to lose one's cell phone to an unworthy opponent. He would have preferred to have lost it to one of his fan girls...at least then he could bribe it back. He didn't want to think of what it would take to coax his cell phone out of that thing's stomach.
"What's wrong, Shuichi? You sound distracted." Pang again went his heart. She was dead on correct. Kurama hadn't ever been this distracted in his human life.
"Fox," Hiei warned, his hands invisible in his deep black pockets, "We have to go."
Kurama didn't spare the fire demon a response. He simply moved a little farther away from the clearing and the swirling mass of gray planted in the centre. The portal would only be open another half hour. That's all the time he had left.
"I'm sorry, mother, for not contacting you for so long. I've been...very preoccupied as of late." He could feel himself getting choked up. Him, the ever-present anchor, the calm front, the 'collected one', could not keep his cool on the phone with a human woman.
Yusuke sensed this, and glanced at his friend in worry. He was still torn up from his final goodbyes, from having to break things off with a woman he loved more than anything. Keiko would probably never recover fully from Yusuke's news that evening.
Shiori wouldn't either.
"It's fine, Shuichi. Where are you? I'm hearing some odd buzzing in the background."
That would be the portal, but he couldn't tell her that. "Ah..." He frowned at his incapability to cook up a quick lie. It wasn't like he hadn't lied to her about almost everything. "We're outside the cinema down town. Bad reception..."
"Are you really, Shuichi?"
Kurama blinked, not having prepared to cope with the disbelieving tone of voice, "Why ever would I not be, Mother?"
"You never were one for movies," She mused from the other end of the line.
He was very thankful that that was the only reason for her suspicions, "Yusuke-san and Keiko-san wanted someone to go with them to the movies, and I felt obligated to go. After all, I'm their friend, mother."
She sighed, "Right Shuichi, of course. You're a young man now, I really shouldn't be challenging you like that. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it mother," Please, don't worry about me.
He glanced quickly at Hiei, then to the SDF, just to see how much time he had left. The Captain looked a little rumpled, eager, almost. He had very little time, it appeared. A young SDF female was staring at him with an expression of mixed confusion, curiosity, and sympathy.
What an odd combination.
"Fox," Hiei warned with a dark glower.
They will not tolerate you being late, fox. We have no choice, we have to go.
Kurama ignored the telepathic message, feeling the tendril slip away. He did, however, feel Hiei's annoyance at Kurama's sentimentality.
The Captain cleared his throat, stepping forwards to take command of the situation. His beady black eyes were not friendly as he stared Kurama down, "We have to move out. Now." The man's voice had the slightest, almost impossible to detect note of empathy for Kurama.
Kurama sighed deeply, and returned to his call, "I...I have to go now, Mother."
"Oh, okay Shuichi. I'll see you tomorrow, then? For Suuichi's birthday?" Kurama almost groaned. He'd totally forgotten about Suuichi's birthday.
Kurama would tell Botan to go out and get Suuichi a present with Kurama's credit card, and then do with it what she pleased. He would also tell her to deliver a letter, written by him, explaining everything from start to finish. It was a letter that left out nothing, not even the gory details. Botan would carry out this mission, if not out of nothing but her caring personality.
Then it was time. It was time for those last words to be spoken.
Kurama took a shaky breath, feeling unwanted tears starting to pool in his eyes. That mask that he so prided himself on was cracking, and everyone present knew it.
"Goodbye, mother."
End
Er...I have no comment. Care to review?