A/N: Well, I finally have my own account and JanusGirl101 has hers. So I am going to be reposting my stories under my actual name. Yay!
This story is for all you Kurt haters out there. I personally don't have anything against him, but I couldn't resist writing this. I had originally posted this as a oneshot in my series Thinking About Her, but it really doesn't go. I don't see Ian this way at all, I was just having some fun. Hope you like it! Please review and let me know what you think.
Caution: Character death. BTW, I am assuming Kurt is about 18, since he is Professor Bardsley's college student.
Unfinished Business
Kurt tilted back his chair until it was balancing on the back legs, hands behind his head, feet propped up on the battered old table in front of him. He looked at the picture on the table and sighed. The girl in the picture was a bit dirty and rumpled, her hair mussed. She was smiling, but with a slightly wistful look in her eyes. He'd snapped it with his phone after helping to rescue her from that angry mob. He shook his head and smiled broadly. She and her brother sure knew how to get into trouble.
Too bad she lived so far away. Boston, America. I'll probably never see her again. He'd only known her a couple of days, but that had been enough to make an impression on him. They'd had fun together, even when getting out of trouble. She was smart and pretty, but shy. Kurt understood her. He'd been shy himself most of his life, until Professor Bardsley had taken him under his wing and helped him overcome his shyness. He would have liked to help Amy the same way.
They had exchanged e-mails and phone numbers. Maybe he would write to her. They could at least be friends by e-mail, if nothing else. She said she was going to be traveling some more, but maybe she'd get a chance to check her e-mails at some point and write back.
As Kurt was musing over this idea and planning what to say to Amy a black SUV made its way up the gravelly driveway. Hm, that's interesting. We don't usually get tourists this time of day. I wonder what they want.
A tall, dark boy got out of the passenger side of the SUV and strode purposefully toward the office. Kurt sat up, righting the chair with a loud thump. The boy seemed to be about Kurt's age, or slightly younger, and looked like he was from India, though when he spoke, it was in a very cultured British accent.
"Excuse me. I am interested in seeing the location where Winston Churchill hid in the mines. Do you know anything about that?" His tone and expression made it clear that he doubted Kurt knew anything at all.
"Churchill? That's funny, we don't get many asking about that, but some other people were here just the other day looking for the same thing. Americans. Really nice." Kurt glanced at the picture on the table, then back to the boy just in time to see him look at the picture too. His eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed with suspicion.
"Really? Americans? Did they say why they were interested in a British Prime Minister?"
"Yeah, actually, they did. They wanted to see if Churchill had written anything on the walls of the mine shaft where he hid."
"What did they look like? I might know them. There aren't that many of us interested in Churchill's South African experiences, after all. Who knows, we may have run into each other before." The boy acted disinterested when he asked, but Kurt could tell there was something more behind the question. Did he know them? He had seemed to recognize the picture of Amy, but he hadn't said anything. Strange. Still, he seemed okay…
"There were three of them. One was a girl, really pretty. Smart too. She seemed to know a whole lot about Churchill already."
The boy clenched his fists, but he nodded at Kurt, silently encouraging him to continue.
"She was with an older girl with punk hair and a nose ring and a boy. Crazy kid, almost got himself killed in the mine." Kurt heard the boy mumble something to himself that sounded like,
"That does sound like Dan."
Kurt grinned, "Yeah, that's his name, Dan. So you do know them!"
"Yes, it seems I do. You have described Amy and Dan Cahill, my cousins."
"That's them! Amy…" Kurt smiled, then continued cheerfully. "She's some girl. Beat me at chess, twice! No one beats me. She has a pretty singing voice, too. What's your name, by the way, cousin-of-Amy-and-Dan?"
The boy ignored his question. He suddenly looked angry. "You played chess with Amy?" he demanded.
"Yeah, she's good. Why? She's your cousin, didn't you know she plays chess?" I wonder what his problem is.
The boy looked angrier. "I knew that," he snapped. "I thought you said they went in the mine."
"Oh, that was Dan. Amy and I were playing chess to give him a chance to sneak over there and look around. The mine was closed to tourists, but he was so eager to have a look. I didn't think he'd actually go down in there."
"Did he find anything?" The boy's angry look had been replaced by curiosity and intense concentration.
"Actually, he did, right before he managed to collapse the whole mine shaft. We almost didn't get him out in time."
"Definitely something Dan would do. It would have been such a loss," the boy said sarcastically. "What did the message say?"
"Ah, it was some crazy rubbish poem. Something about hitting a shark. Didn't mean anything. Old Winnie obviously went a bit loopy staying down there for so long. Not surprising, really. I suppose anyone would." Kurt chuckled.
"Yeah, I suppose so. Could you take me to see it?"
"Nope, sorry. It's closed to everyone right now. Remember, I said the whole thing collapsed when Dan went down there. It's nothing but a big crater now, very dangerous and unstable. Any sudden movement could cause more to collapse."
"I just want to take a quick look. Then I can compare notes with my cousins. I can tell Dan I saw where he almost died. Here, will this help?" The boy tossed a folded bill on the table. Kurt could see it was a large amount. He took it, unfolded and studied it for a moment. This much money could help out a lot of people here in South Africa.
"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to take a quick look from a safe distance. You never did tell me your name, by the way."
"It's Ian. Ian Kabra."
"Nice to meet you, Ian. I'm Kurt. Well, come on. The mine shafts are out back, this way." He opened the rusty screen door at the back of the building and they stepped out into the blazing sunshine. As they walked Kurt realized he had the perfect opportunity to fish for information about Amy.
"So, Amy's your cousin? You don't look like her."
"We're actually distant cousins."
"Oh. So, do you know if she's dating anyone?" Kurt thought he heard a quiet growl come from Ian, but when he looked over Ian's face was perfectly indifferent.
"Not that I know of. You seem to like her, though," Ian responded stiffly.
Kurt grinned, "She's great. It's too bad she lives in America. I wouldn't mind seeing her a lot more. She gave me her e-mail address and phone number, though, so maybe we'll keep in touch. Who knows, we may run into each other again sometime. I have relatives in America. I might go visit them."
They had reached the yellow caution tape that bordered the danger zone. There was still a haze of dust in the air, and through it they could make out the jagged hole in the ground where the mine shaft had collapsed.
"Sorry, we can't go any further. We could cause more to collapse."
Ian ignored Kurt's warning and ducked under the tape, walking quickly towards the crater.
"Hey, Ian, wait! Stop! You can't go over there, you could get hurt!" yelled Kurt.
"Oh, I don't think so," responded Ian with a confident smirk.
Kurt sighed in frustration, then ducked under the tape and ran after Ian. He was standing right by the edge of the gaping hole, looking down into it. As Kurt ran up to him Ian calmly stuck his foot out. It happened so quickly that Kurt couldn't stop his momentum. His arms windmilled as he teetered on the edge of the crater. And then, as he thought he'd stopped himself from falling, Ian's hand came forward and patted him on the back. It was a light touch, but just enough to push him off balance. Kurt felt himself falling. Before he hit the jagged rocks below he thought he heard Ian say, in that cultured British voice,
"Sorry, I don't think Amy wants you to stay in contact."
Ian looked down at the motionless body on the rocks 20 feet below. He smiled grimly to himself, then abruptly turned and walked swiftly back to the waiting SUV. As he walked away he heard the rumble of collapsing rocks behind him. He brushed off the dust from his clothes and straightened his hair, then stepped into the car. He buckled himself into the soft leather front passenger seat and told the driver curtly,
"Back to the hotel." Then he sat back, satisfied. Mission accomplished. A Kabra never leaves unfinished business.
The End