** and / indicate flashbacks.
Title: Gone
Summary: Kurama Floated Through Life Without Seeing. Lamenting, Wondering...
I found myself drawn to these places. I hardly find myself thinking anymore. I was aimless, wandering. Silent.
I stopped by the apartment building where I had lived as a child with my mother. It was abandoned, set up for demolition, taped and boarded. By the end of the month this place would be a vacant lot, replaced by some new, more expensive condos. And everyone would forget that people lived here, slept here, grew up here. Time would not permit itself to still. I sighed, touching the cracked door that was without a knob. I could open it, walk inside like nothing happened, like she would be at the kitchen table.
But, she wouldn't be. Because my mother was gone.
*Suichi are you alright?/yes mother.
Welcome home dear. How was your camping trip?/it was fine. The mountains are lovely this time of year.
*I love you baby./I love you mother.
...I walked away.
There was a playground, tucked away at the corner of the street that no one goes to. There is very little activity. There are two swings, a see saw, a slide. I went there often to sit beneath the large oak tree, gently stroking the initials so many have carved into its trunk. I would rest my chin on my knees, smiling as I remembered how Yusuke and Keiko had shown me this place once, reminiscing because this had been where they'd met. They came here often. When they were around.
Alive.
I closed my eyes, just listening to the sound of the wind, the creak of the swings that were moving gently back and forth, once moved by the legs if children I'd known as adults.
*Hey you wanna be best friends with me?
*Keiko, come on, you know you wanna go down the slide, for old times sake?
*Yusuke, Kurama, smile! Click.*
*Fox boy, you're such an old man./Very old, yes.
*Yusuke, stop being so-
I looked up, suddenly aware that I'd been dreaming, closing myself into the cocoon. Shaking my head, I went to the swing, pushed it gently with my Palm. They loved this swing. But no one loved it anymore.
Because they were gone.
I stared at the cafe next to the old apartment, where Kuwabarra often frequented, taking Yukina there to convince her to try the monthly drink specials.
Where I'd helped him study for math tests, college exams, where we'd gone for coffee, convincing ourselves we were normal humans. In the darkness, the street was empty. Businesses closed for the night.
*I'm telling you, kurama, you gotta try this./Somehow, I don't think I'll enjoy raspberry creme coffee./you're missing out!
*Look, I'm sorry that you have to help me with all this. I just don't get it.../Really, it's no trouble.
I sat down at one of the tables, staring at the reflection in the window. He looked so sad...
*You look.../Old, I know. You look the same as you did when I met you, Kurama.
*You wanna come over later, play video games?/So long as you don't tell anyone that Minamino Suichi indulges in such childish pastimes...
I looked down at my lap, feeling heavy. I cleared my throat; the sound was deafening.
Glancing at the menu. The prices have gone up. Kuwabarra would have a fit, insisting that four dollars was a ridiculous price to pay for drip coffee. "You'd get it anyway though," I whispered. But I guess it didn't matter what the prices were, or whether or not I ordered his favourite beverage.
Because Kuwabarra was gone...
*Hiei, you really should come down here./hn. I'm fine up here. I don't swim.
It wad getting cold, past midnight. I sat beneath The willow tree, stared out at the lake; still, eerie, reflecting the crescent moon in perfect surrealism.
*Hiei, I would like to ask you a question./Ha. Like I could shut you up./Where do you go, when you don't spend the night with me?
*How is Mukoro?/Annoying, as usual.
We used to come here after a fight. I would sit amongst the branches, watching the wind through the vines. Hiei would perch on the thick branches, dozing in the sunlight.
Occasionally, he came to me for help.
*I'm sorry. I was careless./Hn. Shut up and tighten the bandage. You're bleeding again.
But mostly when he visited, we would converse, or sit in silence.
/Kurama, you're still not finished with that book? You've been reading it for a week!/I'm reading it again, actually./you are very strange...
And what would Hiei have said to me if he saw me like this, staring up at our old tree?
/Hiei...I missed you./I missed you too. You look good.
/The detectives says we are best friends./Yes I would like to think we are. I certainly see you that way./hn. Guess so. Apparantly I have weird taste in friends...
What would he think of me, consistently wandering silent at night, spending my days in my home, staring at the wall?
I wonder if they'd call me crazy, tell me to snap out of It.
/Yo, Fox boy!
/Kurama, welcome back!
/Yusuke stop being so immature./nah, I'm good.
/Hn./
What would they say?
/Suichi, are you going out so late, again?/
...Nothing. Because they are all dead.
Only I remain.
END