Running Together
1: In the Apartment...
Ikuna's kimono slipped down her shoulder. She pulled it back up, balancing the ivy basket in one hand. The basket hooked perfectly onto the hangers she installed earlier that afternoon, when she noticed a neighbor watching her from his sliding glass window. The ivy spilled over the rim, and with time would grow to conceal her balcony from the watchful eyes of the family next door.
Henry mreowed for affection, gently clawing at his master's skirts. Ikuna smirked to herself and knelt down on her cushion beside his. She saw to the orange tuft of fur on his belly, and he stretched his paws up to the sunshine in contentment. She looked over the collection of plants she had arranged on the small balcony: herbs, balmy plants, a few orchids, and even a small planter box of sunflowers. She briefly considered the possibility of laying grass turf out on the floor, but decided the hassle couldn't be worth the result.
It had been a long few weeks, and smuggling various treasures over the border into the human world had been quite a chore. Manipulating the landlord's dreams to include her as a paying tenant had been an easy task—though convincing a human's brain to accept dream as reality these days rarely was—and after purchasing furniture and moving it around the apartment to her liking, Ikuna finally felt at peace with her decision to leave the demon world. She embraced the idea of a new life. No one from the Makai knew where she was, and she was comfortable in the anonymity provided by her new home.
She let her hair down from its ornate pins and combed it over her shoulder, a black curtain falling in waves around the knot in her obi. Her stunning features were favored in the Makai, from her long legs and thin wrists to her ample breasts and finely tipped horns poking through her hair. Her dark eyes rose to the sky, and she took a deep breath of human world sunshine and started the work of arranging branches and flowers into a stolen vase from an era long since passed.
A footstep sounded in the doorway.
Ikuna sprang to her feet and in one fluid motion, spun around and pressed her knife into the flesh of the intruder.
Kurama's breath caught in his throat, and Ikuna drank in the satisfaction of catching him as off guard as he did her. "How did you find me?" she asked, voice hard and low. Her eyes bore into Kurama's, preemptively searching for a lie.
"I went to Himo's," he said calmly, raising his hands in a show of surrender, "They informed me that you had left without word and haven't been seen in the area in weeks."
"Did you come to drag me back?" Ikuna asked coolly.
"On the contrary," Kurama placed a hand on Ikuna's, lowering it—and the knife—from his throat, "I've come to welcome you."
Ikuna stepped back, throwing a sideways look at the man before her, "That's rather peculiar," she dropped the knife on her cushion and folded her arms defensively, "considering demons are forbidden from entering the Ningenkai."
Kurama cracked a small smile, "That didn't seem to stop you."
"Is this blackmail? What do you want from me? Money? My body?"
He laughed, and Ikuna's face crumpled into a scowl.
"I don't get the joke."
"I'm sorry," he said, turning his smile back to her, "It's just that you seem to be far less informed than I thought."
"King Enki's decree was that no demon cause mischief in the human world," Ikuna said warily. She shifted from foot to foot.
"He didn't say anything about a demon inhabiting the human world peacefully."
She stared at him stupidly, "What are you trying to tell me?"
Kurama smiled at her apologetically.
Weeks of traveling to the Makai barrier, moving stashes of treasure from her old home in Himo's brothel to her new home in the Ningenkai, paying boatmen to transport her over rivers, and manipulating border patrol to allow herself safe, discreet passage. "So," she started, covering her mouth with her sleeve in chagrin, "I was allowed to stay here all along? You aren't going to tell your human friends to eliminate me?"
"I hate to think of the trouble you went through to get here," Kurama bit his thumb and turned away, "but I have to admit that it was all completely unnecessary. If anyone else on my team found you, they would have made a check-in visit at most, if only to get to know the demon next door."
"Ahhh…" Ikuna leaned against the balcony railing, "All the effort to get here without alerting the patrol, and it was for nothing. Oh, stop laughing, you old fool," she whacked Kurama lightly on the shoulder, but felt the corners of her mouth pulling up despite herself, "I haven't had a proper meal in years. How far out could you sense me?"
Kurama leaned against the doorframe, Henry mewing and curling around his leg. "Not very far. However, it wasn't your energy I caught first, but your scent."
Something buried centuries deep within Ikuna's chest stirred. She chuckled to herself and looked away, "Well, they say the sense of smell is closely linked to memory."
The words hung in the air. Distant chapters and memories fluttered about in the space between the two. A breeze blew through, rustling the ivy leaves, lifting Ikuna's and Kurama's hair off of their shoulders. In the silence, Henry hopped up on the balcony rail and stretched a paw out for attention.
"I've never known you to keep pets," Kurama said, lifting his hand for Henry to sniff. The cat seemed satisfied with whatever he identified and rubbed his head against Kurama's outstretched hand.
Ikuna watched him tend to Henry's ears and chin before deciding something, "Would you like to come inside?" she asked, letting her guard slip away. The friend of the former spirit detective was here to "check in" and not drag her back over the Makai barrier? She thought of all her wasted effort, "For obvious reasons I am unfortunately without customary refreshments except for human world whiskey and a few premium bottles of stolen wine."
Kurama laughed like velvet, and Ikuna felt her chest swell listening to it. "Unfortunately, I have to leave for class. I merely stopped by to welcome you to the neighborhood."
"Ha! No staying for a house warming drink with your old friend Yuki-Onna? You think you could have called first," Ikuna stepped forward to size Kurama up, "It's been two and a half human years since we last saw each other, you know. After the Makai Tournament you left without even a goodbye. Your human family must have some hold on you," she teased.
"I have put my mother through enough torment. I thought it would be a proper time to settle down and become a good son."
"Very noble of you. What are you learning at your human college, anyway?"
"I'm studying Chemistry, mostly."
"Bah," Ikuna waved her hand dismissively, "I taught you everything you need to know."
"Heh, humans don't really consider botanical alchemy as a science."
"One could argue that those patterns of thinking are the very reason why humans are so easy to kill."
Kurama's smile fell, and he grew serious as his eyes bore into Ikuna's. "You know," he said, "One might consider that a threat on humankind." Ikuna gaped at him for a moment, feeling her face grow pale.
He doesn't really think—
"Just kidding." His face split into a grin.
Ikuna gasped, "Oh you—" she whacked him on the arm again and broke into laughter, Kurama joining her. A breeze kicked up, swirling through their hair and clothes.
End Chapter 1
Noodle Note : Hey, thanks for giving this a read. If you liked it and you want more, please drop me a comment! I'd love to read what you have to say. I plan for this story to have a slow build, so I'd want to post chapters twice a week if possible. I'll hopefully see you next chapter. Take care! -NC xx
4/8/19 Note: Ikuna's modeled after the traditional beauty standard of thin and fair skinned. I don't believe that this is the only form of beauty out there, and I encourage all of us to actively seek beauty within ourselves 3