"Hey Suichi, I think I saw your girlfriend out front." Hojo Takebe, CEO of Takebe Shipping, stopped by his stepson's desk. The redheaded young man looked up from his computer.
"You did?" He asked. "That's odd… she's usually at the University this time of day. Are you sure it was her, Father?"
"Quite sure." Takebe said, examining the small framed picture on Suichi's desk. "Yes, it's Tomoe all right. And she looks a little upset. It's almost lunchtime, Suichi. Why don't you go see what's bothering her?" He gave a kind smile. "You two fighting or something?"
It wasn't like Tomoe to be visibly upset about anything. That struck Kurama as odd. Had something happened at the University?
"If we are, it's the first I've heard of it." He stood and went to get his jacket. "I'll be back in an hour."
"Take your time." Takebe said, patting him fondly on the shoulder. "I'll give you an extra half hour if you pick up some lunch for me from Iwasaki's diner."
"You drive a hard bargain." Suichi chuckled.
He saw her pacing beside the reception desk. His steps slowed before he completely rounded the corner, and he quietly gauged her movements. She hadn't seen him yet. She was definitely agitated about something. Her arms were folded, her steps quicker than usual. But what was there to be angry about? She sometimes came to see him to rant for a while, but normally she came after classes were over. If she was skipping class, it meant something was urgent. Well, the only way to find out was to talk to her. He quickened his steps, as though he had just walked out of the elevator and hadn't been waiting and watching for a few minutes.
"Tomoe, you're here early." He kept his voice light and his pace casual. The dark-haired woman turned and frowned at him.
"Suichi, we need to talk. Now." Tomoe said.
"Father told me you were here, so I took a lunch break." He said. "Let's take a walk." He offered his arm, but she didn't take it. He settled for placing a hand on her back as they left the building.
"What's this about?" He asked, concerned. They had chosen a busy street to walk down. No one would care to eavesdrop on them here amid all the other commotion. From the doors of the building to now, Tomoe had not said a word.
"I had that dream again." She said finally.
"Is that what this is all about?" Kurama asked. He watched her carefully to gauge her reaction. "You've spoken to Genkai, Shizuru, and even Hiei about it."
"I sat with Kazuma in his History of the Samurai class today to talk to him, too." Tomoe went on, changing the subject. Kurama started to feel uneasy. History of the Samurai… the black cherry tree she'd been dreaming about… he had a feeling he knew where this was going, and he didn't like it one bit. His suspicions were confirmed when she pulled out her phone and showed him a photo of a textbook.
"That's you. Isn't it." She zoomed in to the silver fox in the painting. Kurama looked at the image for a long time, then sighed.
"Yes." He couldn't lie to her. She already knew it was him, it made no sense to deny it.
"Then who is this?" Tomoe zoomed into the female Samurai in the portrait. "You knew Tomoe Gozen, didn't you?"
Kurama nodded slowly. "When you live as long as I have, you run into the occasional historical figure."
"There was a legend that says she 'tamed' a fox spirit to stay at her side." Tomoe pressed. "I think you did a little more than 'ran into her'." She looked up at him accusingly.
"There's something you're not telling me, Kurama." She said. "Do you just have a thing for women named Tomoe? We look the same, maybe you're with me as a substitute because you can't get over her or something."
"That's ridiculous, Tomoe and you know it." Kurama soothed. Maybe she was just jealous of Tomoe Gozen. He could fix things if she was jealous easily enough. A little extra attention and reassurance and she'd be happy again.
"Do I?" Tomoe laughed coldly. "You know the story of Tomoe Gozen, so why haven't you ever told me? What's the connection between the two of us?"
Kurama sighed again. No, no this wasn't just jealousy. She was starting to put together the pieces of a puzzle he didn't want to see. He knew he couldn't say no to her now. Not with her worked up like this. She was nearly as stubborn as Yusuke when it came down to it. He turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders so she would look up at him.
"I'll tell you the whole story tonight. I promise." He said in resignation. "But I need to go back to work now."
"A convenient excuse." Tomoe muttered. "Fine. Pick me up from school at 5:30."
"I won't be late." He promised. Pulling her close for a brief embrace, he smiled down at her. "I should have told you a long time ago, anyway."
Tomoe didn't return the hug or the smile. He knew she wouldn't.
"5:30." He said again, then turned to go back to the office.
"What do you mean, she never came back?" Kurama had hunted Kuwabara down after he had driven to the University and Tomoe hadn't been waiting for him like she promised.
"We saw that picture in the book, she got mad and left, and I haven't seen her since this morning." Kuwabara shrugged. "I thought she was with you!" He frowned. "And what's with all this Tomoe Gozen stuff? The pictures look an awful lot like her, AND there's a legend that says she tamed a spirit fox! And since you're the only one I know… what's going on here?" He plodded along beside Kurama. "C'mon, you can tell me, buddy! I hate bein' out of the loop! What's going on?"
"It's… complicated." Kurama finally said. "And I'd rather not go into it just now, to be honest. First, I'd like to figure out where Tomoe is." He got out his phone and began to scroll through his contacts to find Kaito's number. "She may have gone to Kaito to see if he has any books in his collection about it. You call Yusuke to see if he knows anything."
"Come on, why don't you call him?" Kuwabara sighed. "All I've been doing today is playing butler for Tomoe, and now you come along and—"
"I wasn't asking, Kuwabara." There was something in that low note in Kurama's voice that Kuwabara really didn't like.