Jagamino
Chapter 7
March 21, 2006
It took Yusuke a full minute to recover. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, wrapping Kurama in a tight embrace.
"So you're the 'help' Koenma sent us!" Kuwabara said, watching Yusuke crush the Fox.
"Clearly," Hiei muttered, eyeing Yusuke disdainfully while he made a fool of himself.
Kurama resisted the urge to massage his rib cage when Yusuke finally let go to look him over, and grinning stupidly, commented how Kurama looked thinner. To which the Fox replied, "I should hope so," as he had been approximately fifty-five pounds heavier and resembling a slightly deflated beach ball when last the two had met- Not the sort of look he generally labeled attractive.
"But," Yusuke added, his surprise-induced high subsiding slightly, "how-?"
"We'll explain," Kurama promised, though the expression Hiei wore behind him clearly stated that Kurama alone would explain. "Kuwabara, you are married now?" Yusuke's earlier reference to Kuwabara's wife had not gone over his head.
"Oh yeah," the carrot-top replied enthusiastically. "To Yukina."
"I'm not surprised," Kurama said, smiling warmly. "Anyone would have seen that coming. Wouldn't you agree, Hiei?"
Hiei did not answer, opting instead to glare at his spouse, knowing that the redhead was currently wearing a smirk. 'You're not funny,' he informed Kurama, privately, within their own two minds.
The Fox ignored him. "When did you two marry?" he asked Kuwabara, craving to know what his friends had been doing for the past decade and a half, but also knowing he could not ask everyone everything all at once.
"We got married a few years after you . . . After Rikou and Takashi were born." Kurama's eyes flashed momentarily at the mention of his offspring's names; however, Kuwabara and Yusuke- and Hiei, as the Koorime was standing behind him and consequently could not see his face- did not notice.
"Yeah, and they go at it so much it's a wonder they don't have more children than they do," Yusuke added, relishing the expression that immediately darkened Hiei's face.
"Quit making us sound like rabbits, Urameshi!" Kuwabara growled, even if what Yusuke said was- though Kuwabara would deny it until he was hoarse- for the most part true.
"Children?" Kurama repeated.
"Twins," the carrot-top said. "Yuki and Haku. And Yukina's-"
"Kazuma, do you know if we have any-?" Yukina, having come to the door, stopped mid-sentence when she saw Kuwabara and Yusuke's companions. She turned several shades paler, her coloring quickly going from that of milk to a hue resembling a brand new sheet of paper.
"Um, Yukina . . ." Kuwabara trailed off as she marched past him, and suddenly flung herself at Hiei, making a living medallion of herself, fastened tightly around the Jaganshi's neck and sobbing hysterically. Her tears solidified and made a clattering noise as they hit the planks of the porch and scattered like marbles; Hiei's feet slid on the perfectly rounded gems and he fell backwards, but caught the railing clumsily and managed to steady himself. "I didn't let her fall!" he hissed at Kuwabara, who had swiftly approached the swaying siblings anxiously. Hiei redirected his glare to include Kurama, too, who had reacted similar to Kuwabara, but more out of the concern that Hiei might fall and crack his skull.
"What's going- Kurama!" The unfortunate Fox caught only a moment's flash of blue before the breath was crushed out of him as Botan wrapped her arms around him tighter than a corset.
"It's . . . good to see you, too . . . Botan," he gasped, smiling painfully at the ferry-girl, who was almost crying. "Botan . . . please don't take offense . . . but I can't breathe."
"Oh!" She promptly let go, grinning sheepishly as he inhaled deeply.
"What's going on?" Keiko asked slowly, watching the spectacle.
"Oh, hey Keiko," Yusuke said. "Turns out I do know the help after all."
"I see . . ." Keiko murmured, watching their previously-deceased friends with tears in her eyes but restraining the urge to affectionately crush them like the others had. "How?"
"They haven't gotten to that part yet," Yusuke said. "Kuwabara, is she going to be okay?" Yukina was still bawling.
"She's fine," the carrot-top told him, not looking the least bit worried.
"I'd wager the hormones are contributing to it," Kurama said, having noticed Yukina's thickened waist. "I cried all the time, almost."
"You were also depressed," Yusuke could not help but add. He immediately regretted it- Botan yelled at him, Keiko slapped him, and Kuwabara retorted that Yukina's mentality was perfectly healthy. Kurama, however, did not seem remotely offended, murmuring in a thoughtful voice that Yusuke did have a point.
"I suppose you would all like an explanation?" he inquired.
They had convened themselves in Kuwabara and Yukina's living room. Botan, Keiko, and Yusuke sat on one couch, the remaining two couples sat on the one opposite. Yukina still clung to Hiei, who looked slightly uncomfortable with this arrangement but tolerated it.
"Koenma asked us if we were willing to return," Kurama began.
"What!" Botan shouted angrily.
"He told us about the demon Ukime," the redhead continued, ignoring Botan's outburst. "He thought that, dead or alive, Hiei and I were best qualified to help."
"How come I didn't know?" the ferry-girl demanded.
"A woman named Ayame retrieved us from the Land of the Dead," Kurama supplied, wincing and rubbing his temples when she began screaming. "I'm sure you were busy with another task-"
"After all," she ranted angrily, "I'm the one who took both of you over the Divide! He could have at least told me he was reviving you two-"
"But your bodies," Yusuke said, leaning over and examining him closely. "How could he revive you after this much time?"
"We weren't revived in the same manner as you were, Yusuke," Kurama told him. "You were returned to your original body. Ours- most, at least- are still buried beneath the Sakura."
He received several confused stares. "What do you mean, most?" Keiko asked.
"Koenma had pieces extracted," he answered. "About two months ago."
"What?" Yusuke asked weakly. Suddenly he remembered the state of the graves last time he visited them, how the ground looked disturbed, as though turned . . .
"You mean . . . He had you dug up?" Kuwabara pulled a face.
"It's only bone and a little flesh still," Kurama said with a shrug. "Koenma meant no disrespect. Specimens were required to begin the regeneration process. Observe." He pulled up his sleeve and extended his lower arm.
Yusuke stared. "What am I supposed to see?"
"That's just it, you don't see anything."
"Uh . . . I don't get it."
"Wait," Kuwabara said as it dawned on him. "Your scars are gone."
"What scars?" Hiei asked sharply.
"Oh yeah," Yusuke said, remembering now- it seemed so long ago- that soon after Hiei's death, Kurama, during the examination that would diagnose his pregnancy, had at the orders of Koenma's doctor bared his arms and, to their horror, revealed the mutilated fruit of his grief. "So . . . everything is gone?" He was thinking of another disturbing time when he had seen the remnants of the sadistic acts performed by a creature that called itself the Mushiyori Butcher.
"Yes," Kurama affirmed, an image of the Butcher's face flashing through his mind too. "Cuts, burns- any sort of scar, really." He smiled wryly. "Stretch marks and- as you noticed earlier, Yusuke- baby weight, too."
"Lucky!" Yukina exclaimed, glaring at him jealously.
"Similarly, Hiei's chest is no longer ruptured," Kurama continued, running one hand over the aforementioned body part and pulling down Hiei's collar to expose the flesh there. (Hiei narrowed his eyes, but allowed it.) "As you can see."
Everyone nodded, still adjusting to seeing the pair alive. "Do you two have anyplace to stay?" Keiko asked.
"We checked into a hotel this afternoon," Kurama answered.
"Hey," Kuwabara said, "does your mom-?"
"No," the redhead interrupted. "Not yet." To his friends' surprise, he did not ask as to how Shiori was, or anyone else in his family, for that matter. Yusuke was about to supply this information anyhow, when suddenly Kurama looked around and said, "Kuwabara, Yukina, where are your children?" He had just noticed that for a home containing two five-year-olds, it was astonishingly quiet.
"They're . . . at your house, actually."
"Kuwabara, I haven't lived in that house for sixteen years," Kurama said quietly.
"Well, I have to pick them up anyhow. I could drop you guys off at wherever you're staying."
The Fox shook his head. "No, thank you. I'd rather walk; reacquaint myself with the city more personally."
This refusal did not sit well with his friends. "No way!" Yusuke said. "What if somebody jumps you or something?"
Kurama ran a hand through his hair, as though frustrated, and then held up something between two fingers. Upon further examination, Yusuke found it to be a seed. "I'm sure we'll be quite fine," he said. He shrugged off further protest, and he and Hiei rose and followed Kuwabara outside, where the others soon joined them.
"Are you sure you don't want a ride?" Kuwabara asked, starting the car. Kurama, speaking for both Hiei and himself, again declined, waving as the carrot-top pulled out of the driveway and disappeared down the street.
"Do you want to meet somewhere tomorrow?" Yusuke asked Kurama.
Kurama glanced at Hiei, who shrugged. "That'd be fine. Do you still own that shop?" He asked this because, like the hotel he had selected, it was a fair distance away from his old neighborhood and would thus (he hoped) lessen the chances of sixteen-years-dead Suichi Minamino being recognized by someone.
"Which one?" Kurama furrowed his brows slightly, not following Yusuke.
"We have a few restaurants around town," Keiko explained. "You want to meet in the one downtown?"
Kurama nodded vaguely, as though he were not all there. "I remember when Yusuke came to me for advice on that," he said absently, holding up her left hand and running his thumb over one of the rings on her wedding finger.
"We've been married for sixteen years," Yusuke said.
"That is a long time," Kurama murmured.
"Our parents were pretty pissed with us; I don't think they talked to us for almost a month."
Kurama quirked an eyebrow, obviously shocked. "Why? Didn't they expect it to happen eventually?"
"Yeah, but they didn't expect us to 'elope'," Keiko said. "We had out first wedding at the temple. We figured there'd be too much to explain to them if they were there."
The redhead nodded thoughtfully. Timeless martial artist women, giant blue phoenixes . . . 'Graves,' he could not help but think, though he supposed that was not an uncommon sight at such places.
"So we had a second wedding," she said, "at that same place your mother had hers."
"That is a lovely place," Kurama said. Still no questions about his family.
Hiei shifted on his feet, wanting to return to their room. He patted Kurama on the butt gently. 'Let's go.'
Yusuke stared at the physical display. He had not known about them until after . . . And when he had briefly seen them together again, Kurama had been so weak and Hiei had been crying, he had had other things on his mind then . . . These displays of romantic affection, even after this much time, would take some getting used to.
'Okay,' Kurama told Hiei. "Is noon tomorrow all right?" he asked. They nodded. "All right then. Good night." Hiei enthusiastically followed, having grown uncomfortable with Yukina staring at him through the window.
"Hey!" Yusuke shouted after them. "Don't get yourselves killed or anything."
"Historically speaking, Yusuke," Kurama called over his shoulder, "that is something we ought to be requesting of you."
Kurama rubbed his side, wincing slightly. "I think Botan might have broken something," he joked. "How's your neck?" Yukina's grip had left bruises.
"What scars were you talking about?" Hiei asked.
"What?"
"Earlier . . . You held out your arm . . ." Hiei mimicked the action. "What scars?"
"Oh." Kurama looked uncomfortable.
"I never saw any scars on your arms," Hiei said. "No major ones, at least."
"That . . . would be because these scars appeared after you . . ." He gestured listlessly with one hand.
"The bastard?"
That was Hiei's favorite term for the Mushiyori Butcher. "No," he said. "I got these before."
"From where?"
"Myself," he answered, after a moment's hesitation. "I . . . dabbled, you could say, after you died." Hiei's face paled ever so slightly. "I suppose I was searching for something I could control- Well, figuratively speaking. It's difficult to maintain control over something that's addictive, especially when you don't care whether you live or die-" He stopped when he realized Hiei had begun to shake. "I did stop, though. Myself is one thing, but when I found out . . ." Kurama shrugged. "One might compare it to when a woman gives up the cigarettes, the nicotine and endorphins that she is so addicted to, for the well-being of her child." He shrugged again.
"Why start a vice like that to begin with?" Hiei grumbled.
"I don't know," Kurama said. "But I don't think a person thinks about those sorts of things when they're depressed and plotting to end their own life."
"Are you trying to make me feel bad?" the Koorime growled, obviously upset.
He smiled. "No, I'm not trying to guilt-trip you. You had nothing to do with it." Hiei snorted. "You didn't," Kurama insisted. "It's not as though you bought me the razors and showed me how to cut-" Hiei groaned loudly. "But it doesn't anyway!" Kurama told him. "It was a long time ago."
"You don't do it anymore?" Hiei inquired, scrutinizing him in a manner Kurama found comical.
Hiei was behaving ridiculously, but the Fox thought it best not to tell him that. "No, Hiei. It would be hard to inflict bodily harm on myself if I no longer possess a body to harm, right?"
"You've been congregating with the smart ass too much," Hiei muttered.
Kurama grinned. "But I enjoy the time you and I spend together so much!" he said.
Hiei rolled his eyes. He had meant Kuronue. "To answer your question," he said, gesturing to his neck, "I'll live." His stomach growled. "Are you hungry?" he asked Kurama.
He smiled, having heard Hiei's hunger. "Ravenous."
They ordered room service, and were soon scarfing down their meal. First thing they had done upon arrival to the Ningenkai, before checking into the hotel even, was going out for ice cream (Hiei's idea, surprisingly); both were grateful for real food.
It was awkward, Kurama thought, watching Hiei chow down. 'He should have told me earlier he was hungry,' he thought, before his focus went back to the incident at the restaurant. It was a small establishment, and they sat at a table in the back corner, receiving odd looks from the mother and father of the family sitting the next table over. Their appearing as a couple (there had been the holding of hands and a kiss) had not provoked the staring, and unlike in the past, Hiei was not the cause either- Kurama was. The Fox kept his face turned down and his eyes focused on the grain of the wooden tabletop the entire time, conversing with Hiei in low, nearly inaudible murmurs. It certainly would not surprise him if Suichi Minamino's death was common knowledge; he did not brag, but it was fact that his prodigious traits were as famous as Yusuke's delinquency. He looked not a day over twenty- how old would he have been now, physically? 36? 37?
Koenma practically begged them to return to the Living World. Hiei resisted. Koenma explained how the current crisis with Ukime could result in a collapse of the Divide; Hiei retorted that if that were the case, then they would be able to return to life either way if they wanted to. Koenma argued the chaotic consequences that would result; Hiei said the world was already chaotic, and he could really care less. Koenma said Yusuke and Kuwabara could not possibly work on this alone; Hiei said to let the living worry about the Living World, why didn't he put his Spirit World dogs to work?
Kurama abstained from the discussion, having mixed feelings. He already cheated death once, and knew Hiei was right and Koenma possessed other, living people to perform this task. On the other hand, to say there would be benefits would be a gross understatement . . .
Kuronue had advocated the return to the Living World. "The opportunity of a 'lifetime'," he joked during one of their times together. "You'll be sore with yourself later if you turn it down." He convinced Kurama, and soon Hiei (reluctantly) gave in, informing Koenma that he too would return to the Living World.
It was difficult, waiting for the new bodies' completion. These were not to be reincarnations, no rebirths, no- certain precautions had to be taken. It took longer for Hiei- extra care was taken for the Jagan and the Dragon, as they were things he had not been born with but had acquired during his life. Kurama woke first. He remembered opening his eyes; drawing his first breath and filling his new lungs with air; his consciousness awakening as he became aware of the activity happening around him. He was in a laboratory, wet, naked, disoriented, but alive.
Hiei had not woken yet. He could see his lover's body in its tank; it wasn't completely formed, reminding Kurama of some enlarged demonic fetus. It was disturbing to him.
He soon began shivering. "Here," someone said, handing him a blanket. Kurama took it, moving his arm stiffly. He tried voicing his gratitude, but his mouth would not form the words, and he ended up murmuring a string of babyish sounds. His eyes widened when he realized he could not talk, his cheeks began to burn. "You'll have to practice at forming your words before you'll be able to speak properly." He nodded, slowly, knowing he had heard that voice before. When he looked up he froze. 'Yomi,' he thought, directing it toward the other demon.
"It's been a while, Kurama," Yomi said, helping the Fox up. He stumbled, finding that he had to lean on Yomi to keep from falling. 'This again,' he thought resignedly, thinking of his impatience before when learning how to properly function in a human body. At least this time he would not have to start over as an infant.
"Let me look at him." Suddenly he found his face held between the thumb and first two fingers of Mukuro's right hand. He shuddered; this hand was made of metal and very cold. She inspected his face closely, and then pulled back Kurama's blanket, making him shiver worse. "You don't look malformed or anything," she observed, returning his blanket. He stared mutely, wondering exactly where in the Makai they were.
Mukuro redirected her attention to the underdeveloped Koorime in the tank. "He'll be with us by the end of the week," she told Kurama. He nodded, staring at Hiei.
Yomi escorted him to a room. Kurama managed to stumble on his own to the bed, nodding dumbly while Yomi talked to him. Surprisingly there was no scorn, not even subtle talking down to him about the bloated, weepy creature he had been during the last months of his life. Not Yomi's usual compassion, Kurama thought. He wondered at this for some time while their relatively one-sided conversation ensued, until in the doorway appeared his answer- a demon who Kurama thought looked like a perfect duplicate of Yomi from a long time ago, when they were both much younger. His son, Kurama realized. Shura, all grown up.
This adult Shura stared at him, and Kurama, becoming very aware of his nakedness, clutched the blanket around himself tighter. He met Shura's stare with one of his own, startled, the passage of time becoming very real to him all of a sudden.
After a minute Shura crossed his eyes, screwed up his face, and stuck out his tongue. "Nyuh!" he went, lips curling into a mischievous grin. Kurama stared a moment longer, and then began to laugh, something he did not have to relearn how to do.
As Mukuro had predicted, Hiei awoke and emerged from the tank at the end of the week. It was the middle of the night, and Kurama was sleeping when a disturbance in his room woke him up. Mukuro had come in, her arm wrapped around what a stranger would have thought to be a half-asleep child, in need of escort back to its bed. But Kurama knew this was no child, and sat up, pulling back the covers to receive Hiei, embracing the smaller form and crying softly. He had worked for several days, conditioning the muscles of his mouth, so that he might be able to say aloud, "Hiei."
For the better part of two months the revived pair had done nothing- with the exception of attending to bodily necessities such as sleeping- but work to regain the skills they had possessed prior to death. Sitting here now, on the bed of the hotel room, doing nothing, felt luxuriously great. Kurama stretched, yawning, and rose, walking to the window. He leaned over on the frame, looking outside at all the lights, cars, speeding along on the street. It had been so long since he saw anything of the Human World that it felt rather foreign to him now. Was this how Hiei had felt before, when he was made a prisoner by the Spirit World on a plane that was not his? At least Kurama had chosen to come to the Ningenkai, even if out of desperation.
Hiei glanced up, and then quickly redirected his gaze to the food. Kurama was bent over, and filled out the pants he wore quite nicely . . . Hiei swallowed, quickly reaching for his water glass. In the two months they'd had flesh, an entire two months, they hadn't . . .
He coughed. "When are you going to contact them?" he asked.
"Hm?" Kurama turned around, now using the windowsill as a sort of chair. He wore an odd expression, one that was a mixture of thoughtful and troubled. "Perhaps we shouldn't contact them at all," he murmured.
"What?"
"Should we interfere with their lives if they're happy?" Kurama said. "Rikou and Takashi might not even remember us. Would it really be fair?"
"I want to see them," Hiei said flatly.
Kurama blinked. "What?"
"You might have been the one who got sick and swelled up and went into labor, but I was there for parts. They're my children, too."
He had to smile a little at Hiei's bluntness. "I had no idea you could be so paternal, Hiei."
The Koorime rolled his eyes. "Besides," he added, "we don't know how long we'll be here- Do you really think you can stay away from them while living in the same city for a month; six months; a year? So far you haven't managed one day."
Kurama frowned, but did not move to defend himself. Earlier, in an act of rashness and bad judgment, he now admitted, he had dragged Hiei up near the Meiou school, right when the students were let out. Hiei didn't even bother asking, he already knew what they were doing.
They did not have to wait long. Descending the steps of the school was a small group of rather eccentric-looking students. There was a girl, who right there in the middle of the sidewalk was hastily stripping herself- and receiving many stares- of her bright red jacket and skirt uniform, revealing another outfit underneath of black pants and a white "poet's shirt" with lace around the collar and cuffs. Her hair was black with aqua streaks, and even across the street it was hard for the pair of sharp-eyed demons to miss the bright green color of her eyes.
"That's the one who ratted me out to Yukina," Hiei muttered.
"I don't recall it going quite like that," Kurama said to him.
Waiting on the girl was a boy with red hair of a punky shade- though both watchers knew it to be natural- pulled back in a scraggly pony tail. He was tapping a foot impatiently while conversing with a boy with dark blue dyed hair. He kept shifting on his feet, edgy, as though uncomfortable in his uniform, but unlike the girl without another pair of clothes.
With perhaps the exception of the blue-haired boy, they were the most bizarre-looking students in the crowd, but they passed as human. Nobody would think them demons.
Kurama pursed his lips. A large boy, perhaps too muscular to be all-natural, had come up behind the group, taunting the two boys with a sneer on his face. Even from across the street, they could hear the insults.
"What the hell's a fag?" Hiei muttered.
Kurama clenched his fists. "It's human slang, a vulgarity. A term some people use to describe a boy or a man they think is gay or 'girly' in behavior, or perhaps a person they just don't like." Hiei noted Kurama's tone, and wondered if the Fox had suffered such insults before.
Takashi was now making bizarre hand gestures toward his body, talking to the bully with a sly smile on his face. The boy's face turned red and he took a swing at Takashi, who swiftly dodged it. Hiei laughed.
"What?" Kurama asked, not hearing what Hiei had.
"You and Takashi appear to have conflicting definitions for that word," Hiei informed him. "According to him, it's an acronym for Flexible And Gorgeous- and while he's flattered, that big oaf there is not worthy of him, and would have better luck seeking members of his own species." Hiei smirked. "He suggests that the idiot try picking up a date at the ape house."
Kurama laughed, wishing he had come up with something like that.
A teacher shouted at the group, who immediately dispersed. Hiei grabbed Kurama by the wrist and quickly pulled him out of sight. "Stealthy," he told the Fox sarcastically.
"That was different," Kurama said indignantly. "That . . . I wanted to see them is all."
"Uh-huh," said an unconvinced Hiei. "And that glimpse is enough for you? And what about your mother, and the man and the boy?"
Kurama pretended not to hear, and lay down on the bed. "Want to know something?" he said. "Everything here feels strange to me now, even things that were the everyday mundane to me before. It's as though I'm not of this world now, anymore than you are."
"You were never of this world," Hiei reminded him, though his tone was not harsh.
"Yes, but assimilation never required an effort before. It was not difficult for me."
"Maybe it's coming back from the dead that's difficult," Hiei said, playing with Kurama's hair. Kurama did not reply, instead laying his head in Hiei's lap. This was perhaps the most intimate they had been physically since they had woken up . . .
"This arouses you?" Kurama asked, though he could already feel the answer.
"Huh? No."
"You lie," he murmured, turning over now so he knelt in front of Hiei. "But I forgive you." Hiei drew a breath as Kurama undid his belts, and then his pants. The Koorime wasn't wearing underwear, providing easy access to Kurama, who giving Hiei a sultry look lowered his head, red hair quickly concealing his face. Hiei widened his eyes, taking a few shaky breaths and shuddering a little, letting his eyes roll back inside his head after a minute.
The Fox swirled his tongue around Hiei, closing his eyes and allowing experience to take over. His body gave a shudder of its own as he breathed in Hiei's scent, felt Hiei swell in his mouth, tasted Hiei on his tongue.
Hiei moaned and spread his legs to give Kurama better access. "Keep going," he asked in a low voice, fingers wrapping themselves in red hair. "Ah- Ah . . . !" The muscles of his legs tightened, his toes curled and dug into the sheets.
Kurama propped himself up on his elbows and gave Hiei a small triumphant grin. He flicked out his tongue, and slowly, deliberately, licked his lips clean of all remaining traces of Hiei, while the Koorime stared. "What about you?" he asked Kurama drowsily.
"I'll be fine," Kurama said, refastening Hiei's pants for him. "Besides," he added, smirking, "nobody has ever fallen asleep in me, on me, under me- Whatever, and I'll not have you tarnishing my record." And laughing at the sardonic look that Hiei wore, he pushed the Jaganshi aside, and threw the covers carelessly over him, and then curled himself into a ball beside Hiei but atop the bedding so as to discourage his lover from pursuing him further tonight. "Sleep tight," he told Hiei, who in reply shot him a look that he found most amusing.
He had not slept long, but to him it seemed much later when he awoke. Hiei was still asleep; he rolled over onto his side and looked out the window form the corner of his eye. Though he could not see, he guessed that there were less lights moving on the street below now than there was earlier. It was late- Would she be up, he wondered.
She had been a beautiful creature, vibrant, the day he had sought refuge, and hidden himself away in there, though at the time he had been too self-centered to take much notice. She was still beautiful, though not as young of course, the day he died. What was she like now? He had left her slave again, mother to a new generation of demonic offspring to tend to, at an age when most women were experiencing that process when their organs were shutting down, never again to produce even the possibility of another baby. Was that happening to her when he was still alive? He'd never thought to notice. Was her hair grayer now? Did her face have more wrinkles? Had she maintained her health since he had gone?
Without thinking he eyes slid away from the window and rested on the phone. Did he dare . . . ?
Yes, he answered- as he held the phone to his ear, having already dialed the number. Was it still their number? What time was it, was she even up?
"Hello?" a female voice asked on the other end of the line.
This voice was not his mother's. Most likely its owner was not even in the same age group as her. His stomach lurched when it dawned on him who the voice might belong to.
"Is Shiori Hatanaka there?" he asked the girl who, unless his family had moved, he was certain to be his daughter Rikou.
"Yes . . . Hang on a minute."
It really was only a minute, perhaps even less, before another person took the phone. "Hello?"
He knew this voice well. Would she recognize his? "Do you know who this is?" he asked.
"What?" She sounded confused.
"Do you remember that day, when I died?" Silence on the other end. "It was in the afternoon, I think, in your arms. You were telling me about the day you gave birth to me. My heart quit beating before you even told me how that day was the happiest of your life."
"Who is this?" Shiori's voice was tinged with an anxiety of sorts.
"And you buried me under the Sakura, next to Hiei, like I wanted. And you raised my children. I hope that neither of them has behaved like the brat that I was to you."
"Who are you?" She was upset, understandably. He would not avoid it any longer.
"This is Kurama- Suichi," he corrected himself. "I'm alive, Mother. I'm here in the city." And to no surprise of his, she began to cry. "I have missed you, Mother; I would like to see you . . ."
Hiei stretched himself and opened his eyes partially, groggily. He cricked his head to one side, and was mildly startled to find that Kurama was not in bed beside him. No- Kurama sat curled up in a chair beside the table, holding the phone to his ear and quietly crying.
