12
Woo, a new chapter, between tests too, hahaha. Oh i'm so bad, i was supposed to be reading thirty pages, instead I did about ten and wrote this. Random note: I will be bringing el yoko back at some point, but I don't think I'll get the right set up for it for a while, le sigh, but these things cannot be rushed. Why else give a wanring unless such a situation will arise? muwahaha. I liked writing the character but I haven't seen enough cannon to be confident in my own version, so hopefully I'll at least have more background there by the time its time to bring him out again
The book store was cool and relatively dark after the blazing daylight outside. They wandered through the tall rows of shelves, at first just browsing the selection. Gwen wandered back and forth down the aisles, picking up random books and reading the back covers. Sometimes she would find very strange ones and call Kurama to read the summary as well. She would wait until he finished it or made some comment before letting her laughter loose and dancing down the aisle to find something else, leaving him to squeeze the volume back onto the shelf.
Slowly, they made their way to the back where the textbooks were stocked. Gwen pulled a list from her purse and went off in pursuit of the few books she still had to track down. Kurama decided to look over the types of textbooks they had and the variety of classes offered. He went to the biology section first in search of botany books. After browsing through thick bricks filled with detailed diagrams he heard the patter of feet and looked up to see Gwen go dashing by the aisle. More curious than he would have admitted, he left his section and wandered after her. He passed the business majors all scattered among books on economics and corporate structure, past the stories of Greek gods and goddesses and illustrations of atoms. He found her in the history section digging through a pile of used books for one in decent shape. She looked up with the slightly impish grin of a child let loose in a toy store as she pried out a book.
"Hey, can you run down to the anthro section and grab 102's second book for me?"
"Of course," he replied, not exactly able to translate 'anthro' but he assumed it would be near the far wall since everything seemed to be arranged alphabetically.
By the time he found the book and returned she was gone. He turned around on the spot as if she had ducked behind him, but only found other students wandering past, looking disoriented and flustered. He left the aisle and continued on down the alphabet, hoping to find his hostess. He looked down every aisle, every row, looked around corners, and found himself at the end of the textbook section without having found Gwen. He turned around on the spot, eyes scanning over shelves, books, aisles and people, all whirling around him, but no sight of the girl. He stopped and took a deep breath.
'I must be logical, she must be here somewhere. She would not have left without me. I will just look through the aisles again.'
"There you are!" Kurama jumped and looked behind him to see the girl standing there shaking her head. She was holding a small stack of books and tapping her foot. "I was worried you'd run off again. Ready to go?"
"Yes, I was actually just looking for you, but you weren't where I'd left you."
"Well you can't expect me to stay still. Funny that you had trouble finding me though!" She laughed and led the way to the cash register with him following after.
The books Gwen needed weren't heavy, and there weren't very many of them, but she refused to let Kurama help her carry them. Whenever he tried to reach for them she would skip out of the way while waving the bags and laughing. She kept making little teasing comments as well about him being in a delicate condition and unfit for heavy lifting. It sounded too much like she was implying pregnancy, instead of injuries, for his tastes
"Gwen! I carried your groceries up to the second floor didn't I?" She stuck her tongue out and nearly tripped over the uneven path. He jumped forward and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet.
"AHH! Kurama, put me down!" she yelled as she felt her feet hanging in the air.
"Not until you retract your previous statements."
"I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request," she snapped back.
"Fine," he said evenly, sweeping a hand under her legs and hoisting her into his arms.
"Alright! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Just put me down before you drop me!"
He lowered her back to the ground and she took a few deep breaths as he chuckled. She began to emit a low growl and he looked over in some concern to find her narrowed eyes fixed on him as her hand tightened on the bag of books she was holding. She swung suddenly and he jumped out of the way.
"Come back here so I can hit you!" Gwen yelled, running after him.
"Gwen! Calm down!" He jumped a bit farther ahead as she swung again.
"I refuse to calm down!" she shouted as she continued running, though there was no way she could catch the demon if he did not want to be caught. They ran all the way back to her dorm. Gwen came to a stop, panting and sweating and glared at her unruffled companion.
"Je te deteste."
"Excuse me?"
"Argh."
She shoved the bag of school books at him and reached for her keys. He watched in some amusement as she opened the door and stomped into the hallway. She let out a groan as she saw the stairs and began dragging herself up them.
"You shouldn't have run all that way," he said pleasantly as he followed her up the stairs.
"Arrr."
They finished the walk upstairs and down the hall to Gwen's room. She threw open the door and trudged in, dropping her purse on the desk and collapsing headlong on her bed. Kurama set down the bag he was carrying and gently closed the door. He sat down on the futon and looked over and the girl's unmoving body.
"Gwen, are you alright?"
"Nnrgh. Need sleep."
"Well you were up early, but it is only dinner time."
"Ramen tonight," she muttered, rolling over and throwing her arm out. "Ow," she whined as it hit the cinderblock wall. "Ok, shower first, then I'll cook something, then I'll go to bed. That sounds good." She pushed herself to a sitting position and dragged her hair from her face. "Ok, out you get, I'm changing."
"What?" he asked, a slight pink tinge coming to his features.
"I'm not comfortable being naked in the same room with a strange boy!"
"Why don't you change in the bathroom?" he asked as he watched her walk to her closet and drag out a towel and her shower caddy.
"Because then I have to carry my clothes back here when I'm all wet. Come on, get out. Go make friends in the lounge or something."
He rolled his eyes, but got up and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Gwen double checked to make sure the door was closed before tossing off her clothes and pulling the towel tightly around her body. She slipped into her shower shoes and picked up her shower caddy as she headed for the bathroom. Hall bathrooms were an interesting experience, but they made you more comfortable with others, or at least most people got to the point of being too lazy to care.
There was a soft rap on the door and Gwen looked up from drying her hair.
"C'm'in!"
The door opened slowly and Kurama poked his head around. "May I come back in now?"
"Yes you can come in," Gwen laughed. "I'm gonna be lazy on food tonight and just make macaroni and cheese I think. Is that okay?"
"That's fine, I will be happy to try it," he said as he went to his drawer in the dresser. They had decided he couldn't exactly live out of a suitcase so his clothes were hanging in Gwen's closet, or in the bottom drawer of her dresser.
"You haven't had it before? Then I definitely have to make it! So, what are you doing?" She glanced around to seem him taking a towel out of the closet.
"I was going to follow your example and take a shower."
"And leave me to do all the cooking, I see how it is," she teased as she took out a pot and began tossing things into it. "Well go off and get clean you stinky boy!"
"I do not smell stinky," he replied in an offended tone.
"I was joking, sheesh," she rolled her eyes and shook her head before slipping into her flip-flops and shuffling off down the hall.
Kurama let out a huff and went to shower. His little human was indeed quite some character. She teased and taunted him, intentionally provoking him in ways even Yusuke had avoided when he was joking. She was also ready to stand up to him and fight him over anything and everything in spite of his obviously superior strength. It was amusing when it was not disconcerting. Her friends were more even disconcerting, and unexpectedly raunchy. He shuddered to think what they would be like while intoxicated and felt more than a little grateful that Gwen had said she refrained from such behavior. All in all he was sure he would survive easily, most probably have a very comfortable time here, but that was what he was afraid of.
Gwen was trying to boil water in the kitchen and flipping through one of her next text books. 'I can't get too attached,' she thought as she viciously turned a page. 'Now I'm cooking for him, we'll be eating together all the time. And he'll probably follow me to class, my lectures at least. Jeeze. If I develop a dislike of him I'll never be able to deal with him, but there's no way I can not like him. And if we get to be friends…well how much longer is he going to be here, a week, maybe two at tops? I can deal with that, there's no way you can form a tight bond in two weeks, except at college… Damnit brain shut up!' She noticed the water was boiling at last and jumped up from her seat on the counter to add the macaroni. "Argh, boys." 'Well, if I find a boyfriend, that'd be a distraction from the hot, smart, cutely awkward guy living in my room. Riight.'
She finished her cooking and went back to the room balancing the pot and other ingredients in her arms. "Oh my god, why are you not dressed?! Put some pants on!" she exclaimed, coming in and kicking the door closed. Kurama jumped where he was standing at the dresser and flushed as he looked back at her.
"I was trying to find gauze or some other bandages," he replied defensively but avoided turning completely to face her. "My wounds have reopened to a degree."
"Well obviously!" she replied as she swept papers to the side of her desk, making room for the things in her arms. "That's what happens when scabs get wet. Here I'll find the gauze, but don't just stand there in a towel!" She pulled out a storage tub from under her bed and began sorting through it.
"I must admit I am surprised by the level of discomfort you show around me," he said slowly.
Her head jerked around, her face flushed as a deep blush set in and her eyes showed concern, worry that she had hurt his feelings. 'It's my own mind I'm not comfortable with right now,' she thought as her eyes flicked over his chest. She mentally slapped herself several times and forced herself back to looking through the bin. "It's not, it'sjust, just I'm, not used to boys. It takes some getting used to." 'Especially when they're hot and shirtless.' She physically slapped a hand to her face. 'Damn, can you say nympho?'
"Gwen," he said pleasantly as she pulled the roll of bandages from the tub and hit herself with them. "I'm afraid I do not understand you." She fell back from her squat onto her butt and her shoulders dropped.
"Did you just admit to not understanding something, namely me?"
"Yes, I am not so conceited that I cannot admit when I am stumped," he continued in his pleasant tone. She heard him walk towards her and his form cast a shadow across the bed as he bent down and took the bandages from her hand. "You were fine with me when you first took me in, but now you react—"
"I thought I was imagining you! I was just going with it, assuming I was crazy, mad as a hatter and there was nothing better on in screwybrainland. Now that I know better there are social constraints!"
"But social constraints lead to 'awkwardness' do they not?" he asked and she could tell that he was making fun of her. "Perhaps you should try to 'just go with it more.'"
'Somehow I think you wouldn't like being jumped by a college coed.' She slumped forward, her head hitting the mattress of her bed. "Ok, how about I be blatantly honest with you for a moment? Kurama, you are obscenely attractive. You make almost every other guy on campus look like a caveman or a computer programmer. Hell, half of them are computer geeks or trekkies. You're going to be the cute guy that everybody recognizes when you're walking around and all the girls drool over and talk about with each other and try to stalk on facebook. You're going to be the one people go to parties to see. And all the frat boys will want you to come to their frats because they know that'll attract tons of girls. And everybody will be wondering if your single, if you're taken, where you're living, who your friends are, and who the hell that girl is who you're around all the time. And that just puts too much pressure on me, especially when you walk around without a shirt on! If I just shrug and go, 'yeah that's what he does' I look like a whore!"
"Obscenely attractive?" he asked in genuine surprise.
"Shut up and eat your macaroni and cheese."
Lady-Cymsyn: yay, I was worried things might seem a bit choppy, good to hear this format is working out!
Hieissoulmate5by5: so glad you liked it! Lol, I've been wondering about what people think when they read the first one, and who they think our boy is at first, but yeah, if I'd been writing it as Hiei his reactions would have been far more angry and violent. (btw I absolutely adore Hiei, but I find he's harder to write) I'm glad you're giving Kurama a chance with my story, lol, there are so many different ways of trying to portray his character that even as a fan I find there are quite a few I just can't like.
animegirl95: lol cute but dark in some ways, I'm glad you like Gwen too!
