Future Talk

Chapter 14:

"In A Red Dress & Alone"

And the next morning: frenzy.

I awoke to the jarring sensation of being shaken. "Hurry and get dressed," Yukina said as my eyes creaked open. Her face came into focus with a painful snap; the light above was shining. "You have to tell everyone goodbye!"

I sat up, stretched my arms high above my head, and yawned. "Goodbye?" I asked, bleary from lack of sleep. Confusion made waking up even harder. "Who left?"

"No one if we hurry," she said as I crawled toward the shopping bags and began to change clothes. "Dani-san, the shirt is backward!"

"Wha... oh." I had indeed put the purple t-shirt on backward; the tag tickled my chin. I pulled my arms back inside the garment and twisted it around, and then I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to get it to calm down from its bedheaded state. But Yukina was having none of that; she grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me through narrow halls and past closed doors (I was learning very quickly not to expect many windows in Genkai's austere temple). Soon enough we all but collided with a sliding paper door; Yukina let go of me long enough to throw it open, and we burst onto the porch like a pair of errant fireworks. The huge temple stairs lay just ahead of us over an expanse of lawn and flower beds. The full regiment of spirit detectives plus friends—Genkai, Yusuke, Botan, and even the elusive and confusing Hiei—stood in a semi-circle around the steps. All chatted amicably (excepting Hiei, as should be expected), and I tried not to look at the fire apparition nor the fox demon at his side as I stepped out of the temple's gloom and into the glare of early morning sunlight. Hiei didn't spare me so much as a glance, but Kurama eyed me for a moment before saying something to Hiei in a low voice. I was thoroughly awake at that point.

"Kuwabara-san!" Yukina said, all but flying down the porch stairs and toward the aforementioned detective. "Thank goodness! I was afraid we would be late in all the confusion."

My thoughts as I hopped down the porch steps: Confusion? and What the hell?

"Oh, Yukina-san!" Kuwabara said, face reddening at his lady love's proximity. She didn't touch him, not quite, but her hands did hover over his sleeved arm in a worrying sort of way. "Don't worry, you're fine! We're still here. We can't leave until the relief gets here, anyway."

"Who is late, of course," Genkai, who was standing at the edge of the milling group, grumbled. She turned my way just as I neared her. Rheumy brown eyes looked me up and down with clinical detachment. "Oh, it's you."

I tried not to look peeved. What, she forgot about me? I thought with the mental equivalent of a scowl. But I didn't say anything other than a short and polite. "Yes, it is me."

"And I suppose you'll be wanting to know what we're all standing around here for," she said with a sigh.

"Right again."

She turned to me and put her back to the others, making our conversation practically private. "Well, pay attention so I don't have to repeat myself," she said.

I dipped my head in acknowledgment, glad, at least, for a reason to look at someone besides Kurama or Hiei (I felt awkward around them both—Kurama because I was still smarting over the day before and Hiei because... well, something told me there was more to our meeting the night before than I currently knew). "Yes ma'am."

"Good girl." Her odd hair glittered beneath watery morning sunlight. "Koenma's operatives found Seishou."

My heart fluttered in my chest. "Seishou's the book-stealing medium guy, right?" I asked.

"Correct. He and all his followers are in Demon World, moving deep into the heart of it and away from any Human World access points."

"So is everyone going after him or something?" I said.

"No. A few of Koenma's spirit fighters are tracking him down, keeping him on the run until he settles in a hideout. They plan on trapping him there and taking him out."

"So what is everyone standing around here for?"

She snorted. "Some of us actually have lives, and Spirit World doesn't compensate us for wages lost. Given that we're not under immediate threat, some of us are going home until further notice."

"But wouldn't that leave the Book undefended?"

The question irked her; I could tell from the way her eyes twitched and the furrow between her brows deepened into a ravine, and if looks could wound then I would have been missing an arm. "What, do you think we're stupid?" Genkai snapped, tossing her hair in agitation. Pink sparkled amid the gray. "Koenma is bringing a backup fighter here as we speak."

That certainly makes Kuwabara's 'relief' remark make sense, I thought. "Just one?"

"Yes."

Math might not be my strong suit, but the numbers still didn't seem to add up. "But doesn't that seem unwise?" I persisted. "Trading one for a bunch of us?"

She sighed again, anger evaporating into impatient understanding. "Only Kuwabara and Kurama are leaving, dimwit. Didn't you see their bags?"

Well, now that makes sense, I thought, and swallowed. I did not like the feeling of millions of bees buzzing nervously in my esophagus. While it was true that I was not exactly a fan of Kurama's silky way of thinking at that moment, I still didn't like the thought of my two biggest allies in all this mess leaving me to the proverbial wolves (named, in this case, Yusuke, Genkai, and sorta-kinda-maybe Hiei).

Almost as if on cue, I felt eyes on me and the unmistakable sensation of being watched. I shivered. Hiei—who had been standing off to the side like the antisocial jerk that he was—was looking at me. Our eyes met for just a second, but that was all it took to make my ears burn and my eyes drop back down to Genkai's wrinkled face.

She appeared not to have noticed the exchange.

"Kurama has been neglecting his job and Kuwabara's been faking sick from university for over a week." She shook her head and humphed. "They're too old for this kind of work. They should be having families by now, not interdimensional wars."

Her sad expression gave me pause. Genkai, sympathetic? That was certainly new. "I take it you've known everyone here for a long time," I asked, tentative of overstepping a personal boundary by being too inquisitive.

She chuckled, apparently not offended at all. "You could say that. Yusuke's almost a son to me." Her look soured. "A flaky, foul-mouthed, slacker of a son. Makes me wonder why I put up with him."

"Beats me. He and I don't get along."

Another critical look made me quite conscious of my bedraggled hair and precarious position among the detectives. "I could tell," Genkai said, and I felt the urge to change the subject.

"So why only them?" I asked. "Kurama-san and Kuwabara-san, I mean."

It took her a moment to formulate a proper reply, but when she did it made me giggle. "Well, not all of us have lives, I guess," she said with a smirk. "Botan's on loan from the Spirit World until this whole mess is cleaned up—she's our own personal messenger, I guess you could say. And Yukina is living here and getting acclimated to the Human World so she can live on her own one day." Her wrinkles deepened. "That deadbeat Yusuke runs a ramen stand, so opening that back up after a break won't be too hard at all." She stopped talking, lost in an inner world I was not privy to. But there was one member of our little family who she had not covered, and my curiosity was too inflamed to just let him slide.

"And Hiei-san?" I asked, trying to sound casual as I avoided looking at anyone besides Genkai. The fire apparition was talking quietly with Kurama, the pair of them standing a little ways apart from the others.

"A drifter," Genkai said, eyes narrowing. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Just putting all the pieces together." But my traitorous eyes, just then, snuck a glance at him, and a small spike of adrenaline made my heart rate triple when I saw that he was once again looking at me with absolutely expressionless eyes. Kurama, next to him, glanced over at me as well, and my cheeks went red as I dropped my gaze.

Way to go, Dani, I thought. The guy I'm mad at and the one who confuses me are both staring like I'm the star attraction of a freak show. Great. If that isn't a recipe for blushes or awkwardness then I'm a monkey's uncle... although considering the circumstances I shouldn't discount that situation from the get-go, and am I rambling in my head because I'm nervous or because I'm just an idiot?

"So is baby-breath coming or what?" Yusuke suddenly griped in a voice loud enough to wake the dead. I took the opportunity to look at someone who wasn't Kurama or Hiei without seeming to force the interaction, and I felt at ease knowing that the detective had everyone else's attention, too.

"He'll be here as soon as he can, Yusuke," Botan said with a pronounced eye roll. The universe, just then, decided to have timing so perfect it would make Jesus turn green with jealousy, and a blinding flash lit up the entire courtyard. I turned (even though the flash came from behind me it hurt my eyes) and shielded my eyes with my hand so I could see the light's source. The courtyard began to glow pale gold, starting with a small sunburst in the yard's center that radiated outward into a glimmering sheet of liquid light about ten feet tall and eight feet wide. The oval was a portal to somewhere, I assumed, although I had never seen one before so I couldn't tell for sure. The surface of the light stayed still for a minute or so before rippling in the center, and then a hand reached out from its depths. Inch by inch Koenma appeared, looking every inch like a royal prince in his blue robes with red trim.

"One moment, please," he said as his feet touched the ground. He reached a hand back into the portal's glassy surface and yanked, but whatever it was he had grabbed a hold of would not budge. "Oh for the love of..." the prince muttered.

"Bout time you got here," Yusuke grumbled.

"Not now, Yusuke," Koenma barked over his shoulder, a bit of the childish anime prince shining through his adult persona. "I've got him by the arm but he won't go through; says he doesn't like the look of the passageway!" He tugged again without results. "Help me, dammit!"

"Holy..." the detective muttered before he joined Koenma by the portal and sunk his arm up to his elbow in the shining thing. Yusuke fumbled around for a bit before latching onto something and tugging, but nothing came through and his arm stayed submerged.

His eyes narrowed. "I've got ya, so just come on through." Tug tug. Yusuke's eye twitched. "Oh c'mon, you little pansy-ass coward!" he roared, and he sunk into the doorway up to his waist. A lurch or two later he came tumbling out to land on his butt with a smack, and another body fell atop him with an oomph of surprise. This second person fell forward and smacked the crown of his skull against the ground, and then he groaned and sat up. But a smile creased his face a second later, pain not doing a thing to dull his chipper attitude.

A chipper attitude I was oh-so-very-familiar with.

"Ah, that smarts!" said the newcomer with a laugh. He looked down at Yusuke who was trapped beneath his weight and the large duffel bag he had draped across one shoulder. "Yusuke, what are you a-doin' down there?"

"Getting you to come through the freaking portal, you idiot," Yusuke grumbled, and he shoved off the ground with force that sent our backup fighter careening to the earth. But Yusuke wasn't really mad or anything, as evidenced by the huge grin that broke over his face when he offered a helping hand to his friend. "It's good to see you, buddy!"

"I knew you would be a-missin' me," he chortled, pounding Yusuke on the back with a fist. The pair of them exchanged a barrage of mock punches for a minute (really, why do men do that?) before the new fighter turned to look at everyone else. His eyes lit up and his grin got even wider (a feat I didn't think possible) as he counted off each one: "Och, Genkai, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Botan, Yukina! Haven't seen the lot of you in ages; it's been too long, that it has!"

"That's our backup fighter," Genkai said in a low voice as the newcomer went around to greet everyone in turn.

My mouth—which had been gaping wide without my knowledge—closed with a snap. "Exchanging one redhead for another, I see," I said thickly.

"His name's Jin," said Genkai, and she looked up at me out of the corner of her eye. The windmaster whirled into the air and sat cross-legged just then, and my eyes went buggy at the sight of him floating on a cushion of nothing. "Try to get along."

So the anime, I felt, was turning out to be a bit of a bitch when it came to honesty, mainly because it wasn't very honest at all.

For the sake of conciseness, let's go over what the anime got right: red hair, blue eyes, a horn, muscles, height, talkative tendencies, and so much cheer your face started to hurt from smiling.

But that's only surface description. A closer analysis will reveal many discrepancies.

First off, the hair. It is not the matte red of a Crayola marker like the anime advertised, nor is it the deep garnet shade of Kurama's. Instead, it is red-gold color that glitters bright in the light and simmers quietly when in shadow. The mane of it is huge, long and wild like it needs a good brushing, but it looks soft to the touch and not matted or tangled. Jin wore it a lot longer than he did in the Dark Tournament; it brushed his shoulder blades, and although the style suited him I couldn't help but notice its similarity to the dreaded mullet hairstyle that characterized the prime of the 80s.

The horn is twisted like a seashell, and its pearly luminescence actually makes it seem a little delicate. However, the tip of the three-inch prong is sharp and glitters like a needle in the sun, and I made a mental note not to get too close to it.

Next come the eyes. Now, the anime shows them as a very bright blue, a royal blue like a crisp uniform shirt. That part they got right, but the episodes never quite got across the way those eyes glitter with engagement and liveliness and a friendly sheen that makes talking to him such a joy. Those eyes are wide and bright and make you want to stare.

As for his build: he was not quite a Kuwabara in height or sheer muscle mass, mind you, but each of his limbs was defined and lean and wiry and the envy of pretty boy models everywhere. Frankly, his body was probably the most good-looking of all the detectives', not that I'd seen very many of them (read: none) sans clothing, however, but still.

And his accent. Oh, Lord, his accent.

Where to begin? Ah, yes, with the anime, of course. In the original Japanese dub he speaks with a Kansai accent, using the colloquialisms of that region as well as the sound of the local voice in very word. In the American dub he speaks like an Irishman. But in truth he speaks... well, Kansairishman. The way he stresses the syllables is straight out of the land of leprechauns, but his expressions are all from Kansai. It's the single most confusing thing I've ever heard in my life, and ninety percent of the time I am at a loss when it comes to understanding him.

"And who is this?" he asked when he finally noticed me, blue eyes all a-glimmer with happiness.

"This is Dani-san," Botan said, coming over to put a hand on my shoulder. She shot a sharp look at Koenma. "I thought you were going to fill him in."

"I did on everything but her," the prince responded. He tugged a hand through his hair. "I just figured you'd do it."

The reaper sighed dramatically. "Oh, all right, but wait until we get him settled in his room."

"Dah-nii," Jin said, experimenting with the two syllables as he sat crosslegged in the air. "Daaaah-niiii. Quite the oddball name ya got there, if ya don't mind my sayin'."

"You're pretty odd yourself," I said, eying the empty space beneath him. "A demon, I'm assuming, with powers over... gravity?"

He wagged a finger at me and put his feet on the ground. He wore no shoes, I noticed, only a strip of bandage wrapped around the arches of his feet. Loose white pants and a baggy white shirt that looked a lot like a cut-off t-shirt kept everything but a slice of his well-defined chest and all of his arms from showing. "Sharp but not sharp enough. Wind's me game and nothin' else."

"Oh. Well, I'll be sure to blame you next time my hat gets carried away in a breeze."

He blinked at me a bit before laughing. "Funny girl! Where'd ya come from, anyway? Don't reckon you were at the Three Kings tourney or else I woulda met ya, and I'd remember a pretty wit like that if I met it, that I would."

"I'll explain everything later, Jin," Botan interjected. "Let's take your bag to your room first and get you settled."

"Aye, aye, I suppose we got a while to have us a little story time," he said, nodding with a huge smile in Botan's direction. I liked his smile; his eyes crinkled at the corners and smooshed up into delighted crescents of deep blue.

"And we need to get going if we're to make the train on time," Kurama said, glancing at his watch.

People began to chorus about having a safe trip, and after a tearful goodbye from Kuwabara to Yukina (who looked about as oblivious as an exceptionally pretty potato) we parted ways, Kuwabara and Kurama down the stairs and everyone else back toward the house. I lagged behind everyone, for obvious reasons, and as I mounted the first of the steps leading up to the porch I heard a voice calling my name.

Kurama's voice.

Desperately I looked for the others, but they had all entered the house. Realizing that it was impossible to run, I took a deep breath a turned around with a steeled smile plastered on my face. I jumped a little; Kurama was standing not two feet away, looking up at me with concern. It felt weird to be taller than him.

"Dani-san, can I talk to you?" he asked.

My mouth went dry. I stared down at him without expression.

"Can I talk to you?" he repeated when I didn't answer.

"Oh, um, sure," I said, snapping out of my deer-in-the-headlights moment. "What about, dude?"

"I'm heading home," he said.

"Uh huh." I tried to keep my eyes steady on his face, to not look nervous or like I was about to throw up (and that is not hyperbole).

"And you've been subdued since last night." He attempted a smile that I thoroughly resented. "I'm thinking it was something I said, as I heard from Botan last night that you assured her she was not the one at fault."

He asked after me? I thought. The knowledge almost—almost—made me forgive him for still treating me like an enemy, but then I remembered the way he had looked at me in the mall and my resolve solidified. "What would give you that idea?" I said, keeping my tone frosty as I met his narrowed eyes.

He took a rather deep breath, and I felt satisfied in the knowledge that I had made him at least a little disgruntled. "I will not beat around the bush," he said, sweeping one elegant hand through his rich hair. "That is not in my nature. All I can offer you is an explanation and ask for the same privilege in return."

"An explanation for what?" I asked, still playing it cool.

"You know what."

"I do, do I?"

"Yes. Don't be difficult with me, Dani," he said in a voice that rose barely above a whisper.

The look in his eyes—a glitter of warning and a healthy dash of emerald frustration—snapped me back to reality. This wasn't just some guy I was mad at—this was Kurama, Yoko Kurama, the thief who would as soon look at me as put my head on a pike and feed it to the crows, and judging from his entire demeanor he was losing patience with me. So I shut up. I value my limbs over my pride any day.

"Well?" he asked, (correctly) taking my silence for acquiescence.

"You implied yesterday that I might hurt Botan," I said bluntly, deciding to take his own advice and not beat around the bush. His eyes popped open in surprise. "Everyone had said something like that about me except for you, and you had been nice to me so I guess it kind of hurt. I thought you believed my story." I shrugged as he looked away, green eyes staring down at his feet. "Sorry."

"I didn't mean," he said, and stopped. He sighed and looked up at the sky as if it could tell him what to say. "Oh dear."

"Yup."

He looked at me. "Will an 'I'm sorry' do anything to make you feel better?"

I shrugged again and decided to throw the guy a bone. "Don't worry about it. I'm just stressed. I know you were only thinking of her safety. I probably would have done the same thing if I were you."

"I'm glad you understand." He smiled and I felt my self confidence shrivel up and die a horrible death in the face of her preternaturally pretty... well, face. We looked at one another for a moment that stretched into a minute, sunlight beaming onto his face and making his skin and eyes and hair all glow. I stood in the shade, feeling cold.

Oh I understand all right, I thought. More than you know. And that kills me. If you knew you'd hate me for it, wouldn't you? Betraying your trust is the worst offense of them all.

"Have a good stay at home," I said, turning away from him. But his voice called after me as I went into the house, and I had never felt like more of an evil conniving bitch in my life than in that moment. Wind whistled past my ears, and gooseflesh rose along my neck and arms.

"Take care, Dani-san," Kurama said softly. "I hope you'll show me that dress when I return."

And when I turned around, he was gone.

NOTE:

All hail long chapters and a return to scheduled updates!

OK, I admit it—I have a soft spot for Jin, so sue me! But you didn't think the 'other' option on the relationship poll was just for show, did you? Oh ho, I hope you didn't…

Lots of freaking dialogue in this chapter, no joke.

The poll is still open, too, but it will be cut off when chapter 15 is posted. On that note: HOLY CRAP, 14 chapters! This is awesome! Thanks for sticking around everyone! =D

I wrote this chapter, thought it got deleted, rewrote it, and then found the first draft. I then spent an hour combining bits and pieces from both drafts because I liked each one so much, only to discover that I used many of the same metaphors and dialogue bits in both drafts—apparently when I have a plan I stick to it, even if my conscious mind doesn't realize it in the first place. So let's thank my subconscious for being a bitch and not reminding me which flash drive I initially saved this chapter on, but being enough of a doll for having a good grasp on all my evil plans.

Title credits go to the band Evans Blue for their song "In A Red Dress and Alone." I figured it fit the ending.

Thanks so much to all of my reviewers old and new (and all appreciated): 0nfateswings, RSXx, Dragon of Twilight, DoilyRox, heve-chan, WickedLovelyDream, crossyourteez, Panda-chan31, mosinger, and Darkraigirl!