Kurama enjoyed spending time browsing through the school library that afternoon. It was five solid floors of books, books on every topic and subject imaginable from the vagrancies of the cosmos to miniscule details of cells and obscure historical events. There was even a children's section. He went downstairs again at the appointed time to meet Gwen and found her curled up on a couch. She was asleep, just like several other students he had seen in his exploration of the building. It seemed the library, with its enforced quiet and many nooks with comfy couches, was a favored napping place.
He stood there for a moment debating whether or not to wake her. Then she attempted to roll over in her sleep and nearly fell off the couch. She ended up with her leg dangling precariously and her arm sticking out at a weird angle, indicating it would be numb if she remained like that much longer.
"Gwen," he touched her shoulder gently and she shot up, grabbing the back of the couch as she did so.
She clapped a hand over her heart and fixed her blank eyes on him. "Kurama? Ohmigod, don't scare me like that!"
"And how would you like me to wake you up?"
"I wasn't asleep! What time is it?" She answered her own question by pulling her cell phone from her purse and staring blearily at it. "Three oh four, wow I've been here for almost a half hour."
"You have?!"
"Yeah, class got out early and I knew I wouldn't find you in here so I lay down to, uh, rest a bit."
"I didn't know you were that tired Gwen."
"I'm not!" She shook her head and rubbed her eyes before standing up. "So what do you want to do now?"
"Well," he paused and found it hard to meet her eyes with what he was going to say. "I would really like to look around in here a bit more. I haven't gotten to look through most of the sections in great detail yet."
"Oh, so you do like the library, cool. Well I'm gonna go take a nap then. If you want to get in the dorm you know you can hover until someone with a card goes in."
"But I thought you said you weren't tired?" he asked with a small smile.
"Well if you wanted to go off tramping through the woods or go out shopping I didn't want you to think I was too tired to go with you. Just make sure you're back at some kind of decent time for dinner and I'll try to actually cook real food tonight."
He chuckled and she shot him a dark look.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just thinking of last night."
She flushed and smacked him with her purse. "Shut up! You're so mean to me." He kept chuckling as she walked past, shooting him a dirty look. "Have fun with your books since you like them better than people!"
His mouth unhinged slightly, but she was already past him and walking quickly for the door. There was no way he could respond now, this was the library after all. He watched her go, hips swinging as she walked. That was a sashay, wasn't it? He decided it was as she flipped her hair. A passing student paused to give Gwen a second look and Kurama's jaw snapped closed. But why should he care if other guys looked at her like that? This was exact thing he had to avoid if he was going to stay sane.
Gwen arrived back at her dorm, less huffy but still embarrassed. 'Why do I always say the stupidest things?!' She slumped against the wall beside her door and let her head thunk back against the surface. It was cool in the building now that the air conditioning had been running, but still humid. A clammy cold had settled on her in spite of the fact that she imagined she could still feel her face burning with embarrassment. She wiped at a few beads of sweat and shivered slightly as she reached for the handle. It was locked. "Hm, thought Shelly'd be in by now." Before she could turn her keys in the lock she heard the door click and there was her roommate, flushed with her hair disheveled. And there was her boyfriend standing a few feet behind her.
"Uh, hey Gwen," they said, almost in unison.
"Hey guys." 'God why are they always so awkward about it? That just makes it ten times more awkward for me!' "I was just gonna grab my computer and a book and go study in the lounge."
Shelly stepped back out of the way and Gwen slipped into the room. She shoved her laptop closed and grabbed a few of her books, trying to think as quickly as possible while her Shelly and Peter stood behind her, nervously shifting from foot to foot. She slung her purse over her shoulder while picking up her computer under her arm.
"Well I'll see you guys later!"
"It's not like you uh, have to rush out," Peter said. He was tall and his complexion dark enough to mask the slight flush that was lingering on his face. "We were uh, just going to watch TV."
"Yeah, but we hadn't picked what we were going to watch yet."
"No, no, that's fine. I need to study, and that's what the lounge is for!"
Gwen shot from the room as fast as she could without seeming to be running away from them. The door shut right behind her and she heard the click of the lock, wincing slightly. In the lounge everything was quiet, no one else was there and most people were off the hall, either outside or in class. Gwen found the comfiest couch and dragged a table over. The table was for her stuff, the couch was for her, and she curled up quickly and drifted off to sleep.
Some good smell was leaking out of the kitchen. People were pausing in the hallway outside the closed door to sniff the air and wonder what was on the stove. They could tell it smelled far more appetizing than anything they would find in the dinning halls that night. Chicken and soy sauce and peppers sizzling. Jealous and hungry they kept walking, wondering who was cooking.
The kitchen door swung open silently and a figure stepped into the room unnoticed by the occupant. She was standing at the sink and humming to herself as she scrubbed out a pot. He approached quickly but with silent steps as the girl continued humming. She was also singing under her breath and snatches of the words became audible as he stopped directly behind her.
"I'm thinking it's a sign, that the freckles in our eyes... and when we kiss, they're perfectly aligned."
"And who might you be kissing Gwen?"
She screamed and jumped several inches in the air. As the scream was ending she spun around, flinging out the arm that was holding the soapy pot. He ducked easily enough but saw her eyes target him as she lunged forward with an angry cry.
"What The HELL?!?! Are you trying to kill me? I think my heart just about exploded!"
"I was just trying to surprise you, Gwen. Please calm down!"
"Don't tell Me to calm down!"
He pulled a chair out from the table and dragged it between them. She tried to circle around but he circled in the opposite direction, making sure to stay out of smacking range. The door opened suddenly and a girl poked her head into the room.
"Hey, what's going on in here? Do you need help with something?"
"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Kurama said to the girl as they both stopped in their tracks.
"You should be!" Gwen brandished the pot at him, soap suds flying everywhere. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that." She turned to look at the girl and her voice returned to normal speaking levels. "He snuck up behind me and scared the crap outta me."
"Ah. I hate when that happens to me. I'm Ashley by the way, in the second room on the left." She pointed in the direction of their hall.
"Hi Ashley, I'm Gwen, live at the end of the hall with Shelly. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too Gwen." Her eyes flicked to Kurama and Gwen kicked the chair he was still hiding behind. He jumped and shot her a dark look.
"This is Kurama, he's staying with me for a bit."
"Hi." Ashley managed to not go pink as she waved slightly, but maybe she wasn't swayed by his looks, not everybody liked red-heads.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ashley. I'm sorry if we disturbed you."
"No problem, I'm just glad you weren't like killing each other!" She waved again and disappeared from view, letting the door swing closed behind her.
Kurama looked back at Gwen to find her glaring at him. She let out a huff and turned away, back to the sink. The water whooshed on again and she resumed rinsing the pot.
"Gwen?" No response. "Gwen." She shifted her position slightly so that her back was completely towards him. He pushed the chair back in and stepped towards her. It was apparent that she was still trying to get her breathing under control. He decided to try acting more like a normal college student. "Come on, I was just playing," he said in perfect imitation of a student he had overheard earlier.
She turned her head just enough to fix one eye on him, radiating displeasure. "Don't do it again."
"What's the big deal?"
She shook the pot off and set it in the drying rack. With another slow, deliberate movement she shut off the water, then dried her hands. As she turned to face him, planting her hands on her hips, he could tell that her heart rate was still elevated.
"I don't like it is the big deal. I hate being scared like that, and by god don't you start sneaking up and poking me or I'll kill you." She caught his skeptical look and glowered further. "I mean it, I hate being snuck up on. It's just one of my quirks, and my heart's Still racing!"
"I'm sorry I scared you."
"And you're late for dinner! It's after seven, when do you think a decent time is?"
"It's that late already?"
She rolled her eyes and pointed at the table where food was set out. There was only once place though and Kurama shot her an inquisitive look as he moved towards the table. She turned her back on him again and began washing something else.
"I got hungry and ate, I wasn't going to wait for your lazy ass. And then I put everything else away, I've been cleaning up since. I have to get all these done and get changed so I can go to practice."
"Gwen I'll finish the rest of the dishes."
"I'm already soapy and gross I might as well finish them." He sat down uneasily and she sighed. "So, find anything good in the library?"
"Yes actually, there are quite a few books I'd like to at least skim over a bit more thoroughly, or read through."
"Tomorrow I can check 'em out for you if you want. That way you could go outside and read or something."
"That would be kind of you. And what have you been doing besides cooking?"
She gave a short laugh and shook her head slightly. "When I got back Shelly and Peter were making out so I took a nap in the lounge then did homework, then cooked. And now-" she shut off the water triumphantly and tossed a set of measuring cups into the drying rack. "I have finished washing." She let out another long breath and sank into the chair across from him.
"They were making out?"
"Yeah, the door was locked and then she jumped up to open it and was all flushed and sketchy looking. She was also red right here," Gwen tapped her chin right under her lip. "The sign of heavy face sucking. And they both had messy hair. It was So awkward."
"I can imagine. So Shelly makes out with her boyfriend in your room?"
"Yeah, when I'm not there. Hopefully they'll go over to his room too sometimes!"
He wasn't exaclt comfortable discussing the make-out habits of her roommate, so he decided it was best to switch topics. "So what do you do at volleyball practice?"
"Get hit in the head by volleyballs."
He choked and looked up at her, but her face was perfectly serious.
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, I normally take at least one to the head each practice."
"How does that happen?"
"Different ways." She glanced up at the clock and jumped in her seat. "Ah, I've got to go! I'll leave you my laptop to play with, okay?"
"Okay" he said as she sprang out of her chair and ran back to her room. A few minutes later she ran back into the room and set the computer on the table. He noted her volleyball outfit, the tank top and small athletic shorts, along with her water bottle and keys. Most unfortunately it was flattering and he shifted his attention to her computer. "Have a good time at practice Gwen."
"Thanks, I'll see you later!"
The days with Gwen passed surprisingly quickly for Kurama. He attended her lecture classes, ate breakfast and dinner with her and spent most of her free time in her company. When he was not with the girl he was reading somewhere around campus, whether it was on the grassy quads or under a tree around the academic buildings. Some evenings they would sit together in her room, just talking about their lives. Kurama was still not one to open up easily but he was happy to listen to Gwen talk and through her stories she was able to pry little bits of information from him. By the end of the week they had settled into a pattern and Gwen was looking forward to a break from the already mounting burden of homework she was facing, and spending some more time with her friends.
"I promised Bev we'd go over for a bit," Gwen said as they were finishing up dinner. "She was threatening to come kidnap me if I wouldn't come myself, and if she did that there'd be no escaping from her all night."
"I don't have any problem going with you to visit your friends," Kurama replied as he began clearing off the table. "They're fun girls and Bev did promise that it would serve to enlighten me as to what real college students do for fun."
"Implying of course that I am not real," Gwen sniffed and pushed back her chair. "I doubt it will enlighten you though, you've probably seen everything there is to do already."
"You'd be surprised at the human experiences I have missed out on these past twenty years." He was watching her pack the rest of the food away into plastic containers as he began washing the dishes.
"Speaking of which," she shot him a smile over her shoulder, "the first home football game is next weekend and there's no way you can escape going!"
"And here I thought I told you there was no way you could escape taking me to one of your football games."
"I just wanted to make sure you knew you couldn't chicken out at the last minute."
"As you wish."
She glared at him over her shoulder but he was calmly washing the dishes and not even paying any attention to her. As Gwen came over to help him dry the dishes Kurama repressed his slight chuckle and stole a glance at her. The first time he had used that phrase quite accidentally and she had started as if shocked. This time it was deliberate but all he had gotten was a suspicious glare. 'I'll have to find out what it is a reference to,' he thought as she took the pot from hand and dropped it in the drying rack.
"We've got some time to kill before venturing out into dangerous territory, wanna make fun of Peter until he leaves?"
"I'll back you up, but I'm afraid I don't know him well enough to taunt him on my own."
"It's easy, just support the opposite of whatever his view is and then refuse to listen to rational arguments, it drives him crazy."
"Ah, so that's how you do it."
"Yeah, but I thought you alreayd knew that."
Ice Cream For Everybody! to commemorate global warming! (Though it has just gotten cold where I am, but I don't think it will last.)
Ashentorealm: oh no not the puppy dog eyes, who could say no?! Here's more just like you asked!
LunarWolf134:) ah yes the horror of finals! I guess schools with fancy names figure they can just slack off since they've got the name part covered and sounding good is what matters, lol.
Celedeen Tachibana: yay for cookies! Wait, Noo, I've had too many already, I'm going to explode!
Lady-Crymsyn: hearts as always!
cher-cher91: yes, definitely too cute, perhaps to the point of OOC-ness, but I don't care, it's necessary!
InuKurama: yay for cuteness! But of course there needed to be fi-ris-bee, no college experience is complete without it, but could you imagine the spirit detectives playing together? It would go flying through buildings and result in some kind of violent out burst!
Spirit Evolution: I don't know why it popped up in your mailbox either, perhaps a fortuitous mix up with the email servers, but however it happened I'm glad you're enjoying my story!
Jade: ah no, there was no tree or enraged horde of fangirls out for my blood (and I sure hope there won't be any in the future either!). But my work did hit me like a truck! I'm a terrible procrastinator, lol
Zodiac Eclipse: Yes! Hiei can be so tricky to write for, mainly because he's straight up psychotic, but that's what makes him loveable! And then there's the fact that he's mostly interested in killing things and people, and causing destruction, all very necessary things, but it makes it hard to have him focus on less violent matters