28 Squishy, Squishy
First off I'd like to thank you all for your patience, if you're reading this then you probably waited over a month for me to update, occasionally wondering what the hell I was up to. It's taken so long because, as I feared, I pretty much didn't do anything with my stories through all of June. It was pretty much constant social interaction with one group of people, so much fun but exhausting too. When there's a lot of real world drama going on it's hard for me to focus on creating more in my head. I was doing a field school, an archaeological dig, and I would highly recommend doing something similar to anyone who doesn't mind being perpetually dirty and tired as it pretty much kicked ass (but then I'm an anthro major and I like playing with artifacts). I knew we were going for a dig, but I expected there to be a bit more farmishness about the site, as it was there were some cornfields we got to watch grow, but no animals and nobody actually doing anything with the corn.
Another note before the actual chapter, I'm kind of impatient, and I know you all've been waiting, so I'm posting this without having it beta-ed first. After Uroki gets a chance to look over the chapter I'll make any changes that need to be made, and make sure to point them out as well! Yay for the new feature that keeps documents for 60 days!
"I believe I have cleared some things up," Kurama said to the girl in the tree.
Gwen had not come down yet, even though it had been at least half an hour since her mad leap of faith. After seeing the unconscious man on the ground being covered by roots and disappearing into the mass she decided she was better off staying where she was until Kurama came to get her (and made sure the tree wouldn't eat her too).
"Cleared up? As in disposed of thee bodies?" she asked.
She pulled her legs closer to her body and tightened her hands around the tree trunk as she shifted her weight closer to it. The cool breeze and twilight grey that had settled around them did little to reassure her. She wanted bright light and a return to warmth, not this nebulous grey feeling. Kurama made a very Hiei-ish sound, and there was a slightly feral hint in his smile and his eyes. It showed the girl for the first time that she dealing with a very dangerous man. She had always known it objectively without understanding it or feeling it, but as the branch beneath her flexed and sent her sliding groundwards, she felt it.
"Nobody is dead Gwen," he said as he caught her and set her on her feet. The tone of his voice told her quite clearly they probably wished they were dead. "I have made it clear to our visitors that they are not welcome here and they would do well to heed that warning in future. In exchange for some information I am letting them all go relatively unharmed."
"Just how relatively?" she asked as she examined her companion.
He seemed to contemplate her for a moment before responding. "Worse than previously, but I could have done far more."
"What about the one down here?" She pointed at the tree roots and bit her tongue as she saw him smirk slightly.
"He had been conveyed to the appropriate location."
The fox turned and began walking back towards the dorm. Standing in the quickly descending night Gwen felt the goosebumps rising on her arms and the chill snaking down her back, but she knew this was not the time to succumb to childish fears or instincts. She had to think.
"So what did you find out?"
The fox smiled a little less dangerously as the girl caught up to him and attempted to match his stride. He caught the scent of her shampoo on the breeze, herbally freshness again, or whatever she was calling it. She was choosing not to be afraid of him, to accept his rather dark way of doing things, at least for now. The night air was refreshing and he breathed in deeply again as the lingering smell of blood was finally wiped away.
"These people were not agents of your government but sent by an independent organization that has a habit of meddling in the affairs of those connected to the supernatural. They told me their main job is persecuting witches, psychics, those with seemingly occult powers. Occasionally they experiment on those unfortunate enough to be taken alive, all in the defense of the unsuspecting masses of course."
"Of course," Gwen breathed, wary of his biting tone. Kurama held the door for her and they passed into the warmth of the dorm, its distinct odor floating towards them from the guy's hall as they ascended the stairs. "But there aren't nonhuman monsters here like vampires and werewolves?"
"I would assume not as they never mentioned them, though it is possible they have just never encountered their kind. Our guests also gave me some interesting information on their equipment."
He put a hand on her back and guided her into the second floor kitchen. The room was remarkably clean and Gwen couldn't help wondering if Kurama had had to wash down the surfaces after he was 'done.' She shuddered slightly and he gave her a concerned look.
"The breeze is strong, I'll close the window."
Sitting at the table while Kurama finished preparing dinner Gwen looked at the gun. He had taken their weapons, made them explain the mechanics, and now he wanted her to carry this thing. With a sigh Gwen pushed it farther away from her, to the very end of the table so that the muzzle was just over the edge. Not only would it be idiotic to carry a concealed weapon, one she didn't have a license for, she wouldn't know what to do with it if that time did come.
"Kurama, I thought you knew me better," she laughed, glancing sideways at the fox.
His lips compressed into a smirk and he gave the pan a slight flick to stir the contents. "I believe, Gwen, that were the occasion to arise you would do what is necessary, and as was proven today I cannot always be around when I'm needed."
"But I thought you scared them enough that they won't come back?!"
"Yes, but I also learned that there are other dangers here, unsettled ghosts and humans with powers like Kuwabara, though often lacking his morals. I worry about your safety."
"Homicidal psychics are the last thing I have to worry about in this world!" she laughed, leaning back in the chair and smacking a hand to her knee. The idea was insanity. Car crashes, terrorists, colds, and finals were far more dangerous to Gwen Finnegan, average college student, than crazy people with supernatural powers targeting her for unknown reasons. And a gun inscribed with runes firing silver bullets wasn't going to be any use against these normal threats.
"The things you have to worry about might have changed forever Gwen."
"It's illegal for me to have an unregistered firearm, and even more illegal to carry one without a permit. It's not happening Kurama."
"I just want you to hang onto it. I'll make sure Shelly won't accidentally see it. You never know when something like that will come into play."
The girl flopped forward, her forehead coming to rest on the arms she had dropped onto the table. At the stove the boy showed no indication he had noticed her gesture of frustration as he gave the pan in his hand a final flick. When the bowl was placed before her, Gwen merely gave a little grunt. Her eyes were still closed against her shifting world. It took a moment for the warmth seeping off the stoneware to reach her and the aroma to diffuse.
"What is it?" asked the girl, eyeing the bowl as she pushed herself up.
"Just something I whipped up." Kurama took a bite and twirled his chopsticks, obviously pleased with himself even if he was keeping his expressions to a minimum.
'Where'd he get chopsticks?' Gwen picked up her own pair and poked, delicately, at the multicolor mass before her. 'Or better yet, tofu?'
October was passing quickly, days fleeting by like leaves drifting from the tress. More and more were gone each time you looked and you could never quite understand how it had all happened so quickly. There were fewer and fewer warm days as rain boots and hoodies seemed to take over the campus. Puddles formed that lasted for days on end and the grass began to brown along with the sodden leaves coating the paths.
Gwen kicked a fallen branch and watched as it tumbled off in the opposite direction, a sour frown puckering her lips.
"Midterms aren't that bad Gwen," her demon companion advised as she kicked at another branch and missed.
"Oh I don't even want to hear it from you Mr. Brainiac, you have an unfair advantage over everyone, being a thousand years old and all."
"What, being old and adverse to change is an advantage now?"
He skipped out of the way of her swinging bag yet somehow managed to keep the umbrella over both their heads. They emerged from beneath the dripping canopy of trees onto the windswept quad and paused.
"I'll be in the library." When her dour face didn't change he leaned closer, tilting his head slightly to catch her attention. "You remind me of an old wives' tale about the rain, Gwen-chan."
"What is it?" she asked, momentarily forgetting her stress.
"Maybe someday I'll tell you."
"Ugh Kurama!"
Another burst of wind hit them and Gwen held her bag close to protect it from the slanting spray of raindrops. When they looked up again they noticed the span of blue above the grassy field and the sun shinning over the buildings.
"No clouds?" Gwen said, mostly to herself as the fox beside her let the umbrella fall back. A few drops landed neatly on their exposed skin, but craning her head back the girl saw that it was still blue above them.
"It's still raining." Kurama was practical as ever as he returned the umbrella to its proper position.
"Ohh, a sun shower." She stepped away from him, out onto the grass, leaning her head back to catch a few drops. "This makes me feel better. A sun shower!"
"In Japan," her companion said slowly, "they call these 'the fox's wedding1.'"
"And we walked under the umbrella together2, does that make us married?"
He chuckled as the spinning girl came to a stop, eyes fixed on him, wind ruffling her hair. "Good luck on your test Gwen."
"Good luck on your studies Kurama," she replied to the redhead as he gave his umbrella a little twirl. His hair was blowing in the wind too, and it pulled at their clothes, like it was trying to pull them away from it all, off to some fairy tale, free of exams and home work, and Koenma. She smiled as he turned to disappear back into the dark foliage of the tree-lined path; she had her own way to go now, and Southeast-Asian history to explicate.
Koenma told them everything was going well and she wanted to cry. She nearly did as she thought of the previous night's conversation on the way to the library, her own umbrella twirling sadly in her hand. 'Everything should be ready to go in a couple of weeks.' Kurama had translated for her throughout his conversation, apparently much to the divinity's annoyance. But the maneuver had given him time to think and digest what was going on before he had to actually respond to these developments.
'Be ready to go at any time.' Well they hadn't taken that line too seriously, this was Koenma after all, but they did know it was coming.
'What Am I going to do?' she wondered as her destination came into sight.
People were milling around the front door, either hiding under the overhang or standing a few feet away in the rain and almost every one had a cell phone in hand. And there was the library behind them, massive storehouse of knowledge and prime studying spot at this time of the semester. She put the umbrella down and squeezed through the ranks of technologically -dependent to the door.
'Be strong, be supportive,' her thoughts whispered as she stepped carefully into the 'absolutely no talking, noise or anything on pain of death' area of the library. 'He gets to go home, he misses his friends and his mom and he gets to work things out with her.' He's not about to come clean though, the snarkier side of her said as she tried to picture Kurama confessing everything to his mother. 'Yeah, that's not happening.'
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!
'And so it goes.'Gwen closed her book gently and quirked an eyebrow at the kitsune. They were the only two people in the lounge, and he was sitting in the chair across from the couch she was on, a book lying idly in his lap. His attention was fixed on some distant point out the wide windows and across the grey-green quad. The sun was out for once, shinning in through the windows, albeit with less intensity than in previous days. A few white puff balls were high in the sky, even fuzzier with the effect of distance. Many people had gone outside, some were even sunning, but it wasn't warm out.
"Something wrong?" she asked, breaking their long quiet.
He smiled slowly before turning to look at her, those calm green eyes settling on her face. "I was just thinking that I will be very far behind on my course work. I've missed most of the semester already."
"Well I'm sure you can handle it. You only need to pass the finals right? Haven't you been studying here too, reading up on all the stuff you missed?"
Kurama smiled and twitched the pages of his book with idle hands. "I fear sometimes that your faith in me is too great Gwen. I'm not sure that I can quite live up to your image of me."
"Pishhh." She rolled her eyes and flicked her wrist, not quiet liking his tone, it was almost sad, an emotion she hadn't truly seen from him yet. "Don't try that self-deprecation with me, I know you have a high opinion of yourself."
"Hm, I wonder." The weak sun was falling on them both now, but in the light Kurama looked a little paler than normal and there was something in his expression and air that made her vaguely concerned. He had a sweater on, that was a new purchase, and she wondered if maybe he looked a little thinner. She couldn't quite remember if he'd been eating normally or not for the past few days. Certainly she had been eating more, to the point where he had jokingly threatened to hide her chocolate. "Is it possible to both like and dislike yourself, Gwen?"
"Well yeah, I guess," she drawled, unconsciously bending and unbending the corners of her book. "If you recognize your good traits and your bad then you can like the good ones and hate the bad ones."
"But how do you reconcile them?" His voice was gentle still, but probing, and his eyes were fixed on her, as if willing her to have some answer. The girl shifted slightly in her seat, throwing a slightly exasperated expression his way.
"I dunno, you can just accept your bad traits, or try to work towards changing them. I don't know really what you're thinking of specifically—"
"How do you reconcile them Gwen?"
"I don't know. I don't. I don't really think about it that much, well I try not to because I don't want to sink into that whole cycle of getting mad at myself and hating myself, it's a crappy place to be. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming…" the little song trailed off as she caught the fox's slightly irritated eye. "I'm taking this seriously, don't give me that look! I try not to brood because it's bad and I know it'll only get worse. I think happy thoughts and I eat chocolate. How do you deal with it Kurama?"
The redhead shifted his position, sitting up straighter and crossing his legs as the girl shot his focused gaze back at him. "It is my nature that makes me what I am," he said in the calm, controlled voice, "I can't help it, or so I tell myself. I'm not sure I 'deal' as you use the term, I just am."
"But you're thinking of your mom and getting annoyed at yourself, right? But you're still not going to man up and tell her, are you? You're going to blame it on your nature. 'Oh I'm a fox, I don't open up to people, I don't trust.'"
He smirked at her sarcastic impression, and shook his head. Gwen however had just warmed up to the subject, having spent long enough observing him and waiting for him to talk about the issue. She was actually a little surprised he had broached the subject himself, he didn't directly speak about such things and he didn't give information up easily either.
"You're not a fox, you're a jellyfish Kurama, squishy, squishy." Wiggling arms and fingers helped accentuate the point. "You can't be pinned down or caught; when someone tries you just kind of distort shape briefly and slip away. And when they're not looking 'Wham!' you sting, and the pain doesn't go away, no matter what you do. You could always try being less squishy, maybe you'd be happier if other people did have a better idea of what was going on."
"A jellyfish? Gwen, somehow I am still shocked by the output of your mind." His teeth showed briefly as that feral smile reappeared. "You're a dangerous opponent Finnegan-san because your strategy is to first unbalance your opponent and then deal a finishing blow as quickly as possible. And you are able to unbalance people."
"Only you," she simpered, flicking the book open again and pretending to be interested in it.
"Somehow we always end up sliding into…this. Prodding at each other."
The girl smiled and looked up from her book for a moment at the vaguely confused boy. "I think it's a good thing. It keeps our conversations interesting Mr. Jellyfish."
Brriiing Brriiing
A few people looked around in surprise but the ringing wasn't loud enough to draw general attention. The little compact emerged discreetly from a pocket and the young man slowly melted to the back of the room. Amid the noise of the instruments and the focus on the stage only one person took real note of his departure. A moment later she followed, squeezing along the row and tripping over a few feet in the dark. The only lights were those on the players on the stage and the exit signs over various doors, or those should have been, but a rapidly narrowing rectangle of light guided her. As the act went on without them Gwen slipped into the lobby and spotted her erstwhile companion already deep in conversation with his former parole officer.
She closed the distance between them cautiously, not wanting to interrupt. From the tone of his voice and the way he had gone very still she could tell whatever they were saying was important, and she feared what it would mean. Kurama shifted slightly so that he could see her, looking even more elegant and refined than usual in the black slacks and jacket. He had skipped the tie that night though but she wasn't about to complain. There was a pause in his conversation and she spoke quickly.
"What's going on?"
"Koenma's running a test," he said, holding the compact away from his face slightly. The demigod on the other end said something and Kurama's eyes flicked to her. "Gwen, wait here, I'll be right back."
"No I'm coming too!"
She stepped forward, stomping her foot with an impressive clack of her heel, a dangerous thing to be slamming down around unprotected feet. Kurama had to hurry as the small deity on the other end kept insisting and leaving Gwen always seemed dangerous, there was no telling what kind of trouble she would get herself into, even if he left her with an auditorium filled with people. The lobby was gaping and empty for a moment, except for them, the silent girl with burning eyes and fingers tapping on her crossed arms, himself, and the loud little creature yelling at him from another dimension.
"Kurama, you need to move!" the pint-sized prince shouted and the demon shook himself from the momentary indecision.
"Okay."
Even in heels and a skirt she could keep up with him as they dashed out of the building and towards the woods. The temperature outside had dropped drastically after the sun set, making a coat almost a necessity, but they ran along without them, headed for the darkness beneath the trees. In the dark, with only the stars and half a moon for light, the woods were ominous. Ragged shadows loomed up in their path and invisible tendrils pulled at their legs, trying to halt their progress. It was silent except for their footfalls and the occasional gust of wind which would rattle the branches above their heads, a dry scratching and creaking that made Gwen shiver even more.
Kurama was holding the compact before him; the screen had changed to show a blinking dot that would rotate depending on which way they faced. It reminded Gwen of sonar except the dot didn't seem to be getting any closer to the center, which meant they weren't getting any nearer their target, whatever that was. Kurama had only said it was a test, and it didn't seem like he was going to explain anymore. He was focused solely on getting there, with her in tow. But she had been afraid that when he said 'test' it meant 'leaving' and she wasn't about to let him disappear off like that, vanish from the theater during the performance never to be seen again. Gwen was not ready to say goodbye.
"We're here."
He stopped abruptly and she tripped into him, catching onto his jacket to keep from falling back on the uneven ground. They had left the path behind a while before, and if not for Kurama's powers they would have had a lot more to contend with than uneven ground and a few poorly placed branches. The area directly in front of him was exactly the same as the area behind her, or to either side for that matter, as far as Gwen could tell: dark, scary and quiet.
"How can you tell?" she whispered in his ear, casting a glance around in the eerie setting. For some reason she felt uneasy even though Kurama was with her, it was similar to the uneasy feeling of being watched, but not as strong or as definite.
He took a small step back, gently nudging her as well. "I can feel it, and this is the place the communicator directed us to. It should only be a few more seconds."
Before she could ask what would be the feeling intensified. Gwen slipped her hands around Kurama's arm and squeezed, hoping for some reassurance from the contact, but what she saw next did nothing to ease her mind. Before them the darkness began to distort. At first it looked like heat waves warping the image, but then it began to turn. The circle was a foot wide, its outer edge turning white from the smeared background while the center became pitch black. It sat there a moment, hanging in the air while neither of them moved, and then something began to emerge.
The bird cage hit the ground with a solid thump, jolting its small occupant into a noisy protest. Kurama reached forward and grabbed the handle, smiling grimly as the canary continued its tirade.
"The bird is alive," he said into his communicator. A garble of noise came in response. "I'm sending it back now."
He swung the handle slightly and the cage turned. Its edge caught on the blackness and it was drawn in, taking less than a second to disappear completely. There was a garble from the communicator as Koenma reported the bird's successful and safe return.
"I'm going to say this in English so you don't have to translate for the girl," Koenma's voice came crackly and accented over the small device. "Three days Kurama."
Three days, that was all that was left them. The pair exchanged a glance before turning away in silence.
1 It really is called that I didn't just make it up
2 From what I've read…dun dun dun…a couple under an umbrella is a romantic symbol, and showing two people under one is like drawing a big heart around them
And yes I was sort of thinking Fruits Basket with the jellyfish thing, but it applies to Kurama almost as well as Shigure!
Chibi: haha yes it is July so I finally got back to work. I had a really fun time, thanks!
AkutatsuClan: it makes me so happy to hear that you like it! I hope you don't cry though, I would hate to be responsible for any more tears than I've already caused. I'm not sure if the rest of the gang would traumatize Gwen, or if she would end up traumatizing them, it would be interesting to say the least!
brittany: sorry, but this took forever!
cat-ears343: lol my very own soap opera, I like the idea
alicia: ah its looking like it will end up being 30 from where I am right now, but it's already around 85k words, that's close to novel length!
