I'll Be Better When I'm Older
Two days later…
Kurama POV
I sigh and sit down next to Shizuru. "She still mad at you?"
"Yeah," I mutter. I look up at her. "How long is this going to last? I don't know what to do. I hardly understand what I did. I feel like she's being irrational."
"That's because she is being irrational. But she'll come around soon, Kurama. Today, probably. She was struggling to hold onto her anger yesterday, and I think the only reason she managed it is because she left every time you walked in the room." She takes a drink of her tea and makes a face. At Anna's actions or the tea, I'm not sure.
"Why does she want to be mad at me?" What good could possibly come from our being angry at each other?
"Honestly?" Shizuru asks. "I have no clue what Anna's reasons are for half the things she does. I cannot figure that girl out. But my best guess would be she's still afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"Afraid your relationship won't work. Afraid she's going to get hurt." Before I can object, Shizuru adds, "Afraid she's going to hurt you."
"Why would she be afraid of that?" I blurt out.
"You are so blind, Kurama. She loves you, Kurama. I'm not sure why you can't see that, and I'm even less sure why she won't just come out and tell you. But she does love you."
I'm about to answer when Anna's voice says from the door, "Shizuru? I'd like a word alone with Kurama." I look at Anna. She's wearing a tank top and jeans. She's barefoot as usual. Why on earth would I do anything to risk losing her? But I didn't, at least not on purpose.
"Finally," Shizuru mutters in response to Anna's request. She stands, picks up her tea and leaves the room.
"Anna, I'm—" I begin, but she cuts me off.
"Shut up. I talk first." She is leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"Okay…" Do I even want to know what she has to say? Based on her tone, probably not.
But suddenly she sighs and comes to sit down across from me. She thinks a moment, then says, "My dad always listened to weird music."
"Okay…" She wants to talk to me about her dad's music? She's been mad at me for two days, and this is what she wants to talk about? This is what's so important that she won't even let me apologize first?
She looks me in the eye and says, "He would quote them at me and Jake all the time. He insisted they contained life lessons with an eloquence and art he could never manage on his own. I always thought he was talking nonsense, but now I see he was right." She makes a face.
Huh? "Anna…I'm lost."
She sighs. "One of his favorite quotes…he'd go around the house singing it after my mom left, still convinced she was coming back…" She suddenly begins singing softly, in English, "True love never did run smooth—And smooth love never did stay true—One day you'll find love and when you do—Remember true love never did run smooth."
Love? True love? Does this mean what it sounds like? Does Anna…? Was Shizuru right? "What did you say?" I ask. Am I imagining this? No. No. I smile.
She give me a weak smile in return. "I mean…if what we have is real…we can't expect not to have problems. There's no such thing as a perfect couple. The true test of love is not if you can avoid arguments but if you can work past them."
She gets up and pushes her chair in. She can't leave yet. I haven't had a chance to apologize. Do her words mean she does love me already? But before I can find my voice, she pulls out another chair and scoots it in close to me. She places her hand on top of mine. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I shouldn't have gotten mad. I should've asked you to stop before I got angry. But mostly…I'm sorry I slapped you."
I turn my arm over on the table and slip my fingers through hers. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you were frustrated. How can we work through this?"
"Let me do things for myself," she answers. She holds my hand tighter. She's not mad anymore. Thank god. She's not mad. "Do little things occasionally, offer help. And if I think you're doing too much, I'll say something before I get mad."
"Fair enough," I say. "But if you're doing something I think might hurt you—hauling around one of Shizuru's fifty pound sacks of potatoes for example—I reserve the right to insist on helping you, whether you want me to or not."
She looks at me with a blank expression for a moment. Then she smiles. "Deal."
I lean forward and kiss her. She kisses me back. Oh, this is wonderful. I never understood why Yusuke is never upset when Keiko slaps him. I never really understood why he is so happy around her or Kuwabara around Yukina. But now…Anna is here, kissing me, and the rest of the world disappears.
Anna POV
I'm happy. My stupidity didn't ruin this. The only thing is… "You're an idiot," I say pulling away from him.
"Huh?"
"How could you possibly think this was your fault at all?"
"I—"
"Don't say it, Kurama," I warn. "Don't you dare tell me you should've known I didn't like it based on subtle body clues. It's ridiculous for anyone to expect that from anyone."
He closes his mouth. Good. I don't care if he still thinks it's his fault, so long as he doesn't believe it enough to say it out loud again.
"Kurama?"
"Yes?"
"Lean over this way a bit. I'm too short to reach you from here."
He smiles. It's so good to see him happy. "That," he whispers, "I will do, my lady."
I kiss him. "And quit being so corny."
"I'll try. But no promises."
Well, there's that chapter. Yay! the song quote is from 'true love (never did run smooth)' by tom wopat. I only own Anna and now for reviews. :)
AprilMae72: I'm really glad you liked the conversation w/ Hiei, and I find your...assessment about Hiei needing to get laid...interesting (but probably true). And I feel sorry for Kurama too.
wolvesrain17: yep. It's been scientifcally proven that women are more inclined to notice/correctly interpret body languages/facial expressions.
Insanity4Apples: Actually...I'm not sure he will. But if he doesn't it's not his fault. It's Anna who's so freaking unpredictable.
Sarcastic Nightmare: Well, here you have it. While having someone wait on her hand and foot annoyed Anna, how cute they are now is actually beginning to irritate me. oh well.
NatalieRikuLoveStory: Not sure Shizuru would make such a great counselor. She's really starting to get fed up with them...
animegrlsteph: Anna is mad at Kurama, Kurama is mad at himself and confused about Anna and you of all people think it's funny? Did hell just freeze over?
Aya Ayama: yeah, I knew what you said (I have a VERY minimal amount of french-my mother responds to my spanish in french, but she remembers almost none of it). Wait, what else was I going to say? I'm not sure how i feel about their argument.
