49
Moze: That would be pretty funny!
Tess: He's definitely in denial about the toothbrush, it should have scared him a lot more than it did.
Cassie: Haha don't tell him that!
Millie: Thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy it!
Lizzie: Taito always has some schemes going on, we'll find out what they're up to eventually :)
I had a bit of a crazy month, which included moving states and taking a vacation without my computer for the first time in who knows how many years. I've been fighting with this chapter for a while and trying to make a long one to make up for the gap, but I figured it was better to get this part out than to hold onto all of it until I was completely happy.
The bus drops them off at the edge of Genkai's land and the four of them look up at the torii gate marking the entrance, with the stairs behind stretching up out of sight. Yusuke and Keiko should be up there already, as well as Jin, Touya, and Shishi who live in the temple full-time.
"I hope you're ready for a hike," Kuwabara says, cracking his knuckles before picking up his and Yukina's bags.
Chouko grins at him and offers Yukina her hand. "We will be taking it easy," she says.
"Oh really? I'm not carrying you, Chouko-san!" His attention switches to Yukina, "But I'd carry you anywhere you want to go Yukina! To the moon even!"
Yukina giggles and shakes her head.
"See you two at the top."
Chouko winks at Kurama and her youki unfurls slightly, surrounding her and Yukina in a constantly shifting orb of energy. While invisible, the energy bends light so looking at them is like looking into a turbulent pond. There is another uptick in youki, Yukina's Kurama realizes with surprise, and the air at the top of the bubble swirls faster, clouding with condensation and miniscule ice crystals. It is, Kurama realizes, as the air begins to rotate more evenly as the two auras begin to work together, a mini-thermal column, warped around them to create lift. The women rise about a foot from the ground and then begin to float up the stairs to the temple.
"Now that's no fair," Kuwabara says, striding after them. "She could totally carry us all."
Kurama wonders if he's the only one seeing Chouko fly for the first time. It feels unfair but also like Chouko's sort of joke. He jogs up the stairs, passing Kuwabara, and catching up with Chouko and Yukina.
"Do you always need assistance flying?" Kurama asks and Chouko gives him a wry smile.
"Chouko-san thinks if I practice enough and can develop my youki further I might be able to fly on my own," Yukina informs him. Sweat is starting to form on her brow and the look of steady determination on her face gives him pause.
"Really?" he says, eyes going from Yukina back to Chouko.
"With a lot of practice," Chouko says. "It's not her natural element, but temperature and air are inextricably linked. If I force a great deal of air together the temperature rises, if I spread it apart it drops, I manipulate it from one end, Yukina-chan can manipulate it from another."
"That would require very precise control."
"Which is why it's important to practice," Chouko says almost sharply and Kurama bites his tongue. He hadn't meant to be dismissive of Yukina's potential. He'd never thought of the ice maiden that way, but that was his shortcoming.
"You've never flown me anywhere," Kurama teases.
They're half-way up the stairs now and Yukina's flushed pink and sweating. Meanwhile Chouko looks serene, she could probably do this for hours without breaking a sweat or needing to concentrate. Despite this it's still the most Kurama's seen her use her youki.
"You're not the sort of man who likes being carried around."
"I'm not that sort of man either!" Kuwabara shouts from below. Along the way he seems to have picked up Chouko's suitcase as well. "It's just really neat!"
Kurama arches his eyebrows and Chouko purses her lips at him.
"Kuwabara-kun asked," she says after a long pause. "And how could I say no?"
"It feels like you're hiding things from me."
"I am hiding things from you," she says mildly. Something of his aggravation must show because she continues. "I don't like to let other demons know the extent of my abilities, or their limits, you know that. I've come to trust Yukina-chan in a different way from how I trust you."
"Why is it different?" Kurama keeps his voice even and calm and Chouko gives him an exasperated shake of her head.
"If I told you now 'here is everything I can do' you would make contingency plans."
"You have them for me." He knows it's true. He knows she has plans on how to deal with all of the ward leaders should any of them become a problem. It's something he admires about her; something he finds slightly thrilling.
"As do you!" she shoots back. "That's frightening enough without you knowing my every weakness. You know plenty of them already."
"Could you two please," Yukina gasps, and then her energy gives out. Chouko's youki swirls faster in response so their progress doesn't slow.
"You're getting much stronger," Chouko says. "If you're not careful I'm going to make you do the heavy lifting soon too!"
"Oh no Chouko-san!" Yukina laughs weakly. "I couldn't."
Kurama falls back a few steps as the women continue floating. Maybe when Jiro came to get her at the warehouse he hadn't merely carried her home, as Kurama had assumed. And maybe she'd assumed if Kurama was curious he'd ask. Which he hadn't because he'd been too angry at the tengu's interference to think of anything else. He can't reasonably be upset with her for playing along with his games. So he'll have to keep his unreasonable feelings to himself.
Chouko dissipates the orb just below the top of the stairs, pulling her youki back to its normal levels until the tension shows in her aura. She and Yukina walk up the last few steps together, Kurama a few steps behind them. A door slides open in the temple and someone emerges.
"I thought I sensed you guys!" Yusuke shouts from the temple engawa as they cross the yard.
"And you didn't think to come help us with the bags?" Kuwabara yells back as he reaches the top of the stairs.
"It's good for you Kuwabara!" Yusuke switches his attention to Chouko, whose face has taken on a very careful smile. "I hope you didn't bring any more exes with you. This place is flimsy as hell and I don't wanna have to fix the walls after Kurama's done with the guy."
She laughs and shakes her head. "No, I think we're safe."
"Alright! Come on in guys, we have snacks!"
Grumbling Kuwabara stomps forward and Yukina hurries to keep up with him. Kurama and Chouko follow at a more sedate pace.
"I'll fly you to the top of Mt. Fuji if you want," Chouko says under her breath.
"Ah but would you also fly me back to Tokyo afterwards?"
She hits him lightly on the shoulder and he catchers her hand as it drops away.
"Thank you for coming, Chouko."
"Yusuke!" Keiko's shout interrupts them and they both look up toward the temple. "You didn't tell us anyone else was here!"
Keiko and Shizuru have appeared as well. Shizuru is already ragging on Kuwabara as Keiko and Yukina hug hello. Chouko goes to pull away but Kurama holds on. He plants a quick kiss on the back of her hand and is rewarded with a slight blush.
"Hurry up guys! I haven't got all day!"
Chouko jumps and Kurama drops her hand at Yusuke's shout.
"We're coming Yusuke," Kurama calls. "We old people move at our own pace."
Yusuke snorts and rolls his eyes, but there's a mischievous glint in them. Kurama knows that look and is afraid of whatever the former king has planned.
When they reach the temple it's up to him to do introductions and Shizuru's slightly off smile as she looks at Chouko does not make the task any easier.
"Chouko, you remember Keiko-chan," Kurama says and the women say hello. "And this is Shizuru-san, Kuwabara-kun's older sister."
Chouko and Shizuru exchange greetings and bow politely while giving each other the once over. As Yusuke starts talking again, leading the others inside, Chouko shoots Kurama a sideways glance.
"What?" he says.
"You've slept with her."
Kurama flushes and glances at Shizuru, who doesn't seem to have heard. She's busy shaking her head at Yusuke and her brother's antics. He turns back to find Chouko staring at him, her gaze level and neutral. His heart rate picks up slightly. Then the corners of her mouth quirk.
"How did I know?" she says, voicing the question he can't quite get out. "I can tell."
Kurama opens his mouth, but isn't sure what to say. He's not going to apologize for it, but maybe he should. He still doesn't understand all the nuances of human dating. Chouko wags a finger at him and shakes her head.
"Your mother was right to be concerned, you do have a thing for older women."
Off-footed, Kurama settles for fixing her with a measured stare.
"Come on," Chouko says, tucking her arm around his and drawing him into the house. "You have to introduce me to the rest of your friends—and any other ex-lovers lurking about."
'Lurking' seems a bit too on the nose. It's probably safe to assume she knows about that too then, not that Kurama senses Hiei around.
The rest of the introductions go smoothly enough. Jin and Shishi are in Genkai's games room and that seems to be where Yusuke plans on spending the rest of the afternoon. The girls have set up camp in the main room where they have easy access to the kitchen and possession of the main TV. Keiko switches off the talk show she and Shizuru have been watching when they enter the room and Yukina breathes a sigh of relief.
Touya is out with Chu in the forest. Kurama assumes Chu got them lost again. The drunker he gets the worse his sense of direction, and the more he insists on leading and refuses to follow directions.
"And I'll show you two where we've put you for the weekend," Keiko says as Chouko looks down into the kitchen.
"I don't know," Chouko says, without looking back. "Kurama isn't good at sharing, I'll probably end up on the couch."
Shizuru snorts and Kurama frowns slightly. They see each other often but this is the first time they'll spend multiple nights in a row together. He worries that he's done something wrong, sometimes he can't tell if she's just teasing. Though, he thinks as the girls joke about guys taking up too much space everywhere they go, she could be trying to determine Shizuru's feelings.
Keiko leads them to one of the small rooms off the temple's inner courtyard, sliding back a shoji door to reveal a tatami-floored room. A small table and two cushions sit at the center and the closet to one side undoubtedly holds futons.
"I hope you and Yusuke have more substantial walls than these," Chouko says as she slides one of the fusuma walls back and peers into the next room. Keiko blushes and Kurama can't help wondering if Chouko has set out to make him uncomfortable today. "She was a traditionalist, wasn't she?"
"Genkai-san didn't really believe in luxuries, besides video games of course," Kurama says as he sets down his bag.
"I've uh—spaced everyone out," Keiko says under her breath to Chouko, once she's got her embarrassment under control and thinks Kurama isn't listening. "They're really thin walls and Jin and Touya keep complaining about Chu so I thought it was for the best."
"Uh-oh," Chouko says. "Maybe you humans will get to sleep, but I'm betting the rest of us are in trouble."
"Yusuke would sleep through the end of the world, if it didn't mean missing out on a fight."
Keiko leaves them to settle in and Chouko tosses her back into the corner and plops onto the floor. She lays there, an arm over her face as he puts his bag away and checks that they have everything they need.
"We should rejoin the others," he says, while wishing they could stay by themselves in their little room.
"Grave sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure, be 't to fly, to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride on the curled clouds," Chouko proclaims and holds out a hand.
"You're in a poetic mood it seems," he says, pulling her to her feet. "Shakespeare instead of Sinatra today."
She smiles up at him then gives a dangling lock of his hair a tug. "I wouldn't want to embarrass you by singing in front of your friends."
Before he can respond her phone rings and she answers with a frown. Turning down the volume as the voice on the other end begins to speak, Chouko opens one of the fusuma walls dividing their room from the next and slips through. Kurama catches her eye and her worried frown as she slides the wall closed behind her. He waits for a moment, standing perfectly still and not breathing. He can only hear the faint sound of a voice on the other end of the call, even when he strains he can't make out the words and Chouko's responses are all just noises to show that she's still listening. There's nothing he can do an he doesn't want to eavesdrop so he returns to the living room to see what mischief the girls have planned.
Dun dun dun.
