Kurama faced Naoko on the field as they both prepared to practise. It was a unusually blustery evening as they bowed to each other and went into their fighting stances. This was a different Kurama from yesterday, softer, more vulnerable, Naoko thought. She shook the thought away. The Kurama she knew was very competitive on the practise mat; not soft at all. Just as they were about to begin, her handphone gave her the signal she'd forgotten she was waiting for.
She'd found a way around the magic to connect to the outside world.
She immediately called off the practise and motioned Kurama over. Picking up her duffel bag, she opened her laptop to see that she was connected to the Internet and to find that her phone finally had a signal. She turned up and grinned at the kitsune. "Where do you want to go?" she asked.
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Kurama hid his feelings well, but he knew that it would not be long before he had to tell Naoko everything. He didn't know when, but Naoko had made it into his heart when he wasn't guarded, and he was paying for it. Sleep didn't come at all for the kitsune who already had an insomnia problem. He refused to take the draughts that would induce sleep, knowing that the danger lay in him becoming addicted to them. That had nearly happened once, after Kuroro.*
They made their way inside, as Naoko had promised Kurama much earlier that she would lend him her laptop as soon as they were connected. She stood away from him, at a far corner, while he pretended to surf. She had once described herself as being unconscious to what people felt for her; they would have to come out and actually tell her how they felt about her before she realised.
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Damien, who was eating with Urameshi and Kuwabara, raised a surprised eyebrow when he saw the number on his handphone. He answered cautiously, but his tone turned to disbelief as the person on the other side talked, and then he got up and walked out of the restaurant to take the call so as not to disturb the other diners.
"I'm in England, dearest. Well… Scotland to be precise. How was Socrates?" she asked him, knowing that he would be shocked at her knowing the name.
"Socrates who?" he replied, a little confused. She told him to forget it, and that she would talk and see him as soon as she came home. She missed her geek of a boyfriend, his deceptively strong arms around her, keeping her safe in a cocoon. He promised to pick her up at the gates, and they both said goodbye.
"I love you, dearest," she sighed.
"I love you too, darling," he said, relieved that she was safe.
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Kurama looked up to see Naoko walking back to him, smiling widely. There was a smile of happiness and she looked as though a weight had lifted, but she was unaware of the weight being there in the first place. He quickly closed the pictures, and then gave the laptop back to her. He offered to escort her back to their rooms, and she accepted, not looking at the laptop, he noticed.
"You were saying that you wanted to talk to me about something, Kurama-san," Naoko said as they ascended the stairs to their rooms.
"It was nothing," he smiled at her, knowing that the smile would not work this time.
"Iya!" she sounded like a petulant child, "What was it? It's bugging me," she replied.
Naoko felt a cold feeling, and she turned, fear in her face. "The Gryffindor towers…" she murmured, and then began to run.
She gives everything her all, Kurama thought as he followed her. Even her life.
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Okay, the next chapters are going to be a bit long, so please find yourself a comfy chair (if you haven't already) and enjoy the ride!
