Jessica awoke to the gentle hum of an air conditioner. The comfort of the
bed seemed to dull the pulsing of her head, but not by much. The light,
fluffy pillow was so soft on her pounding head, the bed seemed to be made
of the same thing as the pillow, and eased her aching back. She lifted a
hand to her forehead and let out a moan, unable to force her eyes open. Her
lips were gently forced open and she felt a chalky capsule placed on the
top of her tongue. She had difficulty swallowing it. She felt cold glass
being placed against her mouth, and she gulped down the water that came
from it. She then managed to crack her left eye open. All she could
distinguish was a blur of red. She struggled against her blanket, a sudden
feeling of fear welling up inside her.
"No, no. Jessica, calm down. Shhh." She knew that voice. Who was it? She felt her hand being enclosed in warmth, and realized some one was holding her hand, stroking it with his fingers. "It's okay. We're all okay now." He crooned, his soft words causing her to stop and rest against the bed, letting him sooth her. "You're going to be fine, just fine. But you have to keep calm and rest."
The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile of bliss, a sigh coming from deep within her chest. ". . . . Kurama? Wh-what the heck happened?" She asked quietly. She felt his grip on her hand tighten ever so slightly.
"Mm-hmm. Now be silent, we don't want you over doing it. As to what happened, I don't really know. Apparently, you allowed Aoitsuki to possess you in order to save my life and that of your friend's. She took over your body, killed Shi, and nearly killed us as well." Jessica stiffened at this. "Shh. Calm down. It's okay, as I already said, we're all okay. A bit bruised, but not very badly. If you hadn't heard Autumn's plea and taken your body back, we would not be here right now. . . .For a while, we all thought you'd die. Your body was so broken from the ordeal, and your soul. . . I feared that it had been damaged. . . . . We expected to find Aoitsuki's soul, assuming that, in order to take control again, you had cast it away. We did not, which means it's still inside you. ." His tone changed to a soft, questioning voice. Fringed with worry. ". . . Do you. . . remember being possessed?"
"...No. Well, I remember my thoughts...... All I could think about was how all those I loved were going to die... But I didn't know why I felt like that......... I didn't see anything. I couldn't feel or taste or hear...... It was like. . . . I was sitting in the back of her mind, and all I could see...er...... well, hear, was her thoughts and emotions.... And her past. . . ." She fell into a fit of coughing, her body jerking violently. Kurama's hand lifted from her hand and gripped her shoulder, and, rather awkwardly, pulled her to him, holding her until the fit resided, his strong arms encircling her shoulders. She felt his muscles under his shirt, the intense warmth. A blush creeped up her cheeks as she smiled into his shirt, trying to act as though she didn't notice he was hugging her. If only she could see! But it was like some sort of glue held her lids together. She felt him sit her back against her pillows, and heard him clear his throat nervously.
"I'm. . . Sorry. I shouldn't have made you talk." He apologized. But Jessica was glad she had talked, for if she hadn't she couldn't have started coughing, and he wouldn't have held her like that. But then her thoughts turned to her mother, and she felt guilty. Her mother would not approve. "Here, I'll leave you now. You just get some sleep."
She wondered if it would be wrong to beg him to stay with her. For as he stood, she felt another wave of terror course through her. As his light step took him out into the hallway, her breaths came out as sobs, and she began to cry. If that woman's soul was still inside her, she could come back and take over...
Jessica struggled to keep on her feet, her eyes on her bare feet. She put a hand to the wall in order to have its aid in balancing. The hospital room was silent, for no one but herself was in it at the moment. She had to know where she was, and how her friends were doing. She felt bad that she was disobeying Kurama, but she had to know. She flushed as she realized she was wearing a hospital gown, and that it was rather short. It was made of thick, blue cloth, and fell to about six inches above her knees. And she never wore anything that high up. It had to be to her knees. But even so, she had to get out of this room! She had been awake for hours, and still had no idea what was happening. For all she knew, Kurama had lied about Autumn and Shanta, so as not to upset her. Jessica took a tentative step, letting her hands fall away from the wall.
She took another, and her knees gave way. She felt a dull pain in her kneecaps as they cracked down on the tile floor. "Ah!" Tears spilled down her cheeks, so many emotions swirling around in her head that she continued to scream, pain and hate and sorrow and panic and anger and fear and helplessness and every other feeling making her scream in confusion, suddenly feeling venerable. She covered her ears with her hands and screamed louder, letting it all out. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Her entire body shook so violently that she felt sick, and felt the taste of vomit singe her tongue. What was wrong with her?
Autumn stared listlessly at the blank wall infront of her. She shifted her position in the hard plastic chair. She was sitting in the lobby of the hospital, one leg beneath her, the other slowly kicking back and forth infront of the chair. She detested waiting. She was fighting down the panic inside of her, she had no idea how Jessica was doing. Shanta was perfectly fine, with the exception of a cut on her shoulder. She lay on the chair beside Autumn, curled up with her head resting on the armrest and her feet curled up under her. Her shoulder had gauze taped to it, a slight stain of red on them. She was sleeping rather peacefully. It had been, after all, nearly ten hours since they had arrived here. "Eleven now," Autumn murmured moodily as her watch beeped for the new hour. "What the heck is with them? Did they forget about us?" She was referring to Kurama and Yuskue. Hiei had taken off as soon as Botan had awakened him, as they all lay in the ruins of the library. Kurama had been fine, despite the fact that he had gone through a great deal more. Shanta had managed to describe the situation to Autumn, for all she had seen was the ending.
Autumn bristled as the faint sound of a scream echoed in the room. It took her a full minute to realize it was coming from Jessica, and in that minute, the scream never stopped. She gave Shanta a nudge, but stopped and decided it was best to leave her be. Autumn stood and, as unnoticeably as humanly possible, she made her way down the hall until she came to a stop before a room. Doctors and nurses gathered around it, all trying to get past and into the room. Jessica was still screaming. She managed to shove past several nurses and came face to face with her friend.
Her face was death white, her eyes wider than they ever had been. One of the doctors was holding her down while a nurse drove a needle into her trembling arm. She was perfectly still, her yelling had stopped when Autumn had come in. Not sure what to do, Autumn shoved her hands in her pockets and discreetly leaned against the wall in the corner and waited for the staff to leave.
When they had, she walked over to the bed where her friend was laying, her hands gripping the blanket to her chest with such vigor, her knuckles were turning a paper white. Tears slowly rolled down her ashen face. "Hey Jess," Autumn said softly.
"I a-almost killed you." She sobbed, hiccups breaking her words. "An-nd I- I still-l m-m-might. B-becaus-se she-e-e's still ins-side of m-me."
"Nah. Look at how you stopped her from doing it already?" Autumn was never one for comforting. She scuffed the tile nervously with her sneaker. ". . . Kurama was in here, wasn't he? What'd he say to you?"
Jessica managed a shadow of a smile. "He, uh, h-hugged m-me. S-said tha-at y-you were all-l fine."
Autumn raised her eyebrows. "He hugged you? Hmmm." She gave her friend an impish grin. Jessica frowned and shook her head in disagreement.
"No. It wasn't like that. It was to keep me from hurting myself." She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, resting her face of her knees. "I'm sorry I caused all that fuss a few moments ago. . . . I don't know what came over me. I just. . . I was just really afraid."
"Hey, its okay. You did worry me, I thought you were in pain."
"I was."
"Where the heck am I?" Shanta blinked several times in a rapid succession, lifting a hand to her eyes and rubbing them. She was standing in Koenma's office. She opened her mouth to speak, but silenced herself, not really knowing why. Instead, she took a cautious step towards him, her hand outstretched. She reached up and touched Koenma's face. Her hand slid right through it. She frowned and heaved a sigh, "Another vision. . ."
Koenma was seated in his throne, his eyes closed, his hands in his lap, placidly sucking his pacifier. He opened them as a second person in the room spoke, her toneless voice, with a tinge of a British accent, giving away her identity, despite the thick leather cloak she wore covered her face. "Master Koenma, we have advanced a full mile already this morning. A record, I would assume." She was referring to the war constantly being fought in the demon world; a fight for control.
Shanta fought down the urge to scream at the sight of Aoitsuki. This was another one of her memories... The third, actually. The other two she had seen thus far were unimportant, just a few random conversations.
"Hmmm," The prince crooned in agreement, "Your addition to my father's army was my best idea, no doubt."
The girl stiffened at this. But she continued despite the comment. "Sir, I refuse to continue to aid you in this bloody war."
Koenma sat up abruptly and, nearly choking on his binky, he screamed, "WHAT?!"
"How dare we press our forces into land that does not belong to us? It never has, and never will. Why shed so much demon blood?" Her white teeth showed slightly as she bit her bottom lip and braced herself for his response.
Koenma blinked, his perplexity obvious. He seemed beyond words, but at last he thought of something, and belted it out so fiercely, he sprayed her with spit. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! WE HAVE TO TAKE THAT LAND, IT'S OURS! AND IF THEY'D COOPERATE, NO BLOOD WOULD BE SPILLED! YOU WILL GO BACK TO THAT BATTLEFEILD, AND YOU'LL HELP US WIN THIS WAR!" He bellowed, jumping up and down in his anger.
She lifted her hands to her face, tightening them into fists. She slammed them down on his desk, sending papers flying about the room. "Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Koenma?! I shall do as I please! And if it is my will to stop fighting this senseless war, stop fighting I shall! You think you rule over everyone, and they'll meekly obey you, but you're wrong! You rule over NOTHING!!! You fool!" She turned abruptly, and stormed from the room, papers still fluttering to the floor. The door swung shut on its own accord as she left. Shanta watched her go with a nasty glare on her face.
Koenma sat back in his chair and heaved a sigh. Oger, who stood beside, him, peered over him anxiously, "Sir, are you okay?"
"Yes, Oger," The prince of spirit world moaned, "I'm fine. But that girl! She harbors so much power, but she has such a rebellious spirit! You would have thought she'd have matured by now, being nineteen and all." He sighed again and slumped back in his chair. "What am I going to do? If my father finds out, he'll punish...ME! Theres no way we can continue this war without her! What could have caused this sudden change of heart?"
"Yes," Shanta agreed, knowing well enough that she could not be seen or heard. "What was her deal?" Her light brown eyes glinted as she folded her arms acrossed her chest and thought out loud, "In all the other memories, she was fighting... And enjoying the heck out of it. She lived for the thrill of battle......So why suddenly hate it?"
"SHANTA!"
"Shanta," Autumn repeated, shaking her friend's shoulder. "Yo, wake up. Hello?!" Frustrated, she balled her hand into a fist, and gave Shanta a sharp whack on the head. "Earth to Kikiyo's child! HELLO?!" After a moment, she leaned over and bellowed in her ear, "Oh look, it's Sesshamaru!" Shanta sat up abruptly, her eyes scanning the room for the Anime character. She put a hand on the top of her head and winced, not sure why she had a head ache. "Come on, Shanta, Kurama says we can leave now."
"Un?" Shanta grumbled as she followed her companion down the hall towards the main, double doors. "This day has been the freakiest ever. Remind me to kill Jessica for this. . . I'm hungry. . ." She shoved the glass door open, stepping out in the cold night air, breathing in sharply at the low temperature. She lifted her face at gaze at the sky, a smile coming to her eyes. Stars glowed gently in the dark sky, like miniature beacons meant to guide one to one's destination. Autumn followed suite, exhaling deeply, her breath freezing into a cloud above her face. It was so cold! And it was in the middle of the summer, too. And both of them were wearing Tshirts. After a moment, Kurama appeared and instructed them to find a silver convertible. He handed Autumn keys and told her to turn it on and warm it up for him. Beaming, she agreed and they walked out into the car lot, while Kurama went back into the hospital.
They found the said car, and Autumn hopped into the front seat and put the key into the ignition, looking thoroughly pleased. The car really was nice, its silver paint unflawed, the black leather seats perfectly taken care of. Shanta got into the passenger seat, her hands immediately seeking the radio. Within moments, she had turned it on, but had not successfully found a station worth listening to. It was all in Japanese. She tilted her head to the side, her eyes travelling back to the hospital doors. She watched with dulled eyes as Kurama and Jessica (now dressed in jeans and a Tshirt) walked out, Kurama's eyes on Jessica, without her realizing it. She was to busy trying to stay standing. The redhead gave her a bit of a hand, gripping her shoulder and fairly steering her out to the car. Upon them reaching the car, Shanta pretended to be busy looking through a stack of CDs.
"Here we go," Kurama murmured as he helped Jessica into the backseat, his mouth up in a smile as he helped her with the seatbelt, which, in the dark, she couldn't seem to buckle. He shot a glance at Autumn, who sighed and climbed over the seat into the back. Getting into the driver's seat, he said, "You're going to be staying at Yuskue's house for the next few days," before pulling out of the parking lot.
Jessica lifted her arm and set it on the top of the door, resting her cheek on it. Her eyes closed halfway as she fought sleep, not wanting to miss any of the conversation. But her own thoughts distracted her. Could Aoitsuki take over again? If so, could she stop her again? Who was lying, Koenma, or Shi? Was Aoitsuki wrong in trying to stop the war in the demon world? Why did Aoitsuki kill Shi? Why did she get so upset when anyone told her what to do, or asked her to do something? What really happened in the records library? And why did she say that Kurama's feelings towards her were "affectionate" ones? Was she just messing with him, or...?
"So you have a license?" Autumn was saying, her words causing Jessica to twitch and pay more attention. "That's cool. But I thought you were only fifteen?"
Kurama did not answer at once. He watched as the car infront of him slowed to a stop, and he gently pressed his foot on the brake, his emerald eyes lifting to see a red light. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he answered, "I just turned sixteen about two months ago." He turned slightly in his seat to look at the two in the back, "We're going to have to get your things from the hotel, then maybe we can stop for something to eat, okay?"
Autumn nodded readily, "Sure, sounds good ta me." Shanta echoed her response. Jessica smiled and made a soft sound of agreement. But her stomach contracted and she felt a sharp pain. They were soposed to be going home in two days... But Kurama had said, "the next few days," and this whole thing certainly wasn't over yet. So, that meant they were not going to get home on time...
Okay, I'm ending the chapter here. It's getting to long! Please review! Thank you!
"No, no. Jessica, calm down. Shhh." She knew that voice. Who was it? She felt her hand being enclosed in warmth, and realized some one was holding her hand, stroking it with his fingers. "It's okay. We're all okay now." He crooned, his soft words causing her to stop and rest against the bed, letting him sooth her. "You're going to be fine, just fine. But you have to keep calm and rest."
The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile of bliss, a sigh coming from deep within her chest. ". . . . Kurama? Wh-what the heck happened?" She asked quietly. She felt his grip on her hand tighten ever so slightly.
"Mm-hmm. Now be silent, we don't want you over doing it. As to what happened, I don't really know. Apparently, you allowed Aoitsuki to possess you in order to save my life and that of your friend's. She took over your body, killed Shi, and nearly killed us as well." Jessica stiffened at this. "Shh. Calm down. It's okay, as I already said, we're all okay. A bit bruised, but not very badly. If you hadn't heard Autumn's plea and taken your body back, we would not be here right now. . . .For a while, we all thought you'd die. Your body was so broken from the ordeal, and your soul. . . I feared that it had been damaged. . . . . We expected to find Aoitsuki's soul, assuming that, in order to take control again, you had cast it away. We did not, which means it's still inside you. ." His tone changed to a soft, questioning voice. Fringed with worry. ". . . Do you. . . remember being possessed?"
"...No. Well, I remember my thoughts...... All I could think about was how all those I loved were going to die... But I didn't know why I felt like that......... I didn't see anything. I couldn't feel or taste or hear...... It was like. . . . I was sitting in the back of her mind, and all I could see...er...... well, hear, was her thoughts and emotions.... And her past. . . ." She fell into a fit of coughing, her body jerking violently. Kurama's hand lifted from her hand and gripped her shoulder, and, rather awkwardly, pulled her to him, holding her until the fit resided, his strong arms encircling her shoulders. She felt his muscles under his shirt, the intense warmth. A blush creeped up her cheeks as she smiled into his shirt, trying to act as though she didn't notice he was hugging her. If only she could see! But it was like some sort of glue held her lids together. She felt him sit her back against her pillows, and heard him clear his throat nervously.
"I'm. . . Sorry. I shouldn't have made you talk." He apologized. But Jessica was glad she had talked, for if she hadn't she couldn't have started coughing, and he wouldn't have held her like that. But then her thoughts turned to her mother, and she felt guilty. Her mother would not approve. "Here, I'll leave you now. You just get some sleep."
She wondered if it would be wrong to beg him to stay with her. For as he stood, she felt another wave of terror course through her. As his light step took him out into the hallway, her breaths came out as sobs, and she began to cry. If that woman's soul was still inside her, she could come back and take over...
Jessica struggled to keep on her feet, her eyes on her bare feet. She put a hand to the wall in order to have its aid in balancing. The hospital room was silent, for no one but herself was in it at the moment. She had to know where she was, and how her friends were doing. She felt bad that she was disobeying Kurama, but she had to know. She flushed as she realized she was wearing a hospital gown, and that it was rather short. It was made of thick, blue cloth, and fell to about six inches above her knees. And she never wore anything that high up. It had to be to her knees. But even so, she had to get out of this room! She had been awake for hours, and still had no idea what was happening. For all she knew, Kurama had lied about Autumn and Shanta, so as not to upset her. Jessica took a tentative step, letting her hands fall away from the wall.
She took another, and her knees gave way. She felt a dull pain in her kneecaps as they cracked down on the tile floor. "Ah!" Tears spilled down her cheeks, so many emotions swirling around in her head that she continued to scream, pain and hate and sorrow and panic and anger and fear and helplessness and every other feeling making her scream in confusion, suddenly feeling venerable. She covered her ears with her hands and screamed louder, letting it all out. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Her entire body shook so violently that she felt sick, and felt the taste of vomit singe her tongue. What was wrong with her?
Autumn stared listlessly at the blank wall infront of her. She shifted her position in the hard plastic chair. She was sitting in the lobby of the hospital, one leg beneath her, the other slowly kicking back and forth infront of the chair. She detested waiting. She was fighting down the panic inside of her, she had no idea how Jessica was doing. Shanta was perfectly fine, with the exception of a cut on her shoulder. She lay on the chair beside Autumn, curled up with her head resting on the armrest and her feet curled up under her. Her shoulder had gauze taped to it, a slight stain of red on them. She was sleeping rather peacefully. It had been, after all, nearly ten hours since they had arrived here. "Eleven now," Autumn murmured moodily as her watch beeped for the new hour. "What the heck is with them? Did they forget about us?" She was referring to Kurama and Yuskue. Hiei had taken off as soon as Botan had awakened him, as they all lay in the ruins of the library. Kurama had been fine, despite the fact that he had gone through a great deal more. Shanta had managed to describe the situation to Autumn, for all she had seen was the ending.
Autumn bristled as the faint sound of a scream echoed in the room. It took her a full minute to realize it was coming from Jessica, and in that minute, the scream never stopped. She gave Shanta a nudge, but stopped and decided it was best to leave her be. Autumn stood and, as unnoticeably as humanly possible, she made her way down the hall until she came to a stop before a room. Doctors and nurses gathered around it, all trying to get past and into the room. Jessica was still screaming. She managed to shove past several nurses and came face to face with her friend.
Her face was death white, her eyes wider than they ever had been. One of the doctors was holding her down while a nurse drove a needle into her trembling arm. She was perfectly still, her yelling had stopped when Autumn had come in. Not sure what to do, Autumn shoved her hands in her pockets and discreetly leaned against the wall in the corner and waited for the staff to leave.
When they had, she walked over to the bed where her friend was laying, her hands gripping the blanket to her chest with such vigor, her knuckles were turning a paper white. Tears slowly rolled down her ashen face. "Hey Jess," Autumn said softly.
"I a-almost killed you." She sobbed, hiccups breaking her words. "An-nd I- I still-l m-m-might. B-becaus-se she-e-e's still ins-side of m-me."
"Nah. Look at how you stopped her from doing it already?" Autumn was never one for comforting. She scuffed the tile nervously with her sneaker. ". . . Kurama was in here, wasn't he? What'd he say to you?"
Jessica managed a shadow of a smile. "He, uh, h-hugged m-me. S-said tha-at y-you were all-l fine."
Autumn raised her eyebrows. "He hugged you? Hmmm." She gave her friend an impish grin. Jessica frowned and shook her head in disagreement.
"No. It wasn't like that. It was to keep me from hurting myself." She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, resting her face of her knees. "I'm sorry I caused all that fuss a few moments ago. . . . I don't know what came over me. I just. . . I was just really afraid."
"Hey, its okay. You did worry me, I thought you were in pain."
"I was."
"Where the heck am I?" Shanta blinked several times in a rapid succession, lifting a hand to her eyes and rubbing them. She was standing in Koenma's office. She opened her mouth to speak, but silenced herself, not really knowing why. Instead, she took a cautious step towards him, her hand outstretched. She reached up and touched Koenma's face. Her hand slid right through it. She frowned and heaved a sigh, "Another vision. . ."
Koenma was seated in his throne, his eyes closed, his hands in his lap, placidly sucking his pacifier. He opened them as a second person in the room spoke, her toneless voice, with a tinge of a British accent, giving away her identity, despite the thick leather cloak she wore covered her face. "Master Koenma, we have advanced a full mile already this morning. A record, I would assume." She was referring to the war constantly being fought in the demon world; a fight for control.
Shanta fought down the urge to scream at the sight of Aoitsuki. This was another one of her memories... The third, actually. The other two she had seen thus far were unimportant, just a few random conversations.
"Hmmm," The prince crooned in agreement, "Your addition to my father's army was my best idea, no doubt."
The girl stiffened at this. But she continued despite the comment. "Sir, I refuse to continue to aid you in this bloody war."
Koenma sat up abruptly and, nearly choking on his binky, he screamed, "WHAT?!"
"How dare we press our forces into land that does not belong to us? It never has, and never will. Why shed so much demon blood?" Her white teeth showed slightly as she bit her bottom lip and braced herself for his response.
Koenma blinked, his perplexity obvious. He seemed beyond words, but at last he thought of something, and belted it out so fiercely, he sprayed her with spit. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! WE HAVE TO TAKE THAT LAND, IT'S OURS! AND IF THEY'D COOPERATE, NO BLOOD WOULD BE SPILLED! YOU WILL GO BACK TO THAT BATTLEFEILD, AND YOU'LL HELP US WIN THIS WAR!" He bellowed, jumping up and down in his anger.
She lifted her hands to her face, tightening them into fists. She slammed them down on his desk, sending papers flying about the room. "Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Koenma?! I shall do as I please! And if it is my will to stop fighting this senseless war, stop fighting I shall! You think you rule over everyone, and they'll meekly obey you, but you're wrong! You rule over NOTHING!!! You fool!" She turned abruptly, and stormed from the room, papers still fluttering to the floor. The door swung shut on its own accord as she left. Shanta watched her go with a nasty glare on her face.
Koenma sat back in his chair and heaved a sigh. Oger, who stood beside, him, peered over him anxiously, "Sir, are you okay?"
"Yes, Oger," The prince of spirit world moaned, "I'm fine. But that girl! She harbors so much power, but she has such a rebellious spirit! You would have thought she'd have matured by now, being nineteen and all." He sighed again and slumped back in his chair. "What am I going to do? If my father finds out, he'll punish...ME! Theres no way we can continue this war without her! What could have caused this sudden change of heart?"
"Yes," Shanta agreed, knowing well enough that she could not be seen or heard. "What was her deal?" Her light brown eyes glinted as she folded her arms acrossed her chest and thought out loud, "In all the other memories, she was fighting... And enjoying the heck out of it. She lived for the thrill of battle......So why suddenly hate it?"
"SHANTA!"
"Shanta," Autumn repeated, shaking her friend's shoulder. "Yo, wake up. Hello?!" Frustrated, she balled her hand into a fist, and gave Shanta a sharp whack on the head. "Earth to Kikiyo's child! HELLO?!" After a moment, she leaned over and bellowed in her ear, "Oh look, it's Sesshamaru!" Shanta sat up abruptly, her eyes scanning the room for the Anime character. She put a hand on the top of her head and winced, not sure why she had a head ache. "Come on, Shanta, Kurama says we can leave now."
"Un?" Shanta grumbled as she followed her companion down the hall towards the main, double doors. "This day has been the freakiest ever. Remind me to kill Jessica for this. . . I'm hungry. . ." She shoved the glass door open, stepping out in the cold night air, breathing in sharply at the low temperature. She lifted her face at gaze at the sky, a smile coming to her eyes. Stars glowed gently in the dark sky, like miniature beacons meant to guide one to one's destination. Autumn followed suite, exhaling deeply, her breath freezing into a cloud above her face. It was so cold! And it was in the middle of the summer, too. And both of them were wearing Tshirts. After a moment, Kurama appeared and instructed them to find a silver convertible. He handed Autumn keys and told her to turn it on and warm it up for him. Beaming, she agreed and they walked out into the car lot, while Kurama went back into the hospital.
They found the said car, and Autumn hopped into the front seat and put the key into the ignition, looking thoroughly pleased. The car really was nice, its silver paint unflawed, the black leather seats perfectly taken care of. Shanta got into the passenger seat, her hands immediately seeking the radio. Within moments, she had turned it on, but had not successfully found a station worth listening to. It was all in Japanese. She tilted her head to the side, her eyes travelling back to the hospital doors. She watched with dulled eyes as Kurama and Jessica (now dressed in jeans and a Tshirt) walked out, Kurama's eyes on Jessica, without her realizing it. She was to busy trying to stay standing. The redhead gave her a bit of a hand, gripping her shoulder and fairly steering her out to the car. Upon them reaching the car, Shanta pretended to be busy looking through a stack of CDs.
"Here we go," Kurama murmured as he helped Jessica into the backseat, his mouth up in a smile as he helped her with the seatbelt, which, in the dark, she couldn't seem to buckle. He shot a glance at Autumn, who sighed and climbed over the seat into the back. Getting into the driver's seat, he said, "You're going to be staying at Yuskue's house for the next few days," before pulling out of the parking lot.
Jessica lifted her arm and set it on the top of the door, resting her cheek on it. Her eyes closed halfway as she fought sleep, not wanting to miss any of the conversation. But her own thoughts distracted her. Could Aoitsuki take over again? If so, could she stop her again? Who was lying, Koenma, or Shi? Was Aoitsuki wrong in trying to stop the war in the demon world? Why did Aoitsuki kill Shi? Why did she get so upset when anyone told her what to do, or asked her to do something? What really happened in the records library? And why did she say that Kurama's feelings towards her were "affectionate" ones? Was she just messing with him, or...?
"So you have a license?" Autumn was saying, her words causing Jessica to twitch and pay more attention. "That's cool. But I thought you were only fifteen?"
Kurama did not answer at once. He watched as the car infront of him slowed to a stop, and he gently pressed his foot on the brake, his emerald eyes lifting to see a red light. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he answered, "I just turned sixteen about two months ago." He turned slightly in his seat to look at the two in the back, "We're going to have to get your things from the hotel, then maybe we can stop for something to eat, okay?"
Autumn nodded readily, "Sure, sounds good ta me." Shanta echoed her response. Jessica smiled and made a soft sound of agreement. But her stomach contracted and she felt a sharp pain. They were soposed to be going home in two days... But Kurama had said, "the next few days," and this whole thing certainly wasn't over yet. So, that meant they were not going to get home on time...
Okay, I'm ending the chapter here. It's getting to long! Please review! Thank you!