(Disclaimer is in Pt I)
Pt IV (Whooo, I'm finally getting somewhere!)
We stopped at a pleasant looking house with a big tree in the front yard. "I would like to talk to you before I introduce you to my mother, so we're going to climb up that tree into my room."
I watched him climb and he made his way up with grace and ease. The carefully opened the window and jumped into his room. Popping his head out, he asked me to join him quietly.
In two seconds I stood next to him as he gently purred, "Nicely done." It suddenly seemed too warm in the room and I shifted a bit uncomfortably away. It's not that I was repulsed by him; he wasn't a disgusting Ningen, but I was suddenly nervous. What if I said something wrong?
Sensing my awkwardness, he sat down on his bed far away from me. "You can sit down if you like," he invited, but he put some of his charm away. I felt a little better and sat at the other end of the bed. I bounced.
"What am I doing? Why am I moving?" I demanded. My face twisted into a scowl again.
"Hiei," he laughed, "this is a bed. Right now you're bouncing on it. I could explain the scientific reasons as to why you bounce, but I don't think you want to hear that."
I stood up and sat down again, this time deliberately trying to make myself bounce. Shuichi wasn't ready for this and he bounced as well and flew on top of me. I had a twelve year old Ningen sitting on my lap, how amusing.
"S-s-sorry," he stammered. It was the first time that the human boy had sounded unsure. I hoped I wasn't getting soft, but he was truly beautiful. His red flowing hair looked so soft and his eyes were pools in which I could easily get lost forever. I wouldn't let him know that I liked him. He couldn't know. I was the Forbidden One, and I didn't need foolish things like love.
"Don't worry about it, Ningen." My cold tone of voice always came out when I was nervous about something. "So what did you want me to know?"
"Oh right. Um… Well a looooong time ago…," he began as I sat enraptured (still trapped underneath him) when his story began…
(Time passes, his story is told)
I was in utter and complete disbelief. This scrawny kid was once the powerful, devious, Youko Kurama!? His love for plants had never changed, and his beauty was still apparent, but much different from the pictures of the tall silver fox. He could be the one to help me… Maybe my trip to the Ningenkai had a point after all.
I needed to know if this was the real Kurama and so I asked him who his best friend was. He leaned back against me and I was forced into having my back against the headboard. It took him a minute to answer, but when he did I had no doubt that this was an imposter.
"Well for a while I was sort of friends with King Yomi, but he wasn't a king at the time. He was in my thieving group, did you know that? We had some good times, but then I decided he was too weak for my liking and I ordered to have him killed. Yomi was blinded, but that was it. I know he misses me a lot and somehow he still loves me. I don't really understand. I'm not sure if we were that great of friends. Let me think of someone else… It's been so long…
"Oh, of course! I'm surprised I didn't think of Kuronue sooner. I remember raiding a castle with him and we were having a great time. We had a ton of treasure and we were just escaping when it happened. I had a mirror and Kuronue was right behind me, supporting me all the way… And then his damned pendant fell off! I shouted for him to keep going because our pursuers were growing closer, but he wouldn't leave with out it. Damn it! He died!!! He died… He told me to keep going and that if I stayed I would surely die too, and I left him to die…"
There was no way that a normal twelve year old boy could come up with a story like that. This had to be Kurama, the cold hearted thief. I felt bad for him and so I slowly wrapped my arms around him as he brushed the tears away from his eyes. He climbed off of my lap and I wondered if I had done something wrong, but he sat right next to me and laid his head on my shoulder before turning his head up to me and asking me about myself.
"Thank you," he said softly. "It's so different here in the Ningenkai. I have these things called feelings and they seem to be amplified in this strange place. I'm so different as Minamino Shuichi versus the infamous Youko Kurama. That is, if they still remember me. I could be a faded out legend of the past. "So what about you? Where are you from?"
And for the first time in my life, I had told someone about myself. Someone had finally cared where I came from and I felt safe telling Shuichi. He stayed by my side and held my hand as my own story unfolded.
Pt IV (Whooo, I'm finally getting somewhere!)
We stopped at a pleasant looking house with a big tree in the front yard. "I would like to talk to you before I introduce you to my mother, so we're going to climb up that tree into my room."
I watched him climb and he made his way up with grace and ease. The carefully opened the window and jumped into his room. Popping his head out, he asked me to join him quietly.
In two seconds I stood next to him as he gently purred, "Nicely done." It suddenly seemed too warm in the room and I shifted a bit uncomfortably away. It's not that I was repulsed by him; he wasn't a disgusting Ningen, but I was suddenly nervous. What if I said something wrong?
Sensing my awkwardness, he sat down on his bed far away from me. "You can sit down if you like," he invited, but he put some of his charm away. I felt a little better and sat at the other end of the bed. I bounced.
"What am I doing? Why am I moving?" I demanded. My face twisted into a scowl again.
"Hiei," he laughed, "this is a bed. Right now you're bouncing on it. I could explain the scientific reasons as to why you bounce, but I don't think you want to hear that."
I stood up and sat down again, this time deliberately trying to make myself bounce. Shuichi wasn't ready for this and he bounced as well and flew on top of me. I had a twelve year old Ningen sitting on my lap, how amusing.
"S-s-sorry," he stammered. It was the first time that the human boy had sounded unsure. I hoped I wasn't getting soft, but he was truly beautiful. His red flowing hair looked so soft and his eyes were pools in which I could easily get lost forever. I wouldn't let him know that I liked him. He couldn't know. I was the Forbidden One, and I didn't need foolish things like love.
"Don't worry about it, Ningen." My cold tone of voice always came out when I was nervous about something. "So what did you want me to know?"
"Oh right. Um… Well a looooong time ago…," he began as I sat enraptured (still trapped underneath him) when his story began…
(Time passes, his story is told)
I was in utter and complete disbelief. This scrawny kid was once the powerful, devious, Youko Kurama!? His love for plants had never changed, and his beauty was still apparent, but much different from the pictures of the tall silver fox. He could be the one to help me… Maybe my trip to the Ningenkai had a point after all.
I needed to know if this was the real Kurama and so I asked him who his best friend was. He leaned back against me and I was forced into having my back against the headboard. It took him a minute to answer, but when he did I had no doubt that this was an imposter.
"Well for a while I was sort of friends with King Yomi, but he wasn't a king at the time. He was in my thieving group, did you know that? We had some good times, but then I decided he was too weak for my liking and I ordered to have him killed. Yomi was blinded, but that was it. I know he misses me a lot and somehow he still loves me. I don't really understand. I'm not sure if we were that great of friends. Let me think of someone else… It's been so long…
"Oh, of course! I'm surprised I didn't think of Kuronue sooner. I remember raiding a castle with him and we were having a great time. We had a ton of treasure and we were just escaping when it happened. I had a mirror and Kuronue was right behind me, supporting me all the way… And then his damned pendant fell off! I shouted for him to keep going because our pursuers were growing closer, but he wouldn't leave with out it. Damn it! He died!!! He died… He told me to keep going and that if I stayed I would surely die too, and I left him to die…"
There was no way that a normal twelve year old boy could come up with a story like that. This had to be Kurama, the cold hearted thief. I felt bad for him and so I slowly wrapped my arms around him as he brushed the tears away from his eyes. He climbed off of my lap and I wondered if I had done something wrong, but he sat right next to me and laid his head on my shoulder before turning his head up to me and asking me about myself.
"Thank you," he said softly. "It's so different here in the Ningenkai. I have these things called feelings and they seem to be amplified in this strange place. I'm so different as Minamino Shuichi versus the infamous Youko Kurama. That is, if they still remember me. I could be a faded out legend of the past. "So what about you? Where are you from?"
And for the first time in my life, I had told someone about myself. Someone had finally cared where I came from and I felt safe telling Shuichi. He stayed by my side and held my hand as my own story unfolded.