Hi!!! I'm back again! And with special guest....drumroll please....Kitsune no Kami who is physically sitting next to me right now!!! Second chapter is here!!!! I'm really spastic right now, bare with me. Oh, and this story takes place a few months after the end of the series and the Yakumo thing. So, Kurama is working at his step-dad's office, his little brother is in Jr. High, Kuwabara is studying for college, Hiei is just doing his own little thing, and Yusuke is, well, pretty much being himself. PLEASE ENJOY!!!!
After the long bus ride, Kairi and Sazume collected their baggage and proceeded to the parking lot of the bus station. Mai was there waiting for them. She was wearing cut-off jeans shorts with a sleeveless Hawaiian shirt. She smiled warmly as they approached.
"Have a good trip?" she asked as she loaded their luggage into the back of her red Jeep.
"Well, there were no screaming babies, homicidal psychos, or couples making out if the aisles, so all and all it was okay," Kairi offered.
Mai climbed into the driver's seat and Kairi got into the passenger side while Sazume climbed into the back. There was a whirl as Mai turned the key and started the engine, then they took off into the mid-day traffic of Tokyo city.
Kairi closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the wind as it pulled at her hair through the topless Jeep. Cars whizzed passed in multi-colored whirls of hot air. They rode in silence through the crowded streets. Sazume peered curiously at the tall buildings. Kyoto had office buildings, every major city did, but they were nothing compared to the sky scrapers of Tokyo.
Kairi kept her eye's closed until she felt the wind recede as the Jeep slowed and she heard the engine drone to silence. Slowly, she opened her eyes and cast them upwards, taking in the building before her. It was a two story building at the end of the street. The sign out front read "Bake 'n' Take." A railed balcony overlooked the front of the store, indicating a living area located on the second floor.
"Come on, I'll show you your rooms," Mai announced, handing Kairi and Sazume their bags as they stepped out of the car. She led them to the store's entrance, which was empty exempt for a red "Closed" sign. She took a ring of keys from her pocket and fished through them, searching for the right one. She found it and pushed it into the lock, turning it to the right and pushing the glass door opened. A faint ringing sounded through the empty shop as the door brushed against a clutter of bells hanging from the ceiling.
Mai led them through the maze of empty tables and around the display counter holding the register. A steel door with a window set in the middle top half that was set off to the right and led to the bakery's kitchen. Another door, more to the left, opened to reveal a set of stairs, obviously leading to the second floor.
She led them up into an organized, orderly living area. To the left was what passed for a living room. A couch was set directly across from a TV which had a VCR perched on top. A chair was set on either side of the couch and a coffee table was placed in the center of the circle created by the chairs, couch, and TV.
On the right was the kitchen. A lone counter with stools placed around it served as a table. Between it and the back wall was a sink, an oven, a refrigerator, and some matching counters set against the wall on which perched an ancient microwave next to a crumb-covered toaster.
Mai led them past all this and into the hallway that extended further back into the house.
"Lucky for you this house has four bedrooms," Mai said as they walked. "The one at the end of the hall is the guest room. Kairi, yours is the first on the left, mine is the second, and Sazume, yours is the second on the right. The door that's first on the right leads to the bathroom. I had some furniture in storage and brought it up for your rooms. If you don't like it, we can always get more. Feel free to move anything you want. If you need anything, just holler. I'll be downstairs in the bakery."
With that, Mai tuned on her heals and disappeared back down the staircase at the front of the house. Kairi exchanged a look with Sazume, then turned to go into her bedroom.
The door was set on the far left side of the wall it was built into, leaving ample room to the right. In the space, a desk was set complete with swivel chair and Stereo system. Next to the desk, set on the wall next to the door, was a bulletin board, with multi-colored pins stuck in it, ready to be used.
Kairi scanned the rest of the room. On the opposite wall from the desk was a closet, which Kairi ignored, and next to that was a night stand and a bed. Next to the bed was an empty bookcase, and across from that, against the same wall as the desk, was a chest of drawers.
On the far side of the room, there was a sliding glass door with clean, white curtains drawn open and resting on either side of it. Kairi crossed the room to it and pushed it opened, walking onto the balcony she had seen from the street. Sazume's room also had a door leading to the balcony, and she joined her older sister shortly.
They stood in silence for a long moment, surveying the city laid out before them.
"Mai really went all out, huh?" Sazume spoke first.
Kairi nodded. An uncomfortable, unsettling silence fell between them. Sazume hated this. Ever since their mother's death, Kairi had been detached from everyone, even Sazume. She barely ever told Sazume anything and was quiet most of the time, like she was now. Sazume couldn't remember what Kairi was like before the "incident," but she was sure it was nothing like this.
"It's only noon," Sazume broke the silence. "We could go and try to find our way around town. You know, so we don't get lost tomorrow when we are trying to go to school."
Kairi remained silent for a minute, then pushed back from the railing with a sigh.
"Alright, go find a road map, will ya?" Kairi said as she headed back to her room, an enthusiastic Sazume in tow. "Doesn't Mai have a bike hiding somewhere around here?"
A boy with flaming red hair and intelligent, emerald eyes stared out of the open third-story office building window and on to the crowed street below. Kurama was bored. He was the youngest employee at the office, and despite the fact that he had proven himself quiet capable of handling any and all situations, no one ever seemed to have anything for him to do. He sighed, drumming his fingers absently on the desk as he gazed down at the street below.
There was virtually nothing for him to do. He had checked with everyone, and any paperwork that needed to be done had been done, any errands that needed to be run had been run, and that morning had been the one morning Kurama had been in a hurry to leave the house and he had forgotten his book! He spared a moment to glance at the discarded paper laying on his desk, then tuned back to the street. He had read the morning's newspaper three time already, and had no desire to read it again.
His gaze drifted from one side of the street to the other and back again. There wasn't much to see outside, but he continued to stare. It was the middle of a hot, Friday afternoon. Everyone was either at school, work, or running errands for whatever reason. The most eventful thing that had happened so far was when a boy in a blue school uniform had walked by, obviously skipping school, causing him to chuckle slightly as he was reminded of Yusuke. Other than that, though, nothing interesting had happened.
Just as he was about to get up once more and see if ANYONE needed ANYTHING, something caught his eye. A girl, who looked about a year younger than him, came into view on a bike. She was hunched over the basket and pedaling only just often enough to keep the bike moving at a snail-crawl pace. A closer look told him that she was staring at a map of the streets, obviously trying to figure out where she was. She had flaxen hair that was pulled up with a loose ribbon which had not been tied in a bow, and when she looked up to see the street sign, he clearly glimpsed her bright, blue eyes.
A thought ran though his mind. A thought that she was...pretty? NO! He mentally slapped himself. What was he thinking? He'd had plenty of girls falling all over each other just to have a thirty second conversation with him in High School, and he'd never thought any of them were 'pretty,' at least not in the way he thought this girl was.
Abruptly, he pulled himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on the scene below. She was looking down at the map again, and was so intent on reading it that she didn't see the car waiting to turn in front of her until it was too late. She only barely hit the bumper, but the girl was so surprised that she didn't manage to regain her balance in time and the bike tipped over.
"Hey! Watch it!" Kurama heard the angry driver yell, leaning out the window of his car and shaking his fist at the girl.
"Sorry," she apologized as she picked herself up, righted her bike, and walked it up onto the sidewalk. She looked back at the road, confused for a moment, before realizing what had happened. The bike lane moved into the middle of the street at the intersection so that cars could turn, but there was too much traffic for her to get over there.
The girl sighed and looked around her. Kurama's better than average ears just barely caught her muttering the words "Great. Now what?" As Kurama continued to watch, another girl came into view. She was running down the street towards the first girl, bushy pigtails bouncing as she went.
"You...could...have...waited...for...me...Kairi!" Kurama heard the girl gasp as she strained to regain her normal breathing. The new girl was obviously the first girl, Kairi's sister. She had the same blond hair and when she looked up, Kurama could make out the same blue eyes as well. As Kurama stared at the second girl, he made a mental assessment of her age.
'She looks about Shuichi's age,' he concluded, referring to his younger step-brother.
"Sorry Sazume," Kairi said, smiling at her sister.
'She's even more beautiful when she smiles,' the thought ran through Kurama's head before he could stop it. This time he almost physically slapped himself. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!?!?!
Sazume sighed as she straightened up. "It'll take forever to get through that crosswalk in this traffic," she said, folding her arms.
"No. There's got to be a faster way," Kurama heard Kairi say.
"Yeah, how?" Sazume retorted, pushing the crosswalk button rapidly. Kairi stared at a truck parked next to her at the corner of the intersection. Suddenly, she turned and walked her bike a considerable distance back down the street.
"Kairi? What are you doing?" Sazume asked, turning around. Kurama was wondering the same thing. He turned to look at the truck Kairi had been staring at, and with a horrified jolt, he understood. The back of the truck had been tilted back to unload whatever cargo it had been carrying. Now it resembled a giant ramp. Kairi was planning to jump of the ramp and soar over the entire street instead of crossing it!
Sazume must have realized Kairi's plan as well, because now she ran after Kairi yelling, "Kairi! Please don't do this! You're going to get hurt, or worse! KAIRI!!!"
Kairi ignored her sister's pleas, turning her bike to face the ramp. She took a pair of green-tinted sunglasses from her pocket and pushed them onto her face.
"Kids, don't try this at home," Kurama heard Kairi say before she started pedaling for the ramp. She picked up speed quickly, but to Kurama she seemed to be moving in slow motion. He had known this girl for all of five minutes, had some absurd thoughts about her, and never introduced himself, but somehow he was worried about her as if he had known her all his life.
His wide, horrified eyes followed her up the ramp...and off. He realized he was holding his breath as he watched her soar over the cars.
'She's not going to make it!' he realized with a jolt as she began to loose altitude when she was barely half way across. Sure enough, Kairi didn't make it, not all the way. She came down hard on the top of a blue car in the far lane and half bounced, half fell onto the sidewalk beyond.
"KAIRI! HAVE YOU TOTALLY LOST YOUR MIND?!?!?!" Sazume screeched as she raced across the street, the walk sign having just flashed green.
Kurama stared for a long, long, LONG moment. He watched Sazume help Kairi get up of the ground and then yell at her nonstop as the pair walked down the street and out of sight. Not until after they were gone did Kurama realize how fast his heart was beating, how much sweat had accumulated on his brow, and the fact that he was leaning dangerously out the window. He quickly pulled himself back in, hitting his head on the upper part of the window as he did so.
"Ouch!" he muttered, rubbing the spot on the back of his head as he sat down again in his chair. That girl...Why was he so concerned with that girl? He knew plenty of girls, but none of them had ever made him act like that...made him THINK like that. He pondered it for a moment longer. Could it be...? NO! Absolutely not! Love at first sight was a stupid fairy tale theme. It didn't really happen. And besides, he was a demon. It should be impossible for him to love a human.
'What about your mother?' a voice in the back of his head asked.
But that was different...wasn't it? Yes! Definitely different. She had sacrificed things for him, always been there for him, he couldn't help but return her love. But this girl...he hadn't even said a word to her and she hadn't even known he was watching her. It wasn't the same thing. It wasn't! Was it?
After the long bus ride, Kairi and Sazume collected their baggage and proceeded to the parking lot of the bus station. Mai was there waiting for them. She was wearing cut-off jeans shorts with a sleeveless Hawaiian shirt. She smiled warmly as they approached.
"Have a good trip?" she asked as she loaded their luggage into the back of her red Jeep.
"Well, there were no screaming babies, homicidal psychos, or couples making out if the aisles, so all and all it was okay," Kairi offered.
Mai climbed into the driver's seat and Kairi got into the passenger side while Sazume climbed into the back. There was a whirl as Mai turned the key and started the engine, then they took off into the mid-day traffic of Tokyo city.
Kairi closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the wind as it pulled at her hair through the topless Jeep. Cars whizzed passed in multi-colored whirls of hot air. They rode in silence through the crowded streets. Sazume peered curiously at the tall buildings. Kyoto had office buildings, every major city did, but they were nothing compared to the sky scrapers of Tokyo.
Kairi kept her eye's closed until she felt the wind recede as the Jeep slowed and she heard the engine drone to silence. Slowly, she opened her eyes and cast them upwards, taking in the building before her. It was a two story building at the end of the street. The sign out front read "Bake 'n' Take." A railed balcony overlooked the front of the store, indicating a living area located on the second floor.
"Come on, I'll show you your rooms," Mai announced, handing Kairi and Sazume their bags as they stepped out of the car. She led them to the store's entrance, which was empty exempt for a red "Closed" sign. She took a ring of keys from her pocket and fished through them, searching for the right one. She found it and pushed it into the lock, turning it to the right and pushing the glass door opened. A faint ringing sounded through the empty shop as the door brushed against a clutter of bells hanging from the ceiling.
Mai led them through the maze of empty tables and around the display counter holding the register. A steel door with a window set in the middle top half that was set off to the right and led to the bakery's kitchen. Another door, more to the left, opened to reveal a set of stairs, obviously leading to the second floor.
She led them up into an organized, orderly living area. To the left was what passed for a living room. A couch was set directly across from a TV which had a VCR perched on top. A chair was set on either side of the couch and a coffee table was placed in the center of the circle created by the chairs, couch, and TV.
On the right was the kitchen. A lone counter with stools placed around it served as a table. Between it and the back wall was a sink, an oven, a refrigerator, and some matching counters set against the wall on which perched an ancient microwave next to a crumb-covered toaster.
Mai led them past all this and into the hallway that extended further back into the house.
"Lucky for you this house has four bedrooms," Mai said as they walked. "The one at the end of the hall is the guest room. Kairi, yours is the first on the left, mine is the second, and Sazume, yours is the second on the right. The door that's first on the right leads to the bathroom. I had some furniture in storage and brought it up for your rooms. If you don't like it, we can always get more. Feel free to move anything you want. If you need anything, just holler. I'll be downstairs in the bakery."
With that, Mai tuned on her heals and disappeared back down the staircase at the front of the house. Kairi exchanged a look with Sazume, then turned to go into her bedroom.
The door was set on the far left side of the wall it was built into, leaving ample room to the right. In the space, a desk was set complete with swivel chair and Stereo system. Next to the desk, set on the wall next to the door, was a bulletin board, with multi-colored pins stuck in it, ready to be used.
Kairi scanned the rest of the room. On the opposite wall from the desk was a closet, which Kairi ignored, and next to that was a night stand and a bed. Next to the bed was an empty bookcase, and across from that, against the same wall as the desk, was a chest of drawers.
On the far side of the room, there was a sliding glass door with clean, white curtains drawn open and resting on either side of it. Kairi crossed the room to it and pushed it opened, walking onto the balcony she had seen from the street. Sazume's room also had a door leading to the balcony, and she joined her older sister shortly.
They stood in silence for a long moment, surveying the city laid out before them.
"Mai really went all out, huh?" Sazume spoke first.
Kairi nodded. An uncomfortable, unsettling silence fell between them. Sazume hated this. Ever since their mother's death, Kairi had been detached from everyone, even Sazume. She barely ever told Sazume anything and was quiet most of the time, like she was now. Sazume couldn't remember what Kairi was like before the "incident," but she was sure it was nothing like this.
"It's only noon," Sazume broke the silence. "We could go and try to find our way around town. You know, so we don't get lost tomorrow when we are trying to go to school."
Kairi remained silent for a minute, then pushed back from the railing with a sigh.
"Alright, go find a road map, will ya?" Kairi said as she headed back to her room, an enthusiastic Sazume in tow. "Doesn't Mai have a bike hiding somewhere around here?"
A boy with flaming red hair and intelligent, emerald eyes stared out of the open third-story office building window and on to the crowed street below. Kurama was bored. He was the youngest employee at the office, and despite the fact that he had proven himself quiet capable of handling any and all situations, no one ever seemed to have anything for him to do. He sighed, drumming his fingers absently on the desk as he gazed down at the street below.
There was virtually nothing for him to do. He had checked with everyone, and any paperwork that needed to be done had been done, any errands that needed to be run had been run, and that morning had been the one morning Kurama had been in a hurry to leave the house and he had forgotten his book! He spared a moment to glance at the discarded paper laying on his desk, then tuned back to the street. He had read the morning's newspaper three time already, and had no desire to read it again.
His gaze drifted from one side of the street to the other and back again. There wasn't much to see outside, but he continued to stare. It was the middle of a hot, Friday afternoon. Everyone was either at school, work, or running errands for whatever reason. The most eventful thing that had happened so far was when a boy in a blue school uniform had walked by, obviously skipping school, causing him to chuckle slightly as he was reminded of Yusuke. Other than that, though, nothing interesting had happened.
Just as he was about to get up once more and see if ANYONE needed ANYTHING, something caught his eye. A girl, who looked about a year younger than him, came into view on a bike. She was hunched over the basket and pedaling only just often enough to keep the bike moving at a snail-crawl pace. A closer look told him that she was staring at a map of the streets, obviously trying to figure out where she was. She had flaxen hair that was pulled up with a loose ribbon which had not been tied in a bow, and when she looked up to see the street sign, he clearly glimpsed her bright, blue eyes.
A thought ran though his mind. A thought that she was...pretty? NO! He mentally slapped himself. What was he thinking? He'd had plenty of girls falling all over each other just to have a thirty second conversation with him in High School, and he'd never thought any of them were 'pretty,' at least not in the way he thought this girl was.
Abruptly, he pulled himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on the scene below. She was looking down at the map again, and was so intent on reading it that she didn't see the car waiting to turn in front of her until it was too late. She only barely hit the bumper, but the girl was so surprised that she didn't manage to regain her balance in time and the bike tipped over.
"Hey! Watch it!" Kurama heard the angry driver yell, leaning out the window of his car and shaking his fist at the girl.
"Sorry," she apologized as she picked herself up, righted her bike, and walked it up onto the sidewalk. She looked back at the road, confused for a moment, before realizing what had happened. The bike lane moved into the middle of the street at the intersection so that cars could turn, but there was too much traffic for her to get over there.
The girl sighed and looked around her. Kurama's better than average ears just barely caught her muttering the words "Great. Now what?" As Kurama continued to watch, another girl came into view. She was running down the street towards the first girl, bushy pigtails bouncing as she went.
"You...could...have...waited...for...me...Kairi!" Kurama heard the girl gasp as she strained to regain her normal breathing. The new girl was obviously the first girl, Kairi's sister. She had the same blond hair and when she looked up, Kurama could make out the same blue eyes as well. As Kurama stared at the second girl, he made a mental assessment of her age.
'She looks about Shuichi's age,' he concluded, referring to his younger step-brother.
"Sorry Sazume," Kairi said, smiling at her sister.
'She's even more beautiful when she smiles,' the thought ran through Kurama's head before he could stop it. This time he almost physically slapped himself. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!?!?!
Sazume sighed as she straightened up. "It'll take forever to get through that crosswalk in this traffic," she said, folding her arms.
"No. There's got to be a faster way," Kurama heard Kairi say.
"Yeah, how?" Sazume retorted, pushing the crosswalk button rapidly. Kairi stared at a truck parked next to her at the corner of the intersection. Suddenly, she turned and walked her bike a considerable distance back down the street.
"Kairi? What are you doing?" Sazume asked, turning around. Kurama was wondering the same thing. He turned to look at the truck Kairi had been staring at, and with a horrified jolt, he understood. The back of the truck had been tilted back to unload whatever cargo it had been carrying. Now it resembled a giant ramp. Kairi was planning to jump of the ramp and soar over the entire street instead of crossing it!
Sazume must have realized Kairi's plan as well, because now she ran after Kairi yelling, "Kairi! Please don't do this! You're going to get hurt, or worse! KAIRI!!!"
Kairi ignored her sister's pleas, turning her bike to face the ramp. She took a pair of green-tinted sunglasses from her pocket and pushed them onto her face.
"Kids, don't try this at home," Kurama heard Kairi say before she started pedaling for the ramp. She picked up speed quickly, but to Kurama she seemed to be moving in slow motion. He had known this girl for all of five minutes, had some absurd thoughts about her, and never introduced himself, but somehow he was worried about her as if he had known her all his life.
His wide, horrified eyes followed her up the ramp...and off. He realized he was holding his breath as he watched her soar over the cars.
'She's not going to make it!' he realized with a jolt as she began to loose altitude when she was barely half way across. Sure enough, Kairi didn't make it, not all the way. She came down hard on the top of a blue car in the far lane and half bounced, half fell onto the sidewalk beyond.
"KAIRI! HAVE YOU TOTALLY LOST YOUR MIND?!?!?!" Sazume screeched as she raced across the street, the walk sign having just flashed green.
Kurama stared for a long, long, LONG moment. He watched Sazume help Kairi get up of the ground and then yell at her nonstop as the pair walked down the street and out of sight. Not until after they were gone did Kurama realize how fast his heart was beating, how much sweat had accumulated on his brow, and the fact that he was leaning dangerously out the window. He quickly pulled himself back in, hitting his head on the upper part of the window as he did so.
"Ouch!" he muttered, rubbing the spot on the back of his head as he sat down again in his chair. That girl...Why was he so concerned with that girl? He knew plenty of girls, but none of them had ever made him act like that...made him THINK like that. He pondered it for a moment longer. Could it be...? NO! Absolutely not! Love at first sight was a stupid fairy tale theme. It didn't really happen. And besides, he was a demon. It should be impossible for him to love a human.
'What about your mother?' a voice in the back of his head asked.
But that was different...wasn't it? Yes! Definitely different. She had sacrificed things for him, always been there for him, he couldn't help but return her love. But this girl...he hadn't even said a word to her and she hadn't even known he was watching her. It wasn't the same thing. It wasn't! Was it?