The next day, Kurama woke to find a note in his mother's handwriting set on his nightstand. He picked it up and glancing at the clock, groaned.
He had overslept.
He could imagine what they were saying at school. Shuiichi was never absent and he was never late. Perhaps "Shuiichi" just hadn't been himself lately. Kurama sighed at his own joke and opened the note.
Shuiichi (it read),
I have already called your school and told them you are sick.
Stay in bed. I have made a doctor's apointment for tomorrow.
I will be home early.
Love,
ka-san
Kurama, letter still in hand, lay back down in bed in relief.
Not everything was a total disaster.
At least....
He sighed and was asleep, just like that.
It wasn't until much later, when the morning had turned to the late afternoon that he woke. Someone was ringing the door-bell. There was a pause between the sound, a hesitant, but insistant pause. The sound came again.
Kurama rubbed his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. He had been dreaming again. It was one that was becoming a fast favorite. Hiei was in it.
The doorbell rang again and Kurama sat up in bed and waited.
A wave of nausea swept through his stomach, but that was all. It was better than he had expected. After such a transfer of spirtual power, (not to mention a sword through the chest), it was nice he could open his eyes, let alone stand and walk down the hall. Or perhaps, it wasn't so much a question of will as of necessity.
The doorbell had rung four times in the space it took Kurama to answer it.
Apparently the fifth ring was on its way, for as Kurama opened the door, the boy standing there had his hand hovering over the buzzer.
"Hello." Kurama said. The boy was wearing a uniform like the one Kurama possessed.
"Minamino." The boy said and lowered his hand. It would have seemed that after all that work to get Kurama to come to the door he would have been happier to see him, but the boy just stood there, face void of expression.
"Can I be of some help?" Kurama asked.
The boy slowly blinked. Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Yes." the boy said and reached for his backpack.
As he opened it and rummaged through, Kurama cocked his head. "You are from school, right? What is your name?"
"Tohru Higashii." the boy said as he pulled something out of his bag and presented it to Kurama. "Here."
Kurama started. The boy had grabbed his wrist and placed a blue book into his hand. Papers were peeking out of the sides. "What is this?" Kurama asked, reclaiming his arm.
"Homework." Tohru Higashii answered, turning. "And a script."
"A script?"
"Yes. While you were absent, the class was assigned a play and since you were absent the girls all gave you the lead. They couldn't agree which one of them should come and give you your homework. At the end, they told me I had to do it." From the look in Higashii's eyes, he wasn't too impressed by that. He paused and leaned forward. "You know. You do look pale, Minamino."
"I do?"
"Yeah." Higashii said with the same expression, the same tone of voice. He reminded Kurama suddenly of Hiei. "Ja." He said and walked away.
Kurama watched after him. "Ja." he said, so soft he knew there was no way he had been heard.
And that was just as well.
....to be continued...