The next morning, Kurama went to school.
He left early, leaving right after his mother. The sun wasn't up yet and in that early time people were just starting to move in the city like leaves softly rustling in a tree.
It felt like he hadn't been to class forever now.
As he walked he realized he was glad to be returning.
A return to normalcy.
He glanced down as a weed growing between the cracks in the pavement wrapped against his ankle as he waited at a crosswalk. He smiled down at it and it brushed against him again like a happy cat.
Well, as normal as things got.
He wrapped a scarf around his throat more snug and stuck his hands in his pockets.
It was cold.
In the Spirit World it still felt like late summer. However, Kurama had to conceed it ALWAYS felt like late summer in the Spirit World.
"I'll go after him." Kurama had told Koenma as the diminuative god sat and look worried.
"If you only could." Koenma said and sighed. "Your spirit energy is so low I couldn't sense you coming. An oni ran in here before you arrived and told me there was a human loose in the castle." Koenma's eye narrowed. "He meant you, of course."
"I see..." Kurama said. Koenma had just told him that Hiei truly was missing. He was evading all his eyes in the human world. He had become as good as a vengeful spirit, but if he truly killed Yukina's captors, none of Kurama's words or deals would save him. "But I have to do something."
Koenma looked up at him. The fox looked terrible and as human as Koenma had ever seen him. His face was pinched and pale. His eyes were dry and exhausted and he still managed to look beautiful.
"Rest." Koenma said. "That is what you can do, but..." Koenma held up a hand as Kurama began to protest. "Return tomorrow. If your energy is sufficient and if it is necessary, you can go after Hiei. I am sorry that I called you. If I had known that you were...."
"I am tired, but I am not without my reserves...or my resources. If you find Hiei on the brink of doing what he must not do, send someone to alert me." Koenma looked into green eyes that made a better case of imploring him than the words. "Please. Koenma."
Koenma had agreed.
Kurama looked up into the sky above the line of the cityscape, but his thoughts were far away.
"Minamino."
Kurama started.
The light at the cross-walk was flashing. On the other side of the road the boy called him again, but neither of them move.
"Tohru?" Kurama said.
...to be continued...