Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Solaris, Foxglove, and Sanctuary.
Solaris: Hey, sorry about the lack of updates lately. My bad entirely. Okay well, not entirely, but a lot of it. By the way, the last couple of chapters are a little random, but they served to finish out the story. This isn't the last, but it's close. Now you'll see the origin of Sanctuary. Read on, please!
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Solaris was goofing off in her kitchen, fixing croissants for dinner that night. As she worked, her mind cast around for things to think about, but her thoughts always returned to one thing: she hadn't been able to talk to Kurama one-on-one at school all week, ever since the blockwide problem had been fixed. There wasn't anything wrong, it was just that he was the only person at Meiou who she knew well enough to talk to and trust. All week, classes had been dull, and at lunch he was always surrounded. Solaris knew that if she even took one step toward him, fan girls would swarm her and try to beat her up. She didn't want detention or suspension, so she kept her distance.
Finally she let out a sigh. "Stupid fan girls… If I could get just one alone in a back alley at night, I'd show 'em!" she said, pounding a piece of dough out until it was paper-thin. She then rolled it up again, sighing. After putting the croissants in the oven, she stirred the spaghetti she was making, hoping no one disliked pasta. Just as she set the spoon down and drew a breath to call Foxglove to set the table, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders from behind. She turned to see who it was and smiled. "Kurama!"
"Hello. Foxglove said you were moping a little because you hadn't been able to talk to me all week." he laughed. "So I came over."
"Just in time for dinner too! Could you set the table, please? I hear Foxglove down in the basement, gloating because she beat Hiei at SA2B." Solaris laughed, a fox ear twitching. (A/N: For those who don't know, SA2B is Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Fun game.) Pretty soon dinner was on the table and all four present were laughing happily. Foxglove was being filled in on the Karasu happenings.
"If this house had a name, it'd be Sanctuary!" Kurama laughed. Hiei stopped laughing for a moment.
"'Sanctuary', eh? Sounds good, actually." Hiei said.
"Yeah, seeing that this is the safest place in Tokyo for us." Foxglove nodded.
"Guys, that was a fluke! I know I couldn't do it again if I tried! Really!" Solaris smiled, a sweatdrop on her face.
"Maybe if you were angry enough, you could. Besides, 'Sanctuary' does sort of describe this place." Kurama grinned.
Later that night, all four were sitting around the coffee table in the living room, playing cards. Poker to be exact.
"I'm out." Foxglove declared. Thus far, Kurama had been on a winning streak, but Hiei was catching up pretty fast. This hand however…
"Royal flush!" Solaris cried in joy. "Yeah!"
"I'm out. And going to bed." Hiei said. Foxglove sat her cards down and followed.
"All or nothing?" Kurama grinned.
"Winner takes all chips?" Solaris asked for clarification.
"Loser sleeps in the same bed as the winner." Kurama said, smiling deviously. Solaris climbed onto the coffee table and tapped Kurama on the head.
"Youko, shut up." she said.
"Thanks." Kurama smiled. "All chips, not Youko's idea."
As it turned out, Kurama won, and as the two climbed the stairs, Kurama turned to Solaris. "Hey, if you need someone to talk to on a day I'm not there, Mitsuo's a good guy. Just no classified stuff." he smiled. Solaris nodded.
"Okay. I wasn't sure. Night." Solaris smiled.
- - -
One day during the school week, Kurama and Hiei had a mission. The only reason Solaris knew was because Hiei had left a note. As school entered its last hour for the day, it began to rain. "Lovely…" Solaris sighed, pulling on her outside shoes and readying herself for the mad dash to the bus. Just then, Mitsuo tapped her shoulder.
"Earth to Solaris! You've been in a real daze today. Well, so far as I can see, seeing as how I only have biology and lunch as times I can see you, not counting in the halls." Mitsuo smiled. "Say, where's Shuichi? I haven't seen him all day."
"I don't know. I was wondering that myself." Solaris said.
"He's not the type to skip." Mitsuo mumbled. Solaris grabbed him by the shirt and hoisted him a few inches from the floor.
"He's not skipping., I know it!" she exploded without thinking. Then she realized what she was doing and set him down. "Sorry. That pop quiz in algebra set me on edge."
"It's cool. I don't think I did so hot either. Say, I've got a few before cram school starts, want to come over and play Go?" Mitsuo asked.
"Huh. Never pegged you for a Go player. Sorry, can't. I gotta get back to Sanctuary." Solaris said.
"Never pegged you as a cult member!" Mitsuo said in shock. Solaris laughed.
"No, not a cult. It's my house. Shuichi joked that it was like a sanctuary and the name stuck." Solaris smiled. "Maybe Saturday I can play, but today I gotta get home. I'm expecting a call. Ja Ne!" she smiled as she put up her umbrella and ran toward the bus stop. Mitsuo leaned against a post, smiling. 'Expecting a call', his foot. Something was going down and Shuichi was involved. He could tell she really cared about Shuichi. He'd seen Solaris haul fan girls off the floor and move them once or twice, but only when she was furious. Luckily it had never turned to a fight, but you'd think by now the fan girls would be afraid to mess with her.
"Mitsuo! You'll be late for cram school!" a familiar voice called. He saw his sister walking toward the gate of the school, apparently her archery club practice had been called off. Jumping, he took off running. Think about Solaris's weirdness later, cram school now!
Meanwhile at home, Solaris quickly finished her homework. All it had been was some English, and that was a snap. She lay on the couch, bored, and then she got an idea. Solaris ran downstairs to find her muse sitting on the small sofa playing a sonic game on game boy advance, and tapped her on the shoulder. Foxglove saved quickly and looked up at Solaris. "Yeah?" she asked.
"Can you do me a favor?" Solaris asked, smiling mischievously. Foxglove set the GBA on the small table beside the sofa and followed. The way Solaris was grinning, this was going to be a blast.
- - -
Around 9 that night, Kurama and Hiei pulled themselves through the front gate of Sanctuary. It hadn't been a particularly tough mission, only an exhausting one, and the two were ready for dinner and rest. They came in to find the two fox girls at the door, smiling happily. "Welcome back, guys!" the two chirped joyously.
"Hey," the two smiled. Foxglove hugged Hiei, and let go when he pushed at her shoulder. Solaris didn't have to hug Kurama, he hugged her.
"What's for dinner?" Hiei asked. A demon could get used to three meals a day and a soft bed. And unless he was wrong, it smelled like chicken and rice.
"Chicken and rice. I'll get some for you two." Solaris smiled. As she headed toward the kitchen, she did something that Kurama had never seen her do before: she jumped up to touch the door facing. As she jumped, the sky blue tee shirt she was wearing lifted about half an inch, and Kurama could see a flash of dull red orange. Tired though he was, he ran over, grabbed her shoulders, and turned her around to look her in the eyes. He could read no emotion in the brown, almost black, depths, and it was slightly disturbing. He ignored it however.
"Solaris, what was that?" he asked.
"A jump. I was seeing if I could touch the top of the door facing. And I guess I can," she said, blinking.
"Not that. The thing on your back, what was it?" he asked, not letting her shoulders go.
"Oh, that. A tattoo." Solaris answered innocently. Kurama shook her shoulders slightly.
"A TATTOO?! Did you go insane? I leave for one day and you lose your mind!" he said, then turned her around and pulled her shirt up about an inch and a half to see a small fox holding a rose in its mouth, just above the waistband of her jeans.
"Kurama, it's not real. I asked Foxglove to draw it with a gel pen. I'm too chicken to get a real one." Solaris explained. "Besides, I was bored." The two stared each other in the eyes, Solaris straightening her shirt.
"Uh, Solaris? Not to be pushy, but could you just get dinner already? I'm getting tired of waiting." Hiei sighed. Solaris snapped out of her daze and got two bowls of chicken and rice.
"Foxglove and I already ate." she explained. Hiei 'hn'-ed and took his food to the kitchen, and Foxglove followed. Solaris sat on the floor across the table from Kurama and stretched.
"If you're tired you can lie down. Don't stay awake on my account." Kurama said.
"If I lie down, I'll fall asleep and I'll miss my shows." Solaris said. "I have the VCR set to record., but I don't know when I'd have time to watch them."
"Solaris, lie down. I can see that you're tired. You stay up until one every night, then wake up at 6:30 to get ready for school, there is no way you can't be tired, now lie down." Kurama insisted. Solaris sighed, but did.
"Mitsuo invited me to play Go with him on Saturday. I'm not very good, I don't know why I said yes." Solaris sighed after a while. "Personally I'm partial to chess or card games."
"You want out of it?" Kurama asked.
"A little. Okay, a lot. His sister isn't terribly fond of me, and she'd have the home team advantage. As if she didn't already. Put me in the Makai and I'd have her dead a hundred different ways in less than a minute." Solaris said. Kurama finished dinner and turned to face her, smiling.
"I don't doubt it. Uhm, Solaris, how long are you going to wear that black necklace?" he asked.
"Until I'm off 'probation'. Why?"
"You don't have to wear it, not even as a reminder." Kurama said. "Hey, in exchange for you taking off that necklace, I'll get you out of playing Go on Saturday."
"Deal!" Solaris nodded and pulled at the connector to remove the necklace.
- - -
Saturday came, and Kurama took Solaris to Reikai for a while. That night, she watched the Saturday block for the 14 anime. "Ooh! Cowboy Bebop!" she smiled. Kurama, wondering what charm Cowboy Bebop held, sat to watch too. The episode was Pierrot Le Fou. Hiei scoffed at the rotund assassin's fear of cats. Near the end, when Spike got him in the leg with a dagger, Solaris covered her eyes and ears to drown out his child-like screams of pain. Kurama let her hide her eyes in his shirt, but could do nothing to block the sound. After it was over, they all went to bed (aside from Foxglove, who had fallen asleep long ago). Later that night, Kurama came back downstairs due to some strange noises. It was Solaris, watching the reshowing of that night's Wolf's Rain, and she was crying. "Solaris, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked.
"I'm not crying." Solaris said.
"There's no one here to impress. You can tell me," he sighed.
"But I'm not crying."
"Solaris, I can tell that you are. You don't have to give me an exact reason, just tell me: is it something from the show?" he asked. She nodded and pointed at the screen. Chessa and Kiba had been separated again. Kurama nodded, then picked up the remote and switched off the television. "I think that's enough anime for one night. Come on, bed time." Kurama smiled. Solaris just stared at him strangely.
"You sound like you're talking to a small child." Solaris said, one ear half-flattened and tail twitching. "Last time I checked, I was 148 with the body of a 16 year old, not 5."
"I wouldn't confuse you with a 5 year old." Kurama said, then growled. "Youko… Sorry." he apologized. Solaris laughed. "Say, what was with how you acted during Cowboy Bebop?"
"I can't stand seeing grown men act like children. It sort of scares me to be truthful. I've always been like that." Solaris admitted, blushing. "Well, goodnight."
"Good night, Solaris." Kurama smiled.
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Solaris: And thus ends random chappie one. Read and review, please!