Chapter 6 - To Forgive and Forget
No Reviews...Do you guys hate me that much? I would usually wait till I got a review, but I've wasted so much time already. You guys deserve another chapter. I checked my last chapter and realized...it was just one scene...I mentally smacked myself. I seriously did not mean to do that...
A few days afterwards, Kurama found himself staring out windows at the park. He hoped that Ikken would forgive him. Another person who could talk to foxes, and he had driven her off. He sighed.
"Hey, what's up Kurama?" Yusuke asked. "You've been quiet." Kurama turned to him.
"Don't worry Yusuke. I'm just tired is all. I didn't get much sleep last night." he lied. It sounded like he was telling the truth though, so Yusuke shrugged and walked off again. Hiei turned his head from the window and looked a Kurama, who was next to him.
"Why do you lie fox?" he asked in a somewhat indifferent tone. Kurama looked at the table in front of him.
"I don't know if I'll ever even see her again...it's best not to bring in any others. Yusuke, though having good intentions, would only be pejorative...Kuwabara as well..." he closed his eyes and leaned back.
"Hn...fox." Hiei said. Kurama didn't move. "Fox." he tapped Kurama on the shoulder. Kurama opened the eye closest to Hiei. "Look out the window." he pointed.
Kurama sat up and looked out the window. A girl with flowing red hair, like Kurama's, was walking past. She has green eyes just a bit darker than his. The girl was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, great since the weather was slowly warming up. She sneezed and kept walking. Kurama opened the window a crack and whispered.
"Ikken." he called in a whispy voice. The girl jumped and looked around, but he had already closed the window and hidden. He watched her walk off with an inner smile on. His face was neutral. Hiei stared at him with slight interest, that looked like slight hatred.
"Why did you do that?" he asked. Kurama shrugged.
"To see if it was her..."
"If they look that much like you, it's her." Hiei stated before jumping out the window and into a tree.
Kurama laughed once, then looked down the road as the red haired Ikken's back disappeared around the corner.
— — —
'Ikken...if you really hate the guy, then why are you so down?' Jasmine asked. Ikken shrugged.
"Maybe I'm tired..." she said her eyes half closed. Jasmine narrowed her eyes.
'I suppose that's also why you're going out looking like him!' she yelled before bounding out the door.
"J-jasmine! Come on Jasmine! What'd I do?" Ikken called down the stairs. Buster looked up from the bottom.
'She's under the stairs.' he said simply, turning and going under the stairs too.
"I'm going out Buster...please make sure she's ok, ok?" Ikken asked before closing the front door behind her.
She was walking down the road when she heard a soft 'Ikken' and flipped around. No one was there so she figured it was her imagination. She turned around and kept walking. A window she had just passed opened and there were voices. She ignored them until she got around the corner. Then it hit her.
The voice saying 'Ikken' had been Shuichi's and one of the voices from that open window had been his too! He had been no more than 10 ft away! She looked back down the street, but Kurama was no longer in the window. She walked back to the window and looked through it. It was an empty room.
"Did I imagine it?" she asked, looking down. She saw something below the window and knelt down. It was a beautiful red rose, but she was sure it hadn't been there before. "Huh?"
"Do you like it?" came a dark voice. She flipped around and saw Hiei.
"Who?" was all she managed. This boy was so different from Kurama it was scary. His black and white hair defied gravity and the evil look in his eyes made her cringe. He repeated himself.
"Do you like the rose?" he asked in the same dark voice. Slowly, she nodded, hoping he wouldn't hurt her. When he laughed she glared.
"What's so funny?" she asked angrily.
"You pretend." Hiei stated. "You run away from whatever it is that scares you if it's not an immediate problem. I'm an immediate problem. I could kill you now. And I wouldn't care. But Kurama...he wasn't an immediate problem. You could run away and not face him. But you cant outrun your problems!"
Somehow, Ikken got the impression that he didn't usually talk this much. She stayed quiet.
"Kurama cant forget about a girl who, like him, can speak to foxes. Do you know what he is? What you are?" Hiei asked. She saw a spot on his headband glow and backed up. Her mind felt compressed into a small box. "You are not like him, but he is not like anyone I know. There is a classification, which we all fit into, but there are different types of people...creatures in that category. Kurama is different from all the others, so are you. I'm sure there are others...like you. But there are few of him. Few who would go to such lengths and who wouldn't give up until they're job is done." Hiei then disappeared.
"Uh- wait...Um...I... What just happened?" she asked.
She shook her head and turned to leave. Hiei's words rang in her head and she looked to the sky.
"Like him...There are few who would got to such lengths and who wouldn't give up until they're job is done..." she smiled softly on the outside, inside was a great guilt for yelling at him. As she recalled it, Ikken saw sadness in Kurama's eyes as she turned to run away...wait...who was Kurama? Trying to brush it off, she ran home as the sun set.
— — — - - -
"What did you tell her Hiei?" Kurama asked as the stars started coming out. Hiei 'hn'ed.
"Nothing to important. I just knocked some sense into the onna." he answered.
"Heh...goodnight Hiei." Kurama sat on his roof as Hiei narrowed his eyes and jumped off.
Kurama layed on his back and stared at the sky as night fell around him like a blanket. The stars twinkled and sparkled in the sky. Kurama was reminded of a snow dancer. A dress of snow and moves of an angel. He thought back and could've sworn she had wings when she danced...
'Who are you?' a silent voice asked.
'I am me...The demon Youko Kurama.' he thought. Kurama felt in a daze.
'Reveal yourself to me...Tell me who you are, not your name...your soul...' it coaxed. Kurama didn't think anything, his mind was blank...but the emotions he was feeling at the time...things he'd felt in the past...seemed to be flowing through him.
— — —
Ikken got home as the sun just about finished setting. Jasmine and Buster ran up.
'I'm sorry Ikken...I was...I'm sorry' she apologized. Ikken brushed it off.
"Don't worry Jasmine. It's no big deal. I'm gonna go watch the stars from the roof, ok?" the two foxes nodded and went off to play.
Ikken ran up the stairs and onto the roof as the first star came out. She was once again pondering the name Kurama. Who was Kurama? That guy had called him Kurama, but she thought his name was Shuichi. Ikken closed her eyes and sent out a pulse. Where was he right now?
To her surprise she found he was also on a roof and was easy to find. The power she was using now, it focused on emotions, how that person was feeling at the moment. She sent out another almost undetectable pulse and asked a question aloud.
"Who are you?" she asked.
'I am me...The demon Youko Kurama.' she heard him answer. She gasped at the find. He was a demon too? Wait...could you classify her as a demon?
'There is a classification, which we all fit into, but there are different types of people...creatures in that category' Hiei had said that...She asked again.
"Reveal yourself to me...Tell me who you are. Not your name." she corrected. "Your soul." she suddenly got a rush.
He was like an open book. Kurama wasn't even trying to block her out. She saw things as she felt them. The rush of a chase, the thrill of a kill, she gasped. She then felt the love for a mother, the regret of past sins, the bond between friends, and new strength for a new day. Ikken dug further, though her head hurt. She felt a strange bond, and saw faint images of daily life. A picture in his mind that was still fresh, a new memory, was a picture of a girl dancing. Ikken saw the black haired boy and heard a conversation.
"Fox."
"Yea?" Kurama asked absentmindedly.
"Fox." repeated the fire youkai with more push.
"What?" Kurama asked.
"What's going on? You're acting strange, kitsune." he said, giving Kurama a suspicious glance.
"Nothing wrong. I just have things on my mind." He said, staring at the sky.
Hiei gave Kurama a half glare and then had a surprised and confused look on.
"A girl?"
"Huh?" Kurama started. "Hiei. Why did you read my mind?"
"Because I wasn't getting any answers out of you by just asking."
She heard other things about herself, she got a headache.
"Hey, what's up Kurama?" Yusuke asked. "You've been quiet." Kurama turned to him.
"Don't worry Yusuke. I'm just tired is all. I didn't get much sleep last night." he lied. Yusuke shrugged and walked off again. Hiei turned his head from the window and looked a Kurama, who was next to him.
"Why do you lie fox?" he asked in a somewhat indifferent tone. Kurama looked at the table in front of him.
"I don't know if I'll ever even see her again...it's best not to bring in any others. Yusuke, though having good intentions, would only be pejorative...Kuwabara as well..." he closed his eyes and leaned back.
She saw one last thing before cutting the connection. A picture of her, the last time she saw him...when she had yelled at him. She saw herself through his eyes. Ikken felt pain and shut her eyes.
"Stop it, stop it." she commanded. As the images faded and her eyes filled with tears, she relayed one last thing to Kurama. "I'm sorry."
— — —
Kurama blinked out of his daze.
'I'm sorry' he had heard it...hadn't he? Someone apologizing? It had been...Ikken. He looked around as a deep feeling of sadness lifted, like it had been water and he had been a laminated piece of paper...it just bounced off...
"No need to be sorry Ikken..." he said softly, sitting up and placing his arms on his knees. "I should be the one apologizing...After all, you're the one with wings..." he jumped down through his window and got in bed.
The stars twinkling above helped both of them to fall asleep...a soft lullaby played through the air on the wings of the wind. No body really heard it, but it helped all who were awake...to fall into deep, peaceful sleep. The tune played across the city in a slow movement. Kurama listened to it play, the wind that is, for a good 2 minutes before the softness of it all put him to sleep. Ikken, feeling the sleep of a thousand years of difficult life, fell asleep almost instantly after hitting the softness of her pillow.
That was my longest chapter yet! Ha! Wait...that's sad...