Chapter 3: To be human

Kurama could vaguely hear someone insistently calling his name. His head was swimming and he was having a hard time remembering where he was. He tried to open his eyes but there was a blinding light and he quickly shut them again. Strange. He remembered being submerged in blackness, where had all this light come from? He vaguely wondered if he was dead, but soon decided that was a dumb idea. If he were dead, he would probably be in Koenma's office right now being chewed out by the young prince and his messenger girl, Botan, the grim reaper. That, and he probably wouldn't be suffering from this splitting headache.

'Youko what the hell happened?' Kurama mentally asked, but this time there was no answer.

'Youko?'

Kurama remembered the darkness surrounding him, darkness so thick it was almost a tangible thing. There was the smell of sawdust, and fresh paint. They were hunting something. Kurama frowned, trying to put all the pieces together and remember. What was it they were looking for? Yuoko was bored, nothing new there. It was a demon, a very small demon. They followed it into a room, and there was darkness… and pain, unbearable pain. It all came rushing back to Kurama in seconds.

'Youko!' fear and worry washed over Kurama in waves

'Youko? Are you there?' there was no answer and Kurama felt like he was going to be sick.

'Youko where are you?' Kurama cried desperately.

'Damn it Youko answer me!' that strong comforting presence that was Youko Kurama had been with him since he was a child, and Kurama was terrified of the silence that answered him in place of the smooth arrogant voice of the fox.

"Youko!" Kurama cried out loud, jumping into a sitting position and finally completely awake. He was panting heavily, and cool beads of sweat were running down his cheeks… or were they tears? He couldn't tell. There was a moment's silence before that calm voice in his head answered, just as always did in the past.

'What the hell is all this racket about?' Youko asked in a groggy tone.

'Youko! Why the hell didn't you answer me!' Kurama demanded, unable to hide his relief.

'I was sleeping, why the hell did you wake me up?' Youko countered.

'Because that bitch was trying to separate us.' Kurama answered.

"Umm Kurama? Earth to Kurama… hellooo?" Kuramas mental conversation was interrupted by Yusuke waving his hand in front of Kuramas eyes. "Kurama are you ok man?"

Kurama blinked and focused on Yusuke. "Yes, I'm fine." Yusuke gave him a disbelieving look and shrugged.

"You've been out for a couple hours." He said, moving over towards a window to give Kurama more space.

'If that woman had succeeded in ripping our souls apart you'd be the one dead, not me.' Youko purred evilly.

'Oh thanks a lot Youko. I'm glad to have your support.' Kurama said with a snort, at witch Yusuke raised a questioning eyebrow.

'Oh calm down, if I had any interest in seeing you dead, Suuichi, I could have taken my freedom long ago.' Youko remarked with an air of self-superiority.

"Alright Kurama, if your done having conversations with your self would you mind telling me exactly what the hell happened back there?" Yusuke asked in annoyance. "You scared the shit out of me. I feel this big fucken dark aura, so I go to check it out and I find this big fucken gargoyle looken demon standing over you, while yer on the ground spazzing and twitchin, screaming nonsense. So I go to give that piece of shit a good beating and it turns into some skinny ass bitch and walks into a wall and disappears."

'And what if were not done having conversations with our selves? This hardly concerns him.' Youko sneered.

'Shut up Youko.'

'Just a few minutes ago you were whining and bitching because I was too out of it to talk, and now your telling me to be silent? I'm hurt Kurama, really I am.'

'Christ, your such a pain in the ass.'

'Face it, you cant live with out me.'

'We both could have died! Can't you be serious for five minutes!'

"…All that and that bastard fires us! Fucking shit! Koenma can drag his midget ass down here and fight these demons himself for all I care; technically we don't even work for him anymore! I'm not gonna stick around doing all of this shit if I'm not even spirit detective anymore! This isn't community service, you could have died or something! This is bull! They need to hurry the fuck up and hire new tantai. Keiko gets pissed every time I'm stuck going off and fighting demons for Koenma, out of the kindness of my own heart no less…"

Kurama barely registered the fact that Yusuke was still ranting as he continued arguing with Youko.

"That woman was obviously after one or both of us so there's a good chance she will be back to finish the job.' Kurama said grimly.

'That dumb bitch doesn't know what she's getting herself into.' Youko growled.

'It doesn't make any sense though, why try to pull us apart? She could have used that same type of energy to destroy us since we had no way of blocking it, what dose she have to gain by separating us?'

'She obviously wanted to fight me in my true form.' Youko said arrogantly.

'Youko you were in no shape to be a worthy opponent for Kuwabara, much less that shadow demon.' Kurama said, rolling his eyes. Youko didn't reply.

"Kurama you didn't answer me." Yusuke was leaning against the wall next to the window, arms crossed, looking at Kurama expectantly.

"Huh?" Kurama blinked in surprise… 'What was Yusuke talking about again?'

'How should I know? It probably has something to do with that girl of his, all he ever talks about is girls.' Youko replied with disinterest.

"You still haven't told me what happened with that weird demon thing." Yusuke clarified.

Kurama paused for a moment, trying to decide on how much he should tell Yusuke.

"She used her dark energy… like a wedge between Youko's soul and my own." Kurama finally said.

"And what the hell dose that mean?" Yusuke asked.

"It means she was trying to separate Youko and myself into two entities instead of one."

"What the hell for?"

"… I don't know." Kurama admitted with a sigh.

Yusuke thought this over for a moment before finally shrugging and offering Kurama a hand up. "I'm not gonna pretend like any of this makes any sense, but that thing'll be long gone by now and there's no use in sitting around in this creepy place all day."

Kurama nodded and took Yusuke's hand, allowing his friend to help him up. They headed for the door but Yusuke stopped, distracted by something.

"What are you looking at?" Kurama asked.

"There's something shiny stuck in the door." Yusuke replied.

"Shiny?" Kurama echoed.

'Typical human, easily distracted by shiny things.' Youko sneered.

'Like your one to talk.' Kurama snapped back.

"Yeah it's shiny like glass or something, but there's an energy coming from it, and it's pulsing." Yusuke answered, oblivious to Youko's insults.

Kurama stepped closer to get a good look at what Yusuke was talking about, and sure enough there was a tiny pink piece of crystal or glass stuck in the wood low to the ground, pulsing with energy so faint it was almost nonexistent.

"A parting gift from my attacker perhaps?" Kurama wondered aloud.

"Who knows? Should we leave it? It could be dangerous if it has anything to do with that thing that was attacking you." Yusuke said

"What is it though?" Kurama muttered.

'That woman would not have left something like this behind on purpose, it was on that disgusting pet of hers as I recall. It must have gotten stuck in the wood when the creature used shadow teleportation to go through the door. The energy from this glass is on a higher wave than the dark aura of the demon so I guess it got left behind in the shadows.' Youko said, apparently in one of his rare moods where he was actually willing to make things easier for his human companions by sharing some his vast knowledge and experience.

'What the hell is all of that supposed to mean Youko?' Kurama asked.

'It means that the bitch lost that weird chunk of glass on accident, therefore it might be useful and we should take it.' Youko summarized.

Kurama shrugged and dug the glass out of the wood with his thumbnail and stuck it in his pocket. "It might be important." He told Yusuke, who nodded in agreement.

'Who's obsessed with shiny things now?' he taunted Youko.

'See if I ever share my infinite wisdom with you ever again.' Youko snapped.

Kurama laughed as he stepped out into the hallway and Yusuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. They made there way down the stairs and crossed the half finished lobby. He pushed open the door to the main entrance and walked slowly across the parking lot, his muscles slightly sore from his encounter with the shadow demon.

"Where are you going anyway?" Yusuke asked.

"School." Kurama replied over his shoulder.

"But I thought your school was in that direction." Yusuke insisted, pointing in the opposite direction of where Kurama was currently walking.

"My mother and I will be moving soon, she had me transferred to a different school."

"Where you moving to?"

"Not far, but farther than it would be convenient for me to walk to my old school." Kurama answered with an indifferent shrug.

"All right then, see you after school I guess. I'll drag Kuwabara along and you can tell us about this new school of yours. Meet us outside of McDonalds."

"All right. I'll see you then, I guess." Kurama said with a nod. It seemed like Kurama had been hanging around Yusuke and Kuwabara a lot more than usual ever sense the barrier came down. The first explanation for his sudden change in social habits that came to mind was the fact that Hiei was busy on border patrol and hardly had enough time for anything else; however it was not like Hiei and Kurama ever really hung out like normal people. They were both solitary creatures, so basically the basis for their friendship was Hiei's random visits where he would suddenly pop through a window and start bitching about one thing or another. His visits were usually brief, and if there was a point to the visit at all, straight to the point. Sometimes he would sit silently at Kurama's windowsill and stare off into space or watch while Kurama did his homework. Hiei's visits were very rare, and now with being drug around by Yusuke and Kuwabara all the time Kurama was beginning to feel more like a normal human teen. Naturally he was anything but a normal human teen, however it was a nice feeling. Perhaps it was this superficial peace that made this whole normal human social life seem like a safe idea.

'Perhaps.' Yuoko agreed, catching Kurama's train of thought. 'All you need now is a girl friend.'

'Shut up Youko. And stop following my private thoughts.' Kurama snapped.

'A wild mate, thin, and slinky, with nice strong hips for child bearing. If you need any advice on girls you can always ask me. I know everything there is to know about females." Youko continued, ignoring Kurama.

'Yeah and naturally it would have to be a girl who has no problem with guys with split personalities who randomly disappear to Makai for days at a time.' Kurama added sarcastically.

'Exactly!' Youko exclaimed.

'Whatever.'

Kurama stopped in front of his new school and glanced at his watch. 'Right on time.' He thought triumphantly to himself. There were a few students entering the building, all wearing green and white uniforms.

'We are not going to be wearing green and white. No way in hell are we wearing that.' Yuoko insisted.

'Shut up Youko and stop being so damn vain.' Kurama hissed 'your giving me a headache.'

Kurama followed the other students inside and wondered down a random hallway. 'Now where the hell is the main office?' he muttered more to himself than to Youko.

'Just keep following this sea of horrid, tacky green uniforms.' Yuoko replied.

'That's what you say about the uniforms of every school you see, including the school were just at.' Kurama said with a sigh. Yuoko chose not to respond.

After a bit of walking Kurama found the main office and picked up his schedule. They were all honors classes of course, starting with advanced history. After listening to Youko's ranting for his whole life, and the occasional dreams about Youko's past, Kurama probably knew more about Japanese history than any of his teachers.

'Now if I can just figure out where all my classes are…' Kurama was tired from running around looking for demons all night, not to mention almost having his soul damaged beyond repair. He was not in the mood for wandering aimlessly around this new school looking for some history class he could probably do a better job at teaching than whoever his instructor was.

'What are we looking for again?' Youko asked.

'408B' Kurama answered.

'Oh good luck with that then. I'm going to take a nap.' Yuoko said with a laugh.

Koenma looked at the numbers on the doors. '204A? But before I turned that last corner the number said 367D!' he stopped and looked back at his schedule, vaguely aware of the fact that he had only been in this school a few minutes, and there was already several timid girls following him around. Some things never changed.