"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
As the feeling of being thrown into a pot filled with eels, and not so friendly underwater currents subsided, Alex and Ducky collapsed one another.
"Ugh…what the hell sort of torture device was that?" Alex groaned, unable to persuade her limbs to push her off the ground.
"Y'know, it wasn't so bad," Ducky stared at the sky above, dazed. "In a weird, scared-for-my-life way."
"Ducky, you worry me."
"It does take some getting used to." Kurama admitted, helping them both up. "Portals aren't exactly a standard way of transportation for humans."
"Are we there?" Ducky looked around at the noticeably different greenage surrounding them.
"You mean here." Kurama smiled, pulling him away from a poisonous weed. Trying not to pout, the curly haired blonde made himself be content by giving the fox a wink, successfully making him shift uncomfortably and let go of his arm.
"What's that sound?" Alex canted her head to the side, listening to what seemed to be shouts in the near distance. "Sounds like someone's getting their butts handed to them."
Kurama hummed and looked at the angle of the sun. "It's too early for Yusuke to be training with Genkai…"
"Enough sitting around here then," Alex finished brushing herself off and headed towards the fighting grunts and shouts. "My ADD is kicking in; let's check this place out."
"Righto!" Ducky followed after, Kurama not far behind. "Onward to the prize of Elfyness! We shall save thee!"
"Can we go on without the commentary please?"
"Ahh, sorry."
"I had hoped Botan would have dropped us somewhere more—" Kurama flicked a sticky vine away from his hair. "—clear."
"Come on, Shu, humor us," Ducky threw a friendly arm around his shoulders. "We're small town kids with no adventure experience beyond a stove fire."
"That was set by us." Alex laughed evilly. "Besides, that tree just moved its root so you wouldn't trip. I think you'll be fine, Mr. Plant Manipulator."
"That's really creepy how it all just moves…" Ducky murmured, though his interest betrayed hesitance.
Kurama smiled inwardly, changing the subject. "You've met most of us before, but I still have to warn you; life in Genkai's temple will not be what you expect." He moved an overhanging gaggle of leafy branches aside; a full side view of the property greeted their eyes. Alex oohed over the picture it made, and Ducky had to drag her away by the arm, lest she fall down the small hill head first.
"Kya!" The sword missed again, making a sharp whistle through the air. Not to be deterred so easily, the offense switched swiftly to defense. Learning about the opponent's weakness comes only from knowing one's own.
The enemy came, attacking the defense with no sign of letting up, or having mercy for the inexperienced. Several blocks were managed, making arms tremble from the sheer force of the blows.
Think; how can I get through?
Blue-grey eyes trained themselves to follow each strike, each blow; the form was flawless and the eyes could hardly track the patterns. The sword was brought up to shield just in time.
"That could have been your head," was the smug grunt.
"Damnit!" The apprentice growled, slowly losing in the deadlock.
"Don't let frustration corrode your mind. A distracted mind means a distracted sword, and a dead swordsman."
"Sensei should listen to his own words!" The point had been found. Pushing with just enough might, the deadlock was broken. The student slipped to the left, pirouetted, and brought the blade down upon the teacher's neck.
"Not fast enough!" An instant later, the student knelt on both knees with a sword's point to the throat. The student's own weapon clattered to the ground halfway across the hall.
Neither moved for many seconds; there was a distinctly superior feel to the atmosphere. "Your footing is still wrong."
"I so almost had you, Yay!" Eris stuck out her bottom lip and shoved Hiei's sword away.
"Six to zero, that's still nothing for you." He leaned on the bamboo sword like a cane, staring arrogantly down at her without an offer to help the young one up.
"You're still slower with the bamboo." She stuck out her tongue, and kicked at it in hopes to make him fall; no such luck.
Attention elsewhere, Hiei only grunted his annoyance. "What's wrong?" Eris asked, canting her head to the side, listening. Voices were coming down from the surrounding hills and trees. One sounded familiar, and slightly impatient with the others. Her eyes widened, a smile spreading across her face.
"Is that…"
"Seems your fox has returned." Hiei gave a snort of laughter as his pupil squealed and flew off in a blink.
Eris brushed the tree tops, picking up the trail of Kurama; she could barely fly straight in her excitement.
"Are we there yet?" A male voice, well, it sounded sort of male-like, floated clearly to her ears. "These bugs are murder on my sanity!"
"Cheer up, you'll by the next big story on Unsolved Oddities of the Paranormal: the tragic death of small town boy by sanity sucking blood eaters!"
"You're not even trying to be remotely funny now are you?"
"Shut up. I'm tired."
"It's not much farther. We should be through Genkai's barriers now."
Eris' stomach flipped; she definitely knew that voice!
"KAAAMAA-AA!" Eris dove through the canopy, her target the tall boy in front with the foxish hair, and dive bombed him into the ground. He didn't have chance.
"Waaii! I missed you!" She squeezed him around the middle, almost suffocating the poor demon. Suddenly, she let go and swatted him on the stomach, ignoring the perplexed look. "Jerk! What took you so long!"
"Happy to see you too." Kurama smiled and shook his head; it was amazing how much she'd changed in such a short amount of time!
Uncontrolled laughter brought then both back from the afterglow of reunion; Ducky and Alex were hanging off each other, trying not to collapse. "Now that's what I call a glomp!" Alex snerked, wiping her eyes. "Dude, Kurama, you flew like six feet!"
"That was awesome!" Ducky agreed, catching his breath. "Are those things real? I'm not seeing any strings." He peered at Eris red wings, extremely interested and amused.
"Must be. I almost got clipped in the head by one." Alex coughed to clear the giggles in her throat, and gave Kurama a hand up, still grinning madly. "So, lemme guess: parrot demon or something?" She addressed the small winged girl.
Eris scowled at this strange human. "Phoenix. Who're you?"
"Relax, kid," Ducky took advantage of this chance, and began brushing dirt off Kurama's back with a gleam in his eye. "We're friends."
Eris sniffed, and snatched up Kurama's hand, not liking the way the gangly boy touched her fox. "Who are they, Kama?" she whispered loudly.
Kurama kneeled down on one knee, holding her gently in place by the elbows. Eris smiled back at him; she loved his eyes, they were so pretty even when a little sad like they were now. "They're your friends, Eris. Your friends, and mine."
"Huh?" Eris titled her head sideways, a little confused by his words and the shocked looks on the new people's faces. She shrugged, attention span spent, and tugged on his arm. "Nina's making sushi! I'm hungry, come on!"
Alex covered her mouth in disbelief, watching her baby cousin—her baby demon cousin—chatter on happily to Kurama and walk ahead of them through the underbrush. She leaned on Ducky for support, who was quiet in his own thoughts. He adjusted the bag over his shoulder with a little hop, straining a smile down at Alex. "Well." He shrugged, unable to finish the sentence. It was beyond words.
"Eris-chaaan!"
"Whaaaat?" the little girl called back, still dragging Kurama along up the front steps. "Nina! Kama's come home!"
"Kurama-kun?" Yukina came through the doors, a kitchen utensil in one hand, and smiled as her red eyes alighted on the vision of the MIA demon. "Ah! Welcome back! Did you…?"
"Hai." Kuramam nodded, and smiled back at the maiden, stepping aside to reveal two sweaty teenagers laboring to make it to the top of the steps.
"Hey, Shu!" Ducky called up between huffs of breath. "Do us a favor!" he hucked the rucksack off his shoulder and lobbed it into the air. Yukina looked at it curiously as Kurama caught it. "What's this?"
"Everything we need. Special Elf restoration equipment." Alex puffed, clutching a stitch in her side. "Good God! Haven't you people ever heard of escalators?"
Eris blinked, shielding her face from the sun to look up at her. "Elf? What's elf?"
Ducky and Alex exchanged uncertain looks; Kurama felt a pang of sadness for them. They really hadn't thought it was this bad.
"You must be Alexandria and Duckington," Yukina smiled, thankfully changing the subject. "Please, you must be tired and hungry. Come in, the afternoon meal is almost prepaired."
Both teens wrinkled their noses at the formal use of their names. "Ugh, please, call me Ducky," the blonde shuddered. "Duckington makes me sound normal."
"Same here. Alex will be fine for me." Alex followed after the ice maiden and the other two demons glued at the hand, taking a cue from the latter pair in removal of her shoes before entering the cool temple. She could feel the uncomfortable perspiration drying on her skin; oh her CD collection for a bath! This place was hotter than hell! How did these people stand it in all those clothes? It was all Alex could do to keep her shirt on, and she wasn't even drunk.
Yukina agreed amiably, "My name is Yukina, though this little one here has adopted me as 'Nina.' Just in case you get confused."
"Yay says to bring him something later." Eris informed her surrogate sister before snatching up an opened juice box left on the table in the common area.
Alex raised a brow. "Yay?"
"Hiei, my brother." Yukine beamed. "Is he still connected, Eris-chan?"
The phoenix shook her head, sucking on the straw. "He's being antisocial again."
"When is he not?" A cocky voice came from the doorway to the kitchen. "Keiko's freaking out in the kitchen, she can't find the extra rice, Yukina." Yusuke laughed at his girlfriend's silly plight, and took the juice box right out of Eris' clutches. "Stole my juice, you snot!"
"Liar, it's mine!" Eris smirked, and stuck out her tongue. Yusuke shrugged and took a sip anyway, walking back into the kitchen.
"Hey! My name is on it!" Eris glowered and raced to save her juice box.
"You don't even know your ABC's!"
"Neither do you!"
"Yeah? Well you're short!"
"Your comebacks are lame!"
"Shorty!"
"Idiot!"
"Feather duster!"
"Doof!"
"That would be Yusuke." Kurama laughed as the almost demon world king stuck a hand out the doorway in a wave.
"Aaah." Ducky said with interest. Alex elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! Hey, what?"
"I can tell you right now he's got a girl." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, at least Elf's still got her arguing skills."
"That damn women's intuition," Ducky snapped his fingers, still dwelling on the lost love power candidate. "Thanks for sharing the wealth."
"No prob." Alex took the initiative and sank into a comfy chair. "So," she rubbed her eyes. "You kinda forgot to mention the whole SHE'S GOT WINGS thing."
"It wouldn't have mattered." Kurama frowned. "Either way you would have come."
"Did you really have to take advantage of that?" Alex did not look happy. "That's cold, man. You could have at least given us some warning."
"I did, in ample supply. Perhaps you suffer from selective hearing?"
"Oookay, let's just chill for a minute." Ducky shifted uncomfortably. "No need to have a go at each other."
"Insolent whelp…" A shadow growled in annoyance; Hiei appeared in the window, and started as he saw the room full of people, or more specifically Ducky. "Oh not you again."
"Screw you!" Ducky put his hands on his narrow hips, and then smirked mischievously at the fire demon. "Besides, you got off easy."
"Who the hell is that?" Alex found him vafuely familiar.
"Hiei." Kurama greeted with a cordial smile, happy to see his friend again.
"Kurama." He nodded back, throwing a disdainful look Ducky's way.
"Looking for Eris?"
"In the kitchen," Hiei gave him a bored look, and hastily brushed black hair safely away from his third eye. "I know."
"Is there anyone here that isn't a demon?" Alex asked, a little alarmed by the purple eye.
Hiei sneered at her. "Watch yourself, human."
"Was there something you needed?" Kurama broke Alex's retort off.
"You woman is ignoring me," Hiei scowled, and dropped to a sitting position on the sill. "The detective is doing his best to get a tornado out of her."
Ducky wrinkled his freckled nose and tried not to laugh. Leaning against the side of Alex's chair, he failed and gave a sick smile in Kurama's direction. "I'm curious…does this classify you as pedophile?"
Even Hiei found the expression on the fox's face was priceless, and let out a bark of laughter. "The stick is right, in a way." He ignored Ducky's glare at the stick comment and enjoyed the uncharacteristic sense of being uncomfortable about the calm demon. "I did find myself wondering about all that giggling late at night. Perhaps the girl should graduate to a room of her own."
"Despite your mentality for the reason, you may be right." Kurama frowned, crossing his in an attempt to save his graceful manner.
"Why? Tempted?" Alex snickered, hiding her face behind Ducky's arm at the look sent her way.
"I am not a pedophile." He cleared his throat, and moved to his own seat across from Alex. "Switching to more favorable topics for discussion, what's been done for her demon energies?"
"Training with me." Hiei smirked at the surprise. "Runt isn't half bad with a sword."
"You're not going to let her take one home are you?" Alex asked nervously, images of a deranged little girl chasing her with a sword passing through thoughts.
Hiei's smirk grew; he chose not to answer the question, much to the girl's annoyance and worry.
The silence was tense; the two teens were more uncomfortable in the strange surroundings than ever. The demon smirking in the window wasn't helping much, but as Ducky looked up for a furtive glance, he found no dark being planted on the sill. There was only hot afternoon sun.
"Hey—" The curly blonde pouted. "Well, so much for small talk."
Kurama laughed internally, wanting to say it was a wasted effort, but held his piece in respect for his friend. He'd only just mended their relationship; it wouldn't do to have a half-thought remark split them apart again.
Eris toddled into the room, rescued juice box slurping noisily. Smiling at her victory, she happily made her way to Kurama and crawled unceremoniously into his lap.
"Well hello there." He chuckled, brushing feathers out of his face. Alex and Ducky went back to being uncomfortably quiet.
"Hi!" Eris chirped, giving a big slurp. Stupid Yusuke, it was almost gone!
They were at a loss. She did nothing but sit and bask in the company of Kurama, totally unconcerned with the tension Ducky and Alex surely felt. The demon fox kept fed her miscellaneous questions about her day, the weather, nothing that really mattered, but gave her great joy in answering. Alex stuck out her lower lip at Ducky; it was so cute!
"It's still her." Ducky laughed suddenly, shaking his head. "Different, but still her. Everything is all there."
The words made little sense to Eris, who looked at him oddly (what a strange human!), but Alex had to agree. This little winged girl sitting amiably across from them was like a memory come alive. Alex remembered the way her cousin always chased her brother around the yard, fighting fiercely for a stolen toy back, or exchanging sharp teasing. Even the way she sat, comfortable, yet ready to spring into action lest something more interesting happened.
"You seem to like Shu quite a bit," Ducky smiled, a twitch of mischief in the corners. "Is he your special friend?"
"Ducky..." Kurama warned.
"Shoe?" Eris blinked, confused. "Why do you call Kama, Shoe?"
"Duck read his name wrong, and I gave him flack for it." Alex explained, laughing slightly at the memory.
"Ooh, s-h-u!" Eris laughed. "The first three letters in your human name, Kama!"
"That's right." Kurama nodded, and shifted her off his lap. His leg was starting to fall asleep. "Speaking of human counterparts, I should pay my mother a visit. Secretly of course, I'm still supposed to be away."
"Can I come?" The demon girl asked with big bright eyes. "I'll fly real high so no one sees me?"
"Good luck saying no to that face," Alex muttered from the corner of her mouth. "I forgot how annoying it was…"
Kurama bit the inside of his cheek and cursed internally. A thought crossed his mind, and it was all he could do to not send a smirk towards the others. "If you can convince Ducky and Alex to come as well."
"What!"
"YAY!" Eris launched herself at them, bouncing like a dense ball of energy. "Pleeeease! It'll be fun, I promise! They never let me outside the barriers; Ske-kun, Kuwa-kun, and Ko-chan won't even let me go all the way down the big steps! You have to go!"
Alex turned to Kurama with a stoic expression. "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"
"Feel reassured that I already knew." The cunning fox smiled in feigned innocence, and stood, rooting through his pockets. First things first, he'd have to change clothes and eat something. Kurama looked at the communicator in his palm briefly before depositing the device back in his pocket. It would probably be best if he kept that a little longer. Yusuke wouldn't miss it.
"What's going on in here?" Keiko stuck her head into the room, hair pulled back from her face with a headband.
"Koooo! You can come too!" Eris pounced on her, latching onto the older girl's leg.
Keiko laughed at the eagerness, and blew a feather away from her nose. "Come where? What's this you're planning now?"
"We're all going to visit Kama's mom!" the little demon announced in a confidant tone.
"Whoooaa, hold your horses, cowgirl!" Ducky stood, crossing his arms. "I didn't agree to anything like that!"
The puppy eyes she gave him were dooming. The teen sank back into his seat, pouting that a little kid had bested him. It was his sixteen-year-old best friend, but still a kid with the same mentality more or less. Eris giggled. Victory once again!
"Actually, I wouldn't mind going and checking the city out." Alex thought out loud. "I've never been outside the country, let alone been to Tokyo."
Kurama's eye twitched. They weren't supposed to agree. He really did not feel comfortable letting Eris loose on the city. With the two spastic Americans along, it would be even more difficult to keep a low profile. Well, at least most of his classmates were on vacation.
"Want some help with this lot?" Keiko asked, trying not to laugh at the predicament he'd put himself in.
Kurama breathed in relief, and gave her a thankful smile. "Help would be appreciated, yes."
"I'm seventeen and still being treated as a little kid." Alex muttered, looking very much like a disgruntled two year old.
"At least your mom doesn't worry about calling for a babysitter still." Ducky said in a low voice.
"Ducky, I am your babysitter."
"Doesn't count if you don't get paid."
"Well…"
"Oh God, you're kidding me!" Ducky looked up in horror at her. "I need to have a chat with that woman! Family meeting! She is so dead!"
Alex laughed and pushed him off the couch; Eris squealed as she barely escaped from the danger zone.
"Watch where you're throwing people!" She huffed.
"Lunch is ready!" Yukina called as she passed the doorway, breaking up what could have been an impressive noogie fest between the three of them.
Kurama blinked, and then shook his head, amused. "It's difficult to believe anything is different."
"How did you do that?"
Keiko and Kurama looked on in amazement as a previously fidgety, energy plagued brat of a demon sat content and quiet for the first time since leaving the last step of Genkai's temple. Having not a memory of seeing modern houses or large crowds of people in city streets for that matter, Eris had ceased her questions of everything and the attempts to wander off by herself to investigate. Keeping the coat on in the hot weather to hide her large wings was a feat in itself, even for a supposed fire demon.
Alex and Keiko, who were developing an interesting system of taking turns in dragging Eris or Ducky back to their group, had finally bought some duct tape and threatened to tape her wings together to keep her grounded. The phoenix quit trying to weasel out of the coat after that, but the girls were hard pressed for ideas on how to shut her up for more than six seconds. Even Kurama had ceased to think that twenty questions was a fun game.
Ducky smirked, leaning back on the park bench they'd stationed at with his hands behind his head. "Common sense people, come on."
Grudgingly, Alex gave him her praise. "I must admit, Duck-chan," she adopted the Japanese suffix, "I feel stupid for not thinking of it earlier."
Ducky snorted. "You should. I can't believe you forgot about Mr. Mumpy!"
They all were silent for a few moments, watching the girl act like a normal human in the act of an imaginary tea party with a red, stuffed rabbit. Patches of the cotton fur were matted together with ages of rubbing and hugging, and the glass eyes had scratches over the eerie blue tint. One ear had been sewn back on, but black thread was now starting to come undone once again.
Alex narrowed her eyes at the old toy that had her baby cousin so enamored. "That thing still creeps the hell out of me. I never did figure out how it kept getting into the refrigerator."
"What?" Keiko asked, alarmed, now eyeing the bunny with the same apprehension. Maybe a spirit possessed it? She'd seen stranger things, it wasn't unusual at all.
Ducky laughed and rolled his eyes at his friend's stupidity. "Idiot, the first time was Eris on accident."
"The first time?" Kurama asked, leaning forward with amusement.
Ducky nodded, beaming devilishly. "Yup!"
Alex bonked him on the back of the head, temple throbbing in angry annoyance. "You jerk! You know how many nightmares you gave me!"
"Yeah, I kept a record." Ducky continued laughing as he rubbed the sore spot, hopping over the backrest of the bench to run away from a steaming Alex. Among the other dozens of playmates chasing and wrestling with each other around the grassy park, it barely looked out of place. Kurama relaxed. Maybe this outing was starting to go right.
"Kama?" The curious voice distracted him from his musings.
"Yes, Eris-chan?" He answered, looking down onto the ebony head still turned in fascination towards her newly acquired toy.
"Do I know Alex-chan and Ducky-chan? From before?"
"From before?" Kurama and Keiko exchanged interested and hopeful looks. None of them had ever told her about her previous life, fearful of the future repercussions it could cause. Letting Eris learn and remember on her own was chosen best course of action.
"Eris-chan? What did you mean, 'before'?" Keiko repeated the question, sitting down next to the girl on the warm ground and crossing her legs neatly.
"Huh?" Eris blinked, confused. Her face was scrunched up, trying to keep the sun out of her eyes as she regarded Keiko like she was the one acting strange. "I didn't say anything. Ko, you're weird."
Keiko's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Um…okay. Kurama…?"
Kurama, she was shocked to see, was smiling delightedly. He waved her worries away, and tapped the side of his head. "The first click."
AN: EEEEK! Don't kill me! Please! X/ This Nefus was under buttloads of stress. That and her muse ran away with her mojo. She can still hear the bastard cackling (from his new!steel cage, bwaha!). Enough third-person, I know this chapter was quite teh suxorz, but bare with me. I was a messy ball of twitchy nerves these few weeks. But now tis spring break, and what a glorious rest I shall have! The mojo is flowing again. BEWARE!
Footnotes:
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