Alice Alive

By, KKYOKO

Chapter Seven: The Mission

Kurama was staring at me like I was a four year old. His arms were folded, and his head was tilted slightly to the left, and his forest green eyes were narrowed at me. His growing red hair skimmed his shoulders; ends pointing at me like accusing shame-on-you fingers. His aura was dark with disapproval as he stood in my doorway.

I could see why he was displeased. I had been refusing to talk to him, or look at him (unless Shiori was around), for over a month and a half. I assumed that he would be fine with it, since he clearly had no respect, trust, or concern for me whatsoever. And it wasn't even that I actually cared whether or not that he would be fine with me ignoring him, I was just so furious at him I couldn't stand to look at him. I was still hurt from the way he treated me about Kitajima's kidnapping.

I turned back to my homework on my desk, putting my back to him. Reaching over, I flicked on the switch to the lamp to see my book better. The sun that had been lighting my bedroom for the greater part of the Sunday was beginning to set, casting glowing orange hues on the white walls. "Is there something you need?" I asked, setting up an algebraic problem in the corner of my math book.

I heard him sigh and close the bedroom door. I felt him approach me and suddenly my chair was jerked sideways. I was swiveled around to find his face in front of mine, glaring at first, but after seeing my surprised and disoriented expression, his eyes softened and kneeled on the floor in front of me. "I know that you're angry with me, Alice," he said gently, "but it's time for you to get over it. Mother has begun to notice the rift between us. Surely she has said something to you?"

I could feel hot electricity shooting around my head as I glared at Kurama. "Stop using Shiori-san against me. It'll get old one day, and I won't give a damn anymore. What will you do then?" She had brought it up, but only in passing, like she wasn't that invested in what was going on between us. Maybe she thought it was some sort of sibling spat. Or as convinced as she was that we should be together – maybe a lovers spat. Anyway, he didn't need to involve her.

He frowned, upset. "Don't say things like that."

"Don't treat me like a child," I snapped, turning my chair back to my desk. His hand caught the back of it though, stopping it from going anywhere.

His eyes were downcast. "I apologize. My treatment of you has been less than cordial." The setting sun turned his skin orange. "I want to make amends with you, Alice." He looked up at me, and I found myself warming at the sincerity in his eyes. His wrist skimmed my shoulder when he pulled his arm back down to his side. "What is it that you want from me?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "More than anything?"

He gave a serious nod.

"I want you to trust me," I said, facing him properly.

He frowned and looked away.

I felt a wave of anger at his reaction. "Is it really that hard?" I demanded. "I'm a grown woman, for crying out loud! Before, I was taking care of myself quite nicely, in fact!"

"Why exactly did that man kill you, Alice?" he asked, green eyes flashing at me.

I flinched. I still hadn't told Kurama the whole story behind my death, and with his current approach, it wasn't going to happen. Obviously, he thought it was pretty shady. I ignored his question. "If you want to make amends, then you're going to have to start trusting me, Kurama," I said flatly, meeting his eyes.

He sighed, and I could still see his reluctance.

I could feel my eyes getting a familiar burning feeling that comes with holding back tears. I cradled my head in my hands, hurt and frustrated. I sniffed, trying to hold back the tears, but they got away and slipped through my fingers. My head felt tight with congestion.

"Alice," he murmured, and I felt his hand stroke my hair. I heard him get to his feet, and his hands wrapped around my wrists, pulling them from my face, and dragging me to my feet. He wiped my cheeks, which I disliked, so I pulled away from him. It made me feel too vulnerable. I've always hated when guys do that. He frowned as I turned and wiped my own tears away.

"Leave me alone," I mumbled. "You clearly don't give a damn, so just go away."

"Don't assume things like that, Alice," he said frankly, reaching out and taking me by the arm. "I care about you quite a bit."

"It shows," I muttered.

He pulled me against him and wrapped his arms around me. My face was pressed against his chest so that I could hear his heart beating underneath his shirt. He felt warm and sturdy to me. Kind of like a tree. His head dipped down and his pressed his mouth to the top of my head. "I'm sorry," he murmured into my hair. "I didn't realize I was hurting you so much. Sometimes you're so stoic it's hard for me to see your pain." He turned his head to his cheek was resting on my hair. "I think this is the first time I've seen you cry, actually. It shouldn't be like this though, should it?"

"No," I replied, looking up at him. I liked this gentler side of Kurama. "I guess I should cry more," I joked, giving him a slight smile.

His expression turned worried. "I don't think that will be necessary, Alice."

"I'm kidding."

He returned my half-smile. "Of course you are." He looked away. "I can't promise that I will trust you, but…I can try. That's all I can do for you right now." He let go of me and stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Trust takes time. Sorry, Alice."

"That's fine," I murmured, pulling my chair out and sitting back down. "If you're doing your best, then I won't ask for anything more."

I was standing beside Shiori when she first put her hand to her forehead. We were in the kitchen. I was chopping vegetables, and she was stirring soup on the stove. At first, I just thought that she was hot from the boiling water and I went back to chopping my carrot. I heard her give a soft noise, and I turned back to her, and saw that she was squeezing her eyes shut and her hand was clutched at her temple.

"Shiori-san?" I asked. "Do you feel all right?"

She turned to me, soft features pulling into a frown. She seemed a little pale. "I've had a bit of a headache all day, dear. If you could take care of dinner, I think I'll lie down and rest."

I nodded. "Do you want some medicine?"

She shook her head. "I've got some upstairs to take. Don't worry." She sent the spoon down on the stove and left the kitchen, leaving me alone.

I frowned, dumped the carrots in the pot, and turned it down to simmer. Setting the cutting board and knife back on the counter, I left the kitchen, went upstairs, and opened Kurama's door. He was at his desk working on something and didn't look up when he heard me enter.

"Shiori-san isn't feeling good," I said.

He turned to me. "What's wrong?" he asked with a frown.

I wandered over to him. "Seems she's had a headache all day. She looks kind of pale too. Maybe you should go check on her? We could spike her tea with herbs or something, if we need to," I said, folding my arms and touching my chin.

His expression softened. "I'll check on her. Do you want any help with dinner?"

"No," I said flatly. "You make everything entirely too spicy. I hate crying and eating." Kurama always pours cayenne or chili sauce or hot curry into whatever he's eating, and he's very liberal with it when he makes dinner too. And let me tell you, I've eaten a lot of spicy things, especially in my last life between all the Tex/Mex, and Cajun – boudain, salsa, gumbo, fajitas, etouffee, and don't get me started on the crawfish boils (this is mostly my pre-vegetarian days, of course) – but everything Kurama makes trumps it all. I feel like dying whenever I eat something he cooks – and I'm a Southerner.

He looked amused.

"And so, if you take this number here and multiply it by x –"

The door to the classroom slid open, and a blonde lady poked her head in, stopping the teacher's lecture. Mitani-sensei turned to the door; hand still in midair, clutching the chalk. He frowned at her. "Yes?"

She seemed sheepish. "Um, I need Minamino."

Mitani-sensei sighed. "Which one? We have two."

The lady spotted us. "Er, they weren't specific, but I think just Shuichi-kun will do. I didn't realize they were in the same class. It's just a phone call," she added.

Kurama got to his feet, frowning. He tossed me a look that I couldn't decipher and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Mitani-sensei returned to his lecture, grumbling, annoyed that he was interrupted. I took notes on what he was explaining, but after about ten minutes, my mind began to wander when Kurama didn't return. I'm quite an imaginative person, and I have a tendency to jump to the worst conclusions first, so by the time the lecture ended and the bell rang for lunch, I had already imagined that our house burned down, a train derailed and Shiori was on it, there was an earthquake at Shiori's office (she had quite a commute, actually), and a host of other equally awful things.

Eventually, as I was clearing my desk of notes and preparing to comb the school for Kurama, a girl from the class next door came into our room and stopped at my desk. She looked uncomfortable. "Um, Shuichi-kun stopped me in the hall when he was leaving. He said to tell you to come to the hospital straight away."

I felt stunned. One of my horrible thoughts came true. "Did he say why?" I demanded.

She looked down. "Only that your mother's there."

I flew out of my seat and out of the classroom. Shiori-san was sick? She did have that headache the other day – what if she had an aneurism? I shook my head and ran down the hallway. I couldn't think about that. I quickly changed my shoes and slammed my locker shut, turning and running outside. The hospital wasn't too far, maybe a mile. I could run that.

Out of the school's courtyard I ran, down the road, darting through people. I stopped at a crosswalk, waiting impatiently for the sign to let me go. People gathered behind me, waiting for the light. It changed, and I darted into the street without looking to make sure the cars had completely stopped. That was my mistake, unfortunately.

The first car (van, actually) was already stopped, blocking my sight to the lane beside it. As I passed the first car, I heard the screeching of brakes and the car in the second lane slammed into me. It took my legs out from under me, sending me up onto the hood, into the windshield, and dumped me like a ragdoll back onto the pavement.

I didn't see this from my body though. I watched it from outside of myself.

I stood over my broken body, shocked, as everyone else started screaming and creating a circle around me. The driver of the car opened the door and ran away terrified, leaving the scene. I noticed a familiar face in the crowd around me. A tall guy with a bright blue school uniform on, with wiry orange hair, and strong features.

Kuwabara Kazuma frowned down at my body, and then looked up – right at me.

Thanks to Wishing Wanderer, noface, and Kai-chan94 for reviewing!

Sorry it isn't very long - I wrote this chapter in two days! I think the quality has slipped a bit, but I may be the only one that's noticed. :P I'll try to get the next chapter out by this coming Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!