Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Kurama's heart was pounding in his chest, excitement warring with his need to stay hidden for the moment as he peered around the corner of the tenth-floor hallway at the object of his current obsession in an effort to see where she was going.
He wasn't the type of man who believed in coincidence. Which was why seeing the woman that had haunted his thoughts and distracted him all day was such a shock to him.
Especially seeing her in the same place he called home.
The apartment building had initially been bought by his father as an...investment of sorts.
However once Kurama had gone to look at the place, to gauge whether or not it would be a worthwhile investment for his family, he'd fallen in love with the space and had decided to take it off of his father's hands.
He had bought it from his father and invested a great deal of his own money to fix it up so that he could turn it into a haven of sorts. One that he had eventually moved into because he needed the space and privacy that the building provided.
He lived there so that he could indulge in certain habits and behaviors that others wouldn't understand. In fact, he had enough space in his apartment that he'd been able to create a nice indoor garden that he could spend time in whenever he felt the need to checkout as a human.
He spent a nice amount of time weekly- and in some cases even daily- in his garden as Yoko Kurama.
Though that wasn't the only reason that he'd gotten the building. Another reason that he'd gotten it and invested in it, was so that other demons could live there until they could better blend in with humans. He knew that it could be difficult for some of them more than others. And due to that, they needed a safe place to go so that they could feel less overwhelmed by everything.
It also gave them a chance to practice holding their human forms and other things without being near prying eyes.
But that didn't mean that there weren't actual humans in the building. There were.
Though he made it incredibly difficult for humans to manage to rent out any of the apartments- sometimes it did happen. Usually they were government officials, or politicians. But sometimes they were also very wealthy CEO's, doctors, lawyers etc.
He didn't usually care as long as they passed the screening test that he had set up to prevent just anyone from renting out his apartments. And the main test that all of the humans in the building had to pass was one that measured spirit awareness and any psychic abilities that they may have.
If the human's looking to rent out his apartments couldn't pass either of those tests- then they didn't get an apartment. Period.
The fact that she was in the building, alone, was very telling to him. Even more so was the fact that she was apparently living there. The last apartment that he'd allowed anyone to rent had been one that Koenma had asked him for.
He hadn't asked many questions about it. He had simply thought that maybe Koenma had wanted someplace to go whenever he wanted some down time. So, he'd been more than happy to oblige the infant prince.
Thinking back on that though, he couldn't help but wonder if Koenma had wanted one of the apartments for a human. If that was the case, then the woman would have special privileges.
But those things were questions for later.
The second that she called out, 'I'm home' and disappeared inside of the apartment, Kurama wasted no time in turning around and all but running back to the stairs and jumping them all to get to his floor. And once there, he all but knocked his own door down just trying to get inside so that he could place a few phone calls and find the lease for the apartment that he'd just come from.
The calls that he made were to his friends, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei, asking them for help. He had made the mistake of not elaborating why he needed their help and as such, all of them had practically converged on his home expecting his life to be in danger or something.
They busted into his home fairly seething with rage at some unknown and unseen foe, ready to fight it/them to the death. In all honesty, it was very touching to him. And he normally would have cooed at them all teasingly for coming so fast to save him.
Especially Hiei.
But he was just a bit distracted right then with looking over the papers in his hands.
The rental papers were already proving to be both informative and vague all at once. It was frustrating. But at least he finally had a name to go with his mystery woman's face.
Ichigo Kurosaki.
She was nineteen years old. A scotch younger than he'd expected her to be. But at least he'd been able to calculate her age well enough to put it in that general area.
And she was unmarried.
Which was good to know. Though the papers didn't tell him a damn thing about whether or not she had a boyfriend or lover. But whatever, he could work with this.
What was really surprising to him was the fact that she'd not only passed the screening test with a spirit awareness that was almost off the charts, but some psychic abilities that ranged from Clairaudience. An ability to hear beyond the normal human perception.
Which meant that she could hear anything from hearing voices, noises, and music from the supernatural world, or being able to hear messages from inanimate objects like minerals, crystals, and special artifacts.
She also apparently had the ability to use Telekinesis and was able to lift things and even slam them into other things in an effort to protect herself. And could even act as a Spirit Medium.
And as nice as it was to know those things. What really got him wondering about her presence in the apartment two floors up from him, though, had to do with the fact that Koenma. And the fact that his signature was on the rental papers, indicating that he was not only footing the bill for the rental payments, but had also requested special security measures to be put in place to protect the woman.
How did the two of them know each other? Could the woman somehow be Genki's replacement now that the old woman was a hairs breath away from death again? He wondered curiously. Knowing that it would make sense if that was the case. After all, human world rarely went without a new psychic like Genkai for very long.
It was simply one of Spirit World's policies to maintain balance.
While he was thinking things over a bit more, his friends finally seemed to shake themselves out of their stupors now that they knew that he wasn't in any immediate danger- and finally wandered over to him and sit down on the couch across from him and wait for him to acknowledge them.
They didn't have to wait very long before he finally lifted his head to look at them as Yusuke said, "You said that you needed our help."
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry that I worried all of you," Kurama started, hoping that his friends would relax a bit so that he could get the chance to explain things to them. "But I seem to have found myself in the middle of something that I may need your help with."
"What is it?" Kuwabara asked, a frown marring his face as he stared at him.
"I'll tell you everything in a few moments," Kurama promised as he held the papers out to them. "In the meantime, look these over and tell me what you all think while I fetch some drinks and something to snack on."
"What for?" Hiei asked cautiously as the fox demon started to stand up.
Kurama simply gave his friend a small smile before saying, "I fear that this may take a while."
His friends all exchanged a look but started to look over the papers as he had told them to while he went to do as he'd said he would and collected some drinks and snacks so that none of them would expire in his living room from lack of care.
After which, he returned to them and set everything down on the coffee table and then sat back down.
"What is this, Kurama?" Yusuke asked as he passed the papers to Hiei so that he could look them over next.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. Koenma rarely involves himself with human's unless there are very special circumstances."
"Okay..." Yusuke said, understanding what Kurama meant as he studied him with a frown before then asking. "But what does this have to do with you needing our help though?"
Kurama wasn't really sure where to begin, so he just started his explanation by blurting out. "I met someone today," All three of his friends looked at him oddly, making him roll his eyes at them and then tack on, "A woman. I met a woman."
There was a chorus of 'Oh's' from the men as Hiei extended his arm to hand the papers to Kuwabara despite the fact that Kurama had his undivided attention for the moment.
Probably because the fire demon was curious about what sort of female could capture his attention.
Kurama took a moment to breath, an odd fluttering sensation taking up residence in his stomach as he then told them about what had happened earlier in the day.
His mother's purse being stolen, chasing after the purse snatcher, the woman and how she took care of not only getting the purse back but the thief as well. His brief interaction with her, her hand injury. And the fact that he had somehow subconsciously chosen her to be his life mate- his difficulty concentrating at work. His inevitably decision to find her and then passing her on the stairs and finding out that she lived two floors over his head.
By the time he was done speaking, Yusuke and Kuwabara were both grinning almost gleefully. Hiei was staring at him as if he were an idiot. And Kurama's face was nearly as red as his hair from embarrassment.
"Dude, you like her!" Yusuke said as he grinned even wider.
"Well, I suppose that that would make sense given that I've somehow chosen her as my life mate, Yusuke." Kurama said as he gave the dark-haired man an 'Are you a dumbass?', look that rivaled the ones that Hiei usually gave.
"I guess. So, what do you need us for, fox boy?"
Kurama hesitated for a moment to collect his thoughts before saying, "I'm not sure how to...approach her."
"Have you tried posing as the welcome committee?" Hiei said automatically.
"Uh...no. I have not." He said thoughtfully as he mulled the idea over a bit.
He supposed that posing as a welcoming committee for the newest residence of the building could work. If nothing else, it would give him a chance to speak to her again. Maybe it would even give him the chance to check on her given her hand injury.
"Hmm, I suppose that it couldn't hurt anything to at least give that a try." Kurama muttered after several minutes of careful thought.
"Cool." Yusuke said looking mighty pleased with himself for his suggestion as Kuwabara finally chimed in and said,
"You should take her some cookies or something too."
"Cookies?" Kurama echoed in a questioning tone. Obviously not knowing why he would need the food item.
Kuwabara sighed and started to explain. "Yeah, usually when you're welcoming someone somewhere- you show up with some sort of food. Cookies, brownies, cake, pie, or a casserole. I'm not really sure why, but I guess it's just polite to say, 'Hi, and welcome to the neighborhood' that way."
"Ah, I see..." Kurama said after a heartbeat or so of silence before then standing up and walking to his kitchen, while his friends watched in amusement. They were expecting him to start baking something sweet for his chosen life mate. But that was not the case.
Not when a demon male was involved.
Hiei was the only one that was expecting him to unplug his refrigerator and then pick it up and head for the door. Which was why the fire demon had gotten up and meandered over to the apartment door and opened it for the fox.
"Thank you, Hiei." Kurama said as he carried the fridge through the door and headed straight for the stairs to go and welcome the woman to the building. Leaving Hiei to deal with their two sputtering and dumfounded friends.