"Talking"
"Thinking"
-Telepathisis-
Flashback

-x-x-x-x-
Chapter Twelve
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I am greeted by all of them; some seem friendly enough, but others...others look like they want me to disappear. They'll be the ones that dislike change.

I sigh and survey the room that has been supplied for me. It has a blue and orange theme (I'm supposing Botan had something to do with it); it houses a bed, a dresser, a closet and a door that I assume leads to a bathroom. I sigh again, place my bag down, and sink down on my bed.

I'm jet-lagged and beyond tired. With a third sigh, I lie back, but don't remember closing my eyes.

0x0x0x0

"Minamino, Shuichi?" The nurse asks. With a mental groan, Kurama stands and follows; his mother is behind him.

0x0x0x0

"Alright, Mr. Minamino, I'll be frank with you. You're in the pink of health, but...you are behind on your vaccinations." The doctor proclaims before her eyes fill with tears. "Why don't you ever come here? Don't you like me anymore?" She sniffs.

Shiori sweatdrops. "My son is rather stubborn..."

Kurama tries not to twitch as the doctor continues to carry on like a three-year-old.

0x0x0x0

"Welcome to class, Minamino." Hisses one of the boys as he enters, gives the teacher his pass, and takes a seat by Sora and Kimi.

A few pieces of looseleaf are shoved at his head; he accepts them, startled. "I'll copy these, and-"

Kimi holds up a copy with the same notes, although those are dotted with doodles and scribbles.

"Thanks." He murmurs.

Sora gives him a grin and returns to taking more notes. It is then that he notices that there are two distinct handwritings on the notes: Sora's and Kimi's.

0x0x0x0

Kimi raises an eyebrow at Kurama's arm; it is shaking slightly and all it is holding is a few school books.

Sora blinks. "You okay?"

"I was behind on vaccinations." He mumbles.

"Ouch." The other boy winces sympathetically as Kimi gives both a questioning look.

The redhead opens his mouth to explain, but the boy who hissed a welcome at him crashes into his aching arm and keeps going, smirking. He clamps his jaws shut as Sora catches his books. The demoness finds the boy with her eyes.

Moments later, he crashes to the ground, papers and books scattering across the hall. Both male demons stare at the carefully blank faced demoness.

0x0x0x0

"Why would you do that?" Kurama snaps when they are safely at the dojo after school. "If you had seriously hurt him, Koenma would have had to lock you up!"

She rolls her eyes and places her hand near his arm; he unconsciously relaxes as the throbbing eases, then fades.

"What are you?" He adds to his list of running inquiries.

"An ice demoness." She states. "...with abilities not uncommon to my kind..."

The redhead frowns. "That doesn't explain the papers..."

She grins, to their confusion, then points at a tree. "That was him."

What seems to be a shadow flickers before vanishing.

Green eyes gape. "...Hiei?"

Sora stares as well. "No way."

Kimi smirks. "Yes way."

0x0x0x0

"Wait." Yusuke holds up his hands. "You can heal?"

She sighs. "Yes."

"So Kurama's scars-"

"Are gone permanently." Kimi finishes. "As in, healed, finito, not coming back ever."

Kurama, recalling his question, feels foolish. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The demoness mumbles.

"So why didn't you heal him after that mess?" Yusuke snaps.

"I've been trying to tell you." Yukina interjects. "She did. She healed most of the internal damage, which is more than I could have done."

She yawns. "It's also why I was out for a few days."

"Sounds like you'll be out for another few." Sora mumbles.

The bluette shoves him kiddingly before heading into the kitchen for a snack. "Anyone want something?"

A chorus of "nah"s answer her, though someone else enters the kitchen.

"You've already done enough for me." The redhead states as he gets himself a glass of water.

She watches him leave the room. "Either he means that or he still distrusts me..." She sighs. "I'll find out which soon enough."

0x0x0x0

Sora knocks, then pokes his head in. "You up?"

Kurama blinks and murmurs a sleep, "mm?"

The shorter boy laughs. "You'd best wake up before Kimi comes for you." He then draws his head from the room and closes the door behind him.

The sleepy fox demon stumbles out of bed and reaches for his training clothes. He approaches the training area to find Kimi observing Sora warm up; said other boy stops instantly.

"...yah?"

"I don't want you to watch me train." Sora mutters.

"Can't say as I blame you...he'll have analyzed all your moves before you get a chance to use them..." Kimi comments.

"'Sides, I wanna fight you." He picks up his scythe that is attached to a chain.

"What about...?"

Kimi points at her wrist; it's firmly encased in a splint. "Not quite healed." She flashes him a small, cheerless smile. Kurama wordlessly summons his whip and the two clash. The redhead has several advantages, cheif among them experience, but Sora gives him no ground.

0x0x0x0

Half an hour later finds both still going at it, though with a considerably larger audience. Genkai observes from the porch; Hiei from a tree; Yukina from her spot beside Kimi.

"It'll end soon." The elder bluette murmurs.

"What do you-"

Kurama breaks through Sora's guard and quickly wraps his opponent up in his rosewhip. "Do you-" The redhead breaks the statement off as the blade of Sora's scythe lightly rests against his neck. "What the-"

His opponent grins. "You're not the only one who can wield their weapon without the use of their arms." Said boy winces when the scythe wobbles, smacking the back of Kurama's head solidly, before returning to it's previous position. "Sorry..."

Both remain where they are; neither is willing to cede the match to the other.

Kimi sighs. "Are you two done playing alpha male?"

Green eyes glare; blue merely sparkle with laughter.

"Why do you ask?" The redhead asks with a hint of frost in his voice.

"For one, I think Yukina would like to make sure neither of you are seriously injured. For another, I can't play the 'alpha male contest' because, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not male."

Sora grins again. "'Twas a joke."

Kurama stares. "'Twas?"

"I've been reading Shakespeare." He replies with a movement that is meant to be a shrug, though it is stopped when he recalls that he is tangled in the whip.

Both release the other at the same exact moment; Yukina then approaches and checks Kurama first.

"You aren't hurt too badly..." She assesses. "But you ought to call it quits for today."

Kimi glares at Sora. "You did that on purpose."

He grins sheepishly before taking off; she follows, brandishing her sai in a 'threatening' manner. The ice maiden bursts into giggles while Genkai sighs.

"Wha'd we miss?" Slurs a sleepy Yusuke.

"Sora tying with Kurama." Genkai supplies as she heads inside.

"Nice." Kuwabara mumbles.

"Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!" They hear someone yell from a distant part of the compound.

"Doom." Is the reply.

"Crap!"

Yukina dissolves into giggles again as the three boys head off to breakfast and Hiei slips off to begin his own morning training.

0x0x0x0

A drained Sora enters the kitchen and sinks down into a chair; Kurama is seated at the table; Yukina is doing the dishes.

"What's with you?" The tired bat demon questions.

"I've been banned from assisting." Kurama replies flatly.

"You have a minor concussion." The ice maiden scolds. "In fact, I think Kimi ought to keep an eye on you today."

"What?" The fox demon seems calm.

Yukina can tell he isn't, but remains unruffled. "You heard me."

"Sorry." Sora murmurs, eyes downcast.

"I'm fine." He snaps, standing abruptly. "See? I'm..."

The other boy jolts to his feet and steadies him. "Fine, huh?"

"Am I interrupting?" Kimi inquires from the doorway.

0x0x0x0

"I told you I was fine." Kurama murmurs crossly as he, Kimi and Sora ascend the dojo steps.

"And I told you I was to make sure you were okay!" The ice demoness snaps. "Why the fuck are you so pissy? Is your macho pride wounded? Too bad, so sad. Grow up." With that, she storms ahead, leaving a taken aback fox demon and a resigned bat demon.

"What was that all about?" Said redhead grumbles.

Sora shrugs. "She's a healer...mebbe the fact that you're casually brushing this off upsets her or something..."

"So what's afternoon training like?"

"You'll just have to watch, remember?" The glower the fox directs at him causes him to grin; he ducks his head to hide it.

0x0x0x0

Kurama decides to observe tomorrow and heads back home.

"Welcome home." His mom greets as she folds some laundry.

He nods. "I have a bit of homework-"

"That's fine. I just want you to know that I'm taking you to the doctor's to get blood drawn."

The redhead nods again, slips upstairs and leaves via the window.

0x0x0x0

"So I actually have a son?" Teases Sora's mom as he enters.

"Mom..." He grumbles.

"So how's life at Genkai's? Learn to read people's auras yet?"

"No."

"Then what do you do?" She questions again.

"I hang out with friends." He states as he heads upstairs.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Her reply is his bedroom door slamming.

0x0x0x0

Sora slumps down on his bed. "Why do I even come back here? All she ever does is mock me..." He directs his glower out his window, then starts. "Why is Kurama's window wide open?" The black haired boy hears the doorbell as his feet hit the floor. Frowning, he goes to investigate.

He finds Shiori and his mother speaking.

"What's going on?"

"Shuichi's gone." Shiori murmurs; her countenance oozes worry.

"He probably just left a book at Genkai's." He mutters dismissively.

"Genkai? You mean...the famous psychic Genkai?" Shiori seems nonplussed.

"Yeah." Sora stares. "That's where we are every day after school."

"Shuichi told me it was some sort of academic thing..."

"Well, we are helping a friend of ours who moved here. She also helps me with my English..." He mumbles.

"Wait, you and Shuichi are friends now?" Both women exclaim.

"...uh...yeah...sorta.." "So. Royally. Screwed."

"Will you take us there, then?" Shiori questions.

"Well..." He tries to ignore the look his mother is giving him.

"Sora Maki." His mother begins sternly.

"Kimi?"

The girl pauses. "Eh?"

Sora dashes out the door and over to her. "Helphelphelp!" He whispers hurriedly.

"Huh?" Her eyes scan the surrounding area automatically.

"I kinda spilled the-wait, who the-"

"Shh. I'm looking for Kimi. Quickest way to find her is to look like her." The not-Kimi's eyes flick over to the two women and her mouth stretches into a predatory grin. "And who are they?"

0x0x0x0

"...so..." I murmur at breakfast.

"You can relax." Emma calmly butters her toast. "We go to school here, so all but the most pressing cases generally have to wait until 3 PM before we even look at them."

I blink. "Really?"

"Yep." Comes the blunt reply from the most distant of the group.

"We rarely up and go off in the middle of the night..."

"And we normally work in teams of two or three..."

"There's a bunch of us, so we never have to overwork ourselves..."

Random facts come pouring in from my tablemates.

Emma laughs. "Guys, chill. You'll have her on info overload and she's not even had Alg II yet."

"Alg II?" I gape.

"Algebra Two. It's math, but it's not too bad..."

I groan and headdesk (well, headtable) then.

That causes more chuckles.

-x-x-x-x-

Woohoo. Longer'n usual.

Despite interference! (A.k.a. Prom, sleepover, b-day party and a holy communion!-not mine, my cousins'. They're twins.)

Enjoy!
Emma