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Zwischenzug
by four-eyed 0-0
Prelude
"Again?"
A fingertip over the pinhole next to the power button and Yusuke's histrionics were muffled, the vibrations thumping gently against Kurama's skin.
More than ten years of knowing Yusuke rendered Kurama familiar with how loud the detective could get while on call. Sometimes the redhead thought it was his roundabout and unconscious attempt at defining his being the team leader, taking up the task of stressing over the inevitable and unchangeable. Other times he felt it had nothing to do with the de facto leadership; it was just the way Yusuke was.
Not that Kurama resented the detective for his attitude that was never down the road to betterment, but the redhead had just been rudely woken fifteen minutes before his alarm went off and he hadn't completely shaken the webbings of sleep from his head. As much as he could figure from the bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair sported by both Yusuke and Kuwabara, they'd also been enjoying the last blissful minutes of another week that hadn't had to start just yet.
Until they'd all been jerked awake, he blindly reaching for the obnoxious, noisy device he kept on his bedside table.
They all felt beyond obliged too early in the morning and to appease himself and as his version of quiet disagreement with this setup, he didn't bother pushing aside the blue window curtains that were well within his arm's reach, thus squinting at the glare of the compact communicator's screen that was too bright for his room the sunlight couldn't penetrate.
It was a Monday, and after six straight days at work, he found this treatment unjust.
Another attack not even a month after the previous one should upset anybody, and with Yusuke's capriciousness, Kurama wasn't fazed the least bit about his early morning prattling. Kuwabara's face had twisted into a frown, and Hiei's, plainly put, sour. No one saw this coming, as the case was thought to have wrapped up last week, and everyone desired to take a breather. Adult human life wasn't easy, after all.
After Yusuke had voiced out Kurama's sentiments (though not the way he would've had), the redhead let Botan continue with the details of this second attack, her voice carrying into his silent room, not muffled by any reflexive finger.
Every passing moment with Botan doing her piece, the situation painted itself more vividly… more, for lack of a better word, real.
"I'm on my way to the facility, and your portals will be opening in five minutes. You know the drill. See you in a bit!"
Kurama allowed himself a sigh. Guess there's no point in dallying. He offered his companions a brief, defeated nod.
In one fluid motion, Kurama closed his communicator and stood up from the bed, heading straight towards the dresser and taking out the first article of clothing he'd come across. He stripped off his pajamas and dropped them into his hamper, put on his trousers and a simple green shirt, grabbed his hairbrush and made his way down the stairs as he tied his hair in a low ponytail, all the while adjusting the seeds tucked safely within the strands.
He quickly maneuvered his way towards the bathroom, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. Virtually, he was ready for a busy day ahead, but a low growling from his stomach sent him hurrying to the kitchen to grab a piece of apple sitting in the fridge and he dug his teeth into his too cold breakfast.
Chewing on his food in a rather undignified manner, he bolted for the front door to pick up his tennis shoes by the rack and his brown jacket off the hook, jogged up the stairs, and glided into his room, going straight for the dresser. The quiet thud of rubber on wood echoed through the lonely room and he slipped his feet into his shoes as he put on his jacket. With his left arm through the sleeve, he peered at his watch.
Thirty seconds.
He took in the room at large and made sure he'd locked his bedroom door before he positioned a hand over the dresser's door handle. Five seconds and he'd chewed the last of his apple, and he held onto the core as he pulled open the door of his dresser.
His clothes were gone and the familiar swirling black-and-blue vortex greeted his eyes. Years ago, Yusuke and Kuwabara had coined these portals as the "Vacuum", owning to the mechanism with which the portals operated. And as he raised a foot to step into it without a second's delay, the sensation coming back exactly as he remembered, he slipped into this other dimension unbound by time and space.
"Sucked up," Kuwabara had uttered some years back.
With the mastery of a person who'd been hitching a ride like this far too often, Kurama deftly yanked his dresser door closed before he landed in a crouch, his hand smoothly breaking his fall from, as it had always seemed, the sky. Concrete grazed his fingers, and as he stared up ahead of him, he knew he was at the right place.
"Kurama! Come on!" Yusuke yelled somewhere in front of him.
Kurama broke into a run, fishing out his favorite seed and growing it into a blood-red rose. He fell a step behind Yusuke, and from the corners of his eyes he saw Kuwabara and Hiei catching up with him. He looked on ahead, towards the building going rapidly up in smoke.
A/N:
Hello, everybody. Somehow I've become alive again and got onto writing this new fic. It's actually a rewrite of The Science of the Inexplicable (a.k.a. the story I never got to finish) and right now you should know that major changes are abound. I'm sorry about my other fic, Of Bridges and the Rest, for I don't think I'd be able to write any more of it at the moment. This fic's been plaguing me since I got off my junior year in college and I finally gave in to it.
I'd like you to know that this will be a long story. Setting up will take time, and I hope you'd be patient with that.
I hope you liked this chapter. I know it's short, but it's the way it's meant to be. Please review! I need your comments on this story!
See you. :)