30
"Kurama, your mom keeps calling me. She thinks you're hiding out at my house."
Yusuke plopped down on Kuwabara's bed and glared at his friend. At the desk across from him the redhead twirled a pencil in his hand and was polite enough to give Yusuke a slightly curious look. "Well that's strange," he said in a tone that indicated he was trying to be interested but not really succeeding.
"Everything's okay, and all right, right? You talked to her and your step-dad when you got back, and they still don't know you're a demon. She didn't even yell at you, so why are you hiding over here?!"
The fox shrugged and turned away to scribble some more equations down the margins of the study guide. Yusuke slammed his fist into the bed before jumping to his feet.
"I'm not hiding Yusuke, I was merely helping Kuwabara-kun prepare for an exam."
"That's a damn lie! You won't go home, you won't talk to your mom, you hardly talk to us, and you spent the last week holed up at Genkai's! Kurama you've been weird ever since you got back."
Kuwabara nodded from his place by the window. He was leaning back against the sill, his arms crossed. So far everything he had said had had no effect and so it had been time to call in the big guns.
"Look, are you gonna tell us what's wrong, or are we gonna have to beat it outta yeh?"
The muscular little demon king cracked his knuckles and cricked his neck as a small smile crossed the fox's lips.
"Beat it out of me?" he inquired, setting down the pencil and turning to look at his two friends. They, in turn, were doing their best to look intimidating. "I guess your style really won't ever change Yusuke."
"Look Kurama," Kuwabara said, unfolding his arms and coming forward. "We're worried about you. Friends look out for one another, watch each other's backs."
"Occasionally kick each other's asses," Yusuke added helpfully.
"I'm afraid there is nothing either of you can do," he said firmly now that they were moving in. "Really, I assure you…"
"Wrong answer fox boy."
"The girl?!" the former spirit detective exclaimed a while later. He turned an accusing glare on his friend. "I thought you said she wasn't hot."
"Urameshi!" Kuwabara punched the shorter man in the back of the head. "I'm sure she's got a great personality!"
Kurama couldn't take it anymore, he burst out laughing, laughing past the point where he would normally stop himself, past the point of decorum until both boys were staring at him and body-shaking tremors had brought tears to his eyes.
"Oh gods," he muttered, putting his head down on Kuwabara's desk and pinching his eyes closed. "Oh God," he said, using English for the first time in two months.
"Listen, is there anything we can do?"
"You could kill me," he said in a deadpan and there was an eerie moment where they couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.
"Do you see what I've become?" he couldn't help asking no one in particular. "I'm split three ways again."
"Your youko side too?" Kuwabara couldn't help asking. He knew the fox had sworn it off years before, but at the time he'd thought that something so elemental to the fox's nature couldn't be eliminated so lightly. It appeared that he had been right as Kurama rubbed his face.
"Yes, that too. Yes everything. I just barely managed to pass my exams for this semester, and now I don't know what to do."
"Wow Kurama, coming from you…" Kuwabara trailed off, faintly unsettled by his friend's admission. In all the five years they had known each other he had never encountered, never even heard of Kurama without a plan.
"I'm afraid I don't understand your request," the small prince said from behind his oversized desk.
The kitsune shifted to his other foot but kept himself from pacing the wide office. It wouldn't do to show that tension now.
"Are you saying that you can't or won't help me?"
"No," Koenma drawled and leaned back in his chair letting his finger tips rest against each other beneath his chin. "I'm not saying that. I'm just trying to understand what you're asking. Let's go over this again, shall we?"
With a frustrated snort Kurama began to pace. The action itself was so uncharacteristic it set Koenma on edge as well. A pacing Kurama was a frightening one in his mind, and anything serious enough to cause such a disturbance had to be dealt with. He knew the kitsune was a tightly coiled creature, forcing everything beneath the surface, and he would much prefer finding a way to let out a little pressure here and there to having it all explode.
"I can't concentrate anymore," the fox said, not even pausing to address the ruler directly. "I don't understand it, my mind keeps drifting and I can't focus for long periods of time. With the few demons that have attacked recently I've been sloppy. I can't bring myself to really care, and my double life is even more unsatisfactory than before.
"I know now I can't stay tethered to my mother's side forever." He paused, looking out over Koenma's shoulder, his eyes unfocused. "Before the 'incident' she was gently nudging me away, out farther into the world. She was the one who first mentioned my getting an apartment for university. But she's my only reason for remaining." He shook his head slightly and began stalking circles before Koenma's desk once more. "I like the human world, but I've made sure to keep my distance from almost every human here. In effect she was pushing me towards nothingness, towards a pointless existence. And if that's what it comes down to…"
He glanced up and caught Koenma's eye. The tiny ruler clenched his fists and inhaled sharply; shocked to find such a look as he hadn't seen in years in the kitsune's eyes. It was starting to look like drastic measures might be in order, more pressure had built up than he expected and releasing a little wasn't going to help much.
"In demon world things would be almost the complete opposite," Koenma mused. "Everyone there is expected to be able to defend themselves, you would not be responsible for anyone's welfare, you could have a high ranking position anywhere: with Enki or one of the warlords, or be free to come and go as you chose. There would be no need for split identities or this masquerade."
"I know that," Kurama said slowly, having regained his outward calm though he was still moving. "Koenma, have you even been listening to what I've been saying?"
The small prince rubbed his chin thoughtfully while he shuffled around a few papers on his desk and continued to ignore the growing line of ogres carrying stacks of paper awaiting signatures. Kurama stopped his pacing and came to rest before the oversized desk, watching as Koenma took a long moment to think carefully.
"I'll see about your request, on one condition," Koenma said, wagging his index finger slightly as he leaned forward across his desk and locked eyes with the demon. "You have to talk to your mother about it first. I'm not saying you need her approval, you just have to tell her."
Winter dragged on, days bleeding into each other to form one long gray mass. It was with growing anticipation that Gwen looked forward to the new semester, not because of any particular affinity for her classes, but because it would force her to do something and therefore help keep her mind occupied. Over the interminable month that had been winter break she'd done far more visiting, shopping and busy work than ever before, pretty much anything to fill the long dark hours and keep her thoughts from wandering. It would happen whenever she was alone or allowed her mind to drift, that one taboo subject would rise to the surface and she would find herself wondering where he was, what he was doing, and if he missed her like she missed him.
The line was long, as it always was this time of year, a serpentine of students with their stacks of books. The premeds with their paving stone sized hardcovers, English majors with novels tucked under their arms and every other assortment of textbooks imaginable were in the arms of the college's returning students. Gwen was in the line as well, her boot tapping gently on the tiles as she shifted the books around in her arms for the millionth time. As she was almost to the front she'd been holding them for a long time, not counting the little break a few paces back where she'd set them on top of the last bookshelf before the registers. 'Only a little bit longer,' she told herself. 'Just a few more minutes. Just stick it out a few more minutes.'
A few people back another woman was also shifting uneasily in the line. She was running late already and the abysmal pace of the line wasn't helping her growing anxiety, nor was the fact that she was almost certain the man standing in front of her had cut. She couldn't be quite certain, she had been looking away for a few minutes, but when she looked back there he was and she clearly remembered getting in line behind another girl, at least, she thought she did.
It was an unlucky day for her nerves and her stress factor skyrocketed with what happened next. There she was, merely standing in line, silently cursing the butt-er and looking around when from the corner of her eye she saw his hand snake into the purse of the girl in front of him. She couldn't believe her eyes and stood transfixed as he slowly withdrew his hand, holding the girl's keys. It took only a second but she had caught all of it, though when she glanced around to see if other people were staring in outrage it seemed no one else had noticed. She was standing there debating with herself how she ought to say something, and what exactly she'd say when the man made another move.
"Excuse me Miss," he said with a slightly accented voice as he tapped the girl on the shoulder. "I believe you dropped these."
Gwen turned around. There was a crash, though she didn't hear it, as the books she'd been holding hit the floor. And shrieking, she threw herself on Kurama. For a while she was quite unintelligible and he happily waved on the people behind them in line as she clung to the front of his coat laughing and crying.
"Are you real?" she gasped, taking a step back and wiping her eyes.
"Oh, most certainly not. I'm sure if you asked any of these fine people they'd tell you you've been hugging a bookcase and talking to yourself."
For a second she looked half-temped to try asking before other questions came bubbling up. "W-what? How? Why?"
"Exchange student, for a semester. The same way I left. I thought 'we' deserved a chance," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "That's three questions, I believe if you ask eight more you'll owe me a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and orange juice."
"I'll make you all the pancakes you want!" she cried, on the verge of tears again as a few more people slipped past them. He couldn't help chuckling and pulled the girl into an embrace, thinking all the planning, blackmailing and conniving it had taken to get back were worth it. "And I won't even make you chase me for the bacon."
"That was what made it fun," he replied, watching her dig through her pockets for a tissue, sniffling loudly. "You'll be proud of me, I brought my own clothes this time."
"So I see," she mumbled, holding onto his scarf as she leaned back and looked him over. "I still need to take you shopping, what on earth did you do to that sweater?"
"I'm foreign, this is what people wear in my country. And Yusuke told me it was cool," he said, looking at the brightly clashing colors.
Laughing they bent to gather her books and retake their position in line. She was happy just leaning against him as they stood waiting, knowing explanations would have to wait until they were somewhere private, knowing that there would be plenty of time. He said he was there for the whole semester, right? The clerk was positively beaming at the pair when they walked up, but of course everyone at the registers had had a front-row view of the P.D.A.
Outside it was chilly but not freezing and she let him lead her around the familiar paths. Earlier they had looked bleak and dreary, stripped of their usual vegetation and surrounded by the grey day, but now everything was vibrant and shinning again, each brown and soggy leaf was beautiful and the gloom inviting.
"How did you convince them to let you come back?" she asked, looking up at him. They were walking arm-in-arm along the mossy bricks, her bag of books swinging from his free arm. The smile he turned to her was distinctly self-satisfied and rather like a toothy smirk.
"It took some convincing, some persuasion of the right people."
"You threatened Koenma?"
"Noo, never threatened."
"Not directly." She laughed and gave his arm a little squeeze. "Just mentioned a few unfortunate things that could, possibly, happen if you didn't get your way."
"Well, yes, but that was just giving him fair warning. I talked to my mother as well." His eyes tracked towards the sky and his smile was much softer. "She told me to go. And so then it wasn't that difficult to get the paperwork in order and filed through the systems so that I could study abroad for a semester. The visa was something of a hassle though."
"You actually have a legitimate visa!" She clapped her hands together and squeaked. "Yay, a big step up."
"I also have my own dorm room," he said with another slightly toothy smile.
Kurama was stranded in Gwen's world for eight and a half weeks. He returned for fourteen. He returned again for thirty-three. And then he had to graduate from his original university. It was the longest time they spent apart since meeting, despite the fact that Gwen spent that summer in his world.
'Through the Looking Glass' is the provisional title for the sequel, which will not be structured quite like this one. There'll be some chapters that run consecutively and others that are stand alone snippets, and I'm not srue if they'll all be in chronological order. The first couple will take place a year and a half after the ending of this story.
I finished this in less than a year, go me! Everybody, thanks for reading! Love and cute fuzzy things to all with extra special marshmallow hugs to my wonderful reviewers who never failed to brighten my day and make me more motivated to write :D
alicia: well i'm glad i'm not as bad as a lot of people, but i still feel bad when my updates take longer than expected, of course i don't need to worry about that anymore
Chibi: lol if i doubled the length i'd have quite the novel on my hands! also I'd say never delete something you wrote (instead get a new account and pretend you had nothing to do with the original, jk ;D) since its good to be able to look back and compare what you used to write to what you do now. i looked at the first chapter of your fic and would suggest come revisions, but not deleting it, i like the idea. if you leave an email address in a review or pm me i can get back to you with some ideas
aoidream: thanks! i know i was sad about ending it too, but everything has to have some sort of resolution or it really would be a soap opera
cat-ears343: lol Koenma would not have been happy if Kurama had missed the portal, and i don't think even Gwen could stand up to a full-blown Koenma-tantrum!