Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama no Kanojo ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

AN: Almost over, peoples! Two more chapters `n it's all over!

Disclaimer: I've been skimping on the disclaimers. I know. In case anyone forgot, here: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho!

Nadeshiko suddenly gets up from where she was seated and heads towards the same corridor that Kurama had a few moments before. A voice suddenly stops her from behind. It was Hiei. "If you want to, you can stay with me in my tree for the time being, Nadeshiko. Don't take it the wrong way; I'm only doing this as a favor for Kurama."

She turns around and her eyes start to tear up as she replies. "Do you mean it?" Hiei simply gives her a cold stare in return. "I . . . I don't know what to say . . . thank you for your generous offer. I appreciate this very much. If there's any way I can repay you, please, do tell me."

"You can start by shutting up and coming with me," he replies as he starts to walk towards the corridors.

Back to Kurama . . .

Kurama walked outside to find that it was raining outside. Strange . . . it seems that the sky sympathizes with me. He reverts back to Minamino Shuuichi and starts walking down the mountain. It's not fair . . . He starts running as tears once again blur his vision. He hastily wipes them away, but to no avail. Suddenly, he hears Nadeshiko and Hiei behind him and looks around for a place to hide. He silently climbs onto a branch of a nearby tree as Hiei and Nadeshiko pass below.

"I wonder where father went," Nadeshiko says as she passes underneath. Hiei turns around with a questioning look on his face. "My real father, Kurama. I just want to see if he's okay . . . and to apologize. I feel that it's my fault all this happened." Hiei simply stops and pulls the bandanna off his forehead and starts to scan the area with his jagan.

"If you want to talk to him, climb this tree. He's in there somewhere," Hiei says directly underneath Kurama. Nadeshiko replies with a surprised look and does as Hiei suggested.

Meanwhile, Kurama, who had been eavesdropping on Nadeshiko and Hiei, decides to stay put and let her find him. Nadeshiko looks surprised as she sees that Kurama had reverted back to Minamino Shuuichi.

"Father?" she asks.

"Do you mind not calling me that?" Kurama sadly replies, looking away from her. Even though she realizes that Kurama probably wants to be alone, she does not leave and sits down on a nearby branch.

"What do you want me to call you?" she replies, looking up at him.

"It really doesn't matter, just not father."

"Okay, then, is Kurama-san fine?"

"Sure, whatever suits you."

"I . . . I just want to say I'm sorry about what happened. I should take part of the blame for it," she hesitantly says. Kurama suddenly turns around, angry.

"What good is it to feel sorry now?! She's gone and she'll never come back!" He starts to cry again. "Leave, get out of the tree before I make you!" She silently drops from the branch and lands on the ground next to Hiei. Hiei senses the anger emanating from the tree and starts walking again.

Back to Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina, and Keiko . . .

"I'm back," Botan sadly says as she flies in on her oar. She gets off and looks around and starts to cry again.

"Botan, I know it's hard . . . we never had the chance to get to know her better," Keiko replies, hugging Botan to comfort her.

"Come on, let's go home for now. We can figure out what to do to help Kurama tomorrow," Yuusuke says as he starts to walk out.

"Wait, Urameshi! What should we do with Sakura's body?" Kuwabara asks, surprised that Yuusuke would just leave.

"Leave it here for now. It's up to Kurama what to do with it. She was his girlfriend," he replies, despondent. He walks towards one of the corridors as Kuwabara, Keiko, Botan, and Yukina follow him.

The next day . . . (Ten o'clock a.m., Minamino residence)

Kurama wakes up to find himself at home and in his bedroom. He shakes his head and remembers what happened the day before, but does not remember how he got home. Just then, the doorbell rang, followed by several more, and then followed by pounds on the door.

"Kurama, open up! It's Yuusuke!" Yuusuke shouts as he continues to pound on the door.

"What could he possibly want? Can't he take a clue that I just want to be alone for a while?" Kurama angrily mutters as he walks over to his desk to get a sheet of paper and pen. He writes something on it and walks to the door. He does not open it, but simply folds the sheet of paper into a knot and pushes it out the mail slot. Yuusuke catches it and unfolds it. It read:

Yuusuke and whoever else is out there:

Leave before I decide to do something that all of us will
regret. I'm dead serious about this.

Kurama

"Kurama, if you won't open this door right now, I'm gonna make it!" Yuusuke shouts as he prepared to punch the door open.

"Hold it," a female voice suddenly says. It was Kurama's mother, Shiori. "Why don't you let me open the door for you?" She unlocks the door and walks in to see that Kurama was nowhere in sight. She walks into his room, where she sees Kurama just standing on the balcony and looking out at the city and the harbor. "Shuuichi! How could you-" she stops as she sees the despondent look on Kurama's face. "What's wrong, son?"

"It's . . . it's nothing, mom," he replies, not bothering to turn around and barely managing to keep himself from breaking down.

"It can't be nothing. There's something wrong and I can tell, even if you're not really my son in spirit," she replies. She had discovered a month ago what Kurama really was and what he had been doing. Just then, Yuusuke, Keiko, and Botan walked in.

"Minamino-san, we have a message for Kurama from Koenma," Botan says as she entered behind Yuusuke.

"Go away," Kurama quietly says, still not turning around. Botan looked a little hesitant before Shiori walked over to Kurama and slapped him, hard. Kurama does not reply, but simply holds his cheek and looks down at his slippers.

"Shuuichi! Is this any way to treat your friends? They came here because they were concerned about you. Now, I have no idea what's going on, but I know that this isn't how friends should be treated!"

"Minamino-san, I can explain what happened," Yuusuke says as he realizes that it was pointless to try and talk to Kurama right now. "Botan, why don't you just write down Koenma's message and just leave it on his desk?" Yuusuke suggests as he walks out of the room with Shiori. Botan finds a pen and a sheet of paper on Kurama's desk, sits down, and starts to write.

Several hours later . . .

"I see, so that's what happened," Shiori replies, worried.

"That's what I think, anyway. Did I miss any part at all, Botan?" Yuusuke asks. Botan had come out of Kurama's room fifteen minutes after Yuusuke started to relate the events of the previous day to Shiori.

"Yeah, pretty much, except for the time you were unconscious," Botan replies. Just then, the doorbell rang again. Shiori gets up and opens the door to see that it was Kuwabara, Yukina, and a five-year-old human Nadeshiko.

"Hi, Kuwabara, and you are . . .?" Shiori asks as she looks at Yukina and Nadeshiko.

"I'm Yukina, I just wanted to see if Kurama-san is here. He left on his own and we couldn't find him at all last night."

"I'm Nadeshiko-chan, Kurama-san's and Sakura's daughter. Nadeshiko-chan decided to drop by here to see if Kurama-san is feeling any better," she says, ignoring the surprised look on Shiori's face. It was then that Shiori notices the slight resemblance to Kurama. Nadeshiko had big emerald green eyes, long dark blue hair with indigo highlights that was up in her usual hairstyle, and was wearing the same yellow and green kimono with a pink sash and slippers and matching green choker.

"Oh, about that, it was Chiriko who did that. He created her with Kurama's and Sakura's DNA," Botan says, answering Shiori's question. Shiori gives a relieved look and lets the three of them enter.

"Can we see Kurama?" Kuwabara asks as he sees that Yuusuke and Botan were there. "Urameshi, Botan, Keiko! What are you two doing here?"

"Accompanying Botan-san so that she could give Kurama a message from Koenma. There's no point in trying to see him. He's off in his own little world right now," Keiko says a she remember what happened just a few hours earlier.

"I see . . ." Nadeshiko says as she looks down at her feet. "Well, tell him Nadeshiko-chan stopped by and that Nadeshiko-chan is staying with Hiei- san for now. He'll know where to find Nadeshiko-chan if he wants to see her," she says as she turns around and leaves without saying another word.

Meanwhile, back in the Reikai . . .

"Sakura, are you sure you want to do this?" Koenma asks as Sakura silently watches what was happening in Kurama's apartment. "You do realize that if he doesn't get the message today, you'll be stuck in the Reikai without a body for five hundred years."

"I'm positive. I just wish I could go down there and tell him this myself. It just pains me to see him like this, even after what I said to him," she replies with tears in her eyes. "Is there any way I could directly talk to him?"

"Actually, that was the next part. You need to find three people tonight and give them the message in their dream," Koenma replies.

Back in Kurama's apartment . . .

"Well, I think we've overstayed our welcome," Keiko says as she gets up to leave. Yuusuke, Botan, Kuwabara, and Yukina follow suit.

"No, not at all. You're all welcome here anytime," Shiori replies. "I appreciate all of you for coming to see Shuuichi." The five of them leave and waves goodbye as they walk towards the elevator. Shiori waves back and closes the door. She walks down the hallway to her Kurama's room and opens the door. He was still standing on the balcony, looking out at the city and harbor, in his pajamas. She walks up next to him. "Shuuichi, why don't you change or put on a jacket? You'll catch a cold standing there."

"I don't care," he monotonously replies, once again barely in control. "Did they leave already?"

"Yes, they did and they all told me what happened. You should be grateful for such good and understanding friends. They all came because they were worried about you."

"I know . . ." he replies. He suddenly turns around and hugs Shiori as he starts to cry again. "She shouldn't have died! I should have been there to protect her!" he shouts between his sobs. Shiori hugs him and pats his back to comfort him.

"I know that it's hard for you. It was hard for me when your father died. I understand how you feel, Shuuichi. It never gets any easier, even as time goes by." She pauses for a moment. "Why don't you tell me all about her?"

"Okay." He walks over to his bed, sits, and starts from the beginning, about how they met and all the time he spent with her in the Makai. Shiori simply sits down next to him and listens as Kurama describes the various events. Just as Kurama finishes telling Shiori about Sakura, a tap came from the balcony's glass door. Shiori gets up to see that it was Hiei and opens the door for him.

"Shuuichi, you have another visitor. It's Hiei," Shiori says as Hiei walks in. "I'll be in the kitchen making lunch," she says as she leaves.

"Yuusuke told me happened. I came to make sure you haven't done anything stupid, namely killing yourself." He turns around to leave. "Nadeshiko's staying with me for now," he says as he walks towards the balcony.

"Hiei, wait. Don't leave yet. Tell Nadeshiko that I'm sorry for yelling at her last night. I shouldn't have lost it like that," Kurama says, looking down at his slippers once more.

"Anything else?"

"No, that's all," Kurama replies, not bothering to wave goodbye or anything as Hiei flits off. He walks over to his desk to see what Botan had written.

That night . . .

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Kurama asks, his voice echoing in the darkness that surrounded him as he sees Sakura appear in front of him.

"I'm here to make sure you got Botan's message," she replies.

"You mean that-" Kurama asks, his eyes tearing up with joy.

"That's right. Just make sure to get to my body in time," she replies, smiling. "Don't forget . . ." her voice echoes as she disappears.

~ To be Continued ~

Kurama no MIko2003: You guys should have seen that one coming, right? I did say that it's not over `til everyone's happy, no?