Kurama 1/2

Kurama 1/2
Chapter 9
By Kristin Huntsman

With a breath, Hairspray fell into the martial routine that had been drilled into her head and body since she was old enough to walk. She ran though it easily, her eyes closed, with the restrained power that showed her skill. She was focused on the world around her, and on her own self.
She felt like she was floating on a pool of still water, perfectly at peace. This was good. It meant that she wasn't angry, wasn't upset. It meant that she could hopefully get through the day without *that* *girl* annoying her too much.
Mieiko was due to start school today, and would no doubt be in the same class as Hairspray and Shuuichi.
*That* was going to be a field day.
With another breath, Hairspray centered herself again, starting on a second sequence of moves. She used this technique, practicing her own brand of martial arts, passed down in her family from generation to generation, to soothe her nerves. She'd never had to fight with it, never intended to need to. Fighting was something to avoid, not something to enjoy. Peace was the ultimate goal of any Amazon. This private style of martial arts was passed down secretly from mother to daughter within her family, and fighting with it was forbidden. Only the outer techniques, the style every Amazon learned, were to be used to fight. And they were most certainly more than enough to defeat most outsiders.
She knew already what would happen. Mieiko would be introduced to the class the same way she had, as Shuuichi's fiancee. The teacher wouldn't be able to restore order after that. But Shuuichi would insist that Mieiko be given the same level of introduction, regardless of the consequences. Apparently his sense of fairness was tempered by a sadistic streak of humor.
Which was not at all a bad thing, Hairspray mused, with another breath and a third set of moves.

Kurama 1/2, chapter 9

At lunchtime, pandemonium ruled the class, and Kurama smiled inwardly, enjoying the attention that both of his fiancees were getting. <You just like causing trouble,> his third tail commented, sounding amused.
 Kurama said.
 his elder self replied. <The others didn't trust you not to make a mess of it.>
Kurama sighed and wished that he could be alone in his head for a while. For most of his childhood he had been, even if he had still had had a sense of being not quite like the humans around him. He hadn't even fully loved his mother until she had saved his life, irreparably damaging her beautiful white arms in the process. But that had happened after the other tails that were also Kurama had emerged from the sleep of transference. It was as if finding out that he really wasn't human had caused him to love humans even more. As if knowing that he would continue on in one form or another long after they had died caused him to appreciate them more while they were here....
Only, the other tails, the ones who were older and wiser in the use of their youko powers, had trained him to not feel too much. It would break his heart, they said, if he loved a human, a mortal who would die in a scant eighty years. But they tried to keep their interference to a minimum in his lifetime, not wishing to disturb his enjoyment of humanity. They often slept for weeks at a time, four silver foxes of varying hue curled up in a warm place in his mind.
Recent events, however, had prompted them to change that pattern. It was not solely his fiancees that intrigued them, though they were endlessly fascinated by the two women. What they were truly interested in was the sudden, unexpected emergence of a female variant of themselves. In everything they had learned and remembered, Kurama knew, such a thing had never happened to a fox. And certainly to have two new tails emerge in a space of barely sixteen years was a phenomenon as well. It took most youkos a century to garner enough power and knowledge to form a new tail, a new voice.
But that "recently," however, had caused Kurama for the first time to view himself separately from the other parts of himself. For once, he might run the risk of feeling more like "Shuuichi" than "Kurama."
And he knew why.
With his twin-self emerging from out of his own self, he'd disrupted his balance of immortality and humanity, and *she* was quite thoroughly human. Despite her amusement at their powers, and despite her occasional adoption of youko coldness, his sister-self was entirely human at heart. She was even falling in love... by the intense human definition of that phrase... with Hiei. And Hiei, being innocent of such things, was returning the favor.
His sister-self was human, and dragging him down into it a little bit. Either that, or maybe he had just been denying the side of him that felt human all along. Kurama decided. <It was easier for first tail and the others... youkos don't get slammed with hormones at thirteen.>

Hiei sat in the tree and idly watched Kurama's classroom. The youko just adored getting himself into trouble, didn't he? Or themselves, rather. Even from where he was Hiei could see the group of boys sitting at the back of the class, glaring at the back of the red-haired student. No doubt they wanted to kill him for taking a second fiancee. Hell, *Hiei* wanted to kill him for that! But for a far different reason (he hoped) than Kurama's classmates.
Damn it, why did the one have to be a part of the whole? He didn't mind having to deal with the first four Kuramas at all--they kept mostly out of Shuuichi's life, and would probably continue to do so for many years--but having *her* be the same as *him* was getting impossible!
Hiei knew Kurama so intimately that he knew what had happened in the moment that Shuuichi-Kurama had split into male and female versions of himself. The male had gotten reminded of his humanity and had returned to being completely straight. The female....
The female had been the one who had gotten all the traits of "Kurama" that had been overtly affectionate, attracted to, and in love with Hiei. There was no way it could possibly get simpler, or better, for Hiei. Except for one little detail.
"Kurama-chan" was stuck in the same body as "Kurama-kun."
<Damn it.>

"Damn it!" Maira cursed under her breath, slipping out of the void of concentration she had been in. It seemed like the longer she was able to focus, the harder it became to stay focused. She glared at the black spot in the candle flame that she was using to tame her mind, and felt truly annoyed at herself. What good was she going to be to the Reikai if she couldn't get control of herself?!
"That's enough for now, Maira," Genkai said from near the door. "Four minutes and thirty-one seconds."
Maira smiled. Genkai didn't need a stopwatch to be able to time her. "I was really hoping to break four-thirty-five today," she sighed. "Maybe I can practice more later?"
"Maybe," Genkai agreed as Maira stood and winced at the stiffness that had set into her body during the past six hours of sitting there and practicing with the candle. "For now, Maira, I think you need to eat something, and then we need to work on your exercises. Koenma insists on the Investigators being physically as well as psychically capable of doing the jobs they have to."
"He mentioned as much to me," Maira replied, bending over to touch her toes, then shaking the stiffness out of her arms. "I'm glad you agreed to teach me, Genkai-sensei."
Genkai shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked rhetorically, turning and leaving the room. "By the way, we'll likely be having company tonight."
"Oh?" Maira asked, following. "Who?"
"Botan has been assigned temporarily to check on you, and is bringing a friend with her, a young koorime named Yukina."
"Koorime?" Maira asked, dredging her memories of mythology. "A snow woman? But aren't they vampires?"
"Yukina is half-koorime, and doesn't appear to have inherited that particular trait," Genkai responded, her faded pink hair waving lightly in the breeze. "She's very sweet and innocent. I hope the two of you will like one another."
"Two months ago, I would have laughed at the idea of meeting a koorime, a ferrygirl for the Reikai, and a youko," Maira said, half to herself. "Now I'm accepting it without a problem. Things change, huh? And I most certainly would never have gotten to stay in a beautiful place like this...." She gestured around at the temple, its grounds, and the kilometers and kilometers of virgin forest around it. "Thank you again for letting me stay here, Genkai-sensei."
"Oh, it's no trouble," Genkai replied. "You're much more well-mannered than Yuusuke, more pleasant company. *And* you know the proper way to conduct yourself during a tea ceremony."
Maira smiled. Genkai was very traditional despite the video-game setups she had randomly installed throughout the house, and was training Maira in many branches of traditional education as well as spiritual and martial.
They walked on in companionable silence together.

"Botan, do you realize what this means?!" Koenma yelled. "You can't just fall in love with one of the Investigators! Even if you did get splashed with love potion! It disrupts the entire system!!"
"Doesn't he have the most wonderful eyes...?" Botan questioned dreamily.
"BOTAN!!" Koenma yelled again.
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. What was that again, Koenma-sama?" Botan asked, an enigmatic smile drifting across her pretty face.
"Will you pay attention?!" Koenma snapped irritably.
"Oh, um, of course, Koenma-sama!" Botan replied, trying her best to clear her head and listen to what her boss was saying.
"Now listen very carefully to me," Koenma said, enunciating every word as he leaned across the desk, his baby face very serious. "You.are.not.to.get. involved.romantically.with.Yuusuke.He.has.Keiko.re.mem.ber."
"Maybe we can share him..." Botan mused.
"BOTAN!!" Koenma yelled again.

Yuusuke, sitting in class and not hiding out on the roof for once, sneezed at the same moment as Keiko. She blinked as their eyes met and wondered who was talking about them.

Atsuko lay drunkenly draped across the sofa when Yuusuke got home. He ignored her and tiptoed across the room (an old habit from when he was very little and lived in mortal fear of her temper... before he had learned to sass back) and snagged the paper, then went to his own room, studying the newsprint carefully. Somehow he'd gotten trapped into doing an assignment with Keiko while he wasn't skipping class today. And his part of it was to find something interesting in the newspaper for them to follow up and research on.
He frowned as he flipped through the various sections, wondering what exactly defined "interesting."
It was pure chance that he found his own death announcement in the obituaries.

Mariko was silently observing the framed photograph of her family, taken some sixteen years before, when the limousine came to take her to the funeral. Silently, without tears, she walked to the door and entered the vehicle that was currently conveying her to her husband's funeral.
She would be the only family attending. There was one other... at least, there had been, over fifteen years ago... but she would not come. It would be only Mariko, her husband's few friends, his lawyer, and his financial consultant.
Gods how she hated them!
She had never told Yuu-san either, but during their last few years together, there had been times when she had almost hated him as well. And she did not feel nearly as guilty about it now as she supposed she should. After all, had it not been for Yuu-san's stubbornness and his damned pride, she would have her daughter by her side now, and grandchildren as well!
Yes, damn the man to hell, she decided irritably.
Mariko sighed as she realized she was acting like a bitter old woman already when she wasn't yet sixty. Though her hair was nearly all gray, she still had many years of life before her, and no wish to spend them as someone whose acquaintance she herself would not have cared for. She was a wealthy woman, and had much to look forward to. But though she knew she would miss her dear friend and husband bitterly, she was still angry, no, furious, with him over that one clause in his will. Not a cent of their money was to be given to their daughter, and Mariko was absolutely forbidden to look for her, lest she jeopardize her own financial standing with the estate.
Urameshi Mariko straightened her head up and stared into space, a determined look on her face as she searched her mental record of that will for a legal loophole.

"I still want to know what we're doing here," Keiko muttered as she stood beside Yuusuke in the graveyard.
"Research," he replied unhelpfully.
"Yuusuke, we were *supposed* to take an article about politics, or religion, or pollution..." Keiko explained, not wanting to admit to herself that Yuusuke looked kind of cute in the suit he had dug up from somewhere (she had been surprised that he even owned one). He had shown up on her doorstep and told her to get dressed for a funeral, his only explanation being shoving a small square torn from the obituaries page into her hand.
"Shut up," Yuusuke snapped, and Keiko nearly jumped at the dangerous edge in his voice. He'd never spoken like *that* to her before!
"... Yuusuke?" she asked softly, following him down the slight hill.
He was silent for several minutes, then bluntly enlightened her with one sentence: "I was named for my grandpa."
Keiko stood still, shocked that he'd said anything about even knowing who his family was besides his mother, even more shocked that he was going to the funeral of a grandfather that he had never met to the best of her knowledge, and the most shocked of all that he had taken *her* with him to something that obviously meant so much to him.
She followed quietly in his wake.

Hiei frowned as he flitted from tree to tree. He was following Kurama on his way home from school, and had no doubt that the trees were telling the geomantic fox spirit that he was there. But Kurama was not particularly in a position to acknowledge his presence, being flanked by both of his fiancees at the moment, neither of whom seemed interested in talking to one another, and both of whom seemed decidedly interested in keeping the youko's attention solely on herself.
At this rate, they were going to tear him in half and argue over who got to bury his remains.
 Hiei thought, <but I suppose Kurama wouldn't like it if I just Kokuryuuha'd both his fiancees.>
The solutions that he came up with to his problem just didn't seem workable to Hiei, damn it. Kurama's human sensibilities kept getting in the was of simple youkai logic. He growled in annoyance and wondered if maybe he could just kidnap the youko away and take him to a sorceror in the Makai to block the side that was human.
<I've never wanted anything as much as I want *her*. I've stolen everything else I valued, why not steal a woman, too?> he wondered briefly. 
About that time, he gave up on trailing the many-minded fox, and decided to go spy on Yuusuke to see what their "team leader" was up to.

Yukina laughed, charmed at the magic tricks that her new friend was showing her. She had never seen anything like this in the Makai! This illusion, the sleight of hand, was wonderful and new to her, and she couldn't quite figure out how it was being done, which only added to its intrigue. "Oh, this is wonderful, Maira-san!" she exclaimed happily, as Botan picked a card out of the center of a stack of them. "We don't have anything like this in my world!"
"No, but you have real magic, don't you?" Maira-san asked, looking at her with a strange look on her face. "These are just tricks. You can do real power stuff."
"Oh, but this is better!" Yukina tried to explain. "There, it's all fighting and almost no one uses their magic for happiness. This *is* magic... it's for nothing but enjoyment! I wish we had had this back in the Glacial Lands... it would have been such fun to show wonderful tricks like this to the others...." She brushed a falling wisp of her hair out of her eyes. "We had so few amusements where I grew up."

Maira paused for a second as she saw the wistful look on the half-Koorime's face. "Then I'll show you how to do them," she decided. "If you'd like to learn, that is...."
The total gratitude in the pretty face before her made Maira's day. "Really?" Yukina asked, hope in her voice. "I would love to learn this kind of magic from you, Maira-san!"
"Here," Maira said, moving beside Yukina, handing her the deck of cards she had been using. "Shuffle these, and I'll show you how to pick out which card someone is holding." She smiled as the shorter girl eagerly complied, looking at the blue-green head bent over the cards in intense concentration.
Yukina was so sweet.

Mariko stood respectfully silent during the services, head bowed and gazing at the ground as the burial ceremony went on around her. Not much was expected of the grieving widow.
*Mockery*, her nerves told her. She was too much alive, too grateful to be alive, to mourn. She trusted that there was a grand scheme to the universe, that her husband had gone on to some other destination where she would meet up with him again someday. Though she might pause when she heard "their" song being played, or wipe a bead of moisture away from her eye sometimes when she looked at Yuu-san's picture, she would not mourn. After all, they would meet again someday....
Mariko looked up as she heard the soft footsteps of another person approaching the grave. For a moment, she thought it was Yuu-san's ghost looking at her, as boyishly handsome as he had been when they first met. But this boy was not her husband. His stance was gentler, more repentant than her proud husband had ever been, and his eyes a warmer shade of brown. Those eyes met hers evenly, with an hesitant, almost-pleading look in them, and Mariko knew where the boy had come from.
"Atsuko's baby..." she whispered in disbelief. "My baby's baby...."

Author's Ramblings
Wow. It's been a long time since anyone has seen new work on this story. But have no fear... it's still (slowly) on-going.
Now that editing-type people have gotten back to me with comments on it, and I've gone through with a light polishing, here it is for the YYHN ML to enjoy.
Bonus points for anyone who can guess (correctly) what will be happening in the future with 1) Maira (yes, she came over from the OVA into the true continuity), 2) Mariko (I've been wanting to write Atsuko's background for a while), 3) the Botan-Yuusuke-Keiko triangle, and 4) the Hiei-Kurama- Hairspray-Shuuichi-Mieiko-Koenma-most of Meiou High thing!
Onward to glory/rape/pillage/plunder/kill/frag/nuke/destroy/torture!
TABBE RULES!!
<insert maniacal laughter here>
Ja ne,
Kristin

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