Fox Love:
Chapter 8- Christmas
"Her walls are cracking," Kurama stated quietly after she had gone. "I can tell."
Yusuke nodded his agreement. "Now all we have to do is wait." He stretched out on his back and stared up at the raipidly darkening sky. "And we've got loads of time do it."
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Three months and two Chaos Article later, the little group was sitting in their hotel room, looking at the Articles they now had. In addition to the Sword, Whistle, and Whip, they now had The Chaos Sphere and The Chaos Staff. Yusuke had possesion of the Sphere and the Staff was in the hands of Kuwabara. Whether or not this was a good idea was still yet to be seen.
Yusuke sat on the edge of his bed and looked at the Sphere. The Chaos Sphere was the size of a tennis ball and rested comfortably in his cupped hand. It shimmered and glowed a faint green in the presense of the other Articles and he could feel it humming and vibrating, almost like a heartbeat. Yusuke had tried various things to get it to work, but the Sphere just sat there, slightly warm, but otherwise unchanged.
He growled in frustration. "Stupid ball!"
Haven glanced over from where she was sitting, on the floor, cleaning both her sword and the Chaos Sword. He flopped back on the bed and held the Sphere up in front of his face. He proceeded to toss it up in the air and catch it, forming a steady rhythm.
Hiei looked over from the windowsill, irritated. Kuwabara, on the bed next to Yusuke's glanced over and yawned. Kurama ignored them all and continued to stare out the window at the swirling snow.
"If this keeps up," he commented to no one in particular. "We are going to be stuck here a while."
Yusuke growled. "I can't stand being cooped up here anymore! We don't even get to go home for Christmas!"
They all looked over at the miniature tree in the corner of the boys' room. It stood there, seeming lonley and forlorn. Christmas. It was coming. In two days time it would be the most celebrated time of the year, yet they would have no one but each other to celebrate with. Lost in their own thoughts they all went back to their previus tasks.
Haven finished cleaning the swords and rose to her feet. Kurama glanced over as she walked out, but said nothing. Over the past monthes they had made little noticable progress with her, or so they thought. Her walls seemed as strong and thick as ever. Frustration flashed in his eyes. Why couldn't he get through?!
Yusuke, catching the look in his eyes said, "Chill, Kurama."
He sighed and turned back to the window. The snow swirled down outside in miniature tornados, the perfect white flakes sticking to the window and blanketing the earth below. They whirled in their own dance, tumbling, twirling...
Hours later, the four of them trooped downstairs for dinner, only to find that Haven was not there to meet them. They sent Hiei to run back upstairs and get her, but he returned seconds later to tell them that she was gone.
Yusuke just shook his head and followed a very eager Kuwabara towards the restaurant. Kurama soon followed, after staring into space for a few moments. "Not again...," he thought dejectedly.
The four friends got a table and had just ordered when a fifth chair was pulled up and Haven joined them. Her hair was dusted with snow and her lips were slightly blue. She offered no explanation and the others asked for none, knowing better by now.
Later, as he was lying in bed, waiting for sleep steal him away, Kurama thought over all the puzzling things about the kitsune girl he had come to care for so much. She was a mystery, that he knew. But how to solve this one...Sleep refused to come for many more hours and Kurama was left with his question unanswered.
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"Hey Urameshi! Wake up!" This shout of excitement was followed by a large thump and Kuwabara landed on all fours on top of Yusuke's bed. But he found it empty.
"Ha! Gotcha!" came a taunting voice from behind his as he was slammed onto the ground by the 140 pounds of Yusuke Urameshi.
"Ouch! Hey, be nice! It's Christmas!"
The two friends continued to wrestle good-naturedly, rolliung around on the floor, dodging half-hearted punches and fake smacks. After about 30 seconds of this, Hiei and Kurama were up also, the former less pleased then the latter.
"Ningens," he snorted.
Kurama grinned and stretched. "Come on, Hiei. It's Christmas!"
"Stupid ningens and their stupid holidays," the little demon muttered. But Kurama could tell it was half-hearted.
Kurama laughed and pointed at the tree in the corner. "Look, Hiei...presents!"
"Hmph." But his ruby eyes showed a flicker of curiosity and he seemed fidgety, like he wanted to go over there and look, but didn't want the others to know it.
"Hey! They're up! Presents time!" Kuwabara exclaimed, shoving Yusuke off him and jumping up. He ran over to the door connecting their room to Haven's and knocked loudly. "Come on, fox girl! Time to open presents! Merry Christmas!" By now he had caught on to Kurama's and Yusuke's ideas. He know understood the concept of her walls and that they needed to be broken before any of them could get through to her.
But there was no answer. "Come on!" he shouted, louder this time.
Still, nothing. And when he opened the door, he discovered an empty bed. Sighing and shutting the door he turned around and walked over to where his friends were seated around the tree.
"She's gone again."
Sighs and and oath from Yusuke were heard, but then the gaiety continued and presents were passed around.
Kurama, glancing at the tag on the last of his gifts, gave a start. "Yusuke! Look at this tag." He handed the small, but weighty package to the Spirit Detective who looked at it and grinned. Then he reached to the depleted pile of gifts under the tree and grabbed the last one with his name on it.
"Hey! I got one from her to!"
Kuwabara snatched his up and Hiei reached for his also.
They all waited, staring at each other to see who would open their's first. Kuwabara, upon seeing the others heisitation, took it upon himself to break the trend and tore off the thin, translucent tissue on his box.
The box inside was covered with holes and it was slightly warm. Shooting a puzzled glance at the rest of the group he untied the string that held the lid on and slipped it off. Gently sliding the lid off he glanced inside and shouted. Sticking his hands in, he gingerly lifted out an orange and white ball of fluff.
"It's a kitten!" he shouted.
The others burst out laughing and the kitten began mewling. "Stop it! You're scaring her!" Kuwabara said, getting defensive. "She's just a baby!" And he gently set the kitten on his lap.
"I'll go next," Hiei stated in what was probably the longest sentence he had said all morning.
His box was long and slender and covered in silvery paper. Ripping the paper off he discovered a black box inside and tore off the lid. Inside, nestled on a cushion of black velvet was a new sword sheath. The others gaped and he slowly slid it out of the box and turned it around and around, marveling at its beauty. The sheath was made of a solid, yet light black wood, polished to a bright shine and coated with a protective finish. Engraved around the sheath was a coiling silver dragon, its long scaly body wrapping the entire length of the sheath and shining in the light. Hiei gently traced the carving of the dragon, his small, quick fingers feeling every curve.
"It's marvelous, Hiei," Kurama whispered.
"I know," came the respone, yet the edge was taken off and he seemed almost happy.
"Me next!" Yusuke exclaimed. Tearing the paper away from his present he found a larger box and a smaller box. Upon looking inside the smaller one, his eyes narrowed, then got wide. He touched what was inside, then quickly stuff the box, lid and all, into his back pocket.
"What's in the box Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," he replied, shaking his head and reaching for the other box. When he opened that one he discovered a CD player, brand new and still in the package.
"This is the one I was looking at in that store the other day!" he informed the others. "She must have gone out and bought it that night she came back covered in snow!"
The rest of the group nodded and turned to Kurama, who was the last one with a present left. Haven's presents sat untouched underneath the tree. With trembling fingers Kurama slipped his box out of its paper sheath and opened it. He gasped when the contents of it were revealing. Looking over, Hiei nodded his approval and leaned in closer for a better look. Their curiousity peaked, the humans looked over and discovered a box full of seeds.
"Flower seeds?!" Yusuke exclaimed.
"Not just any seeds, you fool," Hiei said. "These are seeds from the Makai, most of them forbidden or restricted."
Yusuke let out an appreciative whistle. Kurama was pulling out the packets one by one and examining them, handing them to Hiei as he finished. "These are so rare...I don't even want to know how she got most of them."
Later, when the morning had almost disappeared they went oustide, wrapped in as many blankets, shirts, as they had. Yusuke started it all by hitting Kuwabara in the face with a snowball. Screaming bloody murder, Kuwabara chucked one back, but his aim was off and accidentaly hit Hiei square in the chest. His mouth curved in a smile, a rare occurance for him, and he threw one back, hitting Kuwabara. Kurama laughed and hit the back of Hiei's hair, ducking down behind a snow bank when the fire demon whirled around. But his laughter gave him away and soon he was being covered in snow.
Hours later the freezing, soaking group of boys were heading inside when they were joined by a silent kitsune girl.
"Hello Haven," Kurama said quietly, alerting the others to her presence.
"Where were you all day?" Yusuke wanted to know. "You missed presents." He didn't expect an answer, or even an acknowledgement of his presence, but it was a token try.
But the girl surprised them all when she answered quetly, "I was in the park."
Judging by her blue lips and snow-covered body, the fox-girl wasn't lying. Nodding, the group continued inside, going up to their rooms and changing into warm, dry clothes and meeting up again in the boys' room. Haven sat with her back up against the wall, head tipped back, eyes closed. She was startled when Kurama came over and knelt down before her. "Haven?" he asked.
"What?"
"Why do you disappear all the time?" There he had asked it, the question that had been bothering him for months.
She looked away.
"Please, talk to us. We want to know the answer. Is it us? Are we doing something wrong? You never talk to us or anything. We know almost nothing about you."
Haven's eyes closed, as if she were remembering a time and place far away and long forgotten. It was a lengthy amount of time before she reopened her eyes. They shimmered with unshed tears. Kurama almost jumped in surprise. Tears? Haven never showed any emotion besides anger. What was going on?
She sighed. "Do you really want to know?"
Kurama glanced back at Yusuke and the others. This was the moment, her walls were coming down about her. They had gotten through! He turned back, settling himself more comfortably on the floor. "We're listening."
Haven let out a sound that was half sob half sigh and closed her eyes once more. When she opened them again, there was a look in them that Kurama had only seen twice before.
Taking a deep breath, the kitsune girl began to tell a story that had never been entrusted to anyone before, a story of grief and betrayel, the story of...her life.
Chapter 9- Haven
