Fox Games:
Chapter 9- Anticipation
Tails streaming out behind him like banners, the silver fox ran through the forest at top speed, far outrunning the two humans behind him, but not quite catching the little demon in front of him. His normally pale cheeks glowed pink in the early dawn air and his eyes glittered with a rekindled joy. One would never know that he had been on the edge of death just 24 short hours ago.
The Chishio-houshu Haven had given him was tucked away carefully in an inner pocket of his garment, he could feel it's warmth through the thin cloth and he even thought at times that he could feel a heartbeat. A smile played about the corners of his mouth as he breathed the chill air in and felt it wash coolly over his skin. The very air around him seemed to spark with some unknown force, crackling and humming with something supernatural that he could not place.
Today was the day.
He increased his speed and burst forth from the woods, a large, flat plain dotted with glittering lakes meeting his eye ahead. Hiei was already waiting for him, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, staring at the lake nearest to them. A few minutes later Yusuke and Kuwabara caught up with them, faces red and chests heaving. "Geez, you think you guys coulda run any faster?" Yusuke managed to gasp out, collapsing at the base of one of the trees at the forest's edge.
Hiei and Kurama both wore twin smirks on their faces as Kuwabara sprawled face first into the dirt. Heaving, he rolled over onto his side and watched as the two demons walked through the stomach-high grass and headed out onto the plain. "Catch up with us when you're ready!" Kurama called back. "We'll be by the lake!"
The outer fringes of the forest barely brushed the edge of the lake; a few straggling trees and bushes clung to the shores. Sighing, Kurama lay back on the sand, already warm from the sun's rays and stretched happily. He was content to lie there watching the clouds drift on by overhead…that is, until he got a face full of water from Hiei. Sputtering he sat up quickly and tried in vain to shake the cool water off, but it had already soaked into his clothes and hair. Meeting the fire demon's eyes and finding a good-natured challenge in them, Kurama dove into the water with him.
Water droplets glittered in the sunlight as the two demons dove and swam in cool liquid. Shrugging out of his soaked shirt and boots, Hiei deposited them on the shore next to Kurama's. He watched with a huge grin on his face as the kitsune flipped underwater and burst to the surface of the water, only to dive down underneath again and roll over several times.
When he resurfaced, cheeks pink and breathing short, he laughed gaily as he sloshed over to where Hiei was lounging at the water's edge. Hiei couldn't help but laugh with him; his friend had seemed so much happier ever since Yusuke had given the little box from Haven. Hiei had seen the fox surreptitiously slip the gem into the inner folds of his top and tie the lock of hair around a cord and string it from his waist; he wasn't going to let anyone get near those two precious objects.
But even so, Hiei truly did not believe that this was any sort of sign, from the kitsune, from above, or from wherever. Kurama had been delusional lately, and Hiei suspected that he would grasp at anything to slake his grief over his beloved's death. It was just pure coincidence that Yusuke had remembered to give him the box at the same time he had dreamed about Haven and her "sign". There was no hidden meaning to any of this, but Hiei knew that if this hope were dashed, if this belief was shattered, it would kill Kurama.
Wringing out his shirt, Hiei watched as the water fell in a miniature waterfall to the ground and immediately soaked in. Fascinated by the play of sunlight through the glittering drops, he sat there for several minutes and wrung every last drop out of the garment.
He looked up at Kurama's chuckle. "Just like Haven," the kitsune said, and flopped back on the grassy shore to stare up at the sky above. Putting his arms beneath his head, he heaved a great sigh and began humming a soft, bittersweet tune he had often heard Haven sing. In a quiet tenor, the little fire demon sang along, knowing the words off by heart.
Come with me in the twilight,
of a summer night for awhile.
Tell me of a story never ever told,
in the past.
Take me back to the land,
where my yearnings were born.
The key to open the door is in your hand,
now fly me there…
Yusuke and Kuwabara, wading though the tall, sweet-smelling grass had come upon the two just as they finished up the last few lines of the song. Cocking his head to the side, Hiei looked up at the two humans as they regarded Kurama with impossible looks on their faces. Deciding to ignore them for the time being, the Koorime spread his shirt out on the ground to dry the rest of the way and, like Kurama, lay back with his arms beneath his head, closing his eyes.
"Wake me in a few hours," he grunted, before drifting off to sleep.
Kurama did much the same, falling asleep within moments of their arrival, so the two bewildered humans went around to the other side of the lake and had their own water fight.
Hours later as the sun was just beginning to decline across the western sky, they got out and felt the familiar sense of hunger stab their stomachs. Grumbling and muttering to themselves, they built a fire and made dinner, waking the two demons once it was ready.
The air around the little group hummed with electricity and the tension seemed so thick, you could have cut it with a knife. They ate in an uncomfortable silence that only emphasized the strain and made Kurama's tails bristle.
Shifting uncomfortably, Kuwabara finally blurted out, "Guys, I'm getting' that feeling again. And it's sending chills up my spine! I know we're being watched!"
Yusuke, who out of their little company seemed the most unperturbed, sneered back, "Seeing ghosts again Kuwabara?"
With an outraged shout, Kuwabara flung himself at the other boy and soon the two were wrestling on the dirt at the lake's edge. Unconsciously, this was their outlet for all the excess energy that had been building up inside of them all day. With many loud curses and grunts of pain, the two rolled over and over, finally ending up in the water.
Kurama was fidgety and the fur on his tails bristled and caught in the leaves and sticks scattered across the ground. He couldn't sit still; pacing in circles around the clearing, he muttered constantly to himself and clutched the Chishio-houshu tightly in one clawed hand. His stomach churned and he felt as if the dinner he had just eaten wouldn't stay eaten much longer. The omnipotent feeling had been growing all day and he felt that if he just reached out, he could grasp it in his hand. He could sense something…some indescribable thing coming closer and closer, but he did not know what it was. And so his pacing wore on.
Hiei watched him worriedly, also sensing the tension surrounding them. He glanced up at the sky, covered in wispy white clouds that barely moved in the absence of a breeze. Something was fated to happen…and it was going to happen tonight.
Chapter 10- Disappointment
