"Slow how

You wanted it to be

I'm over my head

Out of her head she sang"

"Everlong" - Foo Fighters

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Everlong

Chapter #3

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Even if Kurama hadn't taken George's words to heart, he doubted there would have been much that could have kept him from seeing Kagome again. Not many things fascinated him anymore, but she did. She was a mixture of mystery and magnetism that both the kitsune and the man in him couldn't resist getting familiar with. No, staying away had never really been an option. It hadn't been since the moment he saw her through Koenma's (now decomissioned) office window. As such, it came to no surprise to him that he made a point to visit her whenever he was called to the Spirit Realm for other matters.

In a matter of months Kurama learned one very crucial thing about the girl Koenma kept under lock and key. She had the uncanny ability of turning strangers into fast, devoted friends with as little effort as one took to breath. Their meetings, for the most part, were private simply for the sake of preventing word getting back to his tempermental employer, but occasionally someone would drop by to help maintain the garden or deliver clean clothes and sheets. Each was met with exuberant smiles and warm greetings which were eagerly returned by the staff. It was apparent that it wasn't just George that was enamored by her - anyone who was in contact with her seemed willing to give her anything she desired so long as she asked. As such, he didn't worry when the gardener or the maid caught them conversing in the garden or playing chess in her , like George, were happy to see her happy. Kurama knew they wouldn't jepordize her happiness by telling Koenma where he dissapeared to after their meetings. He knew because after only a few meetings she had managed to ensnare him into friendship with only cheerful laughs and bright smiles.

He didn't think he could bring himself to make her unhappy either.

Idly, he laid on his back with his hands folded behind his head while the grass beneath him tickled the bare skin of his wrists and ankles. The other thing that had become quickly apparent – Kagome found pleasure in the simple things. Some days, like today, she would insist on spending their time together laying on the grassy knoll her garden provided and point out any oddly shaped clouds that passed overhead. Other times she would read one of the many novels she kept in a grand bookcase in her living quarters - sometimes in the garden and sometimes in the comfort of her study. Then, sometimes he would simply watch her paint and listen to her as she admitted to him that it took her many years to master even the concept of sketching and many more before she felt comfortable with the paint she now used (in his opinion) so fluently.

Where he was a creature of habit, Kagome was a creature of whims and delighted in the little, unplanned things in her life. Kurama suspected that a large part of the joy that lit up her face upon his arrival was due to the fact that his visits always broke up the monotony of her days - though he'd be lying if a little part of him didn't hold onto the hope that perhaps she smiled just a little bit brighter when it was him walking through those heavy double doors.

"I think I should like a swing off that branch," she hummed pleasantly, staring distractedly up at thick branches overhead. Her head turned to him suddenly, head tilting and the tiniest of frowns pulling at brow. "Do you think it would be strong enough?" Her question was so innocent, her expression so inquisitive, that Kurama couldn't help but note that she really didn't look a day over seventeen.

Tearing his gaze from her features, his eyes examined the branch in question with calculating detail before nodding. No doubt she asked him with his knowledge of botany in mind, he would make sure he didn't dissappoint her. "I think it would be more than capable," he frowned then, eyes still focused on the thick branch above them, "Though, I would strongly advise against allowing George a turn."

She laughed behind her hand, smacking him lightly on the arm. "That's mean!" She reprimanded, still giggling, "Poor George!"

Kurama raised an eyebrow skeptically, "Hardly. He's an ogre, as far as I know they don't tend to have any insecurities about their weight. Certainly not George."

She shrugged - a bit of an awkward movement since she was laying in the grass next to him. "Perhaps I will wait a few more years then - I would feel terrible if poor George felt like he was being left out."

He frowned upon realizing she was completely serious and lifted his upper body so that he rested his weight on his elbows behind him. "Kagome, I don't think George has much interest in swinging. Surely not enough to warrant you waiting to set one up."

Smiling, she shook her head as she continued to stare up at the branches providing them shade. "You don't know George very well then. We are very similar that way - we both enjoy the little things."

He sat in silence for a moment, pondering. However no matter how hard he tried his mind couldn't wrap around the idea of George having a secret passion for swinging. He decided to simply take her word for it rather than allow that particular mental image to continue. "I'm sure he wouldn't hold it against you."

She looked at him strangely, as if he was suddenly speaking a foreign language and she was surprised by it. "Well of course he wouldn't." She must have seen the confusion in his face because she suddenly shook her head with a smile that seemed to be tainted with disappointment. "We are simple creatures, George and I, but we both like to feel like we are a part of something." Her eyes softened sadly, "You get to leave here anytime you like. Even with all the comforts Koenma has given me, I would love to have that privelage - even if I were to only take a few meager steps out of this realm. I don't resent you or anyone else for it, how could I when it is completely out of your control? Still, there is a loneliness in the fact that others can do these things while I must simply watch and stay behind."

Kurama frowned up at the sky, suddenly unwilling to meet her eyes as he meditated over her words. It had never been in his nature to be overly sympathetic - as a kitsune he was a selfish creature by design after all - so the amount of empathy Kagome showed in such a simple act as hanging a swing baffled him. Surely someone such as George wouldn't have hurt feelings over something so petty as a swing? But then - he looked over at the woman beside him, she seemed untroubled by his prolonged silence as she twirled a small white flower between her fingers. Simple things made Kagome happy, he had understood this very early on in meeting her. Yet somehow the thought never occured to him that perhaps simple, little things could make her sad too. It was a realization that made something in his chest wince because suddenly he understood that something as meaningless as telling her that the flower she was busy admiring was actually a weed had the power to actually hurt her. It was a humbling and, if he was honest, scary thing to be aware of.

"I had never thought of it in that way," he admitted. What else could he say other than the truth? Such little things had never effected him - he was a man that always thought too much of the larger picture to really appreciate or mope over the little details. For Kagome, her whole life consisted of little day to day moments. How could she be unaffected by the things he felt were trivial when they were all she had? Guilt weighed on his chest and he felt the familiar temptation to find a way to break her out of the golden cage Koenma had so eagerly locked her into. It certainly hadn't been the first time the thought flitted through his mind but the impulse had never quite been so strong. Somehow Kurama understood that the longer he spent in her presence the stronger that particular urge would likely grow. He tried to ignore the fact that removing a spirit from the Spirit World was universally known to be impossible - it only seemed to add more guilt.

She must have read something in his face because she was suddenly leaning over him with a stern expression. "Don't. Don't you dare."

He blinked, utterly lost at the sudden change in her. "I'm sorry?" He was immediately answered with a sharp poke to the ribs to which he flinched openly. "What -"

She cut him off, her glare unwavering. "I don't want you to be sorry. And I certainly don't want your pity so just - don't."

He stared openly at her, studying the determined edge of her glare and the unflinching crease of her brow and wondered, not for the first time, if he would ever truly understand the puzzle that she presented. "I -" he started to apologize - he never meant to offend her - but quickly swallowed the words as her gaze darkened. Ah, right - no apologies. The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement and he quickly changed tactics. "As you wish."

She groaned, rolling her eyes as she flopped back down into the grass as her face pinched adorably. "Well I don't want you to start kissing my ass either," she grumbled.

It was the first time he had ever heard her swear, She sounded so much like Yusuke - so much like a teenager of the 21st century - that he was momentarily stunned. However, it passed quickly and soon her garden was full of his deep, unrestrained laughter.

He was being followed, and that certainly wouldn't do – not when is current destination was Kagome's private quarters. No doubt he could easily lose them in the maze of corridors that made up Spirit World without too much trouble. Over the past year (and many, many visits to Kagome) Kurama had become quite familiar with the various ways of getting to those large double doors. It was early on in their friendship that he realized the need to change up his route or risk someone noticing his pattern. So far he had discovered ten different routes that were more or less direct – twenty three others that were not. He made a point not to use any one route more than once a month and had so far been successful in drawing any unwanted attention.

Until now apparently.

After taking a few turns that led away from Kagome, he took a sharp right at the next intersecting hall and waited quietly for his follower to show themselves. He didn't have to wait long before two familiar faces crudely poked around the corner and immediately blanched when they saw him waiting for them. Honestly, for as powerful as they were they should truly work on their stealth skills. He quirked an eyebrow, arms gracefully folded across his chest and feeling a little too much like a parent catching their child sneaking into the house after midnight. "Can I help you?"

Kuwabara laughed akwardly, scratching the back of his neck and looking appropriatly ashamed at having been caught. "Well, you see -"

Yusuke cut him off, "Cut the crap Kurama." Coming out from behind the safety of the wall, he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on to his heels, completely unconcerned that he was now on the receiving end of Kurama's glare. "We know where you're going," he gave him a suggestive grin, "Or should I say, who you're seeing?"

Somehow he didn't find Yusuke's antics weren't quite as amusing as he might have in the past. "If you know so much then surely there's no reason to follow me," he responded blandly, carefully keeping his face nuetral.

Boldly, Yusuke slung an arm over his shoulders, to which Kurama tolerated with only mild disdain. "Hey now, no reason to be jealous or anything! We just want to meet her!" He looked over to Kuwabara who was now smiling like a Grade-A fool. "Aint that right?"

Kuwabara nodded furiously, the carrot colored mop on his head bouncing with vigor. "Yeah! The girls do too!"

"The girls?" Something that felt suspiciously like his stomach, dropped. He turned to Yusuke and found himself angered by the face smirking back at him. "You didn't!" he hissed, shoving the arm off his shoulders as if it burned him. "You fool! If Koenma finds out -" He paused, he couldn't begin to think of the consequences if Koenma found out – losing his job would be the least of his problems.

Yusuke held his hands up in a sign of surrender while next him Kuwabara looked baffled. "Calm down there lover boy, Keiko and Yukina just know that you're seeing someone. That's it." Lowering his hands, he gave the kitsune a sincere smile in place of his usual cocky smirk. "They're happy for you. We all are." A pause, "Well, except maybe for Hiei. He doesn't seem to really give a shit."

Kurama nodded slowly, beginning to feel some of the tension aliviate in his neck and shoulders. "Who else knows?"

Kuwabara answered quickly, still seemingly on edge from Kurama's earlier hostility towards the subject. "Just us. We didn't even tell Genkai." He scuffed the toe of his tennis shoe awkardly, resulting in a squeek as the rubber dragged across the shiny tiled surface of the hallway. "We wouldn't do anything to risk you getting caught. Honest."

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, smug grin sill in place. "See? We just want to meet your girlfriend. No big."

Kurama sighed, running hand through his bangs. "We aren't romantically involved." Yes, important to establish that fact quickly before this whole thing become blown even more out of proportion. "We're merely friends."

"Sure, whatever. Call it what you want," he started walking down the hall, hands shoved casually into his pockets, "But just so you know, we're not buying that brand of bullshit."

Kuwabara snickered, clapping Kurama on the shoulder with his overly large hand (to which Kurama was ashamed to admit had him staggering if only for a moment) and immediately began following Yusuke. Both seemed so utterly pleased with themselves that Kurama found great pleasure in bringing down their temporarily high horse. "You realize that you have no idea where you're going?" he called after them, watching as they immediately froze.

Right. Of course they hadn't.

Shaking his head, he returned their sheepish looks with an exasperated sigh. "And I suppose you don't know your way back to Koenma's office either, correct?"

Kuwabara turned to their team leader, a drop of sweat rolling down his temple. "It was a left, right, right, right, left . . . right?"

Yusuke scratched the back of his head akwardly. "I thought it was a left, right, left, left, right?"

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that third turn was a right."

"Well yeah, but you have to reverse it for the way back you dolt!"

Praying for patience, Kurama started walking the opposite direction. "Follow me." If he were to take him back to Koenma's office then he certainly wouldn't be able to make it to Kagome with out drawing some unnecassary attention - and he certainly wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to see Kagome simply because these two numb skulls wanted to plow themselves into his personal life. Besides, like it or not, Kagome had expressed to him numerous times that she wished to meet the comrades she'd heard so much about.

Yes, this would be a nice surprise for her. Still, he would make sure to take the extra round about way this time around, if just to ensure that his comrades didn't try to find her own their own. Who knew what kind of damage they could do if they were unsupervised.

Both of the men quickened their pace so that they walked on either side of him, grinning like fools. "Sooo, to your girlfriend's then right?" Kuwabara asked, his lumbering form seeming to buzz with a mixture of excitement and accomplishment.

With a sigh, Kurama reluctantly let the 'girlfriend' comment slide – correcting him would only wind the both of them up more. "We are going to Kagome's."

He should have expected Yusuke's grin to widen into an almost lecherous smirk. "Oh, on a first name basis now are we?" he elbowed the red head in the ribs suggestively, "You dog!"

Why was he voluntarily suffering throught the company again? Right, because it would make Kagome happy. He would have to cash in these particular "friend points" as she called them, another day – perhaps when Koenma was wringing his neck because these two imbeciles blew it for him. "She only gave me her first name," he cast the cocky teen a sideways glare, "And if you ever refer to me as a 'dog' again I will make it my personal mission to turn every one of your fingers into plant food."

"Whoah!" Yusuke exclaimed, hands raised in defense, "Alright, alright! Geez."

The next few feet were traveled in blessed silence until Yusuke leaned forward to look at Kuwabara, his hand covering one side of his mouth as if that alone would keep the kitsune from hearing. "Tooouuuchy!"

The entire walk back seemed to consist of attack after attack on his patience, but somehow he made it to Kagome's garden without throttling either of them. His mood however, didn't come out completely unscathed. Knowing that he had willingly given up a peaceful evening with Kagome so that she could laugh at Yusuke and Kuwabara's silly antics had left a bit of a sour taste on his tongue. Even so, seeing Kagome's excited smile as the three of them walked through those heavy double doors … well, he suspected it just might be near impossible to be irritated when she was so undeniably happy.

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AN: Well, I'd say we're back in business but I don't want to jynx it. So instead I'll say that I'm reinspired. Posting the last chapter of "The Good Dog" reminded me of how much I really missed this.

Here's hoping the inspiration lasts.