As he walked into the greenhouse bordering the classroom, many of his classmates there looked up, heads jerking towards the creaking door before returning to their present tasks. However, a few stared at him longer. Kurama watched as the gears turned in their heads, as recognition flashed in their eyes, and as questions started forming. Blinking, he let the door close behind him, the perfect appearance of a relaxed student, and strode deeper into the room.
"It must have been a difficult exam if Minamino just finished," someone whispered as he passed.
"You're right. He always finishes before us."
"Before the first warning as well."
"He seems alright. Perhaps he was just slow."
"Minamino is never slow," another student, one of the Biology team, countered, fiercely.
Shuichi chuckled.
"B-but I," a girl stuttered and paused. Dropping her voice, she said, "I thought I understood this section better than the others. Does that mean I really flunked it?"
"I don't know. I mean... "
"Perhaps we really should consider Professor Mikawa's only extra credit opportunity."
Kurama ignored the rest of the discussion. Lifting a pot from its fellows, he checked the leaves, hands steady and gentle, gossip fading into the back of his mind, as he mused over the puzzle in his mind. With his emotions closed off, that was all the dream was. He set the pot back down amongst his fellows, tracing the leaves and pulling stray youki threads from the signature of green life.
Why had Youko been intent on killing all of those guards? He hadn't let one escape, no cry of mercy to prevail for long. He did not leave after striking fear into their hearts to remind them of his prowess. He had engineered the perfect bloodbath. There had been no purpose, and Kurama highly doubted that he had acted thus because they stood in his way. Reaching into his vast pools of energy, the master thief's response to mere guards had been a vicious, complete slaughter, nothing else. Why?
Kurama lifted a second pot, tipping the plant upside down, resting the top carefully between his fingers as he checked the roots. He pried a few clusters apart. Free of his emotions, Kurama could think of many reasons for such brutal actions, yet none of them fit.
Youko showed little of his feelings. Any reactions he buried deep within himself. Anger, if he showed any, was a deliberate lightning-quick kill. That was it. Much like himself. He set the pot down.
"Um... Minamino...san?" Kurama opened his eyes. "Are you alright?"
Kurama turned. Leaning against a propped up table, he stretched his hand out the window crack and tangled his hand in the grass by the window, pulling his calm from their energy. "Yes, thank you," he murmured in his normal voice. "I am."
The slim girl clutched a gym bag closer to her body. "That's good." She fidgeted with the strap of the bag for a few seconds. "Also, I want to speak to you... about something." She shuffled her feet against the dirt floor but didn't speak up further. Her high ponytail waved in the breeze coming in from the skylight.
He smiled and pushed away from his perch, walking over to her side. "What is it?" he asked softly. "You don't have to be so shy, Iwara-san. It can't be too difficult to talk about."
"Um.. um," Sayako Iwara fiddled with her skirt. Kurama, in the facade of Shuichi, her beloved classmate, waited, patiently. A blush grew over her cheeks. "Would you like to have coffee this afternoon?" she blurted. "I want to thank you for all your help and maybe we could get to know each other better... if you want." Her face flushed further and her wide hazel eyes darted back to the ground.
Even if it was a cute reaction, it didn't matter.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Shuichi stepped closer to discourage eavesdroppers. He touched the girl's shoulder, looking into her startled eyes. "I'm sorry, Iwara-san," he murmured gently, "I am happy that you've found someone to like, but I can't respond." Her lips formed to say something else but Kurama continued on. "It would have been better for you if I had said something while tutoring you in chemistry."
"There's someone else?"
Kurama chuckled quietly. "No, but it doesn't change my decision. Please find someone else to treasure you."
She nodded slowly. "I understand." She looked up, eyes brightening. "If you change your mind-"
"-I'll tell you," Kurama finished. He wouldn't. He never did. He smiled gently. "I will see you next Tuesday for our session unless you need more time."
The fox stepped back as she walked away, back to her little knot of friends.
The whispers flew towards him less than a few minutes afterwards.
"I told you. Minamino is happier on his own."
"It has nothing to do with you, Iwara-chan. You're still cute."
"I know, but I wanted... "
Someone snickered. "He is this school's most eligible bachelor. He's supposed to stand out."
"And refuse most girls."
"All girls so far." A couple of the students laughed.
"if you were hoping that the test had softened him, you were sorely mistaken," a boy teased Iwara. She sputtered and a couple girls hurried to her defense.
Kurama glanced out the window, hand settling back into the soil.
. . . . . . . . .
