Subject: [FF] [YYH] Ghosts 1/?
From: Shannon Richmeyer
Date: 2/5/1997, 9:01 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Ghosts

There's no time for us-
There is no place for us-
What is this thing that fills our dreams yet slips away from us?
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?

There's no chance for us-
It's all decided for us-
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us.
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Who dares to love forever?
Oh, when love must die?

But touch my tears with your lips-
Touch my world with your fingertips-
And we can have forever!
And we can love forever!
Forever-
Without you babe!

Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Forever-
Without you there!
Who lives forever, anyway?

                     Queen -"Who Wants to Live Forever?"



	Kurama was not having a good day. He stood in front of the last
dorm Lady after three hours of bureaucratic run around and his heart sank
as she dialed the phone and started having a heated discussion with the
administration. He had all the paperwork for his dorm assignment, had shown
it to every person he had been shunted off to. Proof that he had registered
and payed well in advance of the deadline. Still, they didn't have any
trace of it. That he had registered for classes, yes. That he was planning
to live on campus, no. And every dorm they had sent him to had come up with
the same answer. They had no place to put him. He sighed heavily as a young
man wandered over to him.

	"They've lost you, right?"

	Kurama gave him a curt nod.

	The young man gave him a sympathetic smile.

	"They did this to me two terms back, I'm Fukuda Rin." He offered a
slight bow.

	"Minamino Shuichi."

	They both turned their heads as the dorm lady slammed the phone.
She offered him back his paperwork.

	"Minamino-san. I'm sorry. We just don't have anywhere to put you.
You can go and get your money refunded or leave it on deposit for next
term."

	Kurama barely restrained the urge to snatch it out of her hand and
took it with a polite bow.

	"Is there anyplace you can recommend for me to stay?"

	He hoped that since this seemed to be a common occurrence that they
would know of someplace that his dorm payment would cover for the whole
term.

	She rubbed at her forehead.

	"I do," Rin spoke up. "I stayed there when they did this to me.
It's not a rat hole like the places they'll recommend. They are good people
and won't rip you off."

	The dorm Lady glared at Rin. He just ignored her and eyed Kurama
curiously, waiting. Kurama breathed an inward sigh of relief.

	"Please, Sempai. I would be grateful for any help you can give me."

	"Let me give them a call. Wait here?"

	Kurama gave him a low bow and went over to lean against the wall by
his suitcases as Rin hurried away. He smiled slightly, thinking again of
the frown his mother had given him when he had announced he wasn't applying
for college. He couldn't deny his mother anything that would make her
happy. He sighed again. What a waste of time. But his mother and
step-father were convinced he needed a university degree to succeed, so
here he was. Rin came back, grinning.

	"O.K. Let's go. It's in walking distance. Here, let me take one of
those for you," he picked up one of the suitcases as Kurama shrugged into
his backpack.

	It was a twenty minute walk, Rin chatting away about nothing much
at all. It was amazing. He blew an appreciative whistle when Kurama
answered his inquiry about his major with biochemistry with a minor in
botany. He wasn't at all surprised when Rin informed him he was a Political
Science major.

	"Here we are!"

	Rin pushed open a gate set in a high wall. The plaque under the
numbers of the address read WestWind Aikikai.

	"It's a dojo?"

	"Yup!" Rin gave him another easy grin as they went up the short
walk to the front doors.

	He slid off his shoes and stepped up onto the wood floor and
followed his guide past the mat covered practice area and wished he could
stop and appreciate the huge, round, stained glass window a bit. But Rin
was heading up the staircase against the far wall. Rin knocked on the wall
as they neared the top of the stairs and they exited up onto the second
floor. A stylish living area and a very, very old man were waiting for them.

	"Sensei," Rin offered a very formal bow, "this is Minamino Shuichi."

	Kurama offered as formal a bow, taking Rin's cue.

	"Shubata Chiba," the old one gave him a slight bob and then an
impish grin. "So, the university misplaced you with their usual grace and
style?"

	"Yes, Shubata-san," Kurama liked this old man already.

	"Well, put your things down and let me show you what we have before
we come to an agreement. Rin, you know were all the things are, make us
tea."

	The command was issued in an imperious tone but Shubata's grin and
the sparkle in his eye took the offensiveness out of it.

	"Yes, Sensei. Is Haiku here?" Rin looked toward the opening of the
hallway beyond the living room with a slightly longing expression on his
face.

	Shubata snorted and gave him a playful glare. "No. Now, come along,
Minamino Shuichi."

	Kurama followed Shubata across the living room, his eyes taking in
everything. The furnishings, the top line stereo gear with the packed CD
towers next to it and the huge TV showed someone had a lot of money. There
were two closed doors against the wall. Shubata slid open the one on the
left and stepped aside. It was much more than Kurama had hoped for. It was
a large room with a big, antique roll top desk and long chest of drawers.
There wasn't a bed but a futon was rolled in the corner. He walked in,
wanting to see where the French windows led. They opened out onto a balcony
that ran the length of the west side of the building and overlooked the
garden in the back. His heart went out to that place. It was overgrown and
wild and called to him to put it back in order.

	"The room is wonderful, Shubata-san."

	Shubata grinned at him. "The drawback is that the bathroom is
downstairs in the dojo."

	"That's fine. So, how much will this cost me?"

	Shubata named the exact price of a dorm room with another toothy
grin. It surprised Kurama and he expected the old man knew it. He had been
beginning to suspect a scam.

	"And we provide breakfast and dinner, as per your dorm
arrangements. Don't worry, Haiku is an excellent cook. And if you have any
skill in that area a change of venue is always appreciated. Though if you
want lunches, you have to help out around the place. And let me tell you
the House rules now. You are responsible for the maintenance of your own
room. You may have a shelf in the refrigerator if you want and you'll have
the run of the kitchen. No parties. Period. If you wish to entertain a few
friends, that's acceptable. Haiku and I will make ourselves scarce. If a
door is closed, you leave it closed. We will do the same for you. Fair?"

	"More than fair, Shubata-san!"

	Kurama couldn't believe his good luck. A private room with none of
the rigid restrictions of the dorm and access to a kitchen. Shubata crooked
his finger at him and he followed once more. Shubata walked him through a
very modern and well furnished kitchen, then into the hallway. Shubata
pointed at the farthest door.

	"That's my room, this is the den."

	Kurama wasn't sure what to look at first. There was a high powered
telescope by the window, a computer on a desk, one wall bookcases from
floor to ceiling and full of books, an easel with a roughed out canvas and
a table next to it cluttered with artists gear. But what finally captured
and  held his eyes were the paintings on the other wall. There were six of
them. They were period pieces and as he looked closely at one he had the
uncanny feeling he was looking at a photograph, that was how detailed and
life-like it was. This was a woman in Roman costume, sitting behind an
intricately carved desk, a book open under her hands and a bookcase full of
books and scrolls behind her. She was laughing. He could almost hear it.

	"This is Haiku's place," Shubata's voice pulled his attention away
from the painting, "but she will share it with you, I'm sure. You'll need
to use infernal machine, I imagine."

	Shubata pointed at the computer with a scowl and Kurama found
himself chuckling.

	"Who is Haiku, Shubata-san?" he asked as he followed the old man
back into the hall.

	Shubata looked up at him sideways. "A very good question. One that
I have yet to figure out. You'll meet her soon enough. Now, shall we seal
our arrangement over a cup of tea like civilized people?"

* * *

	Kurama had just about finished putting his things up in his new
room when he had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him. He
glanced up into the mirror over the chest of drawers and blinked when he
saw a man leaning against the wall behind him. For half a moment he thought
it was Hiei. Then his brain placed all the inconsistencies. Too
tall...black, wild hair but missing Hiei's jagged white streak...a bandana
around his forehead, but it was yellow with black stripes...and his clothes
were colors, not Hiei's black. He whirled, wondering who the hell this was.
One of the students from the class going on downstairs? But he hadn't heard
his door open.

	There was no one there. He searched the room with his eyes, and
another sense. There was the faintest trace of rei, not human, not youkai.
Something...else. He frowned as he went and opened his door and looked out.
He heard water running in the kitchen, the rustle of someone moving, the
clatter of utensils. He went and stuck his head around the corner of the
kitchen doorway. There was a pile of vegetables sitting in a strainer by
the sink and a person with honey colored hair done in a french braid had
it's back to him, squatted down and pulling a cutting board out from a
cabinet. Kurama stepped into the doorway and cleared his throat. She stood
up and turned to him with a neutral expression.

	*Beautiful...* the woman that faced him was an artists dream.

	He just stood there, stunned, as eyes as golden amber as his youko
own gazed evenly back at him. And they were just as hard and just as cold.
He covered his shock with a bow.

	"I'm Minamino Shuichi."

	She returned it. "Haiku."

	No family name. That was interesting. He found himself hunting with
his senses for her rei as she put the cutting board on the counter. There
was only the trace amounts that un-gifted humans normally put out. He
frowned to himself. It wasn't what he had expected.

	"Welcome to my house. And may you leave behind a little of the joy
you bring with you," she said as she started chopping the vegetables with
fast, practised motions.

	"A line from Dracula? I'm not sure if I find that very reassuring,"
he smiled back, wondering why she felt so...distant.

	She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and he saw a hint of
a smile touch her mouth.

	"Did you read it or just watch the movie?"

	"Both. May I help you with that?"

	She nodded and handed him the knife, watched for a moment, then
took another one and joined him. He kept his eye on her as he tried to make
conversation. She answered direct questions politely but offered nothing
back. Finally he trailed off, frustrated. He tried one more thing,
wondering if anybody else in the house had seen his apparition.

	"Haiku-san,"

	"Just Haiku, Minamino-san," she interrupted him.

	"Then I am just Shuichi."

	She shrugged.

	"Haiku, is this house haunted?"

	A strange smile turned her mouth. It was sad and sweet at the same
time. "No. The house isn't haunted. Why?"

	"I just thought I saw someone in my room, but there wasn't anyone
there."

	The rhythm of her knife stuttered, then resumed it's cadence. That
had startled her. Why? She shrugged.

	"I don't know what to tell you. As far as I know, the house doesn't
have a history of ghosts."

	"I guess I was just imagining things."

	They finished the vegetables in silence.

	"Anything else?" he offered.

	He found himself wanting to break through her silence, find out why
she had that wall around herself. He knew it was his kitsune nature that
was piqued, just like it had been with Hiei, but that one smile was in his
mind. She had been very beautiful, almost vulnerable when she smiled. He
wanted to see it again.

	"Set the table."

	She directed him to the correct cabinets as she started their
dinner cooking.

to be continued...