You know, Kurama thought to himself. If you had just gone upstairs to do your homework, you wouldn’t be here, doing this right now.
He sighed quietly, looking up from the bench to see Kuwabara looming over his smaller demon friend, twitching from anger after shouting at Hiei about dressing appropriately for a homestyle dinner, or something. Hiei was equally as angry at the delinquent for criticizing his fashion choice, and had a look about him that would’ve scared all of the customers out of the shop, if it wasn’t so empty. The fox’s brow furrowed into a crestfallen expression, glancing first at the bag of neatly cut lilies at his feet, and then at Yusuke; the raven haired punk looked so bored and tired that he must’ve nearly knocked over the mannequin next to him twice from dozing off. Kurama felt the same exhausted feeling bubble up in his skull with an anxious haze accompanying it, and was really wishing right now he had listened to his wiser, more demonic inner voice.
It had been a pleasant enough day for the redhead; getting good grades as usual, a full period to tend to his small classroom garden, and relatively little banter from his classmates that usually tired him out more than he’d ever admit. He arrived home early, greeting his mother as she hung some of the laundry out to dry under the cheerful, warm sun. He jogged over to pick up the last few sheets and hang them as well, while Shiori went inside to get some tea ready. They then sat at the kitchen table, Kurama staring out at the leafy bower beyond the kitchen window.
“Shuichi, how was your botany class today?” Shiori asked, serenely sipping her tea. “I know you said you were worried for the lilies in particular…” The boy smiled cheerfully, stirring his own cup. “They’re doing quite well now, thank you for asking. The extra time and patience was all they needed, mother.” That, and a little demon energy from myself , He thought. She gave her son a kind smile, closing her eyes gently. “I’m so glad. If you can take them home, I’d love to have one for my desk at work. Unless your classmates wanted one, of course.” Kurama waved his hand dismissively at this, stating, “That wouldn’t be a problem, really! It’s honestly just me and Kaito who are working on that patch of flowers, I…” His emerald eyes glanced up, noticing a tinge of sadness in his mother’s expression. “Is something the matter, mother?” He asked, a little anxious still from her sickness all that time ago.
She shook her head, grinning but with a hint of sorrow behind it. “Is Kaito… the only student you work with at school? I know you’re older now and that it might not be any of my business, but…” She trailed off, looking out the window now. “What about Maya? You used to walk home from school with her…” Shiori looked hopefully at her son.
The fox swallowed, taken aback a little but nothing he hasn’t handled before. “Maya’s one of the student officers, remember? She’s very busy now with those duties, that’s all. I still talk to her in class.” In reality I just say good morning, and that my memory erasing flower urged her to take on a club that would avoid me, his colder conscience stated. “Besides, Kaito is one of the only people who can keep up with me with schoolwork,” Kurama added, a small but slightly distressed laugh in his words. In truth, Kurama still didn’t know his intelligent comrade too well, and despite all of Kaito’s efforts to invite the fox over to play video games or work on some massively intellectual project together, the redhead only would go a third of the time. The more this conversation dragged on, the more awkward he felt and nervous he became; so Kurama decided he would calmly leave to “do his homework”, which was always a valid argument for leaving. “Speaking of Kaito, I need to finish my half of our report on the lilies, if I may be excused,” Kurama got up, turning and elegantly carrying his school bag over his shoulder to the stairwell.
“Oh, but Shuichi, what about your friends from the biology club? Didn’t you say you had new ones join this year?” Go upstairs, she’s going to learn too much, chided the voice in his head, blinking as a drop of sweat ran down his graceful face. That was his excuse for anything that involved Yusuke and company, really; new obligations for the nerdy club he had unknowingly become the leader of. It was a good excuse for the most part, especially for their longer missions that he passed off as various sorts of hiking trips. “They… have a lot of work to do too, Mother, I don’t get to see them often.” He looked back at Shiori, trying to muster the most humble and reassuring face he could. But his mother kept her solemn expression, her shoulders drooping a little. “I see… I’m sorry they’re all so busy Shuichi. I wish they would hang out with you more… I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to, if they really are your friends…” She looked out the window again, sighing. Get upstairs you fool, she’ll forget about this by the end of the night, His conscience nagged, and Kurama had all the resolve ready to leave, too. But that wasn’t what he stated next.
“Would… You like me to introduce them to you, mother? I want you to know what good friends they are, so you don’t need to worry about me.” His brain was nearly short circuiting from the self-inflicted insults he was spewing in his head, about how truly foolish he was. A million plans swirled around inside now, every custom that rowdy bunch would break and every stupid spirit world issue they could mention to destroy Shiori’s image of her son.
However...
Kurama would do anything for his mother, especially to prevent the breaking of her heart at the thought that he was a friendless, sociopathic teenager. It just so happened that he had unknowingly chosen to prove it to her in the worst and most difficult way possible.
“Really? I’d love to see them, Shuichi! I could make dinner for you all, if they’d like to stay a while.” Her expression completely changed to one of delight, getting up then to find a large recipe book on a homey, decorated shelf nearby. “Y-yes, they’d like that very much. Our club usually meets on Fridays, so could we prepare this dinner for that night?” At the very least, the fox would have control of this aspect of the situation. It was barely Wednesday afternoon, and he figured that if he went right now to find Hiei and call the two humans, he would be able to explain it all then. Thursday was going to be a rough day… “I should go now, so I can get all of that report done so I can help you… prepare for tomorrow?” He asked, needing that reassurance he would be left alone for now.
“Of course! You’d better go get to work, then! Don’t keep Kaito waiting on that project just because of your friends!” Shiori practically sang those last words, and Kurama realized it was possibly the first time his mother was nagging him for spending more time with his friends than his books; it made him feel a numb sadness in the back of his mind. At least now I can sneak out and find them, she won’t disturb me during my “studies” , the fox sighed gratefully. “Right. I’ll be off, then. I’ll call them in just a little while.” He stated, heading up the stairs a little too quickly. Closing the door and locking it right away, Kurama sunk down the back of his door into an anxious mess, yet glad to be out of such an unnerving situation. Who would’ve thought that one of the most nerve wracking encounters in the last bloody, action packed year would be a simple conversation with his human mother?
He put a hand to his forehead, thinking of all of the things that could go wrong on Friday; First and foremost with Hiei. The fiery little demon would likely laugh at the fox for such a humiliating story, let alone lay down his weapons to sit and eat a meal like a superstitious human. And even if he would be able to control himself long enough to eat, what would he say? Hiei had little to no manners in battle to speak of, imagine what a family dinner would be like! Yusuke or Kuwabara would likely provoke him as well, into some sort of food fight or actual brawl that poor Shiori would be eternally scarred by, and Kurama never able to live it down. His human friends genuinely only had that trait going for them, and their yankee hairstyles and modified uniforms would only make Shiori think her son had joined some street gang. Between those three hotheaded boys, how the hell would the fox be able to pull this off? He was getting a terrible headache from all of it.
The voice in his head then said, though, quiet and dream-like; I need to bring her those lilies. Kurama closed his eyes for a moment, before steeling himself and standing up again. He left his bag in the room, silently jumping from his window to find Hiei first, then the rest of them. The sooner I do this, the better it will end up.
And so, that’s how the poor fox ended up like this, looking like the tired father of three reckless boys, sitting on the mall bench outside of a trendy clothing store.