Kurama's Song
by GF-ni-Kurama

Kurama dipped the paintbrush into the bucket again. And again, he applied the thick liquid unto the wall. His eyes following each stroke of his hand. Careful not to miss a single centimeter.

Satisfied that he had applied it evenly on the spot he was working on, he aimed to dip the brush again into the bucket. But he stopped at midpoint. Frowning a bit. As if thinking of what exactly he is to do next.

He sighed, boredom was slowly creeping on him. Instead of continuing his painting, he rested his brush horizontally at the mouth of the paint bucket and climbed off the ladder. With his filthy hands, he tied his loosened ponytail again with a rubber band he found.

He studied the other half of his room. Silently scrutinizing his work. It was eleven o'clock in the morning when he started painting his room. After having lunch at twelve, resuming at 1:30, he had only come as far as half of his room.

Actually, two days ago, painting his room seemed like a real good idea. His mother was the one who implied on painting his room anew. She sounded very much enthusiastic about it. Something about him being a young adult and deciding for himself and doing things for himself and a whole bunch of grown-up human crap.

He agreed. Pleasing his mother was one of the reasons and the other one was his want to do something "human" besides all the other boring human things he had learned to live with everyday of his human life. He thought it wouldn't hurt if he gave painting a chance. It could be fun-- he thought then, not the usual human blahs.

Then he thought of his mother, and the smile on her face as she said that he even get to pick the new color of his room and that he will get to paint it all by himself. Just that made Kurama a little less annoyed than he already was.

They bought paint and all the stuff he needed yesterday. He chose a light green color for his walls. Minty, sort of cool but serene. His mother commented that green was a good choice. She was excited, it was all over her face. Kurama doesn't really understand why, but he got along with it. And he too, somehow got infected with it.

Snapping back to reality, he frowned again. This isn't fun at all... Way too boring. He was already starting to get annoyed again.

His hands are filthy from paint, same with his clothes. Good thing he wore a worn-out white T-shirt and an old faded torn jeans. Because if he hadn't, he would have been doubly annoyed.

Some of his hairtips even got paint on them. And his room was in total chaos, with all his other things at the other side of the room. His cabinet, desk, and some "technologies" in his room were moved to the hall to give him space to move while he is painting.

"You know what? You shouldn't have scraped off those little plastic horses plastered on that wall." Kuwabara commented, slightly scratching his chin as if he had thought hard about it.

"What?" Kurama asked with touch of irritation on his voice. Looking at his back to see Kuwabara.

He had forgotten Kuwabara was part of what he stacked at the other side of the room. He was sitting on a small chair with a wooden board on his lap, he had made it his desk. The algebra books he had borrowed from Kurama were on top of it, a pencil was on his hand and tons of crumpled paper were scattered around him.

"Really, Kurama. You shouldn't have done that."

Kurama raised an eyebrow at Kuwabara. Letting the latter know his annoyance.

Kuwabara chose to ignore Kurama's actions. He continued voicing his unwelcome opinion.

"It kinda makes me really believe your not inhuman. You know what I'm talking about?" he said.

Kurama turned his back at Kuwabara and started to get back to his work. Tsk... He just doesn't know when to quit it!

"Kurama? Kurama?" Kuwabara called. A little confused at why Kurama didn't say a word to him.

Just as he was about to call him again, the half-open door swung and Kurama's mother entered.

"Who's Kurama? And who's inhuman?" Shiori Minamino asked her son.

"Uhmm... Uhmmm... we were just joking." Kuwabara fumbled for words, snatching the attention of Kurama's mother. He was caught off guard talking to Kurama, telling him about his being inhuman and even calling him Kurama. He forgot Kurama's mother doesn't know his son's true identity.

"You know. Juts playing around. You see, I was telling Kur... ehrr...your son, Shuuichi...Uhmmm...that you know, he's practically inhuman. He's handsome--pretty is more like it, he's a genius, he's a wonderful son, he's a great figh...ehrrr, painter...and uhmmm, you know... he's just...uhmmm....perfect." Kuwabara explained further with a stutter.

Why does this always happen to me? Me and my big mouth! Kuwabara's panic showed as cold sweat formed at his forehead.

Shiori's face deepened into a frown. A little puzzled on Kuwabara's sudden stutter and defensiveness. "Alright, then." She managed to say.

She shifted her attention back to her son. Smiling as she thought of how true Kuwabara's words are. Her son, indeed, is truly wonderful. A gift --as what she always referred to him.

"Well, playing around or not, I believe my son is perfect." She said with a proud grin on her face. "But then, I still think that hair should be cut." She added with a face while pointing at Kurama's unruly ponytailed hair.

"C'mon, we talked about this. I like my hair as it is..." Kurama whined. Giving a perfect impersonation of human boy his age whining about his own choice of haircut.

"Okay, okay. I rest my case. But cutting it would save me a lot of explaining..." She looked at Kuwabara and continued, "...my friends insist my son is a girl, and they won't believe me when I try to explain that he's not. They'll only take me seriously when I start to yell." She finished with a smile.

A small grin was all Kuwabara could muster. He was still a little shaken about Kurama's mother catching him in act of nearly exposing Kurama's true identity.

"You know I'll never cut my hair..." Kurama cut in, making a sad face.

"Alright, I give up. But only for today. I'll try my luck with you tomorrow." she said with a wink. "By the way, I need you to buy me something. I'm baking and I ran out of eggs. I made a grocery list and if your not too tired, will you buy them for me, Shuuichi?" She said in a more serious tone, but still with her smile.

"Okay, I just need to change my shirt. I'll be ready in a few." Kurama answered. Already heading to get a clean shirt.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you're ready to go." His mother said as she left the room.

"Sorry about that." Kuwabara said after making sure that Kurama's mother was out of earshot.

"Don't worry about it. Just try not to babble that much." Kurama said as he picked out a yellow v-neck top. He quickly took off his shirt and changed to the yellow one.

"I'll be out for about half an hour or so. Just do what you came in here for, okay?" He told Kuwabara.

"I came here so you'll tutor me with Math." Kuwabara said.

"No, you came in here to borrow my books." Kurama answered back, grinning at him.

"That is so not true." Kuwabara shot back. Raising an eyebrow at Kurama.

"It is. If I remember it right, after borrowing my books, you said you might as well study here. I didn't here you say 'tutor me Kurama!' And besides, I warned you about my being busy today. You just insisted on studying here. Not my fault at all."

With that, Kurama walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Not giving any chance to Kuwabara to retort something back at him.

Kuwabara was left imitating Kurama's every action to himself. Exaggerating a bit. Then, he sighed. Muttering to himself about how unfair the world is. Why do some people --or should I say demons, have all the brains?

He yawned, stretching his aching knees out in front of him. Accidentally bumping a stack of CDs in front of him. The CD rack shook for a while. Kuwabara held out his hand to support the rack to save it from actually falling. But before he could, the CDs went crashing down the floor. Some landed on his feet, while the others left scattered in front of him.

"Oh, darn!" He muttered under his breath.

He began picking up the CDs, checking out the cover of each CD before returning them back to the rack.

The guy has good taste in music... Hey, what's this? Classical? Ughhh! Boring! He thought, making a face as he sticks his tongue out in disgust.

When he was finished, he placed the CD rack at a safer place --far from his feet. After doing so, a small box beside the door caught his attention. It looked old and heavy despite its size. The kind of box used in movie that holds the secrets of magic.

"I wonder what treasure it keeps..." He said to himself aloud. He was bored out of his mind, and a little mystery would do him good.

Curiously, he went for it. But then, he stopped. He suddenly felt like he was about to commit a crime. It would be like eavesdropping.

He stood there thinking for a while. After a minute, he continued his 'quest for the mysterious box'. Uhmm... It wouldn't hurt if I take a peek on what's inside it... He reasoned to himself silently.

He nudged open the lock. It opened easily, revealing its contents in front of his eyes.

He picked one. No chance I could control you. He dropped it again inside the box.

He got one of the papers. He realized that they weren't just papers, they were lyric sheets! Notes and clefs were scribbled all over it, all bearing Kurama's handwriting.

He studied the notes. He wasn't the world's greatest musicians, but he knows some things about reading lyric sheets. And from what he is seeing, the song formed by these notes just has to be so damn good.

He scanned the lyric sheet. He noticed the title. "A Tear For The Dead", he said aloud. "Sounds creepy..." he commented afterwards.

He continued reading the words. "Death comes and so does darkness. Tears shed as daylight disappears..." He shook his head as he finished reading the words. "The words are far more creepy!"

He then went out the hall to find Kurama's keyboards. He has to try out this one. It was difficult to read, but he has to try. Its melody was already playing on his mind.

He had only played keyboards a couple of times. He is definitely no expert. All he knows is his drums.

He plugged the keyboards and seated in front of it. He put the lyric sheet on top and carefully placed his fingers on the pieces. He concentrated on trying his luck on playing Kurama's song.

Just as he was about to hit the first key, Kurama came walking down the hall to his bedroom. His face deep in a frown as his eyes rested on the piece of lyric sheet Kuwabara was trying out in his keyboards.

Darn! That's my song! Kurama knew what it was. How could he mistake it for something else? His pace quickened. Determined to snatch the sheet before Kuwabara could even play it.

"Hey, Kurama!" Kuwabara called out to him with a wide grin. "I didn't know you were good at writing songs!" He continued. Not noticing Kurama's angry expression.

Kurama reached Kuwabara's side. He snatched the lyric sheet away and looked Kuwabara in the eye. He was angry. No, he was damn angry! He felt violated. It was his room, Kuwabara has no right on anything. He has no right on playing his song!

"Kurama, what the..?" Kuwabara said, he was shocked at Kurama's response.

"Darn it, Kuwabara! Stay out of my things!" Kurama's voice boomed. Showing a side of him Kuwabara never knew existed.

Kuwabara was left frozen. He never thought Kurama would go ballistic for this.

"I... I...am sorry...I didn't mean to..." he managed to say.

"Just go. Take my books with you." Kurama said in a calmer voice.

Too shocked, Kuwabara wasn't able to do anything but stare at him with a bewildered and fearful expression.

"I said go! Just go! Leave me alone! And don't touch anything!" Kurama shouted. He entered his room and banged the door behind him. He crumpled the lyric sheet with his hands.

Normally Kurama wouldn't have scolded at him. He was the calm, the collected and the cool. But there's nothing "normal" about this. It was his song, even him wouldn't ever want to hear them. He had tried to forget everything about it. It brings back too much of his past that he never wanted to remember, ever.

He sat on the floor. He hated his songs. He hated them all! He thought hiding them would make him forget everything about his past. But it didn't. Here they are again, haunting him. Bringing back his life in his past that he had long buried.

It was hundreds of years ago. Before he had even met Yomi, before his being a thief. It was way far from then. But its memory still clear on his mind.

Kurama was still young then, fighting wasn't what he did everyday nor stealing. He was still innocent in that kind of way, thoughts of bloodshed and robbery has never entered his mind. All he could think about then was his music. His life then was his music, and nothing more.

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