Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho 1. Chapter 1

**Ghost Girl  
**  
**by foxgloves**

**[ 1 ]**

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Kurama never really had to try to get anyone's attention; it just sort of happened. It wasn't something he was necessarily proud of either. If anything, being constantly scrutinized had made his human life quite difficult in a time where anonymity would've better served him.

Nonetheless, it struck him as very odd when in mid-sentence, he slanted his verdant eyes to the girl walking beside him in the busy square, and noticed that her eyes were very faraway, misty, like she was seeing something from the past; her face so white. Instead of seeing him, she looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"Ayumi-san?" he asked her gently, laying a hand on her arm, "Are you well?"

Her lips moved, but there was no sound and he was forced to read them._ Kagome?_ A name to be sure._ Has she seen someone she knows?_

The young woman suddenly seemed to find herself and pulled away from him, blinking and harshly shaking her head. His hand, held aloft and now empty, dropped listlessly to his side and he turned his astute eyes to the crowds that were milling around them, searching for what or who is was that had so thoroughly arrested her attention.

"K-Kagome…" he heard her murmur to herself, as if she didn't actually know for certain that the person she was seeing was really there.

Kurama's eyes narrowed further. _Which one? Who is it? _

Curiosity was manifesting inside of him quickly, and his gaze bounced back and forth between all the faces, but they were all blending together, looking so alike and he felt vaguely frustrated. _Who?_

Ayumi took a shaky step away from him, struggling to find her composure, and her voice croaked slightly louder, "Kagome!"

Other pedestrians glanced their way, whispering amongst each other about the girl who was seemingly calling to no one.

Kurama closed the distance between them once again and grabbed her arm, not all together forcefully, but enough to momentarily gain her attention and she looked at him with brown eyes that were glassy. "Ayumi-san, who is Kagome? "

She looked back frantically into the crowd, rambling. "I saw her… but it couldn't be, could it? Gods, I a m going crazy… Kagome… Kagome!"

The last desperate call of her name had time slowing to a sudden, grinding halt. Kurama picked out one girl amongst all of the others, wearing a yellow summer dress, her long raven hair fanning behind her when she looked back over her narrow shoulder, and her eyes, so blue and striking, widening a fraction before they clouded over in recognition and an emotion that echoed too many different things for him to decipher.

The mystery girl, Kagome, seemed rooted to her spot and they drew closer. Ayumi was chanting her name, _Kagome, Kagome, Kagome, _and they were almost there, only a few yards away, when she moved, backing into someone in her haste to suddenly get away. Her eyes were on Ayumi, but he could see pain in them, resounding and so deep that he almost felt the pang of it himself. Her lips moved, and he made out two words.

_I'm sorry._

And like a ghost, she faded away.

Ayumi ran ahead to the spot where she was standing, her voice rife with desperation. "Wait! Kagome, wait!"

Kurama had stopped in his place, an outsider watching the scene like it was a movie. The image of the girl was engrained in his minds eye, and he pictured her standing there still. A face to a name and yet he wondered still.

_Who are you, Kagome?_

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**A/N: **Some of you may be reading this and thinking it's familiar. I did post this some months ago, but took it down when I thought it dead in the water. I've been going through my writing archives and came across it again and thought to myself hm, you know maybe I'll repost it, so here it is. I wrote another chapter for it today and suspect that it'll run around 4 or 5 chapters all in all. Let me know what you think. It was meant to be a one-shot, but I felt inclined to break it into chapters, so call it a short story if you will.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ghost Girl**

**by foxgloves**

**[ 2 ]**

* * *

A week later, Kurama found himself on the back porch of Yusuke and Keiko's house with his cellphone pressed to his ear. Patiently, he waited while the call connected, ringing once, twice, three times before the dial tone caught. At the sound of her voice, he opened his mouth only to pause when he realized that it was voicemail. Again.

"_This is Ayumi! Sorry that I missed you. Leave a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can! Ja!"_

The kitsune sighed, flipping the phone closed with a snap, not bothering to leave a message. A small breeze kicked up, tossing his long crimson hair as he contemplated the darkening sky. He wasn't surprised to not have gotten a hold of her. It seemed that after what he'd taken to calling the Kagome Incident she was avoiding him. That didn't particularly bother him; however it did present a slight problem in the way that she had all the answers to his burning questions. He should've felt bad for that, overlooking her distraught behaviour in light of sating his own curiosity, but no one would ever know besides himself and he could live with that.

Kagome.

Even a week later, the young woman was on his mind more than he would have liked, or more than he understood. He chalked it up to his inquisitive nature, supposing that anyone in his position would have wanted to know the details behind the odd encounter. For him though it went much deeper. There was always something beyond the what. There was a why. And that was what he truly craved to know.

He heard Keiko coming before she opened the back door and turned to her when she slipped outside into the muggy air. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

Kurama pocketed his cellphone and smiled easily. "Nothing to worry yourself about. I was just making a call."

The young woman nodded, something in her brown eyes indicating that she didn't quite believe him though she elected not to say as much. "Alright, well, dinner will be ready in a few minutes," she informed him before disappearing back into the house.

Kurama waited a minute before he decided to go back in, casting his thoughts of the mysterious Kagome away for the time being. When he did, he meandered into the dining room to the sound of the couple's usual bickering. It had been awhile since he had been over to their place, and part of him admired the general coziness of their home while a darker, lonelier part envied it.

Yusuke appeared from the kitchen with a scowl on his face and plates in hand. "Fuckin' woman's a slave-driver," he muttered as he began to set the table, warranting a small chuckle from his friend.

"I made your favorite!" Keiko announced as she entered the room, wispy tendrils of steam spiralling up from the pot she was carrying. When she placed it in the middle of the table, Kurama leaned forward slightly to peruse its contents.

"Oden," he said with some warmth coloring his voice. "You didn't have to do that, Keiko-chan."

She beamed, obviously happy to have surprised him. "I wanted to. It's been so long since you've come over to have dinner with us."

Kurama smiled, genuinely believing her, but thinking that perhaps she tried too hard sometimes.

They settled into dinner and casual conversation. Over the years as Shuichi Minamino he'd become rather good at being there but really not. Despite himself, his thoughts wandered back to Ayumi and Kagome, and perhaps he'd slipped up because when Keiko changed the topic he was slightly caught off guard.

"Kurama, are you sure you're okay? I don't mean to be nosy, but you seem distracted," she said timidly, her fingers twisting around her napkin.

He considered her as he glanced over to Yusuke, whose face indicated to him that he had no part in the small interrogation. The dark-haired man shrugged, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, though there was a gleam of concern in his eyes. His own face turned contemplative as he bent forward to put his elbows on the table, interlocking his fingers and cradling his chin.

"There is something on my mind, yes," he conceded. It hadn't occurred to him that Keiko might actually be of use until now and he felt a small spark of eagerness at the possibility of acquiring more information.

"Oh," she mumbled, probably surprised that he'd fessed up. "Well… if you want to talk about it…" she hedged, covertly glancing at Yusuke.

"You know Ayumi-chan from high-school?" Kurama asked.

Keiko couldn't have had an idea of what went around inside the avatar's brain, but if she had any inclination, she wouldn't have guessed that it would be about a former classmate whom she'd introduced to Kurama some months prior.

"That's right," Keiko acknowledged. "We met in our first year and had a couple classes together. We didn't really hang out but she is a nice girl, though I didn't care for her two friends very much."

Intrigued, Kurama pressed on. "And who were these friends of hers?"

Keiko's eyebrows furrowed, as if she was confused as to why he would even want to know. Nonetheless, she wracked her brain. "Eri and Yuka, if I recall correctly. There was one other girl she hung around with, but she wasn't around very much. She missed a lot of school." She seemed satisfied that she had answered to the best of her ability and sent him another curious look across the table, lapsing into silence while he digested the information.

By then, Yusuke seemed equally interested and had leaned forward. "What gives, Kurama?" he wanted to know. "You're fishing for something specific. What's so interesting about some human girl?"

A wry smile tugged at the corner of Kurama's mouth. Over the years Yusuke had developed a level of perception that was enough to make even him proud. In time he would answer his question but for now he had more for Keiko.

"You don't recall the name of her other friend?"

"Hey, fox-boy, don't ignore me—"

"Yusuke, shush!" Keiko flapped her hand in his direction while she tried to remember. "Kagome… I think. Like I said she wasn't at school very much." Eventually her curiosity bested her and she had to know. "Why are you asking?"

Gold seeped into Kurama's eyes and he quelled the excitement that was festering inside him. Had he been in Youko's form, his tail would have been swishing back and forth. "I am curious about a human girl… but not Ayumi-chan."

Yusuke's annoyance that the redhead had not answered him dissipated. "Kagome?" he guessed. "What about her, then?"

"I'll be right back," Keiko interjected, abruptly rising from the table. The two men watched her quickly leave the room, Yusuke shrugging. They waited in silence for her and she returned a few minutes later, flipping through a book. It took her a few more long moments when she finally seemed to find what she was looking for. From what Kurama could see, it appeared to be a yearbook from her high school days.

"Yeah, here it is," she murmured, passing Kurama the book and pointing to the picture. "Higurashi Kagome. Is that the one you want to know about?"

Scanning the picture over and over intently, imprinting it into his memory, Kurama couldn't believe his luck. There she was, staring back at him with a smile. She was younger back then, her face a little more round, her hair a little shorter, but time hadn't changed her too much. Inexplicably pleased, he nodded. "Yes, this is her."

"_Now_ can you tell us what the hell is going on in that head of yours?" Yusuke demanded with an emphasis on the now.

Kurama smiled apologetically to him. "I don't mean to be evasive, Yusuke. I just had to know for certain before I invested anymore time in the matter. Keiko has been very helpful." He turned to the young woman to thank her, but paused at the pensive look on her face. "Is something wrong, Keiko-chan?" he asked.

"I'm just…" she stopped for a moment, searching for words. "Kurama-kun, I know not much escapes you, but are you positive that you have the right person?"

"Quite sure," he replied, wondering at the reason she was questioning him, but not really offended. "Is there some reason you would think me to be mistaken?"

"Well, I have to tell you…" she hesitated, fidgeting under their gazes. "Kagome-chan disappeared almost ten years ago."

The admission left Kurama at a loss. Sitting back in his seat, he silently processed what she was telling him. It certainly explained Ayumi's distraught reaction when she'd seen Kagome on the street. And he was more than certain that the woman he had seen was the same one in the photo. Ironically, he realized that the more he discovered, the more the mystery seemed to unfurl. The prospect wasn't daunting as he wasn't against a challenge, but his curiosity had risen to new heights.

"Kurama-kun?" Keiko questioned.

He blinked, interrupted from his ruminations. They were both staring at him and he smiled reassuringly, which seemed enough to alleviate some of the tension swirling in the room.

Yusuke cleared his throat. "So you're thinking you saw this Kagome chick?"

"Last week," Kurama qualified, glancing between them. "I was with Ayumi-chan and we saw her. At the time she was quite distressed and naturally I couldn't understand why. She had seen someone and she called her Kagome. I've called her several times but she hasn't returned any of them."

Perhaps it was just in women's natures to find romance in any situation, or perhaps it was just Keiko, but suddenly she had an interested gleam in her eye. "You were with Ayumi-chan? Just the two of you?"

Yusuke snorted and rolled his eyes, garnering him a glare.

Kurama blanched. "What would you be implying exactly?" he asked, knowing better than to humor her.

"I just had no idea that when I introduced you that you would've hit it off!" Keiko exclaimed happily.

Mildly confused as to how they'd so thoroughly managed to diverge off the topic of Kagome, Kurama suppressed a sigh and felt the inklings of a headache forming. "Ayumi-chan and I are not in that kind of relationship, Keiko-chan. We happen to share a class at the university and at times study together."

Keiko looked put out at his explanation.

"Can we get back on topic here?" Yusuke muttered dryly, "As much as I'm sure Kurama wants you to harass him with your shitty girly fantasies, the prospect of some kind of ghost-girl is way more interesting."

"The wedding is coming up!" Keiko reminded him. "Kurama-kun should have a date!"

"I'm sure he can find someone without you playing matchmaker! Girls flock to him all the time!"

As they bickered, Kurama rubbed a hand over his face, marvelling at the absurdity of the conversation. The topic of his bachelor status always seemed to be of interest to the females in their social circles, namely Botan and Keiko, but he failed to see the relevance.

"Fine, fine!" Keiko relented, standing up to clear the dishes from the table. "Would you like dessert, Kurama-kun?"

He accepted the invitation and she flitted off into the kitchen, leaving him and Yusuke alone. The former Spirit Detective crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow at him. "You think this involves anything with the Reikai?"

Of that Kurama couldn't be sure and he said as much. "I didn't pick up anything strange about her. Not everything that can't be explained has to do with the supernatural. I admit that I am curious and would further like to look into it, but it is not likely I will see her again."

The yearbook, still open on the table garnered Yusuke's attention and he pulled it towards him. His eyebrows rose appreciatively. "Hey, she's pretty cute." He eyed the doorway to the kitchen, making sure Keiko didn't hear him. "Maybe if you find her you can bring her to the wedding."

"You're as bad as your soon to be wife," Kurama deadpanned.

"Yeah so she rubs off on me a little bit, I'll admit it," Yusuke acknowledged flippantly, "Just don't let her know that or I'll have to kick your ass."

Smiling, but feeling weary, Kurama allowed the topic to drift away as Keiko returned with dessert, managing to fall into the place where he teetered on the precipice of the present and his own thoughts for the remainder of the evening.

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**A/N:** Well, I hope you guys liked this. Let me know what you think. It's about halfway done.


End file.

Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Mystery, Romance