This story starts out with Shuichi being 7 years old, Youko still being mostly in control of Shuichi's body and mind.
Walking rapidly down the hall, Shiori Minamino turned the corner and the found the room she was looking for. "Principal's office" was written in black bold
letters on a wooden door decorated with children drawings and a kitten calendar. Shiori sighed before knocking on the door, soon a voice greeted her inside.
"Please sit down Miss. Minaminio." Shiori looked at the chair in front of the principal's desk before looking at the reason why she was there in the first place.
Shuichi Minamino sat with his arms crossed glaring angrily at her. A sad look graced the young mother's features, why did her son hold so much hatred towards
her? What had she done? "The reason I asked you to come in is because I am becoming increasingly concerned about little Shuichi's lack of interaction with
other children." The principal eyed Shuichi, who was glaring at the wall across the room from him. "He refuses to participate in games and group projects and I
have yet to see him speak to a single student here." Shiori bit her lip, worry now etched into her features, "What do you recommend we do?"
The principal smiled, "I'm glad you ask. I have an idea in mind. " Shiori followed the principal with her eyes as he stood up and went over to a cabinet file, soon
pulling out a white sheet of paper. Shiori read the pages contents after the principal handed over the paper. "Pen pal" was centered in bold at the top of the
paper. "I believe starting a long distance friendship might be beneficial. Shuichi will be able to develop social skills this way. I imagine this would also help him
to become more social with his real life peers…what do you think?" Shiori smiled, "I think it's a wonderful idea!" The principal returned the smile, pleased that
Shiori had agreed so readily to his idea. "I have someone already in mind, do you have access to a computer Miss. Minamino?" Shiori nodded and the principal
proceeded to explain why he had asked. "Traditionally pen pal's write to each other through letters, but now days everything is turning more and more
towards computers. Our school offers a pen pal program where students interact with people from all over the world through email." "Oh how neat! What do
you think Shuichi? are you as excited about this as me!?"
Shuichi's greenish-golden eyes met with hers, " No" he replied coldly. Shiori's smile faltered for a second before returning full force, "Don't be like that Shuichi! I
know deep down you are excited!" "Would you like to see a picture of your pen pal?" The principal asked the two. Shiori nodded, Shuichi simply shrugged. The
principal handed over another piece of paper, this one had a picture paper clipped to the top corner of it. "This is Lilly, she just turned 7 last week." Shiori slid
the picture over for her son to see, " The same age as you Shuichi, you two already have something in common!" Shuichi rolled his eyes before examining the
picture of the idiot he would be forced to speak to. The fox did not want to interact with any of these pathetic humans, especially not a young human girl with
the intelligence of an dog. The little girl in the picture had long curly blonde hair and bright green eyes. She wore a red plaid dress and had a big smile on her
face. Shuichi's eyes widened as he caught site of the necklace she had on, he had seen that necklace before. A dark purple pendant, the center gem being a
realistic, malevolent looking eyeball. The fox remembered being told that the pendant was commonly referred to as "the evil eye." The owner of the pendant
has the ability to cause misfortune to whoever he or she directs the eye towards. The pendant also has another ability, it will not only protect the wearer, but
also, will hide the wearers spirit energy. "It appears your son has taken an interest in Miss Lilly." Shiori nodded, "I think so." Shuichi looked up to see his
mother and the principal staring expectantly at him. He frowned, he supposed he had been staring at her picture a bit longer than necessary. It was not her he
was interested in though, it was that pendant.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/ That night/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Shuichi sat at the wooden desk in his room, waiting for his mother to return with her laptop. She had informed him that Lilly would be sending an email that
night introducing herself. "Here you go! Just type in the email address and password you created at school today and her email should pop right up!" Shuichi
nodded then proceeded to do as she said. Shiori stood behind him, excitement written all over her face. Shuichi's email opened up, sure enough an email with
the name Lilly attached to it sat unopened in his inbox. Shuichi turned, now facing his mother. "Do you mind?" he hissed with narrowed eyes. Shiori looked
taken a back, "Oh..of course not dear. I'll…. be in the living room if you need me."
The red head waited until Shiori disappeared before opening up the email.
"Hello there Shuichi! it's nice to meet you! I'm Lilly! Your new pen pal. If you have messenger we can chat sometime there instead of waiting for each other to
reply back and forth through email. P.S, I heard you're from Japan! What's it like there? I live in America with my family and six pets!"
The fox rolled his eyes, human girls were much too talkative for his liking, not to mention the things they usually talked about were meaningless. His eyes
narrowed, why did he have to waste his time talking about such trivial matters? Especially with a human girl who knew nothing about the world.
" Hi. I'm Shuichi. I don't have messenger. I saw a picture of you today, where did you get that pendant you were wearing in it?"
Shuichi didn't bother answering her question about what it was like in Japan, the pendant was a much more interesting subject to speak about after all.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ The next evening/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oh Shuiichi!" Shiori opened the door to her son's room, finding him sprawled out on his bed staring up at the ceiling. "I saw that Lilly asked if you had
messenger, so I set one up for you and added her. She's online right now! Why don't you say hi"
Shuichi frowned, "It's rude to go through someone else's email you know" "I..I know Shuichi. I was just trying to help…" Shiori replied. Shuichi snatched the
laptop out of her hand then looked up at Shiori. "I'll..just leave you to it then. Let me know if you need anything." Shiori sighed as the exited her son's room.
He was so cold hearted towards her, hopefully Lilly would help him become more sociable and friendly.
Instant messenger chat: Lilly online :P . Shuichi read to himself. The fox did not know how to use messenger, but he refused to ask his human mother for any
help. A window suddenly popped up with Lilly's name on the top of the screen.
"Hey Shuichi! I got your email. I was going to reply, but since you're on here I'll just answer your question here."
To reply type here, Shuichi read. Perhaps this messenger wasn't that hard to figure out.
Lilly: "It's a family heirloom, my mom gave it to me for my 7th birthday. She gets really mad when I take it off for some reason, that's why I always wear it."
Shuichi appeared thoughtful for a moment. From the information he had just gathered from her, the fox concluded that the girl's mother was trying to hide
Lilly's spirit energy. The question was why? And who was she trying to hide it from? Was Lilly a half demon possibly? Or was she just a typical human with an
unnatural amount of spirit energy? If that was the case then maybe she was a physic and just not aware of it yet.
Shuichi: "I see. Tell me, do you believe in spirits?"
Lilly: "Ghosts? Well..if I tell you something do you promise not to make fun of me?"
Shuichi: "sure."
Lilly: " There is a ghost that lives in my house. In fact, he's lived here with me my whole life. My mom says it's just my imagination, but it's not. I talk to him a
lot, he even follows me to school a lot of times. "
Shuichi: "No one else in your family can see him?"
Lilly: "Nope! Only me!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As the years passed Shuichi and Lilly remained in contact, becoming closer and closer as the years went by. Shiori noticed a huge difference in her son, she
thought it was because of Lilly. She didn't realize that it was not Lilly who had changed the fox, but instead it was her undying love and acceptance. The
moment his human mother saved his life was the moment his cold heart began to melt and thus the kind and loving Shuichi his mother has come to known
came into existence.
/\/\/\/\/\/\ Kurama now 17/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Tossing his backpack onto his bed, Kurama quickly made his way to his computer. Once the screen came up he went to his messenger, only to be disappointed
to find Lilly was not online. The two spoke to each other daily, but for the last week and a half he hadn't heard a word from her. He was certain she would have
been online today to wish him a happy birthday.
The last time he had spoken to her she had said something that was currently causing his worry to intensify. " I know I sound paranoid, but I think something
has been following me…good thing I'm moving today" She had gone offline right after saying this and he had yet to speak to her since then. The use of the
word "something instead of someone" really had the fox concerned. She knew of ghosts and spirits, in fact she spoke about one all the time that had lived
with her even before they had began speaking to each other all those years ago. He was more than curious to know who this mysterious ghost was and why
was he hanging around Lilly all these years. Kurama had a hunch the ghost was protecting her, but from what or who was a mystery to him.
All in all the fox had been right with his hunch all those years ago that Lilly would turn out to be a psychic.
Kurama frowned, she hadn't even mentioned where she was moving to. He had asked her multiple times, but every time she changed the subject.
"Shuichi dear!" The red head turned to see his mother now standing in the doorway. She had been acting strange for over a week now, it was as if she knew
something he didn't. "Yes mother?" Examining his mother, Kurama was able to tell that she was trying her best to contain her excitement about something. "I
know its your birthday, but please don't make plans until after 7 tonight. I'm making you a birthday dinner, I don't want you to miss it."
Kurama had a sneaking suspicion she was throwing him a surprise birthday party, which would explain her strange behavior as of late. " That won't be a problem mother, I assure you I wouldn't miss it for the world."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ that night/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
It couldn't be any more obvious to Kurama that a surprise party was being thrown for him. With the fox's superb sense of smell he was able to smell the scent
of a freshly baked cake coming from the kitchen downstairs. Kurama sighed then sat the book in his hands down, getting to his feet he decided to check to see
if Lilly was online one last time. Kurama strained his ears upon hearing a faint knock at the front door. His mother's footsteps proceeded soon after the knock
and the sound of Yusuke and Kuwabara's voices reached his ears. His mother had gone to great lengths for this surprise party, she had even invited all of his
close friends..except for Hiei. He hadn't sensed Hiei anywhere nearby today, so it was safe to assume he wouldn't be at the surprise party his mother had put
together for him. Soon the faint voices of Keiko, Shizuru, Boton and Yukina reached his ears as well as they greeted his mother at the door. A few minutes
passed before another knock at the door was heard, the fox was curious about who it could be. Once again his mother's footsteps were heard followed by the
sound of the door opening. An unfamiliar female voice pierced his ears, just who was this mysterious guest?
"Shuichi dear! Could you please come help me in the kitchen!"
"Yes mother, I'll be right down." Kurama played along, knowing full well that his surprise birthday party would be waiting for him. Opening the door to his room
he ventured down the hallway and down the stairs. Making his way towards the kitchen, Kurama found his mother standing in the living room with a big grin on
her face. " Come on dear" Shiori commented urging her son to follow her into the kitchen. As he entered behind her he was greeted with everyone shouting
"Surprise!" in unison. "Happy birthday Kur..Shuichi!" Kuwabara exclaimed while patting his foxy friend on the shoulder. Shuichi scanned the faces of all his
friend before stopping short on an unfamiliar face now standing beside his mother.
A girl with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes similar to his own stood with a bright smile on her face. Her face looked so familiar, he was sure he had
seen this women before. "Shuichi, there is someone I'd like you to meet. I'm sure you've figured out by now who she is."
Kurama scanned over the girl once more, still uncertain as to where he had seen her before.
The girl approached him, a friendly smile gracing her lips. "Shuichi, it's so nice to finally meet you in person. I'm sorry I haven't been online in a while, I hope you
haven't been worried about me. Moving has been very stressful and plus Shiori didn't want you to know I was coming."
It took a moment for the girls words to register before Kurama knew exactly who this girl was, his eyes widened and his heart began to race. "Lilly!? Is it really
you!?"