Sou sa Sayonara wa piriodo ja nai sa
Eien no saka wo nobotte yukeba
Itsu ka mata aeru...
He got the call that he'd have to leave again. Kurama was about to leave without a trace or anything, but he thought twice and took a few precious seconds to write a note to his human mother, Shiori.
Dear Mom,
Have gone to battle the forces of evil.
Hope to return soon.
Love,
Shuuichi
He chuckled at his own cynicism, then leapt out the window into the night.
Shiori found the note an hour later.
She frowned at her son's cynicism, then walked downstairs, and out the door to find her son.
Little did she know.
Shiori heard sounds of a fight, and expecting to use her maternal influence to break up what she assumed was a simple miscreant tussle, walked in that direction with the determined stride only a mother can pull off.
She saw her red-haired son Shuuichi backed against a lamppost, about to be dismembered by a giant demonic behemoth. Her son was glaring ice at the demon-creature and clutching his shoulder. Shiori could see the blood running from between her son's fingers. At first, Shiori was shocked, then her maternal instincts kicked in, and she ran to her son's side, leaping between him and the monster without a shred of fear for her own safety. Fires burned fiercely in her eyes, and she stared down that monster as she boldly spoke.
"Don't you dare come near my boy, you beast!" She cried, striking the creature across the snout. Shuuichi's eyes widened.
"Mom-!" He managed to choke from behind a sudden onslaught of tears. The creature was simply annoyed by Shiori's intrusion, and if it did anything, it made it mad. With an earth-shaking cry, the monster raised one giant paw and slashed Shiori fiercely across the chest. She clasped her chest, and fell to the earth. Kurama's eyes, filled with tears, narrowed to slits. He had lost the ability to do anything but try and glare the demon away. The demon raised its paw again, this time to cut down Kurama, and just as Kurama closed his eyes against the blow, and the monster began to bring its paw down, Shiori gathered the last bit of her energy and flung herself between the beast and her son, the full force of the claws falling on her instead Kurama. With a cry, she crumpled underneath the blow, and fell unconscious to the earth, bleeding furiously from her fatal wounds. Kurama opened his eyes, saw his mother, and unearthed a whole new store of energy. Taking his good arm, he reached into his hair, withdrew a rose, and, glaring ice at the demon, tapped into his all new, anger-fueled store of energy and glowed with a vibrant yellow, fiery aura.
"ROSE WHIP LASH!" He cried, cutting the monster into many, many slivers and ribbons with his trademarked Rose Whip. He fell to Shiori's side.
"Why, Mom...?" He whispered, tears falling onto her still face. She stirred slightly.
"Shuu...i...chi." She whispered weakly.
"Yes, Mom, it's me." Shuuichi whispered, tears clouding his vision. He blinked them away.
"I...love...you." Shiori smiled weakly, raising one hand to touch Shuuichi's face. He held her hand against his face.
"Mom, why?"
"You're...my son. I wasn't...about...to let you get...killed." She whispered, tears coming to her eyes as well. Tears slid down Shuuichi's face and dripped onto the earth.
"Oh Mom..." Shuuichi choked. Shiori closed her eyes.
"I...love...you." She whispered.
"I love you too, Mom." He choked. She smiled.
"Mom?" He choked. "Mom?" He asked louder this time. "Mom?" He cried, almost shouting.
She was gone. Her hand was still pressed against his face by his hands. He folded her hands across her chest.
She's gone. He thought. Just like that. There's no way...she can't be...she couldn't have left me. There's just no way.
He began to cry. His less emotional, more callous side pointed out something that he never would have noticed otherwise.
She can't have a decent burial, you know. People would wonder what happened to her, the police would investigate, you'd be found out, the Demon World would be found, and all you know would be taken away. It hissed. You'll have to bury her in the backyard like some sort of DOG. Shuuichi broke into fresh sobs.
He cried out in anguish. He lay down beside her, and cried himself to sleep by her body.
In the morning, he would wake up and find himself next to her body. He would carry her home, and give her an anything-but-decent burial in the garden, and he would grieve, and in his grief, he would almost kill himself multiple times. But her last words would keep him alive.
"I wasn't...about...to let you get...killed."
But that would all come later, and for now, he was with her in his dreams, and she was alive, and he was happy.
That is so a goodbye is not a period
If I go on and climb the everlasting hill
Someday we shall meet...