Summary: That's when I realized something. When I first met Ran, I assumed she would be a problem. I assumed she would ruin the peaceful life I found myself enjoying. In a way it was true. She did ruin that quiet life by bringing so much noise and music into the new one. I couldn't imagine settling for the quiet ever again. My mother showed me kindness and protected me not knowing who I really was. Ran chose to be by my side despite it. Kurama and OC, starts before the series, slow burn, very slow,

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OCs.

Title: The Brave Heart

'You're gonna be happy,' said life, 'but first I'll make you strong.'

Prologue: There are Monsters under Your Bed

Ran's POV

I guess when you're a child it's very easy to make a friend. You run around ask someone if they want to play, and just like that you're best friends for the rest of the day. You often forget about friends like that. Rarely kindergarten or playground friends stick. Still, it's nice. As a kid you like to play with other kids and everything seems do easy. No one is bothered by your clothes or how much money you have as long as you like to help them build a sand castle or play tag. I once that if friendship survives for more than six year it will last forever. I hope it's true.

I was five when I first met Yusuke and Keiko. I met in a way which I only later realize actually suited us. I was wearing my new shirt and my mom wouldn't let me go and play until I had promise her not to get it dirty.

I decided to avoid the sand and stuck to the swings. My mom promised she would buy me an ice cream later so I was really doing my best. Apparently fate had something else for me in mind that day.

As I was getting off the swing I heard a girl scream and right after that I got hit with mud. In next moment I looked up only to find a boy with black on the ground pointing at me and laughing as maniac while a little brunette ran up to him to hit him over the head yelling at him. Now naturally as a kid it is really hard to control your emotions so what did I do? (Plus in that moment the only thought on my mind was that I won't get my ice cream because of him) Only later I found out that the mud also got on my face which was why he was laughing so hard.

Either way there was a boy who was laughing and his hands were dirty. Common logic did its best and before he knew it I went at him pushing him into the ground. I started to wrestle with him there naturally getting even more dirty later. I thought I heard the brunette scream in a kid like high pinched voice.

I wasn't absolutely sure what happened afterwards, but since later all three of us were eating ice cream on the bench with my mom, I guess it wasn't so bad. As it turned out Yusuke didn't throw the mug. He pushed Keiko a bit hard into the ground, and she threw the mug a little too far and hit me. Either way, it was a start of a beautiful friendship or something like that.

'You're name is weird,' said Yusuke as we were licking our ice cream. I showed him tongue, 'You're weird!' With Yusuke it was always about childish things like that, but I guess girls are grown faster.

Ever since that day we always stopped at the playground on our way home. It was exactly in the middle between our house and my kindergarten. Keiko's parents' dinner was down the street and Yusuke could go anywhere he wanted to most of the time. I liked my new friends. I supposed that between Keiko's sweetness and Yusuke's rudeness I was the golden middle. I also liked being around them. I could tell that Yusuke could bring the fun out of Keiko, and she could turn out to be quit the prankster. It was hilarious how he could push just the right button to make you explode and want to kill push sand from the sandbox into his mouth while he begged for mercy. Some kids are fun like that. At first there were others as well. Kids that played with us. You could always see us on the swings or at the sand box jumping and screaming and playing tag. We were wild like that. A lot of kids wanted to play with us because we were so carefree we made it all seem so fun like you could have fun no matter what you were doing, and we could. Yusuke could make any game into a challenge and boy could Keiko be competitive.

My mom would always shout at us to go home already while both Keiko and Yusuke and I begged her for a few more minutes. I kept on begging her to let me go to the same kindergarten as Keiko and Yusuke, but she always just promised next year, next year.

I was six when I noticed that kids started to change. We used to have a group of ten or more kids that would and play with us. However, it felt like the group was getting smaller each time we played.

I asked one boy about it once, for the love of God, I can't remember his name now, but I remembered how sad he looked when he said, 'Mommy doesn't want me to play Yusuke.'

I didn't understand it. For me Yusuke was the funniest boy I knew. He could make you laugh so hard tears were falling out of your eyes and your tummy hurt so much you couldn't breathe. I didn't know why someone wouldn't Yusuke to play with their children. I wanted to know, but I was too afraid that if I asked my mom wouldn't want me to play with him. Still, I did ask Keiko about it.

The little girl hand me a chalk when we were drawing waiting for Yusuke, who wasn't there yet.

'I know. Yumi's mom told me not to play with him too,' she said looking very sad, 'I asked mommy about it, and she asked me if I like playing with Yusuke. I told her that he's my best friend so she said that it doesn't matter what others say. As long as I want to be friend I should,' she said proudly, and I had to admit I liked the idea. When Yusuke came he made fun of us for being lame because we were only drawing which made us chase him until we got him to the ground again and made him apologize.

'So not fair! We need more boys in our group!' shouted Yusuke upset when he apologized for calling us lame. Keiko and I just laugh at him. Neither of us told him about what we knew.

I was sure when I first Ken. I was sure I saw him around when Keiko pushed me into his sandcastle in the sandbox. 'Look what you did!'

But I couldn't really remember if I apologize or anything. We came earlier one day. Keiko and Yusuke were there they. There were plenty of other kids, but some were the ones that didn't play with Yusuke's because their parents told them not to. I will know why I was so interested in the boy in that very moment, but I walked up him.

'Can I help you build it?'

He looked up at me, and I thought he had the nicest shade of brown eyes, 'If you promise not to fall on this one.'

I giggled feeling a bit embarrassed, but agreed. By the time Yusuke and Keiko we had a solid looking castle.

Yusuke eyed Ken suspiciously at first, and both Keiko and I were half expecting him to say something mean, when he asked, 'You build that?'

Ken looked at the castle before he looked back at Yusuke, 'Yes?'

Yusuke showed him a thumb up, 'Nice. We should make it bigger though. Like one big castle like Arthur and the round table or a big town castle.'

For the rest of the day we spend building what turned out to be quite big castle complex considering we were only a group of six years old. I guess the happier one about a boy in our little group was Yusuke although Ken seemed to be less loud than him.

We didn't know something was wrong. How could we? We were children after all. We lived in a bubble. Yusuke would complain that Ken never wanted to play tag with us and rarely ran. He would make fun of him. It wasn't until he got upset about something and pushed him causing him to fall down.

'Oi! Ken don't be a girl you need to stand your ground or you will end up like a girl!' said Yusuke as he gave him a hand to stand up.

'What's wrong with girls?!' snapped Keiko until she suddenly froze. It was then that I noticed that Ken's nose was bleeding.

'Yusuke what did you do?' I shouted at the black haired boy accusingly. He looked scared, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean to.'

Ken brushed the blood a bit before he looked at it. He didn't seem alarmed. He didn't seemed bother. He looked like it was the most normal thing ever.

'Can you get my mom? I feel sick again.'

Leukemia

Since Ken's mom took him home it was up to my mom to explain the word to us. We were still kids so we didn't get it really. When Ken showed up in a couple of days we asked him about billion questions. Kids can be insensitive like that. He didn't mind though. He told us everything he could and knew and we ended up playing hide and seek.

I hated summer because summer meant that I had to fly to see my dad or as I should have called him when we were in public Mr. Jones. When I was a kid I didn't mind. It's amazing how much you don't get when you're a kid. People can tell you or teach you something, and you completely believe it as if it was normal for every family and for everyone. I knew the routine. The whole year expect the summer I was in Japan with my mom, Yusuke, Keiko and Ken, while during the summer I had to go to US to live with my dad. I could call him dad when we were in the house, but I couldn't call him that when we were outside. I would play with Matilda and John, who always wore a suit. When I asked Matilda about it she explained that John was my bodyguard. I didn't know why I needed a one, but everyone always kept saying that I was safe if I just didn't call my dad 'dad' in public. I was okay with that because dad always bought me tons of new things, played with me and let me eat as much French fries and pizza as I wanted.

It was later that I realized that it wasn't normal that no one could know who was your dad or that you had a man in black suit follow you when you went to the part with your nanny. I didn't think it was wrong, and since I thought it was like everyone lived I wasn't sad about it until I saw a newspaper once. My dad had a picture in it. I was eight so I had no idea what passing a bill, Washington senator or other words in the newspaper meant especially in English, but I understood that one sense. Mike Jones, single, childless.

When I came back home it was just in time for Ken's birthday. We all came to his house, ate cake, play around and then watched a horror movie while claiming we were only going to watch a Disney story I brought from the States. At one point I felt Yusuke leaned closer to me and whisper, 'Ne, Ran, don't spoil Ken's birthday. Be sad about tomorrow.'

I was surprised since I didn't know I was said, but I tried harder that day to look like I was having a good time. The next day I told Yusuke what happened. I didn't know why didn't I tell Keiko or Ken, but their parents always looked so happy together. No matter how much medicine did Ken have to take before he could go play with us or how many much Keiko's parents had in the dinner, they always seemed happy.

So I told Yusuke. He kept on looking at me for a long time before he told me to go get my bike, and we pedaled to some houses three streets from his house. He stopped in front of a huge nice house with a dog barking at us from the front yard.

'Who's house is this?'

'My father's and his family,' said Yusuke so quietly I thought I just imagined it. I looked at him for a moment before I looked back at the house.

'I always thought your dad died.'

He shook his head and went into a little bit more relaxed position on his bike, 'Nah, he lives here. He used to come when I was younger on Christmas or my birthday and sometimes if they called him to school, but not anymore.'

I nodded and looked back at the house, 'He sounds like a baka.'

'He is,' Yusuke chuckled. I looked at him and then at the house again with a smirk on my face, 'Wanna race back home?'

He smirked, 'Sure, if you're ready to lose.'

I looked around until I found the perfect rock, 'One second.'

His eyes widened, 'No, Ran don't!'

Blinking I stopped with the rock in my hands ready to throw it, 'Why not?'

He sighed, 'He once told me that I was getting in trouble just to get him to see me.'

I lowered my hand, 'Do you?'

'I used to. Now, I don't care,' he shrugged, 'If he doesn't want to see me, I don't want to either.'

I nodded and threw the rock back down, he shook his head, 'I can't believe you would throw a rock at his house. I thought Keiko was the crazier one.'

I shot him a look, 'You're my best friend, and Keiko would throw a mountain of rocks.'

We raced back home. I lost, but it was a close on (shut up, Yusuke!). I told Ken and Keiko later about my dad. It wasn't until much later that I found out that Ken and Keiko knew about Yusuke's father as well. Yusuke came to talk to him one day, and it sort of came up, but maybe Yusuke just needed to talk to someone. Keiko and him were walking from school one day when he stopped them and asked Yusuke how he was. He told him to fuck off which earned him a lecture from Keiko until he admitted who the guy was. It was about a year later when I was with Keiko waiting for Yusuke in front of the Arcade when Keiko suddenly came up to some man on the street and stepped on his foot. We had to run after that, but I didn't think I ever saw Yusuke so grateful or proud about Keiko. It was also the first time I realized that although he cared for Ken and I, he cared for Keiko a little bit differently.

Life is strange beyond anything anyone can imagine. It's unpredictable, and you never can guess what will happen next.

I was ten when came to live with my dad again for the summer. It was warm, so I spent most of the time outside with Matilda. We spent a lot of time by the pool or in the town. I loved everything about the summer. It was a moment really. A moment in time which changed everything. Thinking about it later I realize there was no other way around it, it had to happen one way or another. I was sitting on the bench enjoying a bit of a wind in the hot day while Matilda was buying us ice cream. The day was very warm, and I wanted nothing more than to jump into a nice cool pool back home.

I heard something move in the tree above me. It caused me to open my eyes and look up at it. I didn't know if I was expecting a cat or bird, but what I saw made scream so loud random people ran up to me.

Matilda put her hands around her, 'What is it? Baby girl, what is it? Ran?'

I couldn't stop screaming and crying. I couldn't unseen it. I didn't know what it was it was red and terrifying. By that time Yusuke, Ken, Keiko and I had watched enough horrors about creatures of the night, monsters, and other things. Still the first thing that came out of my mouth when I looked up at Matilda was, 'Youkai.'

She didn't understand Japanese, and it took me a while to calm down since I couldn't unseen it. A monster, a youkai, a demon, or evil spirit. Whatever it was it was the most scariest thing I ever saw, and it had a red glow over it. I sobbed all the way home.

'Alright, Ran, it's alright,' said my dad as he put me to bed brushing my raven hair, 'My baby girl, it's all okay. Nothing will hurt, you.'

He pressed his forehead against mine. That summer I was angry with him because I thought he didn't love me since he was keeping me a secret, but when he pressed our foreheads together, I wasn't angry anymore.

'I'm here. I will always be here. I will always love you and protect you. No matter what.'

I sobbed some more, 'You can't promised that.'

He smiled at me. Matilda said I had his smile if it was true I was very fortunate because it was a very nice smile.

'Of course I can. I'm your dad, and I will never break the promise, Ran. I will always love you and be there for you. I'll always be here,' he pointed his index finger against my chest, where my heart was.

'You know how hearts have two parts?'

I nodded, 'Yeah, they taught in school.'

'Well, one part is from me and one part is from you mom. So you always have me by your side, and even if I'm not right there with you, you can always call me, Ran. I promise I will fly to you, okay?'

I chuckled and nodded against his forehead.

He smiled at me and leaned away, 'I'll keep the light on for tonight, alright?'

I nodded at him. He brushed away my tears after that and waited until he left the room before I went lower to down to the bed. I didn't know if I would have been able to go to sleep, but dad made me feel better.

As must have fallen asleep at one point because when I woke up the red glowing youkai was on top of me.

I screamed and tried to push it away, but it touched my shoulder pushing me down to the bed. Whatever part of me had doubts that it was just my imagination was silence as I now knew that it was very real. I couldn't move. My whole body went still as I was looking into its eyes the red glow around him.

'Ran!' I heard. We both turned to the door. I didn't hear my dad open them, but I could see by the terror in his eyes that he could see the creature as well.

I tried to get away again, but the youkai gripped my shoulder so hard it hurt.

My dad ran toward him and before I knew it the creature was off of me. I sat up looking at it as it was standing in front of my dad. It was smaller than him, but neither was moving. The only light in the room was from my lamp on nightstand next to my bed.

I was breathing so hard the sounds of it sounded so loud I thought the neighbors across the street heard them as well. I blinked when they still didn't move and sat a bit higher, 'D-daddy?' I called barely louder than a whisper.

Neither of them still moved or let out a single word. I slowly stood up only to see some tentacle coming from the youkai to my dad's chest.

He didn't move, but for a moment his eyes moved back to mine, 'R-run!'

'DAD!'

For me that was the moment my childhood ended. It ended with the realization that the monster under the beds were real.

Kurama's POV

'How about some apple juice, Shuichi?' asked Minamino Shiori as we were sitting on the bench in the park enjoying a sunny day.

I looked up at her and shook my head, 'No, thank you.'

She smiled at me a bit and sighed but didn't press the matter. We were in the park for a while now, and I understood what she was hoping for. She hoped that I would go play with the kids today at least for a while. It was a usual drill now. She would wake up, then she would make breakfast, she would wake me up, we would eat, we would get dress, and we would visit the park. We didn't have much to do since this body just turned four and I had to wait another month before she could put me to the kindergarten. I wasn't very sure what did that mean exactly. I heard how my doctor assured my mother that many kids don't play with others until they start kindergarten so my mother was looking very much forward for me to start there.

I was living in the human world for four years now, and I had to admit that it was a very boring place. I was fully aware of the sacrifices or precautions I would have to make and take when I came to this world, and ten years seemed like a laughable time at the time. However, what I didn't know was that humans especially human kids had a different concept of time than youkai. Very different. As a four year old there was very little my human mother let me do which I found incredibly annoying as I used to be an adult and was older than even her. She was a very decent and nice woman, and I understood that she was probably worried about my behavior, but it was hard to push away my past.

'Can I go play now?' I asked. I finally got used to the childish voice, I now had and was starting to talk some more.

My mother nodded looking very excited about the idea. I never spent much time playing or more like I didn't enjoy playing with other kids. I was simply bored, and I could only pretend so much.

In the end of the day we just returned home and mother would ask me, 'Were the kids mean, Shuichi?'

I shook my head, 'No, mommy.'

'Didn't you like them?'

I shrugged my shoulders.

She sighed, but smiled away and kissed my forehead, 'I love you no matter what, alright? You don't have to play with kids you don't want to, but you should try. You might be very surprised how great some people are.'

Naturally, I knew she was right. I knew a variety of amazing people and youkai, but I doubted I would find another one in a pile of four year olds.

'I'll try tomorrow,' I lied, and she nodded with an always patient smile before she leaned down and kissed my nose, 'I love you, my boy.'

I smiled at her, 'I love you too, mommy.' It was a lie of course, but it was all part of the trick, the illusion. I had to lie to her as I had to lie to everyone. By my calculations it would only take six maybe seven more years before I could return to my youkai self and leave her.

When she put me to bed, she would always sing softly. Oddly not Japanese songs, but American, I had to wonder if this was because of my human father. Shiori rarely spoke about him, and as much as she tried to hide it I caught her once or twice with wet eyes or a sad look on her face knowing she was thinking about him. I didn't know this feeling. My human father passed when I was still an infant with very pure senses. I only remembered that after a little while since I was finally born he just wasn't around anymore. The people and companions I had in my youkai life had passed a very long time ago. I had no close association for the last hundred years so I didn't really didn't know such grief. The last person, the one and only human, had been dead for over a century.

A month passed and kindergarten changed nothing of my youkai habits although it changed quite a lot about my learning. As boring as it was they taught me a variety of things about the life in the human world. One of the teacher, Tenshi Sensei, would always patiently explain to me any questioned I asked. She apparently liked me very much as she gave me a book for the Christmas about plants. I would have been suspicious, but she explained that she noticed how much time I spent in our little garden at the back.

I managed to finish the book by the time I had to go to bed, and asked my mom for a book about plants for Christmas. She looked surprised, but she promised to get me one. Since I still had about seven years in this world I might as well lean something about it and spent some time.

My mom was getting more and more worried about it. I could see it in her face as we walked pass playgrounds and other places. She wanted me to make friends, but I still wasn't interested.

'Don't you want to play for a little bit?' asked Shiori as we were passing another playground.

'Yusuke! You jerk, just wait until I catch you!' I heard some little girl shout, and I chuckled a bit, but shook my head and we continued to walk. Although it bothered her, she never pushed me. I wasn't very sure why, but since I wasn't very used to humans they were still a bit of a mystery to me. Whenever my mother wasn't home, I would turn on the TV. A lot of the things the people, reporters, talked about were bad. I knew mankind was corrupted, but I never would have thought it would have been that bad. Because tunnels to Makai were rare, there was very few youkai around, yet somehow humans managed to kill more humans than any youkai ever had. Humanity was something truly strange.

It was clear that the humans were capable of terrible things, murder, rape, violence, war. Pretty much anything in the name of whatever they chose to love, war, power, money or just for the sake of violence. I couldn't understand why they were called humans when they were just like use basically. Violent little monsters in their center. With time and years the human world became more interesting as I was slowly allowed to do more and more. As a growing boy I was getting a little bit more independence from Shiori and the teachers. It was liberating. Also the books I got to read were far more interesting now than before. I very much enjoyed biology in this world, but I was still counting the time I had left in this world. My powers were returning very slowly. I knew that after such a close near dead, I would never get my past strength fully, but I with time I was sure I would have been more than capable opponent again. Battles never interested me though. The only thing that every truly brought me many satisfaction was a good robbery. I still had about two more years before I would be able to steal something again.

The odd thing about life is that you never fully know what's coming. You can be a master strategist and yet somehow life manages to make a fool out of you.

It was a nice Saturday and Shiori and I were walking down the streets to buy everything I needed for a new school year. I could see how much it enjoyed shopping for my school necessities. The classes were very easy so there was no problem to have good grades. I could see the pride in her eyes for being an honor student every year.

It was a moment when I felt something. It wasn't much at first just a small shaking underneath my feet.

Perhaps I had become too comfortable in my new human life because when the earthquake fully stroke I was shocked as the rest of the people on the street. We were just standing in front of a large glass window to a shop. It was a moment, and in my previous form it wouldn't have been a problem, but in the moment the result was far different. In a moment the window broke, and I was covered fully by Shiori's body as it felt down at us.

'Mother!'

It was over before it started, but the window was completely gone only pieces of glass were shattered all around us on the ground. My mother was holding me tight in her embrace protecting me even though the earthquake had stopped.

'Mother,' I said and tried to push her away to look at her as she wasn't answering. I felt the worry grew inside me, and I needed to see if she was alright. I was afraid.

When she finally did push away to look at me the first thing she did was brushed my cheek and checked my body, 'Shuichi, are you okay? Tell me did you got hurt?!' she demanded brushing my cheek and chest and arm while looking me up and down to make sure.

I shook my head complete stunned and confused. What did this mean? Why was she…

'Your arm!' I said looking at her arm which had a torn sleeve and was bleeding badly. She paid little mind to as she kept on checking me.

'Mother, I'm alright, but you're arm,' I said very carefully looking putting my hand on her wrist.

She shook her head, 'I'll be okay, I'm just worried about you. Are you sure you're alright?'

I nodded again still confused by what was happening before she pulled me closer to herself. I heard her sobs and sensed as her chest flinched a bit as she started to cry, 'Oh Kami, I was so worried you would get hurt.'

I stood there letting her hug me for a moment before I hugged her back. I didn't understand what had just happened. Shiori saved my life. Out of complete kindness and love she just… save my life. When she leaned away she smiled at me weakly and kissed the tip of my nose. She loved me. One the way to the hospital I couldn't stop looking at her as she was completely brave and obviously hurt because she was protecting me. She saved my life because she loved me. I was her son, it could have meant nothing to her. I was no real use to her now, I only caused her worries with my asocial behavior and yet she loved me and that was all she needed to save my life.

'Mother,' I said as the doctor was pulling of sharp pieces of glass from her arms.

She bit her lip to hold back a cry and tried to smile, 'It's all right, Shuichi. It hurts, but it will make mommy better.'

I walked up to her from the place the doctor let me sit, 'Can I take you hand?'

She chuckled a bit, 'Of course. You'll help me with the pain, right?'

As I took her hand, I felt the little bit of power returning to me. It wasn't much to do anything radical, but used it to heel her a bit as well. It didn't do much, but I could tell that when the doctor pulled away another piece it hurt way more.

'I think you're giving me good energy, Shuichi,' she laughed a bit, and I smiled at her. Humans could be incredibly violent and cruel, but they could also be incredibly loving and caring. In that moment holding my mother's hand I silently vowed to her and myself that I would stay by her side in the human world for as long as she wanted me to. Perhaps this was what made humanity so amazing. Finding one pure human in a pile of inhumans.

'Mother,' I said softly, and she looked at me again.

'I love you,' I said, and she blinked. Perhaps she noticed it too because this time was the first time since I learned the phrase that it didn't feel like a lie.

Her smile warmed my heart a bit, 'I love you too, Shuichi.'