He refused to be caught like this! Not this way! It was bad enough to have the job go down bad. It was worse that Kuronue, his best friend, and Koori, his beloved younger sister, had both died running from the guards.
The bastards might have gotten away with Kuronue's death, because the bat demon had turned back to snatch up his dropped garnet pendant, and when caught, when nearly dead, had ordered them both to run.
But Koori... he would avenge her death if it was last thing he did. His innocent, little sister, not even a hundred or so, still so much like a child to him. Oh, his sweet little white fox with her cobalt blue eyes. All he could see as he ran was her broken, little body, covered in blood, pierced by bamboo stakes, her gaze begging him to run even as her life gushed forth from her onto the ground. She had not turned back. She had been running. And she hadn't even had anything in her hands, none of the stolen goods. He, Youko Kurama, had everything.
He stumbled when a stake caught him through the leg, and he fell. Snarling in rage, he ripped the thing from his body and threw it aside, running on and on until he collapsed, unable to go on. The guards were following the trail of his bright blood. He had to get up, but he was so tired from running. His legs screamed in pain as he staggered to his feet. He trudged a few more steps and fell... through a weak spot in the barrier between the worlds.
(Ten years later)
Shuichi, more commonly thought of as Kurama, was excited, though no one at his school could have told you that. He seemed calm and collected, but he went about his schoolwork with an uncharacteristic smile, soft and blissful, upon his handsome, young face, and walked with a strange bounce in his step. He was waiting for a very important phone call from his Mother's doctor, a call that would tell him the most wonderful news.
The phone on his sensei's desk shrilled loudly, and made everyone but the red haired young boy jump with surprise. His teacher kept nodding as the person on the other end talked, and scribbling down the message on a yellow sticky pad.
"Shuichi, there's a message for you," his teacher called from her desk. She hung up the phone and handed her written message to the boy. "You're father is waiting outside for you at the office." The red-headed nine-year-old grinned and bowed to his sensei, then rushed out of the room.
His father did not wish to see his Mother, which should have concerned the boy, but really, Kurama was for once not totally absorbed in his Mother so much as what precious gift, what second chance, his Mother had for him.
Second chance? He shook his head, confused. A second chance at what? He wasn't sure, couldn't remember, but it gave him a strange sense of hope. He rushed into her hospital room and skidded to a halt. His mother was fine, lying in a white hospital bed smiling warmly at him.
"Hello, Shuichi, dear. Come here and see your new sister." Those words struck something deep within him. Long ago, more than a hundred years almost, another woman had said those words to him. She had had long, silver hair and blue eyes. His mother, he remembered vaguely. And in her arms had been a small girl baby, with soft, white hair, fluffy fox ears, and a bushy, white tail. Her brilliant, jewel eyes had been the color of purest sapphires.
Now, Kurama looked at this newborn child in his human mother's arms. If he had been like Hiei- he vaguely remembered Hiei from his past- he would have been disgusted, but all he could feel for this little human infant was love.
This was his sister.
She had short, scruffy red hair, just a shade lighter than his own. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green, just like his. She had a small, heart-shaped mouth that yawned widely when she saw him. Her tiny hand reached out and curled around his finger, and he gently shook her hand.
I'm your brother. My name is Kurama. Do you have a name?
He didn't expect to hear or feel anything on the telepathic link, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a strange feeling of recognition, some slight confusion, and a burst of love. She knew who he was, insomuch as he was someone good, someone who cared about her and would protect her, someone that she, too, cared about. She recognized him from all the times he had communicated with her, silently, before birth, telling her all about himself, what bits of his past he remembered, everything about their Mother and Father, the Four Worlds and their histories, things he had learned in school, everything he could think of.
But she did not know her own name. She did not know what a name was. He sensed her confusion when he mentioned that his name was Kurama. What did that mean, she seemed to ask?
I will explain later.
"What is her name, Mother?"
"Her name is Megumi."