Chapter Two

"And now I found brimstone in my garden
I found roses set on fire
and I found Jesus, what a liar
so I trade licks with Muddy Waters."
–Little Pistol, Mother Mother

I.

The only thing Kurama even mildly liked about the orphanage was the small, well kempt garden in the backyard.

Everything else? Not so much.

The orphanage workers were acceptable. Since they were so busy all the time, they left Kurama alone to his own devices, which suited him just fine. There were very few things that Kurama, in the body of a toddler, could do without causing suspicion however, so he found himself reading most of the time. Of course, he had to take the books up to where he was rooming with two other toddlers (Justin and Anthony) because he was reading books that were much too advanced for a child below ten. It was okay to read in front of Justin and Anthony though, because they were too stupid to know that he should still be on picture books.

There were only so many books though, so after Kurama had exhausted all of the reading material in the orphanage (within two months) he found himself people watching. He watched the children, the workers and the people coming to adopt. He didn't like the children (they were whiny, juvenile and were constantly seeking attention) and was indifferent to the workers and the would-be-parents, though there was a certain level of distain for all of them, simply because they were human.

II.

Caretaker Jess was confused.

And just a smidge irritated.

When Isaac Matthew Greystone (as he was named by the orphanage) got dropped off at St. Mary's everyone thought that he would be one of the first children to be adopted. He looked to be turning two soon (so was given the birthday of December 29th) which was an age that was very likely to be adopted.

And he was cute. He had bright green eyes and pretty red hair. People may not think they were shallow, but Jess had been working at St. Mary's long enough to know that whether it was subconscious or not, parents gravitated towards the attractive children, and gave the excuse of 'not feeling a connection' when they rejected the ugly children.

Isaac Greystone had been at the orphanage for a year and a half now, having come on November 1st 1981 and it now being June 12th 1983, and every set of parents that had been sent his way (and there had been a lot) all said roughly the same thing: Isaac didn't seem to like them. Jess had tried to reassure them that Isaac didn't appear to like anyone, and that if given enough love, she was positive that he would become such a wonderful little person. The parents though, they said that they weren't looking for a project, which Jess found stupid. Didn't they know that raising a child was a project no matter what?

III.

Minamino Shiori – Shiori Minamino, actually, now that she was in England – was bored with life.

Not that she was suicidal! No, no, no. She would never commit suicide. But… if a bus just happened to hit her and she died on impact? Well, she wouldn't be heartbroken. But she wouldn't jump in front of the bus. No, the bus had to come to her.

Her friends and co-workers had seen how bored – "Depressed, Shiori-san," everyone said, "You're depressed," – she was, and suggested that she go on a trip. Get away from normal life. Get out of her funk. Have some fun! So Shiori had decided to take a trip to England, because in school her best subject had always been English, and she had thought that maybe she would feel good about herself – feel smart – like how she had in high school.

Turns out England was just as boring as Japan.

Shiori had been in London for three days already, and all she wanted to do was curl up in her hotel room bed and pig out on room service while getting drunk off the liquor in the mini-fridge. She had forced herself to go outside though. Not because she would have more luck with that bus, but because she had spent money to take this trip, so she should at least go outside.

Maybe she should have just gone on a camping trip… then she could have been mauled by a bear, or maybe fallen off a cliff, and she wouldn't be found for at least a couple weeks…. No, it was probably a good thing she stuck with civilization: she was lonely enough as it was.

Shiori sat down heavily on a park bench and sighed, looking at her surroundings with dissatisfaction. It's not that she didn't like England, she would just much rather be bored at home then bored in a different country. After multiple miscarriages, and then her husband dying, Shiori felt she had the right to be depresse – bored, she was just bored.

A blond woman with many freckles sat down next to her. "Good morning," the woman said, making small talk. "I'm Jess, what's your name?"

Shiori straightened up slightly, "Oh – oh, my name is Mina – sorry, ah, Shiori Minamimo. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, are you from Asia? Sorry, I just noticed your accent."

Shiori nodded, "I'm here on vacation from Japan."

Jess opened her mouth to say something else, but something caught her eye, and she excused herself hastily. Shiori watched with dull eyes as she crossed the park to where there was a small gathering of healthy trees. She pulled a small child down from one of the lower branches, placed him on her hip and made her way back to the bench with the child.

"—can't keep running off, Isaac," Jess was saying. "There are bad people out there, and I don't want you to get hurt. No climbing trees either – what if you'd fallen? You could have broken something! Now, say hello to Miss Shiori, and if you're good, I might let you go play by yourself again." Jess retook her seat, the child, Isaac, sitting on her lap.

"Hello," Isaac intoned dutifully, looking neither happy nor unhappy.

Shiori tried to smile, but when Isaac tilted his head curiously, she felt like she failed. To cover up her not-smile, Shiori asked, "Do you like trees?"

"Yes."

"What do you like doing? Besides climbing trees."

"Reading."

"Do you like playing games? What about your friends?"

"I don't like games. I don't have friends."

"Ah," Jess broke into the stilted, slightly one-sided conversation. "You've been good Isaac. You can go play, just don't go too far."

Isaac slid off her lap without a word and walked away.

Jess cleared her throat awkwardly, looking inexplicably embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that. He's very… ah, introverted? Well, he just doesn't seem to be that interested in anything besides plants and books, and even with those… he just…. I don't know." Jess shrugged. "He's a very good boy though. Very smart. I still don't understand why he hasn't been adopted yet."

"Adopted?" Shiori asked.

"Yes, I work at St. Mary's orphanage, where he lives."

"Hm…" Shiori hummed, her eyes following the little redheaded. "Where is this orphanage?"

IV.

In Isaac, who was so expressionless and uncaring, Shiori saw some of herself.

Isaac seemed lonely, just like Shiori had been for the last year.

Isaac seemed sad, just like Shiori had been since her first miscarriage three years previous.

Isaac seemed bored, so bored, and Shiori, who couldn't fathom a time where the world had been the slightest bit interesting, knew that boredom – not depression – and how suffocating it was; how much worse boredom could be than loneliness or sadness.

And how could it be that a little boy, who couldn't be more than three or four, felt boredom with the world?

V.

"Do you remember your parents Isaac-kun?" Shiori asked on her third visit to St. Mary's.

Kurama didn't understand why she kept coming to see him. He'd made no effort to get her to like him. He'd treated her exactly as he'd treated the other parents that came to 'get to know him' and see if they wanted to adopt him: with complete indifference. He wasn't difficult, he answered questions and was polite, but he never smiled and did not ask questions in return.

"Yes," Kurama answered.

"What were they like?"

Kurama had never been asked about his parents the whole time he'd been in the orphanage. All they'd asked was if he remembered his name, and he'd said no, because he felt no attachment to the name Harry James Potter and it would be harder for the Wizarding World to find him if he had a different name. The orphanage workers must have figured that if he didn't remember his own name, why would he remember his parents? "I look like my mother. She had red hair similar to mine, and green eyes. She liked to read; she was smart. I don't look much like my father. He had black hair, brown eyes and wore glasses. He worked most of the time."

Shiori smiled, and Kurama noticed that it had gotten much more genuine from the time he'd first meet her. How peculiar. "Did you love them?"

Kurama considered. He hadn't known Lily and James anywhere near long enough to love them. Plus, they were humans. But… "I liked them. They were good parents."

"What happened to them? If you don't mind me asking."

He didn't. "They were murdered."

Shiori gasped, and abruptly brought Kurama into a hug. Kurama stiffened, eyes wide. He regained his composure quickly and relaxed, but did not put any effort in reciprocating the hug. Shiori just hugged him tighter.

VI.

"What are your favorite flowers?"

"Roses."

"What are your favorite animals?"

"Foxes," Kurama answered with a miniscule smirk. "I like bats too."

"My favorite are goats," Shiori said. "I don't know why. My friends always teased me about that, saying that it was an odd animal to like."

"If you had a pet goat, what would you name it?" Kurama asked purely for his own amusement.

Shiori smiled, her largest one yet. "I don't know, I've never thought about it. What would you name a pet goat?"

"Yomi," Kurama said instantly, having hoped she would ask him.

"Yomi is the land of the dead in the Shinto religion you know," Shiori informed him.

"Really?" Kurama said, perking up slightly. He'd never paid attention to human religions before, and the only one he'd really heard about in his time as a human was Christianity, which didn't really interest him.

"Would you like me to tell you more of Shintoism?" Shiori asked.

Kurama nodded, "Yes," and to be polite, added, "please."

VII.

"Good morning Isaac-kun!" Shiori greeted after knocking on the door to his room and getting permission to enter.

"Good morning Shiori-san," Isaac replied, which made Shiori smile widen. She had only given him a few lessons on speaking Japanese, but he was so smart, he picked the language up like he'd been speaking it all his life. It was probably because he was a child; Shiori had heard that children picked up language much faster than adults.

"How are you today?"

"Well," Isaac said. "And you?"

"Good, very good." Shiori twisted her fingers together, "I have something to ask you."

Isaac looked at her expectantly, and as had become the norm, Shiori felt her chest inflate with warmth. He was such a sweet boy, though still very cold. She already loved him as if he were her own. She felt very not-bored with him.

"I – well – you know I will be having to go back to Japan when my vacation is over, and I know we do not know each other very well, that we have not known each other for very long, but I was wondering if – ah – if you would like me to – if you would let me adopt you. Please," she finished, and waited anxiously for his answer.

VIII.

It didn't take Kurama long to come to a decision, to weigh his options.

He could stay in St. Mary's, stay in obscurity until he was inevitably brought back into the Wizarding World, maybe sooner than he was ready. He could continue to be bored with his utterly dull surroundings, his subpar food and lodgings and clothing. Or….

Or, he could go with Shiori and live in Japan, live in a different environment. One where he knew he would get better food, better housing and better clothing. Better everything. Where he could speak the language he was more comfortable with. Where it would be harder for the Wizarding World to find him if he left Europe altogether.

Really, it was very easy to choose. All he had to do was ask himself, What will benefit me more?

IX.

"I'd like you to adopt me."

X.

Kurama consented to being renamed to fit in more with the Japanese populace (though, considering he had red and green eyes, he doubted he would even with a new name).

Shiori picked out his new name after asking him permission, so he was now Minamino Shuichi, meaning "Southern Field" and "excellence first" respectively.

Yoko Kurama.

Harry James Potter.

Isaac Matthew Greystone.

Minamino Shuichi.

Kurama wondered humorously if he'd be given any more names.