Chapter 2: Reunited
As they reached the end of the cave Yomi spotted a tiny figure resting against the wall. His heart stopped beating for a moment. Was the boy…dead? But before his eyes could tell, his ears picked up the sound of breathing coming from the figure. It was quite dark and Yomi had no way of telling if it was indeed Shura. "Is this the trap?" Ymo thought. He passed by the kitsune and walked towards the wall.
"Papa?" A small voice came his way. Yomi stoped stunned. It really was Shura!
The boy reached out his hands for Yomi and Yomi went the pick up his boy. If he was not in the presence of a total stranger, he would have probably started to cry right there. He hugged Shura tightly and breathed relieved. His boy was alive. He looked his son over and discovered that indeed he had a broken arm and a few scratches but other than that he was ok.
Shura was happy that he had finally been found by his dad. His broken arm didn't matter right now…
"Who did this to you?" Yomi asked looking at the boy in his arms.
"I don't know Papa. I was reading in my room and I thought I heard something move by me and when I turned to see what it was, everything went black." The boy said remembering.
Yomi frowned. Not even his castle was safe. With all the guards he had in and around the building something like this shouldn't have happened. He was going to have to have a little talk with Youda about this. It was unacceptable. As he was thinking of this he realized that the kistune was still there. He looked over his shoulder and tunred around to face the young demon. The kistune was watching them with a small smile on his delicate lips. Yomi was amazed at the kindness he saw in the demon's eyes. He looked down at Shura.
"Have you been treated good?" he asked watching the kistune from the corner of his eyes.
"Yes Papa" the boy replied. "Kurama has been bringing me food every couple of hours and he took care of my arm. It's not as bad as it used to be. When he first brought me here I couldn't even move it but now…" the boy looked at his right arm and flexed it. He looked back up at his father smiling. "So his name is Kurama…, that's a very beautiful name…" Yomi thought.
"I am very thankful for everything you have done for me and my son" Yomi said to the kitsune.
"I'm just glad Shura's alright and that you managed to find him. Ummm….I think we can leave the cave" Kurama said swishing his brown tail from side to side.
Yomi nodded and started going on the same path he came into the cave. All the way the feeling that something bad might happened didn't leave him. "Maybe this is what he wanted…to have us both in his reach and kill us…" Yomi thought to himself. But as the minutes passed and the road became more lighted the kistune did nothing that he could have found dangerous.
Having gotten out of the cave Yomi stopped. He watched as Kurama followed shortly and stopped taking in a breath of air. The kitsune looked at the father and son.
"Well….I have to go… It would be too suspicious if I'm gone for too long…"
"But how did you manage to get so far…if you're… if you've been captured?" Yomi refrained from calling him a slave. "It's the least I can do for him he thought".
"We have chips. Implanted in the back of our necks. They show our position and they can even apply electric shocks if we try to escape" Kurama replied looking at the ground. He hated being a slave… hated not having freedom…
"Well, it was nice meeting you Lord Yomi" Kurama said taking a small bow. "You two Shura" he added nodding toward the boy. Shura smiled sadly. He didn't like the fact that his savior had to be left here with all those mean demons.
Kurama turned and headed back to the slave camp.
"Goodbye… Kurama…." Yomi said watching the kistune walk away.
For a bit of time, both father and son lay motionless looking into the distance where only a small spot of brown indicated where Kurama was. Yomi got out his communicator and called for his group to come for him. He flared his demon energy and his second in command and army knew how to find them. And weren't they surprised to see Shura sitting calmly in his father's arms.
The way back to the castle gave Yomi time to think. He felt a tinge of guilt for having to leave Kurama there after the kistune had been so kind as to take care of his son. And there was the issue of security. How could someone had gotten in the castle without the guards noticing? A sparkle went through his body. What if he shouldn't worry about someone from the outside? What if someone from the inside had planned this? Was this the kidnapper's intention? To get them away from the castle? Or…
"Shura?" Yomi asked looking at his son's head who was sitting in front of him on the horse.
"Yes Papa?" Shura asked tilting his head to look his father in the eyes.
"Do you remember anyting? Were you left in the forest or…?"
"No" the boy replied frowning. "I was carried in a bag. I couldn't see anything. I tried to move to get out of the bag but someone was yelling at me not to move anymore. And when I didn't listen they threw the bag to the ground and I broke my arm. And after a couple of hours I think… the one carrying me got agitated. That's when I first heard Kurama. He fought with whoever was carrying the back and I was dropped to the ground. Kurama got me out of the bag and took me to the cave where you found me. He took care of me…he even gave me all the food he got."
Yomi was stunned.
"How do you know this?"
"I could feel him growing weaker. He hasn't eaten anything for almost a week" Shura said sighing.
The remaining part of the road to the castle was walked in silence. Even the horses seemed to smell the tension in the air. Yomi was quite convinced that someone from inside his castle had planned this. The only question was who?
"Yomi, you old fool" Yomi laughe bitterly to himself "Not even now, not even with all the 1000 years of life you have, you do not have enough experience to pick your allies. You don't even now who to trust and who not to."
His mind drifted off to Kurama. Yomi was determined to go back to the slave camp the following day and buy the kistune. He would set the boy free and give him some money to start a new life.
Yomi lifted his gaze and smiled slightly when the castle, his castle came into view. He had decided what to do for the next day and he told himself he was going to be more careful about things going on around his castle…