I'll Be the Greatest Fan of Your Life

That night…

Anna POV

How am I supposed to ask him? And do I want to know? He already told me he was a thief. How different is my Kurama from the old Kurama? Will he even be willing to tell me? "Kurama…could you tell me a little bit more about your life?" He looks startled, so I add, "I know what kind of person you are now. But our experiences help shape us. I want to know what made you the way you are today."

He smiles. "Two questions first." I nod, so he asks, "Is the type of person I am today a good type?"

Yes. Definitely. I smile. "For the most part. Question two?"

He hesitates. That hesitation can mean only one thing. Finally he asks, "When I have finished, will you tell me more about your past?"

No. Yes. I don't know. "Kurama," I say slowly. His face falls; my tone is making him think I'm not going to agree, I guess. "I trust you enough to tell you."

"But?" Yes. There's always a catch.

"But I don't know if I can talk about it. A lot of it is still painful." I sigh. "I think Jake is still the only person I'd feel comfortable really talking about my past with."

He looks slightly hurt. I wish I didn't feel that way. I really do. I want to tell Kurama. I just don't know if I'll be able to say it. But he seems to understand because he says, "Because Jake went through all of it with you."

"Yeah." There is a silence, so I say, "I will try to tell you, Kurama. I just don't know if I'll be able to."

He nods. "Well, I suppose that's fair enough. Especially since…parts of my past…I'm ashamed of much of it, Anna. I might have trouble telling you about it."

"Just try. And I'll try too."

"Okay." He sighs. He's so…sad. Almost worn. Is this his true age showing through to his human body? "I suppose…As you know, I'm a yô-ko, an enchanted fox. I made a life of breaking seals and codes and stealing the treasures hidden within. I killed people without a second thought. I have never once lost sleep over taking a life." He looks so sad. I suddenly release a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Perhaps that's because all those I've killed recently were also trying to kill me. Any innocents, any women and children I killed were dead long before I developed a conscience…"

"Oh, Kurama," I say moving closer to him on the couch. "I didn't realize…" I don't think he really realized how much it bothers him.

Kurama POV

I continue, "Then there's the simple cruelty. For many years I found pleasure in…not other people's pain exactly. But I enjoyed the sense of power that came with causing pain. I had power over those people." I shake my head. Why? What could possibly have made such a thing seem acceptable or even logical? "And I haven't entirely moved past that. Recently…fighting in a tournament…admittedly, he was trying to kill me, and he was threatening Shiori…but I found myself saying something along the lines of I enjoy facing lowlifes like you. It allows me to be as brutal as I want."

"Kurama. Oh, Kurama," she says, squeezing my hand. Why isn't she afraid to be near me after what I've told her so far?

"I often worked with someone to carry out the raids…sometimes we couldn't work together any longer, so I would hire someone to…eliminate them. I still cannot bring myself to regret those betrayals. The only one I regret…you may have heard of a man named Yomi…"

"I thought he was still alive," she replies, obviously confused. How on earth did she find out about the politics of the demon plane? And who told her? And when? Urgh. It really doesn't matter right now.

"He is…I hired someone. He failed, and Yomi was blinded. I regret not hiring a stronger assassin." I shake my head. "And then the women…but I don't think you really want to hear about that." Please don't make me tell you, Anna. That is the one thing I cannot bring myself to talk about around her. I can't do it.

"No, not really. And Kurama…you're making it sound worse than it is. You regret it now. Please keep that in mind."

I look at her. She looks something between sad and worried. "I'll try," I promise. But…it is as bad as it sounds. Why wouldn't it be that bad? Just because I feel regret for my actions now…that does nothing to atone for the actions themselves.

She looks at me and says, "So what caused the one eighty?"

"Shiori." That one word…that one woman changed my life more than I could have imagined. How is it that the two people who have had the greatest impact on my life are human and women, both of which I always used to look down upon. "She taught me what it means to love."

Anna smiles. She squeezes my hand again and says, "I guess it's my turn. Just…Kurama, try to remember that the only person who knows the whole story is Jake. You're the first person I've tried to tell. I think I screamed a lot of it at Dr. Takei but…"

"Wait. No one ever called Dr. Takei to tell her you were back. Crap." I move to get up, but Anna stops me.

"I'm not stupid, Kurama. I went to see her before I came home. She was with a patient though, so I just had her secretary or whatever tell her that I'm fine, but I'm not planning on coming back." I breathe a sigh of relief. Okay, we didn't forget anything major. Well, Anna didn't, at least. Then she says, "Did you understand what I said, Kurama?"

I nod. "Yes."

"Okay…well…until I was twelve, my life was normal, other than being raised bilingually at home. Which isn't all that unusual in the US. But when I was twelve, my mom left. First, though, there was a lot of shouting, and a lot of things got smashed and broken." She suddenly starts glowering at the floor about six feet away from us. "My father never got over her, but she was married less than four months later, and now she has another kid."

"Anna, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't do anything. And I'm done with her. If I never see her again, that's fine by me." There is a long silence. I think I know why. What comes next is one of the most painful parts for her. Her father's death. "I was only fourteen," she finally whispers. "It was an armed robbery. He tried to keep them out to protect me and Jake, but he didn't have a gun. There were two of them. Four bullets…one in the arm, the shoulder, the leg, the chest…there was blood everywhere." Her voice cracks, but she suddenly forces a wry smile onto her face, as though trying to find the irony in a situation that still causes pain. "The bullet to his chest somehow missed all vital organs…the ME never figured that one out…But the bullet to his leg hit the femoral artery…"

She sniffles, trying her hardest not to cry. I put my arm around her and draw her closer. "Shhh…" I say. "I'm here. You don't need to tell my anything else." I almost wish she wouldn't if it's going to cause her this kind of pain.

"No," she insists. "I want to tell you." She wants to tell me? I might've guessed otherwise. "But after that Jake and I were stuck in foster care. The Carls…they were the ones we were with when Connor happened." She doesn't say anything else about Connor, for which I am thankful. But she does continue. "Then Jake started the drugs. At first it wasn't that bad, mostly just cigarettes, occasionally marijuana…but the Carls got rid of us anyway. Then we were sent to the Swifts and his drug usage just got worse and worse and then the suicide attempt and the forest…" Up till this point her speech as gotten faster and faster as she gets closer and closer to crying. She suddenly takes a deep breath and whispers, "And you know what comes after."

"Yes…and I'm very happy for it." She still looks sad, so I pull her onto my lap and hold her. She rests her head on my shoulder, and I tilt my head to rest on top of hers.

After several silent minutes she says, "As much as I hate him…in a twisted way…some part of me is grateful to him…some part of me considers what happened with Connor the second-best thing that ever happened to me."

I flinch involuntarily. What is she talking about? How can she still like him at all? "Why?" I whisper.

"Because even though it was indirect and unintentional on his part, it still led me to the best thing. It's kind of like being happy for trials that in the end bring happiness. Weird but true."

"What's the best thing?"

She closes her eyes. It's rare for me to see Anna so peaceful like this. "If not for being heartbroken, I'm fairly certain I could have handled Jake's drugs. If I had handled that, I wouldn't have run away, and I wouldn't have ended up in that park."

Anna POV

"You mean the best thing was coming here to Japan?"

Kind of. Indirectly. The location actually has no influence on it whatsoever. "Sure," I reply, not bothering to open my eyes. He's holding me. His arms are around me, and he is protecting me from my memories as well as he can. "We'll go with that." Let him figure out that Japan itself has nothing to do with it.


Well, here is this chapter. It is dedicated to Foxgirl Ray, since she is the one who gave me the inspiration for this chapter. :D I only own Anna, Jake and Dr. Takei. Anna being the most important one, of course. Now on to the reviews.

Arista Lycoris: Hahaha. I hadn't noticed. However, the fact that the girls falling for Kurama having mental disorders (of course, Anna doesn't really have a mental disorder, she just has...issues) might say something about Kurama. As for Shizuru, when I started this story I had no intention of making her anything more than a minor character. So much for that.

wolvesrain17: agreed.

Angel of Randomosity: Most definitely. It's kind of painful for me to write. I'm most definitely NOT a romance person. I think this is probably the closest thing I've gotten to girl-falls-for-boy, boy-falls-for-girl, and they-live-happily-ever-after. Well, for the focus of the story at least. Romance generally is the minor plot that underlies some other major plot. Now I'm rambling and don't remember what I was trying to say, so I'll just shut up.

Starmaid15: Well, posting 3 chapters without you... I don't try you know. I'm just trying to get enough posted so I can post the first Christmas chapter on Christmas. So I am trying to post quickly, but I'm not trying to leave you behind.

animegrlsteph: Of course it's cute. Kurama and Anna are almost disgusting with how cute they are. Until Anna gets just a bit more comfortable. Then it just turns funny.