The Forgotten Child
Chapter 21
written by Kat Mayes
Kurama ran cold water over the sallow cut
along his thump from one of his microscope slides
and cursed under his breath. He turned the water
off and reached for the box of paper towels on the
corner of the sink. The white piece of absorbent
material would not let go of the inside of the
box. Cursing quietly again, Kurama gave a quick,
sharp tug on the towel and it broke free, but not
without disastrous results.
The momentum that Kurama had inadvertently
given the paper towel box gave the rectangular
object the ability to roll. He tried to stop it,
but the box was well beyond his reach. Before the
traveling towels stopped they ran into the test
tube rack that Kurama had placed dangerously close
to the edge of his lab bench. Kurama watched in
horror as the box knocked one of the rack's
rubberized feet over the edge. For a moment he
thought that the other three feet of the rack
would hold, but he had over filled that side of
the rack with test tubes and all of it went down.
Rack, test tubes, paper towels and a month's worth
of work... gone.
"Shit!" Kurama exclaimed as he threw the one
paper towel he was able to rescue into the floor.
Angrily, Kurama grabbed the near by broom and
dust pan (the ones he moved closer to his lab area
a few weeks ago) and started towards the mess he
had created. On the way, the end of the wooden
broom handle became entangled with the rubber
tubing of his filtration apparatus and before
Kurama had a chance to stop he pulled the
expensive glass equipment over the edge.
Kurama didn't bother to turn around. He
closed his eyes and waited for the crash. When
none came he cautiously looked over his shoulder
and found his supervisor trying to balance the
glass apparatus in her small hands.
"Some timely help would be appreciated,
Shuuichi," she chided gently, and together they
got the filtration equipment on the bench without
a scratch.
"Midorikawa-san, I am so sorry. I'll clean
up this mess immediately," Kurama said quickly as
he once again grabbed the broom and headed to the
mess.
He didn't even get a step before his
supervisor took the deadly weapon from his hands
and shook her head.
"Shuuichi, you have been under a lot of
stress since your *vacation* last summer, and even
though you won't talk about it I know that it's
tearing you up. That's why I'm demanding that you
take a leave of absence until you feel that you
can return to work in a more... present state of
mind."
"But, Midorikawa-san... my project isn't
finished! I'm the only one that knows how to
complete it and..."
"Shuuichi... stop... listen to yourself. If
you don't standback and take some time off your
going to burn yourself out. Now... you have
accumulated enough sick time and vacation days to
take the next *year* off if you wanted to and I am
giving you a direct order to use it."
Kurama tried to protest but his supervisor
would not hear of it. She just walked around him,
with broom in hand and started to clean up his
mess. When he tried to take his lab notebook, she
took that from him as well, signed the page he had
been working on and snapped it shut.
"Shuuichi, go home!" she commanded him with a
shove to his shoulder.
Kurama obeyed hesitantly and walked to his
desk. He took off his lab coat and laid it over
the back of his chair as he grabbed his sports
coat. With his free hand, Kurama touched the
small flowering plant on his desk and forced it
into a hibernation so that it would not suffer
while he was gone. He put on his coat, picked up
his brief case and left the lab.
Even at ten in the morning the street was
full and bustling, but Kurama didn't take notice.
He kept to the side of the walkway to avoid the
fast movers in the center and let his mind wander.
Kurama wasn't in a hurry to return home, or what
was left of his home. An empty house full of
memories wasn't his idea of a place to 'get away
from it all'. It was still hard for him to
believe that only a few short months ago he had
everything he thought he could ever want, then the
summer rains came.
Only three months ago Kurama was content and
his life was in well placed order. Hiei had
finally settled down enough that he spent most of
his time in the Ningenkai, Kurama had finally
reached a position in his company that he could
make his own hours and spend as much time as he
pleased with his lover, and his mother was happier
than he had ever seen her. Everything was
perfect... then the rains came.
Kyuukai had been an unexpected, but welcome
surprise. In fact, that little boy was the only
thing that was keeping Kurama going after his well
ordered world fell apart. Right now Kurama's
young son was at his grandmother's, soaking up all
the love and attention the older lady could dish
out. The love and attention that Shiori had been
keeping intentionally or unintentionally from
Kurama after he allowed Koenma to adopt Kitsuryuu
without a word.
Kitsuryuu... everything seemed to go back to
her. Some days Kurama thought that he hated her.
Because of her, Hiei had almost completely removed
himself from Kurama's life. Because of her,
Shiori and Shuuichi were more that a little upset
with him. Because of her, Kurama had lost all his
concentration. Because of her, Kurama could
hardly sleep at night wondering if she was all
right, hoping that she was happy.
Kurama knew that he could never hate his
daughter. None of what happened was Kitsuryuu's
fault. As his mother was so fond of reminding
him, no one had bothered to ask Kitsuryuu if she
wanted Koenma to adopt her or if she wanted to be
with her fathers. No one had told her the truth
about who she was. No one had allowed her to make
up her own mind.
A gust of warmer air told Kurama that he had
arrived at the underground train terminal and he
changed his trajectory so that he veered in the
correct direction. Once down on the platform he
watched the train that would have taken him to his
home go by. Not really worrying about missing the
train, Kurama found a place against the train
station wall between an elderly man and a pregnant
lady holding a baby and waited for the next train.
Kurama looked up at the rotating schedules of
trains and saw the one he normally took to pick
Kyuukai up from his grandmother's house, but today
was not a normal day. Today Kurama had to get
ready for Kitsuryuu's coronation, after all, he
was a close friend of her 'father'. It was
expected of him to be there.
A heavy, defeated sigh escaped Kurama as he
thought about how close Koenma and Kitsuryuu had
become over the last three months. Koenma had
allowed Kitsuryuu to come to him at her own pace
and never once pushed her into anything. It only
took a couple of weeks of constant visits for
Kitsuryuu to decide that she wanted to go to the
Reikai with her 'father'.
Kitsuryuu was going to school and getting the
education that her fathers could never have given
her. Koenma had the best therapists, dead or
alive, working to help Kitsuryuu learn to get pass
the mental block that kept her from hearing.
Hell, Koenma had given Kitsuryuu a kingdom, what
did he have to offer her.
The baby next to Kurama started to whine and
sniffle, despite its mother's efforts to keep it
happy. The mother bounced the infant in her arms
while rocking it in the attempt to calm it. Her
movements were large and awkward because of her
misshapen size and for a brief moment Kurama
thought she would wabble over. When the child
started to really cry Kurama thought about finding
another place to wait for the train.
"Excuse me, sir. Would you do me a really
big favor and hold Yoshi for me?"
It took Kurama a moment to realize that the
lady was speaking to him, but before he had a
chance to accept or decline, the pregnant mother
shoved her crying infant into his arms. Kurama
stood gasping like a landed fish as he watched the
woman walk away and round a corner. The baby gave
a particularly high pitched wale and Kurama
thought that his ears might pop.
Kyuukai hardly ever cried except when he was
hungry or when Hiei had been gone for a long time.
Kurama's son was still strongly attached to his
'birth' father and from what Yukina told him that
was the way Koorimei children were. Koorimei
infants could always tell if their mother was too
far away and a Koorimei mother could never leave
their infant for more than a day. Yukina told him
that this would last for the next few months.
It was this strong bond between Hiei and
Kyuukai that guaranteed Kurama that he would see
his lover at least two or three times a week.
Hiei mostly visited Kyuukai when the baby was at
Shiori's home. But, on the occasions when
Kurama's mother took the infant with her to a
friend's house or when she would go shopping, Hiei
was force to come to the apartment. On those
nights Kurama hoped to convince Hiei to return
home to him and Kyuukai.
Kurama had tried every trick in the book to
get Hiei to talk to him about Kitsuryuu but the
fire demon always refused. Hiei wouldn't
acknowledge that he even had a daughter or that
letting her go was killing him inside. To Hiei
the subject was closed and it would never be
talked about again. Just thinking about how much
Hiei was silently suffering caused Kurama's guilt
to the surface.
Shiori had convinced Kurama to go shopping
with her for both Kyuukai and Kitsuryuu the night
Koenma came for his daughter. Kurama had not
wanted to go but he had agreed to because
Kitsuryuu had finally come out of her coma that
afternoon and the girl did need some clothes of
her own.
Kurama had returned to the Kuwabara home with
a pile of stuff jammed into his car. While
shopping for various things a 16 year old would
need Kurama had discovered that he was really
looking forward to learning about his daughter.
The instant that he had pulled into the massive
driveway, however, Kurama had known that something
was very wrong. He had seen Hiei siting at the
base of a tree, knees drawn up to his chest and
arms crossed on his knees, looking up at the
stars.
Kurama had told Shiori that he would join her
in the house in a moment and had gone to see what
had happened while he was away. Hiei hadn't
acknowledged Kurama's presence, which was normal
behavior for the fire demon. But when Kurama had
placed his hand on his lover's shoulder Hiei
started badly and had his sword half drawn before
Kurama was able to stop him.
It had disturbed Kurama greatly that Hiei had
not noticed his presence, but more upsetting than
that had been the look on fire demon's face. Hiei
had looked totally defeated, lost and older
somehow. When Kurama had asked what was wrong the
only thing Hiei would say was 'She's gone'.
Instantly Kurama had jumped to the conclusion that
Kitsuryuu had taken a turn for the worse while he
had been gone and died.
He had run full speed to the house despite
the painful clutch in his chest and the sickening
pressure in his gut. Yuusuke must have seen him
coming because he had been there to stop Kurama
before he entered. It had taken Yuusuke several
minutes to get Kurama to listen to him because of
the red haired man's distress.
Somehow, finally, Yuusuke had gotten through
to Kurama and had explained the events that had
happened that evening. Koenma had come to see
Kitsuryuu, to tell her that he was going to adopt
her and take her to the Reikai. The son of the
king of the dead had been completely taken by
surprise when Hiei had threatened to kill him if
he did any such thing. Koenma had been totally
unaware that Kurama and Hiei were Kitsuryuu's
fathers, a glitch in the computer he had said.
While Yukina held Hiei back, Koenma had explained
why he had started the paperwork for adopting
Kitsuryuu.
Yuusuke had told Kurama of Hiei's surprise
and how he had demanded that Koenma find a way to
save his daughter. Koenma had believed and still
believes that Kitsuryuu's only chance was to
become his daughter and under his protection she
would survive. Kurama, like Hiei before him, gave
into Koenma's plan and allowed the young god to
take their daughter without a fight, for her sake.
They even agreed to keep Kitsuryuu's true parents
a secret from her.
If he and Hiei acknowledged that Kitsuryuu
was their daughter then she would lose the
protection that Koenma's plan offered her. There
was an extremely small chance that the council
might release Kitsuryuu on a parole type basis if
she went to trial instead, but if the council
found out that Kitsuryuu's fathers were both
ex-felons it would not do her case any good.
All night long Koenma and Kurama tried to
come up with a way to save Kitsuryuu without
Koenma having to adopt her, but they could think
of nothing. Morning finally came and Kurama was
forced to decide if he was going to tell Kitsuryuu
the truth about who her fathers were or was he
going to let her go without a word. Kurama hadn't
decided when Koori had come to tell Koenma that
Kitsuryuu was ready to see him.
Kurama had bolted to his feet and had set his
resolve to tell Kitsuryuu the truth. He couldn't
let her go without saying something. He had
walked into the living room with every intention
of telling her, but when he saw the surprise and
fear in her eyes when she first thought that he
was her father, he paused. He had forgotten how
frightened Kitsuryuu was of humans. It had been
his own fear of rejection that had kept his tongue
still. Kurama had been so afraid that Kitsuryuu
would reject him outright because of his current
humanity that he allowed Koenma to take his place.
From that moment on, Kurama lost any right to call
himself Kitsuryuu's father.
"Thank you so much for watching, Yoshi. He
gets really cranky when he doesn't get his morning
juice."
Kurama was snapped out of his daydream
memories by the return of Yoshi's mother. He had
not realized it, but the infant boy had quieted
down some, being somewhat content to play with and
eat Kurama's long hair. Kurama quickly handed the
boy to his mother and pulled out a handkerchief to
wipe the baby drool from his shoulder and hair.
"You're very good with children. Do you have
any little ones of your own?" the young mother
asked as she popped the baby's newly filled juice
bottle into his hungry mouth.
"Yes. One... two... no one..." Kurama
stammered, having never been asked that question
before.
The lady smiled, "Which is it? One or two?"
"Two," Kurama replied nervously as he looked
at the time, "It's just that I have a hard time
thinking of the older one as my little girl."
"How old are they?"
"Three months and seventeen years today."
"Wow. I bet that will be some birthday
party," the woman said.
The sound of train brakes griping the metal
rails caught the mother's attention and she
quickly gathered her belongings and boarded the
train. Kurama was glad to see her go, but the
innocent question she had asked left a lingering
hole.
When Kurama's train arrived he boarded
quickly still thinking about the mother's words.
Kitsuryuu's birthday party *was* going to be a
gayla event. It wasn't everyday that a god
adopted a unknown girl as his daughter. The party
was more to pacify everyone's curiosity about
Kitsuryuu than anything else. The guest list was
very impressive. Gods, demi-gods and the elite of
both the Ningenkai and Makai where going to be
there.
He and Hiei had been invited to Kitsuryuu's
birthday party by the birthday girl herself. She
had come all the way into the city a week ago,
despite her fear of humans, to personally invite
them. Somehow Kitsuryuu had come on one of the
rare nights when Hiei happened to be home.
The two of them had been in one of their
"non-discussions" about Kitsuryuu when the
mentioned girl walked into the room, Kyuukai in
her arms. It had surprised them more than just a
little to turn and find Kitsuryuu sitting on the
couch watching them "not fight". Hiei had turn
instantly silent and Kurama had been at a loss for
words. When Kurama had finally asked how she had
gotten in Kitsuryuu replied that she could open
any door or window if she wanted to.
The old side of Kurama had been a little
proud to find out that his unique 'abilities' had
been passed on, but the new side just had to shake
his head disapprovingly. Kurama had asked why she
had come all the way into the city and Kitsuryuu's
face had lit up. She had quickly bounced to her
feet handed Kyuukai to him and reached into her
jacket pocket.
Since living with Koenma, Kitsuryuu clothes
had taken a turn for the better. Not only did
they all fit, they were very flattering. That
night her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail
and her newly cut bangs had showed signs of
wanting to flare out like Hiei's did. She had
been wearing normal teenager type clothes; tight
black jeans, white tanktop and running shoes. Her
jacket however was one you would never find in a
store.
As part of Kitsuryuu training 'in the right
of the law', Koenma had enrolled her into the
cadet program for the Royal Guard Special Unit and
the jacket reflected her status. The black
leather jacket was short, only coming to her
waist, and Kitsuryuu always wore it with the
sleeves pushed up her arms. Kitsuryuu's new
wardrobe would help her blend into any crowd as a
normal, everyday teenager despite her unusual,
dramatic looks.
Kitsuryuu had pulled out a lavishly decorated
royal blue envelope with Kurama and Hiei's names
embossed on the front in gold. The young lady had
given a graceful and flawless curtsey and had
handed Kurama the envelope. He had slowly opened
it, fearing he knew what was inside, and he had
been right.
Kurama had a hard time making his voice work
to accept the invitation. Kitsuryuu had been
clearly pleased that he was coming and quickly
turned to Hiei. Kurama's lover had stood there in
silence for a moment and then refused. Before
either Kurama or Kitsuryuu could protest Hiei had
been gone. Kitsuryuu had been very upset and
confused. She had graciously thanked Kurama for
his participation in the most important night of
her life and left, asking only that he ask Hiei to
reconsider his decision.
Kurama's train came to a sharp stop and
because he had been lost in his own memories he
was taken off guard and thrown to the floor.
Kurama's brief case popped open and its contents
spilled onto the train floor. As quickly as he
could, Kurama tried to jam all his papers back in
before the train left the terminal.
Kurama just made it out the doors as they
closed behind him. Completely rumpled and out of
sorts Kurama left the train station. Out of habit
he started walking quickly home, but caught
himself before he made it two blocks. Kurama had
forgotten that it was still the middle of the day
and if he went strait home he'd be alone for hours
before it was time to go to the party. So instead
of going home he decided to run a few errand.
Kurama had no idea that it would take him
seven hours to finally get home. He had never had
such a miserable day in his life. First Kurama
went to a little restaurant for lunch hoping to
pass some time and ended up paying way too much
for burnt and horrible food. He left the
restaurant and decided to go grocery shopping on
his way to the cleaners. Apparently everyone else
had the same idea of going shopping on their lunch
break and Kurama spent 2 hours elbowing and
pushing his way around the market.
When he had finally made it out of there,
Kurama tried to walk to the dry cleaners, but his
normal route had been cut off by construction.
After walking three miles out of his way Kurama
made it to the cleaners. Once there he realized
that he had lost his claim ticket on the train
when his briefcase had exploded. For the next
hour Kurama argued with the new 'by the book'
clerk for his tux. Finally an employee that knew
him arrived and vouched for him, but when they
finally started looking for his tux they found
that they had lost it.
Kurama spent another 2 hours trying to find a
rental place that had something his size available
and was willing to rent it to him on such short
notice. When Kurama arrived home he had less that
45 minutes to get ready. On the way to his
bedroom with the tux slung over his shoulder he
threw all his groceries into the garbage. The ice
cream that he had bought on impulse had melted on
everything making it all useless.
With record braking speed Kurama showered and
dressed. He looked into his bedroom mirror and
found that by some miracle the tux was a good fit
and looked great. Noticing the time, Kurama
quickly scanned the room for his dress shoes.
Five minutes later Kurama was throwing all the
clothes, shoes and miscellaneous stuff out of his
closet in the attempt of finding his dress shoes.
A giggle from behind him startled Kurama so
badly that he bumped his head on the door frame
trying to turn to see who it was. Botan, his ride
for the evening, was posed outside his window on
her oar trying to hide her laughter behind the
long, elegantly embroidered sleeve of her kimono.
"What!" Kurama demanded as he rubbed the
small bump on the side of his head.
"Kitsuryuu was doing the exact same thing
when I left the palace. Her training exercise had
run over and she was going crazy trying to get
ready," Botan told him.
At the mention of his daughter's name Kurama
sobered a bit. The reason that he was doing all
of this came back to him. Kurama looked into his
mirror and straitened his tie and jacket. He gave
one more look around the room and found his shoes
exactly where he left them by the door.
"Is... is her training going well," Kurama
asked, trying to make it sound as conversational
as possible.
"She had a lot of trouble in the beginning
after Koenma removed her collar. Kitsuryuu just
didn't know how to deal with that much power
without it so he made another one. Now she's the
head of her class. If she keeps going like this
she'll have advanced out of cadet training faster
than any other trainee."
Kurama paused and looked up at the Reikai
messenger, "She still has a slave collar?", he
asked, his voice sounding harsh even to him.
"Oh... no, no. This collar was made so that
it will slowly stop working over the span of a
year, so that Kitsuryuu will have time to adjust.
It's more of a necklace than a collar, you'll see.
Is Hiei coming?" Botan asked obviously trying to
change the subject.
"No, Hiei is *not* coming," Kurama said
shortly as he jammed his last shoe on. "Can we go
now?"
Botan was taken aback by Kurama's sharp tone
and quickly nodded her head. Kurama felt more
guilt when he saw the hurt look in his old
friend's eyes. Botan wasn't trying to upset him,
but she had. The topic of Hiei's non-attendance
to Kitsuryuu's birthday/coronation party was a
sore one. Kurama apologized and Botan quickly
accepted, looking very happy that their brief
conflict was over.
Kurama went to the top drawer of his dresser
and hoped that his luck would hold out and
Kitsuryuu's presents would still be their. Luck
was still with him. Kurama picked up the palm
size box wrapped in a exquisite silk scarf that
was an heirloom of his human mother's family. The
scarf was tied into place with a silk ribbon and
Shiori had attached a tiny card to the ribbon.
Beside it was a silver hinged, crystal box with
Kurama's present inside.
========
end part a
Chapter 21
written by Kat Mayes
Kurama ran cold water over the sallow cut
along his thump from one of his microscope slides
and cursed under his breath. He turned the water
off and reached for the box of paper towels on the
corner of the sink. The white piece of absorbent
material would not let go of the inside of the
box. Cursing quietly again, Kurama gave a quick,
sharp tug on the towel and it broke free, but not
without disastrous results.
The momentum that Kurama had inadvertently
given the paper towel box gave the rectangular
object the ability to roll. He tried to stop it,
but the box was well beyond his reach. Before the
traveling towels stopped they ran into the test
tube rack that Kurama had placed dangerously close
to the edge of his lab bench. Kurama watched in
horror as the box knocked one of the rack's
rubberized feet over the edge. For a moment he
thought that the other three feet of the rack
would hold, but he had over filled that side of
the rack with test tubes and all of it went down.
Rack, test tubes, paper towels and a month's worth
of work... gone.
"Shit!" Kurama exclaimed as he threw the one
paper towel he was able to rescue into the floor.
Angrily, Kurama grabbed the near by broom and
dust pan (the ones he moved closer to his lab area
a few weeks ago) and started towards the mess he
had created. On the way, the end of the wooden
broom handle became entangled with the rubber
tubing of his filtration apparatus and before
Kurama had a chance to stop he pulled the
expensive glass equipment over the edge.
Kurama didn't bother to turn around. He
closed his eyes and waited for the crash. When
none came he cautiously looked over his shoulder
and found his supervisor trying to balance the
glass apparatus in her small hands.
"Some timely help would be appreciated,
Shuuichi," she chided gently, and together they
got the filtration equipment on the bench without
a scratch.
"Midorikawa-san, I am so sorry. I'll clean
up this mess immediately," Kurama said quickly as
he once again grabbed the broom and headed to the
mess.
He didn't even get a step before his
supervisor took the deadly weapon from his hands
and shook her head.
"Shuuichi, you have been under a lot of
stress since your *vacation* last summer, and even
though you won't talk about it I know that it's
tearing you up. That's why I'm demanding that you
take a leave of absence until you feel that you
can return to work in a more... present state of
mind."
"But, Midorikawa-san... my project isn't
finished! I'm the only one that knows how to
complete it and..."
"Shuuichi... stop... listen to yourself. If
you don't standback and take some time off your
going to burn yourself out. Now... you have
accumulated enough sick time and vacation days to
take the next *year* off if you wanted to and I am
giving you a direct order to use it."
Kurama tried to protest but his supervisor
would not hear of it. She just walked around him,
with broom in hand and started to clean up his
mess. When he tried to take his lab notebook, she
took that from him as well, signed the page he had
been working on and snapped it shut.
"Shuuichi, go home!" she commanded him with a
shove to his shoulder.
Kurama obeyed hesitantly and walked to his
desk. He took off his lab coat and laid it over
the back of his chair as he grabbed his sports
coat. With his free hand, Kurama touched the
small flowering plant on his desk and forced it
into a hibernation so that it would not suffer
while he was gone. He put on his coat, picked up
his brief case and left the lab.
Even at ten in the morning the street was
full and bustling, but Kurama didn't take notice.
He kept to the side of the walkway to avoid the
fast movers in the center and let his mind wander.
Kurama wasn't in a hurry to return home, or what
was left of his home. An empty house full of
memories wasn't his idea of a place to 'get away
from it all'. It was still hard for him to
believe that only a few short months ago he had
everything he thought he could ever want, then the
summer rains came.
Only three months ago Kurama was content and
his life was in well placed order. Hiei had
finally settled down enough that he spent most of
his time in the Ningenkai, Kurama had finally
reached a position in his company that he could
make his own hours and spend as much time as he
pleased with his lover, and his mother was happier
than he had ever seen her. Everything was
perfect... then the rains came.
Kyuukai had been an unexpected, but welcome
surprise. In fact, that little boy was the only
thing that was keeping Kurama going after his well
ordered world fell apart. Right now Kurama's
young son was at his grandmother's, soaking up all
the love and attention the older lady could dish
out. The love and attention that Shiori had been
keeping intentionally or unintentionally from
Kurama after he allowed Koenma to adopt Kitsuryuu
without a word.
Kitsuryuu... everything seemed to go back to
her. Some days Kurama thought that he hated her.
Because of her, Hiei had almost completely removed
himself from Kurama's life. Because of her,
Shiori and Shuuichi were more that a little upset
with him. Because of her, Kurama had lost all his
concentration. Because of her, Kurama could
hardly sleep at night wondering if she was all
right, hoping that she was happy.
Kurama knew that he could never hate his
daughter. None of what happened was Kitsuryuu's
fault. As his mother was so fond of reminding
him, no one had bothered to ask Kitsuryuu if she
wanted Koenma to adopt her or if she wanted to be
with her fathers. No one had told her the truth
about who she was. No one had allowed her to make
up her own mind.
A gust of warmer air told Kurama that he had
arrived at the underground train terminal and he
changed his trajectory so that he veered in the
correct direction. Once down on the platform he
watched the train that would have taken him to his
home go by. Not really worrying about missing the
train, Kurama found a place against the train
station wall between an elderly man and a pregnant
lady holding a baby and waited for the next train.
Kurama looked up at the rotating schedules of
trains and saw the one he normally took to pick
Kyuukai up from his grandmother's house, but today
was not a normal day. Today Kurama had to get
ready for Kitsuryuu's coronation, after all, he
was a close friend of her 'father'. It was
expected of him to be there.
A heavy, defeated sigh escaped Kurama as he
thought about how close Koenma and Kitsuryuu had
become over the last three months. Koenma had
allowed Kitsuryuu to come to him at her own pace
and never once pushed her into anything. It only
took a couple of weeks of constant visits for
Kitsuryuu to decide that she wanted to go to the
Reikai with her 'father'.
Kitsuryuu was going to school and getting the
education that her fathers could never have given
her. Koenma had the best therapists, dead or
alive, working to help Kitsuryuu learn to get pass
the mental block that kept her from hearing.
Hell, Koenma had given Kitsuryuu a kingdom, what
did he have to offer her.
The baby next to Kurama started to whine and
sniffle, despite its mother's efforts to keep it
happy. The mother bounced the infant in her arms
while rocking it in the attempt to calm it. Her
movements were large and awkward because of her
misshapen size and for a brief moment Kurama
thought she would wabble over. When the child
started to really cry Kurama thought about finding
another place to wait for the train.
"Excuse me, sir. Would you do me a really
big favor and hold Yoshi for me?"
It took Kurama a moment to realize that the
lady was speaking to him, but before he had a
chance to accept or decline, the pregnant mother
shoved her crying infant into his arms. Kurama
stood gasping like a landed fish as he watched the
woman walk away and round a corner. The baby gave
a particularly high pitched wale and Kurama
thought that his ears might pop.
Kyuukai hardly ever cried except when he was
hungry or when Hiei had been gone for a long time.
Kurama's son was still strongly attached to his
'birth' father and from what Yukina told him that
was the way Koorimei children were. Koorimei
infants could always tell if their mother was too
far away and a Koorimei mother could never leave
their infant for more than a day. Yukina told him
that this would last for the next few months.
It was this strong bond between Hiei and
Kyuukai that guaranteed Kurama that he would see
his lover at least two or three times a week.
Hiei mostly visited Kyuukai when the baby was at
Shiori's home. But, on the occasions when
Kurama's mother took the infant with her to a
friend's house or when she would go shopping, Hiei
was force to come to the apartment. On those
nights Kurama hoped to convince Hiei to return
home to him and Kyuukai.
Kurama had tried every trick in the book to
get Hiei to talk to him about Kitsuryuu but the
fire demon always refused. Hiei wouldn't
acknowledge that he even had a daughter or that
letting her go was killing him inside. To Hiei
the subject was closed and it would never be
talked about again. Just thinking about how much
Hiei was silently suffering caused Kurama's guilt
to the surface.
Shiori had convinced Kurama to go shopping
with her for both Kyuukai and Kitsuryuu the night
Koenma came for his daughter. Kurama had not
wanted to go but he had agreed to because
Kitsuryuu had finally come out of her coma that
afternoon and the girl did need some clothes of
her own.
Kurama had returned to the Kuwabara home with
a pile of stuff jammed into his car. While
shopping for various things a 16 year old would
need Kurama had discovered that he was really
looking forward to learning about his daughter.
The instant that he had pulled into the massive
driveway, however, Kurama had known that something
was very wrong. He had seen Hiei siting at the
base of a tree, knees drawn up to his chest and
arms crossed on his knees, looking up at the
stars.
Kurama had told Shiori that he would join her
in the house in a moment and had gone to see what
had happened while he was away. Hiei hadn't
acknowledged Kurama's presence, which was normal
behavior for the fire demon. But when Kurama had
placed his hand on his lover's shoulder Hiei
started badly and had his sword half drawn before
Kurama was able to stop him.
It had disturbed Kurama greatly that Hiei had
not noticed his presence, but more upsetting than
that had been the look on fire demon's face. Hiei
had looked totally defeated, lost and older
somehow. When Kurama had asked what was wrong the
only thing Hiei would say was 'She's gone'.
Instantly Kurama had jumped to the conclusion that
Kitsuryuu had taken a turn for the worse while he
had been gone and died.
He had run full speed to the house despite
the painful clutch in his chest and the sickening
pressure in his gut. Yuusuke must have seen him
coming because he had been there to stop Kurama
before he entered. It had taken Yuusuke several
minutes to get Kurama to listen to him because of
the red haired man's distress.
Somehow, finally, Yuusuke had gotten through
to Kurama and had explained the events that had
happened that evening. Koenma had come to see
Kitsuryuu, to tell her that he was going to adopt
her and take her to the Reikai. The son of the
king of the dead had been completely taken by
surprise when Hiei had threatened to kill him if
he did any such thing. Koenma had been totally
unaware that Kurama and Hiei were Kitsuryuu's
fathers, a glitch in the computer he had said.
While Yukina held Hiei back, Koenma had explained
why he had started the paperwork for adopting
Kitsuryuu.
Yuusuke had told Kurama of Hiei's surprise
and how he had demanded that Koenma find a way to
save his daughter. Koenma had believed and still
believes that Kitsuryuu's only chance was to
become his daughter and under his protection she
would survive. Kurama, like Hiei before him, gave
into Koenma's plan and allowed the young god to
take their daughter without a fight, for her sake.
They even agreed to keep Kitsuryuu's true parents
a secret from her.
If he and Hiei acknowledged that Kitsuryuu
was their daughter then she would lose the
protection that Koenma's plan offered her. There
was an extremely small chance that the council
might release Kitsuryuu on a parole type basis if
she went to trial instead, but if the council
found out that Kitsuryuu's fathers were both
ex-felons it would not do her case any good.
All night long Koenma and Kurama tried to
come up with a way to save Kitsuryuu without
Koenma having to adopt her, but they could think
of nothing. Morning finally came and Kurama was
forced to decide if he was going to tell Kitsuryuu
the truth about who her fathers were or was he
going to let her go without a word. Kurama hadn't
decided when Koori had come to tell Koenma that
Kitsuryuu was ready to see him.
Kurama had bolted to his feet and had set his
resolve to tell Kitsuryuu the truth. He couldn't
let her go without saying something. He had
walked into the living room with every intention
of telling her, but when he saw the surprise and
fear in her eyes when she first thought that he
was her father, he paused. He had forgotten how
frightened Kitsuryuu was of humans. It had been
his own fear of rejection that had kept his tongue
still. Kurama had been so afraid that Kitsuryuu
would reject him outright because of his current
humanity that he allowed Koenma to take his place.
From that moment on, Kurama lost any right to call
himself Kitsuryuu's father.
"Thank you so much for watching, Yoshi. He
gets really cranky when he doesn't get his morning
juice."
Kurama was snapped out of his daydream
memories by the return of Yoshi's mother. He had
not realized it, but the infant boy had quieted
down some, being somewhat content to play with and
eat Kurama's long hair. Kurama quickly handed the
boy to his mother and pulled out a handkerchief to
wipe the baby drool from his shoulder and hair.
"You're very good with children. Do you have
any little ones of your own?" the young mother
asked as she popped the baby's newly filled juice
bottle into his hungry mouth.
"Yes. One... two... no one..." Kurama
stammered, having never been asked that question
before.
The lady smiled, "Which is it? One or two?"
"Two," Kurama replied nervously as he looked
at the time, "It's just that I have a hard time
thinking of the older one as my little girl."
"How old are they?"
"Three months and seventeen years today."
"Wow. I bet that will be some birthday
party," the woman said.
The sound of train brakes griping the metal
rails caught the mother's attention and she
quickly gathered her belongings and boarded the
train. Kurama was glad to see her go, but the
innocent question she had asked left a lingering
hole.
When Kurama's train arrived he boarded
quickly still thinking about the mother's words.
Kitsuryuu's birthday party *was* going to be a
gayla event. It wasn't everyday that a god
adopted a unknown girl as his daughter. The party
was more to pacify everyone's curiosity about
Kitsuryuu than anything else. The guest list was
very impressive. Gods, demi-gods and the elite of
both the Ningenkai and Makai where going to be
there.
He and Hiei had been invited to Kitsuryuu's
birthday party by the birthday girl herself. She
had come all the way into the city a week ago,
despite her fear of humans, to personally invite
them. Somehow Kitsuryuu had come on one of the
rare nights when Hiei happened to be home.
The two of them had been in one of their
"non-discussions" about Kitsuryuu when the
mentioned girl walked into the room, Kyuukai in
her arms. It had surprised them more than just a
little to turn and find Kitsuryuu sitting on the
couch watching them "not fight". Hiei had turn
instantly silent and Kurama had been at a loss for
words. When Kurama had finally asked how she had
gotten in Kitsuryuu replied that she could open
any door or window if she wanted to.
The old side of Kurama had been a little
proud to find out that his unique 'abilities' had
been passed on, but the new side just had to shake
his head disapprovingly. Kurama had asked why she
had come all the way into the city and Kitsuryuu's
face had lit up. She had quickly bounced to her
feet handed Kyuukai to him and reached into her
jacket pocket.
Since living with Koenma, Kitsuryuu clothes
had taken a turn for the better. Not only did
they all fit, they were very flattering. That
night her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail
and her newly cut bangs had showed signs of
wanting to flare out like Hiei's did. She had
been wearing normal teenager type clothes; tight
black jeans, white tanktop and running shoes. Her
jacket however was one you would never find in a
store.
As part of Kitsuryuu training 'in the right
of the law', Koenma had enrolled her into the
cadet program for the Royal Guard Special Unit and
the jacket reflected her status. The black
leather jacket was short, only coming to her
waist, and Kitsuryuu always wore it with the
sleeves pushed up her arms. Kitsuryuu's new
wardrobe would help her blend into any crowd as a
normal, everyday teenager despite her unusual,
dramatic looks.
Kitsuryuu had pulled out a lavishly decorated
royal blue envelope with Kurama and Hiei's names
embossed on the front in gold. The young lady had
given a graceful and flawless curtsey and had
handed Kurama the envelope. He had slowly opened
it, fearing he knew what was inside, and he had
been right.
Kurama had a hard time making his voice work
to accept the invitation. Kitsuryuu had been
clearly pleased that he was coming and quickly
turned to Hiei. Kurama's lover had stood there in
silence for a moment and then refused. Before
either Kurama or Kitsuryuu could protest Hiei had
been gone. Kitsuryuu had been very upset and
confused. She had graciously thanked Kurama for
his participation in the most important night of
her life and left, asking only that he ask Hiei to
reconsider his decision.
Kurama's train came to a sharp stop and
because he had been lost in his own memories he
was taken off guard and thrown to the floor.
Kurama's brief case popped open and its contents
spilled onto the train floor. As quickly as he
could, Kurama tried to jam all his papers back in
before the train left the terminal.
Kurama just made it out the doors as they
closed behind him. Completely rumpled and out of
sorts Kurama left the train station. Out of habit
he started walking quickly home, but caught
himself before he made it two blocks. Kurama had
forgotten that it was still the middle of the day
and if he went strait home he'd be alone for hours
before it was time to go to the party. So instead
of going home he decided to run a few errand.
Kurama had no idea that it would take him
seven hours to finally get home. He had never had
such a miserable day in his life. First Kurama
went to a little restaurant for lunch hoping to
pass some time and ended up paying way too much
for burnt and horrible food. He left the
restaurant and decided to go grocery shopping on
his way to the cleaners. Apparently everyone else
had the same idea of going shopping on their lunch
break and Kurama spent 2 hours elbowing and
pushing his way around the market.
When he had finally made it out of there,
Kurama tried to walk to the dry cleaners, but his
normal route had been cut off by construction.
After walking three miles out of his way Kurama
made it to the cleaners. Once there he realized
that he had lost his claim ticket on the train
when his briefcase had exploded. For the next
hour Kurama argued with the new 'by the book'
clerk for his tux. Finally an employee that knew
him arrived and vouched for him, but when they
finally started looking for his tux they found
that they had lost it.
Kurama spent another 2 hours trying to find a
rental place that had something his size available
and was willing to rent it to him on such short
notice. When Kurama arrived home he had less that
45 minutes to get ready. On the way to his
bedroom with the tux slung over his shoulder he
threw all his groceries into the garbage. The ice
cream that he had bought on impulse had melted on
everything making it all useless.
With record braking speed Kurama showered and
dressed. He looked into his bedroom mirror and
found that by some miracle the tux was a good fit
and looked great. Noticing the time, Kurama
quickly scanned the room for his dress shoes.
Five minutes later Kurama was throwing all the
clothes, shoes and miscellaneous stuff out of his
closet in the attempt of finding his dress shoes.
A giggle from behind him startled Kurama so
badly that he bumped his head on the door frame
trying to turn to see who it was. Botan, his ride
for the evening, was posed outside his window on
her oar trying to hide her laughter behind the
long, elegantly embroidered sleeve of her kimono.
"What!" Kurama demanded as he rubbed the
small bump on the side of his head.
"Kitsuryuu was doing the exact same thing
when I left the palace. Her training exercise had
run over and she was going crazy trying to get
ready," Botan told him.
At the mention of his daughter's name Kurama
sobered a bit. The reason that he was doing all
of this came back to him. Kurama looked into his
mirror and straitened his tie and jacket. He gave
one more look around the room and found his shoes
exactly where he left them by the door.
"Is... is her training going well," Kurama
asked, trying to make it sound as conversational
as possible.
"She had a lot of trouble in the beginning
after Koenma removed her collar. Kitsuryuu just
didn't know how to deal with that much power
without it so he made another one. Now she's the
head of her class. If she keeps going like this
she'll have advanced out of cadet training faster
than any other trainee."
Kurama paused and looked up at the Reikai
messenger, "She still has a slave collar?", he
asked, his voice sounding harsh even to him.
"Oh... no, no. This collar was made so that
it will slowly stop working over the span of a
year, so that Kitsuryuu will have time to adjust.
It's more of a necklace than a collar, you'll see.
Is Hiei coming?" Botan asked obviously trying to
change the subject.
"No, Hiei is *not* coming," Kurama said
shortly as he jammed his last shoe on. "Can we go
now?"
Botan was taken aback by Kurama's sharp tone
and quickly nodded her head. Kurama felt more
guilt when he saw the hurt look in his old
friend's eyes. Botan wasn't trying to upset him,
but she had. The topic of Hiei's non-attendance
to Kitsuryuu's birthday/coronation party was a
sore one. Kurama apologized and Botan quickly
accepted, looking very happy that their brief
conflict was over.
Kurama went to the top drawer of his dresser
and hoped that his luck would hold out and
Kitsuryuu's presents would still be their. Luck
was still with him. Kurama picked up the palm
size box wrapped in a exquisite silk scarf that
was an heirloom of his human mother's family. The
scarf was tied into place with a silk ribbon and
Shiori had attached a tiny card to the ribbon.
Beside it was a silver hinged, crystal box with
Kurama's present inside.
========
end part a