Okay then! Here's chapter twenty-one (dang) of A Chance Reunion. But first,
a few questions and replies to reviews. . . .
To SedaiDragon: You were talking about how Kurama doesn't run his mouth before killing someone. Looking back over the DVDs and stuff, yeah, you're right, but I'm playing with emotions in this fic. When people are in shock, or in love, or their emotions are just running high, they tend to act a little out-of-character. And remember, Kurama's P.O.ed at Karasu kidnapping his mom, ran in to see him about to kill her . . . yeah, me thinks you get my point. If you look back at the fic a little bit, you'll see that I've played with it a lot with Shiori and Kuronue, and just recently with Kurama . . . so forgive me, I think he'll be back to his old self after he kicks Karasu's lousy a$$. *Once again is seen running from Karasu and Karasu fans ducking numerous pointy objects*
Oh, and about the chapters . . . yeah, I know I said three, but because I rolled all the three options into one, it's kinda taken longer than planned. It doesn't help that I write such short chapters.
To Anime Crazy Girl: Calm yourself, you're making a scene (just joking, really.)
That's it, I think . . . On with the show/fic!
Disclaimer: Yeah . . . they aren't mine . . . nobody is, I think . . .
"LAY A FINGER ON HER AND YOU DIE, KARASU!!"
Shiori's eyes snapped open she felt Karasu pull away from her. The youkai was looking toward the doorway and-following his eyes-Shiori saw Kurama- (My son,) she told herself-standing in the doorway, rose in hand. Shiori dimly noticed the absence of Kuronue and Jeroun, but she gaped at Kurama, who was shakily raising the rose and pointing the bud at Karasu. Shiori felt her eyes water with tears. Never since the day of his birth had she been so glad to see him. She cried out, and saw his eyes glance briefly in her direction before focusing on Karasu again.
"Kurama, it's been a while," he said smoothly, his voice like silk, and yet like a dagger cutting through the silence of the room.
"Not long enough," Kurama growled through clenched teeth. Karasu smiled behind his mask, and waved his hand about in the air. Shiori saw Kurama tense.
"What do you want with my mother?" Shiori's heart leapt. He still thought of her as his mother! If it was even possible-and not that the others could see it-Karasu grinned even wider.
"I wanted her to get to you," he said. At this point, Shiori scrambled to her feet and tried to catch Kurama's attention. His eyes flicked to her, and Karasu even turned. "My lady," he said, reaching out for her, "You should not be involved with this." He laid a hand to her cheek.
"ROSE WHIP!!!" A long, spiky whip lashed out, catching Karasu on the hand, causing the youkai to curse and withdraw. He turned back to the doorway. Shiori's eyes followed his own, and she saw the handle of the spiky whip in his hand. He was also considerably closer to the pair of them. His green eyes were cold as ice, and with a flick of his wrist, had the whip curled up in his hand. "I warned you," he told Karasu, who was still nursing his hand.
"Perhaps," he said, bringing down the hand, which Shiori couldn't help but notice was fully healed. "I should remind you how close to death you were in our last fight."
"Death!" Shiori shrieked. "Shu-Kurama. . . . "
"'Kassan! Please," Kurama said. "Give me a chance to explain."
"Do I?" Karasu asked, bringing his hand forward. Shiori saw Kurama's hand loosen its grip, and the whip within it slowly began to uncurl, ready to strike. (He'll attack; he's ready to lash out with that thing,) Shiori noticed.
"That's been an issue I've been wanting to talk to you about," Kurama said. "Why the-why are you still alive? I-" Kurama broke off. He had a feeling that it would not be a good thing to mention that he had killed Karasu a few months before. There was no reason to make Shiori hate him more than she did already, or so Kurama thought.
"You killed me?" Karasu asked. Kurama hung his head as he heard Shiori intake breath sharply, in a gasp. Even though Kurama could not see the other youkai, he could sense the smile that was creeping over Karasu's lips.
"Y-yes," he said slowly, and heard Shiori gasp again. Kurama looked up. His mother was looking at him with a mixture of fear and respect in her eyes. Kurama swallowed the lump in his throat. "I thought I killed you, but it was only to save myself. How did you come back?"
"My guide to the Spirit World was not as careful as she should have been," Karasu said, his voice becoming almost too sickly-sweet to stand. Shiori stared as her son regarded the youkai with cold eyes. "My spirit was able to escape, and return to my body, although it took me a while to heal."
"Not long enough!" Kurama yelled, lashing out with the whip he held in his hand. Karasu jumped away, not wanting to blow up the whip like he had before. Shiori yelled as the raven-haired youkai landed behind her and placed his hands on her neck.
"Is that any way to treat someone who's been keeping your mother safe?" Karasu asked, applying gentle pressure to Shiori's neck. In spite of herself, the woman screamed, and Kurama would have struck Karasu, had the youkai not been guarded by Shiori.
"'Kassan?" Kurama asked, truly startled by the information. He tried to look Shiori in the eye, but his mother turned her head as best she could. "Is this true?"
"Kurama," she said. "I don't know what he did to you, but he has been helping me. He . . . saved me from a beating." Kurama dropped his whip.
"No," he whispered.
"Do you think that your mother lies to you?" Karasu asked the kitsune. "Does she look like a liar?" Karasu jerked Shiori's head around to look Kurama in the eye. "Answer me, kitsune!!" This time it was Kurama who looked down. "Then we shall settle this the hard way." Kurama let out a yell as Karasu hit Shiori on the head, knocking the poor woman out, before leaping at Kurama.
*Meanwhile. . . .*
"Where the heck do you think he's gotten by now?"
"I dunno, Jeroun, that fox can run when he's pissed!!" Kuronue and Jeroun made their way through the thick undergrowth of the forest they had been traveling through for the past hour. After the fight earlier that morning, Kurama had left the two of them, yelling only the direction he was traveling in and yelling something about Karasu's gunpowder smell. Kuronue knew that Kurama was pissed, for he was not acting like himself. Jeroun just thought that the kitsune had gone mental.
"Kuronue?"
"Nani?"
"Are you sure that we're going the right way?"
"Kurama said that he was going to the west, so therefore, we are going to the west," Kuronue said. Jeroun stopped and looked around them.
"I don't think that we're going to the west, I think we're going east," Jeroun said. Kuronue rounded on him.
"Who's in charge here, me or you?" Kuronue yelled right into Jeroun's face. Jeroun jumped about a foot in the air before coming crashing down on none other than. . . .
"Nice, you crushed the baka," said a voice. Jeroun looked at who was underneath him.
"Oh, sorry, Kuwabara," he said, getting off of the orange-haired boy. Kuwabara jumped to his feet, and Hiei jumped down from a nearby tree. "What's up? What's the human doing here?"
"Hey, guys," Kuronue said.
"That's not nice, Jeroun!! You're just as bad as Hiei!!" Kuwabara yelled.
"I think it would be best if you kept your mouth shut until we get home," Yusuke said, coming out from behind the tree that Hiei was in.
"What's everybody doing here?" Jeroun asked.
"Well, what are you two doing here?" Yusuke countered. Jeroun paused a moment.
"Helping Kurama," the slightly dim youkai answered after a moment.
"Well, that's exactly what we're doing," Yusuke said.
"Uh, guys?"
"What is it, Kuwabara?"
"Where is Kurama?" The three newcomers looked around, puzzled while the other two grinned sheepishly. Jeroun began to scratch the back of his head while Kuronue spoke.
"Yeah, he ran west while yelling about this dude named Karasu, or something like that," Kuronue said. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei looked slightly surprised.
"Karasu?" Kuwabara asked.
"Kurama killed him," Yusuke stated after a moment.
"Well, apparently he's still alive," Kuronue said. "Otherwise he would not have been able to kidnap Kurama's mother."
"Okay, he's gonna be pissed," Kuwabara muttered to Yusuke.
"No kidding," Yusuke muttered back.
"One more thing," Hiei said from atop another tree. The other four looked up at him. Kuronue raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah?"
"If Kurama's heading west, why are we going east?"
*Back to Kurama. . . .*
"You really think . . . you can get away with this . . . don't you?" Kurama panted while facing Karasu. "You really think that you'll get away with hurting my mother like that."
"Look at yourself kitsune," Karasu said. Kurama, for the second time in less than a week, looked worse for the wear. His hair was matted with sweat and blood, both from himself and the raven-haired youkai. His clothes were ripped in several places, while several rips oozed slowly running blood. As Kurama considered what Karasu was saying, a drop of a blood and sweat mixture fell from one of Kurama's bangs into his eyes. He yelled and stumbled backward. Karasu took this moment to strike, leaping and reaching out toward Kurama. Kurama noticed just in time and jumped backward.
"I think you might want to do the same," Kurama said. It was true, the raven-haired youkai had suffered just as much damage as the kitsune had. His hair was nearly stained red with the blood that had been spilled onto it. His clothes were torn in various places, with cuts underneath them from Kurama's rose whip, which Karasu had not managed to blow up yet. That puzzled the both of them. Karasu backed away from Kurama, his breath coming in short gasps. Even though he wasn't about to let the kitsune see it, his energy was slowly diminishing.
"I think that we should end this now," Karasu said, falling into a fighting stance. Kurama readied his whip again. "Are you ready?"
"I was just thinking the same thing," Kurama said. Without warning, he struck, the whip lashing out again, hitting Karasu in the leg. The youkai cursed and fell down onto his knees.
"Kurama," Karasu breathed, letting the air hiss out between his teeth. "You're the only person who ever . . . ever hurt me more than once . . . and in more than one way."
"Shut up!" Kurama yelled. He didn't want to hear about the youkai's other troubles. Karasu was either going to kill him, or be killed by him. He pulled his hand back, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the whip flying. Karasu looked at the impending death speeding toward him.
"I guess it won't be too bad to die again," Karasu said. With that, he stood up, nearly blacking out because of the pain in his leg, and ran, as best he could, toward Kurama's weapon. He let out a scream that bored into Kurama like needle points as weapon hit flesh, and the youkai fell.
"Karasu . . . you . . . you idiot," Kurama mumbled when his tired brain registered what had happened. "Why'd you do that?"
"Good-bye, Kurama," whispered the injured youkai. Kurama walked over, and shut Karasu's eyes as the life fled from the raven-haired body.
"Perhaps . . . if we met differently," Kurama mumbled. "We could have been friends." Kurama heard a faint moan, and looked over to his mother, who was coming to across the room. Kurama blinked suddenly, remembering why he was here and what had happened. (She stayed unconscious through the entire fight,) Kurama thought. (That's strange.)
"Shu-Shuichi," Shiori mumbled. Kurama smiled and walked over to her.
"I'm right here," he said, taking hold of her hand. She looked at him, her eyes wide with fear. "D-do you remember anything?" Shiori nodded. That was when Kurama lost it. "I-I'm sorry 'kassan, I-I lied to you, but I didn't want to, but I was so afraid that-"
"Shh, Kurama, everything's fine," Shiori said, putting a finger to her son's lips. Kurama sighed and closed his eyes. "I understand where you were coming from on this. I've had a lot of time to think about it. And I don't care who you are, or what your past was like. You're my son now, and as long as all of that . . . was in the past . . . it's all right. I love you, Kurama."
"I . . . I love you too, kassan," Kurama said, putting his arms around her. Shiori closed her eyes, and thought about how strange the past few days had been . . . and . . . it felt right to call her son Kurama, although a part of him would remain her little Shuichi forever.
"Hey! I thought I heard something this way!" Kurama and Shiori broke the embrace and looked toward the doorway, where, a moment later, Kuronue appeared. "Ha, I told 'em you guys were this way." Kurama blinked.
"Who's here exactly?" he asked. Kuronue began counting on his fingers.
"Ah, well, there's me and Jeroun, of course, and then there's Yusuke, and Kuwabara, and Hiei," he said, ticking off one finger for each person.
"They all came?" Kurama asked, surprised. Kuronue nodded.
"Yeah, of course we all came, Kurama," Kuronue said. "That's cause we all wanted to help. Although," he added, looking around at the dining room that had become Kurama and Karasu's battlefield. His eyes rested on Karasu's body for a moment before turning back to Kurama. "I guess you really didn't need help, did you?" Kurama looked around, trying to avoid seeing Karasu's body, and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kurama said. "Now come on, help me get 'kassan out of these chains." Kuronue and Kurama set to work on the chains. Every few moments, Kurama would glance at either his former partner or his mother and wondered how his life turned out this way.
"Aw, man, we missed the fight." Kuronue smiled at Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Jeroun who had just appeared in the doorway. Kurama, who had been making sure that his mother was unharmed after undoing the chains, jumped slightly before turning and laughing at the disappointed look on Yusuke's face.
"Ah, it was nothing you guys haven't seen before," Kurama said. Hiei "hn"ed, Kuwabara began trying to figure out what Kurama meant, Yusuke grinned, Jeroun shook his head, still thinking the kitsune had gone mental, and Kuronue clapped his former partner on the shoulder.
"Come on, everyone," Kuronue said. "Let's go home." As Yusuke and Jeroun led Shiori out of the castle (against Kurama's better judgment) Kurama pulled Kuronue aside.
"You're staying with us then?" he asked. Kuronue grinned.
"Why not?" he asked. "There's not a whole lot for me in the Makai anymore, besides a bunch of people who hate me for stealing something of theirs." Kurama laughed. '
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "And once you've quit being a thief, it's hard to get back in the habit." Kuronue looked at Kurama like he had gone crazy.
"Who said I wanted to go back?" he said. "All thievery ever did for me is almost get me killed!"
"I thought it had killed you," Kurama said softly. Kuronue clapped the kitsune on the shoulder. Kurama looked up at him.
"D'you think that, even though we don't steal anymore, we could be partners again?" Kuronue asked. When a grin broke out on the kitsune's face, Kuronue thought Kurama was laughing at him, so the words that came out of his mouth surprised the chimera.
"Why not?" Kurama asked. "We can still fight together, right?"
"Right."
"KURAMA! KURONUE!! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?? WE'RE GONNA LEAVE YOU GUYS HERE IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTTS UP HERE!!"
"And there's Yusuke," Kurama said, "Come on, we don't want him to leave us."
"WE'RE COMING!!!"
"Kuronue! Not so loud!"
"What?"
"Forget it."
Phew. This took a while to write. It was hard, because I couldn't find the right way to start the chapter. AND I AM STILL NOT AT 300 REVIEWS!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ahem. Sorry. I really want 300 reviews. I would be happy. Anyway . . . I don't know what else to say . . . so, erm, bye!!
To SedaiDragon: You were talking about how Kurama doesn't run his mouth before killing someone. Looking back over the DVDs and stuff, yeah, you're right, but I'm playing with emotions in this fic. When people are in shock, or in love, or their emotions are just running high, they tend to act a little out-of-character. And remember, Kurama's P.O.ed at Karasu kidnapping his mom, ran in to see him about to kill her . . . yeah, me thinks you get my point. If you look back at the fic a little bit, you'll see that I've played with it a lot with Shiori and Kuronue, and just recently with Kurama . . . so forgive me, I think he'll be back to his old self after he kicks Karasu's lousy a$$. *Once again is seen running from Karasu and Karasu fans ducking numerous pointy objects*
Oh, and about the chapters . . . yeah, I know I said three, but because I rolled all the three options into one, it's kinda taken longer than planned. It doesn't help that I write such short chapters.
To Anime Crazy Girl: Calm yourself, you're making a scene (just joking, really.)
That's it, I think . . . On with the show/fic!
Disclaimer: Yeah . . . they aren't mine . . . nobody is, I think . . .
"LAY A FINGER ON HER AND YOU DIE, KARASU!!"
Shiori's eyes snapped open she felt Karasu pull away from her. The youkai was looking toward the doorway and-following his eyes-Shiori saw Kurama- (My son,) she told herself-standing in the doorway, rose in hand. Shiori dimly noticed the absence of Kuronue and Jeroun, but she gaped at Kurama, who was shakily raising the rose and pointing the bud at Karasu. Shiori felt her eyes water with tears. Never since the day of his birth had she been so glad to see him. She cried out, and saw his eyes glance briefly in her direction before focusing on Karasu again.
"Kurama, it's been a while," he said smoothly, his voice like silk, and yet like a dagger cutting through the silence of the room.
"Not long enough," Kurama growled through clenched teeth. Karasu smiled behind his mask, and waved his hand about in the air. Shiori saw Kurama tense.
"What do you want with my mother?" Shiori's heart leapt. He still thought of her as his mother! If it was even possible-and not that the others could see it-Karasu grinned even wider.
"I wanted her to get to you," he said. At this point, Shiori scrambled to her feet and tried to catch Kurama's attention. His eyes flicked to her, and Karasu even turned. "My lady," he said, reaching out for her, "You should not be involved with this." He laid a hand to her cheek.
"ROSE WHIP!!!" A long, spiky whip lashed out, catching Karasu on the hand, causing the youkai to curse and withdraw. He turned back to the doorway. Shiori's eyes followed his own, and she saw the handle of the spiky whip in his hand. He was also considerably closer to the pair of them. His green eyes were cold as ice, and with a flick of his wrist, had the whip curled up in his hand. "I warned you," he told Karasu, who was still nursing his hand.
"Perhaps," he said, bringing down the hand, which Shiori couldn't help but notice was fully healed. "I should remind you how close to death you were in our last fight."
"Death!" Shiori shrieked. "Shu-Kurama. . . . "
"'Kassan! Please," Kurama said. "Give me a chance to explain."
"Do I?" Karasu asked, bringing his hand forward. Shiori saw Kurama's hand loosen its grip, and the whip within it slowly began to uncurl, ready to strike. (He'll attack; he's ready to lash out with that thing,) Shiori noticed.
"That's been an issue I've been wanting to talk to you about," Kurama said. "Why the-why are you still alive? I-" Kurama broke off. He had a feeling that it would not be a good thing to mention that he had killed Karasu a few months before. There was no reason to make Shiori hate him more than she did already, or so Kurama thought.
"You killed me?" Karasu asked. Kurama hung his head as he heard Shiori intake breath sharply, in a gasp. Even though Kurama could not see the other youkai, he could sense the smile that was creeping over Karasu's lips.
"Y-yes," he said slowly, and heard Shiori gasp again. Kurama looked up. His mother was looking at him with a mixture of fear and respect in her eyes. Kurama swallowed the lump in his throat. "I thought I killed you, but it was only to save myself. How did you come back?"
"My guide to the Spirit World was not as careful as she should have been," Karasu said, his voice becoming almost too sickly-sweet to stand. Shiori stared as her son regarded the youkai with cold eyes. "My spirit was able to escape, and return to my body, although it took me a while to heal."
"Not long enough!" Kurama yelled, lashing out with the whip he held in his hand. Karasu jumped away, not wanting to blow up the whip like he had before. Shiori yelled as the raven-haired youkai landed behind her and placed his hands on her neck.
"Is that any way to treat someone who's been keeping your mother safe?" Karasu asked, applying gentle pressure to Shiori's neck. In spite of herself, the woman screamed, and Kurama would have struck Karasu, had the youkai not been guarded by Shiori.
"'Kassan?" Kurama asked, truly startled by the information. He tried to look Shiori in the eye, but his mother turned her head as best she could. "Is this true?"
"Kurama," she said. "I don't know what he did to you, but he has been helping me. He . . . saved me from a beating." Kurama dropped his whip.
"No," he whispered.
"Do you think that your mother lies to you?" Karasu asked the kitsune. "Does she look like a liar?" Karasu jerked Shiori's head around to look Kurama in the eye. "Answer me, kitsune!!" This time it was Kurama who looked down. "Then we shall settle this the hard way." Kurama let out a yell as Karasu hit Shiori on the head, knocking the poor woman out, before leaping at Kurama.
*Meanwhile. . . .*
"Where the heck do you think he's gotten by now?"
"I dunno, Jeroun, that fox can run when he's pissed!!" Kuronue and Jeroun made their way through the thick undergrowth of the forest they had been traveling through for the past hour. After the fight earlier that morning, Kurama had left the two of them, yelling only the direction he was traveling in and yelling something about Karasu's gunpowder smell. Kuronue knew that Kurama was pissed, for he was not acting like himself. Jeroun just thought that the kitsune had gone mental.
"Kuronue?"
"Nani?"
"Are you sure that we're going the right way?"
"Kurama said that he was going to the west, so therefore, we are going to the west," Kuronue said. Jeroun stopped and looked around them.
"I don't think that we're going to the west, I think we're going east," Jeroun said. Kuronue rounded on him.
"Who's in charge here, me or you?" Kuronue yelled right into Jeroun's face. Jeroun jumped about a foot in the air before coming crashing down on none other than. . . .
"Nice, you crushed the baka," said a voice. Jeroun looked at who was underneath him.
"Oh, sorry, Kuwabara," he said, getting off of the orange-haired boy. Kuwabara jumped to his feet, and Hiei jumped down from a nearby tree. "What's up? What's the human doing here?"
"Hey, guys," Kuronue said.
"That's not nice, Jeroun!! You're just as bad as Hiei!!" Kuwabara yelled.
"I think it would be best if you kept your mouth shut until we get home," Yusuke said, coming out from behind the tree that Hiei was in.
"What's everybody doing here?" Jeroun asked.
"Well, what are you two doing here?" Yusuke countered. Jeroun paused a moment.
"Helping Kurama," the slightly dim youkai answered after a moment.
"Well, that's exactly what we're doing," Yusuke said.
"Uh, guys?"
"What is it, Kuwabara?"
"Where is Kurama?" The three newcomers looked around, puzzled while the other two grinned sheepishly. Jeroun began to scratch the back of his head while Kuronue spoke.
"Yeah, he ran west while yelling about this dude named Karasu, or something like that," Kuronue said. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei looked slightly surprised.
"Karasu?" Kuwabara asked.
"Kurama killed him," Yusuke stated after a moment.
"Well, apparently he's still alive," Kuronue said. "Otherwise he would not have been able to kidnap Kurama's mother."
"Okay, he's gonna be pissed," Kuwabara muttered to Yusuke.
"No kidding," Yusuke muttered back.
"One more thing," Hiei said from atop another tree. The other four looked up at him. Kuronue raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah?"
"If Kurama's heading west, why are we going east?"
*Back to Kurama. . . .*
"You really think . . . you can get away with this . . . don't you?" Kurama panted while facing Karasu. "You really think that you'll get away with hurting my mother like that."
"Look at yourself kitsune," Karasu said. Kurama, for the second time in less than a week, looked worse for the wear. His hair was matted with sweat and blood, both from himself and the raven-haired youkai. His clothes were ripped in several places, while several rips oozed slowly running blood. As Kurama considered what Karasu was saying, a drop of a blood and sweat mixture fell from one of Kurama's bangs into his eyes. He yelled and stumbled backward. Karasu took this moment to strike, leaping and reaching out toward Kurama. Kurama noticed just in time and jumped backward.
"I think you might want to do the same," Kurama said. It was true, the raven-haired youkai had suffered just as much damage as the kitsune had. His hair was nearly stained red with the blood that had been spilled onto it. His clothes were torn in various places, with cuts underneath them from Kurama's rose whip, which Karasu had not managed to blow up yet. That puzzled the both of them. Karasu backed away from Kurama, his breath coming in short gasps. Even though he wasn't about to let the kitsune see it, his energy was slowly diminishing.
"I think that we should end this now," Karasu said, falling into a fighting stance. Kurama readied his whip again. "Are you ready?"
"I was just thinking the same thing," Kurama said. Without warning, he struck, the whip lashing out again, hitting Karasu in the leg. The youkai cursed and fell down onto his knees.
"Kurama," Karasu breathed, letting the air hiss out between his teeth. "You're the only person who ever . . . ever hurt me more than once . . . and in more than one way."
"Shut up!" Kurama yelled. He didn't want to hear about the youkai's other troubles. Karasu was either going to kill him, or be killed by him. He pulled his hand back, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the whip flying. Karasu looked at the impending death speeding toward him.
"I guess it won't be too bad to die again," Karasu said. With that, he stood up, nearly blacking out because of the pain in his leg, and ran, as best he could, toward Kurama's weapon. He let out a scream that bored into Kurama like needle points as weapon hit flesh, and the youkai fell.
"Karasu . . . you . . . you idiot," Kurama mumbled when his tired brain registered what had happened. "Why'd you do that?"
"Good-bye, Kurama," whispered the injured youkai. Kurama walked over, and shut Karasu's eyes as the life fled from the raven-haired body.
"Perhaps . . . if we met differently," Kurama mumbled. "We could have been friends." Kurama heard a faint moan, and looked over to his mother, who was coming to across the room. Kurama blinked suddenly, remembering why he was here and what had happened. (She stayed unconscious through the entire fight,) Kurama thought. (That's strange.)
"Shu-Shuichi," Shiori mumbled. Kurama smiled and walked over to her.
"I'm right here," he said, taking hold of her hand. She looked at him, her eyes wide with fear. "D-do you remember anything?" Shiori nodded. That was when Kurama lost it. "I-I'm sorry 'kassan, I-I lied to you, but I didn't want to, but I was so afraid that-"
"Shh, Kurama, everything's fine," Shiori said, putting a finger to her son's lips. Kurama sighed and closed his eyes. "I understand where you were coming from on this. I've had a lot of time to think about it. And I don't care who you are, or what your past was like. You're my son now, and as long as all of that . . . was in the past . . . it's all right. I love you, Kurama."
"I . . . I love you too, kassan," Kurama said, putting his arms around her. Shiori closed her eyes, and thought about how strange the past few days had been . . . and . . . it felt right to call her son Kurama, although a part of him would remain her little Shuichi forever.
"Hey! I thought I heard something this way!" Kurama and Shiori broke the embrace and looked toward the doorway, where, a moment later, Kuronue appeared. "Ha, I told 'em you guys were this way." Kurama blinked.
"Who's here exactly?" he asked. Kuronue began counting on his fingers.
"Ah, well, there's me and Jeroun, of course, and then there's Yusuke, and Kuwabara, and Hiei," he said, ticking off one finger for each person.
"They all came?" Kurama asked, surprised. Kuronue nodded.
"Yeah, of course we all came, Kurama," Kuronue said. "That's cause we all wanted to help. Although," he added, looking around at the dining room that had become Kurama and Karasu's battlefield. His eyes rested on Karasu's body for a moment before turning back to Kurama. "I guess you really didn't need help, did you?" Kurama looked around, trying to avoid seeing Karasu's body, and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kurama said. "Now come on, help me get 'kassan out of these chains." Kuronue and Kurama set to work on the chains. Every few moments, Kurama would glance at either his former partner or his mother and wondered how his life turned out this way.
"Aw, man, we missed the fight." Kuronue smiled at Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Jeroun who had just appeared in the doorway. Kurama, who had been making sure that his mother was unharmed after undoing the chains, jumped slightly before turning and laughing at the disappointed look on Yusuke's face.
"Ah, it was nothing you guys haven't seen before," Kurama said. Hiei "hn"ed, Kuwabara began trying to figure out what Kurama meant, Yusuke grinned, Jeroun shook his head, still thinking the kitsune had gone mental, and Kuronue clapped his former partner on the shoulder.
"Come on, everyone," Kuronue said. "Let's go home." As Yusuke and Jeroun led Shiori out of the castle (against Kurama's better judgment) Kurama pulled Kuronue aside.
"You're staying with us then?" he asked. Kuronue grinned.
"Why not?" he asked. "There's not a whole lot for me in the Makai anymore, besides a bunch of people who hate me for stealing something of theirs." Kurama laughed. '
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "And once you've quit being a thief, it's hard to get back in the habit." Kuronue looked at Kurama like he had gone crazy.
"Who said I wanted to go back?" he said. "All thievery ever did for me is almost get me killed!"
"I thought it had killed you," Kurama said softly. Kuronue clapped the kitsune on the shoulder. Kurama looked up at him.
"D'you think that, even though we don't steal anymore, we could be partners again?" Kuronue asked. When a grin broke out on the kitsune's face, Kuronue thought Kurama was laughing at him, so the words that came out of his mouth surprised the chimera.
"Why not?" Kurama asked. "We can still fight together, right?"
"Right."
"KURAMA! KURONUE!! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?? WE'RE GONNA LEAVE YOU GUYS HERE IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTTS UP HERE!!"
"And there's Yusuke," Kurama said, "Come on, we don't want him to leave us."
"WE'RE COMING!!!"
"Kuronue! Not so loud!"
"What?"
"Forget it."
Phew. This took a while to write. It was hard, because I couldn't find the right way to start the chapter. AND I AM STILL NOT AT 300 REVIEWS!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ahem. Sorry. I really want 300 reviews. I would be happy. Anyway . . . I don't know what else to say . . . so, erm, bye!!