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Kurama looked at her unbelievingly. "You knew I was coming? You know who I am?" 'Damn. I didn't want her to know who I really am. This could complicate things.'

Koranu shrugged slightly, taking another sip of her tea. "I didn't know much. I knew what you looked like, and your name 'Kurama.' But that's about it. I don't know where you live, I don't know what kind of family you have. Hell, I don't even know your age."

Kurama smiled slightly in relief, but Koranu mistaking the smile as a response to her little joke, smiled back. "Do you want me to tell you about myself?" he asked her, wanting to make sure she wouldn't begin to suspect his demon side. Koranu nodded to him politely, smiling slightly.

Setting down his tea on the table with a slightly sigh, he looked up at her as he careful unfolded his tale of half-truths. "My name is Shuichi Minamino, although I am often referred to as Kurama." This much was true, in the least. It wasn't actually lying, it just wasn't telling the whole truth. "I am eight years old and I live alone with my mother. I have always known that I have an abnormally large amount of ki. A while back I had a run-in with a demon, and since I have become involved with the demon and spirit worlds." This was practically true. He did recently meet Hiei, which caused him to renew his relationship with the demon world. The fox had never actually said that that was his first time he learned about demons. "I knew I needed training, so I tracked you down, thinking that you sounded like a teacher compatible with my own personality. And so, here I am."

Koranu nodded thoughtfully at his story, taking sips of tea as she listened. When he finished, she spoke up. "It seems like you're a decent person, and you're right, I do agree that our personalities are similar. That should make things easier. My clairvoyant abilities seem wonderful, but I can't control what information I want, and it usually never includes the entire truth." 'More then you know,' Kurama thought at her.

"Now that we know more about each other, do you still wish to become my student?" At Kurama's nod, she continued. "Good. I think you will be an exceptional pupil, so I'm perfectly willing to have you, so long as you agree to the terms I've already said. Now, when would you like to begin your training?"

"As soon as possible," Kurama told the startled teacher. "Now is fine, or we can wait until later. Whichever you prefer."

Indicating her head to the door, she told the fox, "we might as well begin now. Today I'll just inspect your ki and teach you basic meditating for you to do in your own time. Come, let's go sit in the studio."

Koranu stood up as her new student fallowed, and went into the red room they had passed through before. Sitting down in the middle of the floor, the woman motioned for Kurama to sit on the floor across from her. He obeyed, sitting down with graceful motions, letting his knees give out from under him. Tucking his feet underneath the rest of his small, childhood body, he looked up at his teacher expectantly.

"First," she told him, "we're going to begin by examining your ki. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your skin radiating with heat." Kurama closed his eyes and followed her directions as she told him them. "Imagine a ball of light in the center of your chest, that's radiating heat. The heat flows out of your body and into the air around you. Good. Now, allow the heat to get further and further away from your body. Allow it to continue to expand, always coming from your center." There was a slight pause, as Kurama followed her directions. Had it been his first time doing this, he would have struggled. But unknown to his teacher, Kurama was very experienced at letting his aura expand.

"What?" Koranu gasped startled, and from the shift in the air, the fox could tell that she was leaning forward toward him, as if trying to get a better look.

"What is it?" he asked her, opening his eyes and letting his aura decrease in size.

"Well, that explains a lot," she said, sitting back again and shaking her head, eyes closed. "You see, for some reason, you don't have ki, but youki instead. Demon energy."

Kurama gasped as he too leaned back, his hands dropping behind him to support his back. 'Shit!' he thought venomously. 'I totally forgot about that! Of course she's going to notice I have youki. I always knew I did, but I forgot that other readers are able to sense it! How am I going to explain this?'

Koranu, once again mistaking his actions for that of surprise, nodded. "Although I'm not exactly sure of exactly why, there are a couple possibilities. For one, you might be part demon and that blood is just resurfacing through you after a couple generations. The more likely of the two, is you're the reincarnation of a demon." Kurama did his best to remain if not impassive, then how Koranu expected him to look. He prayed over and over again in his head that Koranu would not figure out his secret.

But Koranu simply shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "Either way, the situation doesn't change. Youki isn't that different from ki, so we shouldn't have any trouble changing a couple of the exercises and things to better suit your situation." Glancing at the fox's nervous face, she smiled softly at him. "Don't worry. Having youki isn't a big deal. And it will actually make you a good deal stronger." Kurama nodded, and although he was still nervous, he knew Koranu wouldn't hate him, even if she did find out his secret.

"Now," she said to Kurama, drawing him back out of his thoughts. "I'm going to show you some meditation to practice….."

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"Good, Kurama," Koranu told him. "That's excellent." Then, seeing that her exercises were wearing out her pupil, told him, "That's enough for today. You can open your eyes now."

Kurama followed her directions, blinking slightly in the bright light, letting his eyes adjust. "How did I do?" he questioned his teacher.

"Very well," she told him. "For your first lesson, you are really exceptional. The control you have over your youki is really amazing for someone so young."

The fox knew that this was due to his previous life, but he refrained from comment. The less Koranu knew, the safer she was. And the more likely she would continue giving lessons.

Bowing slightly, Kurama turned to the older woman. "Thank you very much for this lesson, sensei. It was a great honor."

Koranu chuckled slightly and ruffled the top of his read locks. Already, the two were becoming the best student and teacher they could. "You're very welcome, Kurama. I just don't know why anyone would want lessons from an old, ugly toad like me." The red head had to chuckle along with her at this comment. There was no farther description from Koranu then that she had just named.

Glancing quickly at his small, black watch which named the time six, the fox turned to his new teacher. "When should I come back, sensei? Next week?"

"Yes," she told him. "Next week will be fine. Should we do the same time?" Kurama nodded his consent agreeably. It would be a bit of a trick trying to get away from his mother, but it would be worth it.

"Thank you," he told her, walking over and opening the paper door that lead out into the front courtyard. "I shall see you next week."

Koranu nodded to him and replied, "Next week then. Take care." Closing the door behind him, Kurama trotted down the two steps to the ground, and then down the hundreds of steps that lead to the road.

He sighed contently to himself as he advanced. 'Today went beautifully,' he thought happily. 'Koranu will be a wonderful teacher. She's very wise, even if she isn't quite as old as I am.'

He found the train station down the road, and sat down to wait for the last train of the day, swinging his small legs underneath him on the wooden bench. 'It's interesting,' he thought to himself, 'That Koranu would want to die. I'm nearly three times older then she is, yet I have no real desire to end my life. I never have.

'Perhaps it's the youko in me, demanding I live, with my survival instincts so strong. Animals do have a remarkable natural will to live, no matter what happens to them. Humans are the only animals that really commit suiside for the sake of dieing.

'Or maybe that it's the fact that I already have died once before. But that kind of defeats the purpose of wanting to die. She wants do die because she's old and tired of seeing so much life taken. She has seen so much, she'd just like to forget it. But with the way I died, none of that happened. I still have all my youko memories, as painful as they are. So, in a sense, I haven't really died at all, I just changed bodies.

'But a part of my youko self has died along with that body. My cruelty is gone, along with my much of my anger and other evil feelings. You might say that my youko self is the devil side of me. Sometimes I can still hear it speaking up, though, so perhaps "dead" is not the right word for it. It's almost as though we're two separate people, occupying one body. My youko self is like those cartoons when the main character has two creatures sitting on it's shoulders, a devil and an angel.

'The devil is like my demon self, telling me to do cruel and painful things. Things that would be normally classified as bad.

'But what is my angel self? Where did it go? Or did I never even have one at all…is my good side not in existence? Am I nothing but devil? Have I nothing at all……but Youko Kurama?

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Hey,

I'm having a crappy day. I was supposed to go out to dinner, then my mom changed her mind. Then I found out my dog has cancer and is going to die within two weeks. I love my life.

And as to all you people who argued with my 17-21 years thing, I'm not saying that there aren't any people above or below. In fact, I know quite a few from 13-15 too. This is just the MAJORITY!!! So is the girls thing. I have a lot of favorite authors who are guys, just the MAJORITY is girls. Not a huge deal. I'm just saying what I've noticed.

That's it for now. My eyes hurt from crying and my head feels stuffy.

Bye

Dream Fox