Charms
Ouch...My brain hurts.
Chapter 43
Kurama looked around at the literally frozen world. //My voice seems to be the command, like a remote control for a VCR. I should be careful what I say.//
"Show Daiki." A thousand hundred images rushed around him, some passing through him. //I can't touch anything...good.// The images stopped on a hospital room. A woman giving birth and a doctor holding a tiny infant. //Okay. That's not what I wanted exactly.//
"Let me see Daiki, age..." //Let's see, he would have been six years old when the fire took place. No that doesn't matter. Judging from Daiki's reaction, he didn't want me to see something. If I were to betray that trust by freely searching his memories...No.// "Age 17." he specified.
Those images, people, things, places rushing here and there. They were all a part of Daiki's past. Kurama allowed his eyes unfocus, letting the soul speed through events. The images stopped again.
"Continue." He commanded, his green eyes focused. There were overlapping memories! Ghostly images of a seventeen year old with long white hair passed through a city street in a feudal Japan market place. All over lapping with a large garden the strawberry blond teen was manicuring. The images carried noises with them and the sounds were so contradictive it was giving Kurama a head ache to try and focus on just one thing. "Stop!" Both images froze.
//Thank god.// he steaded himself. //Okay...// Green eyes looked around before he gave the command to just show Daiki's memories. In the muddle of overlapping scenary Kurama recognized that Kohaku was walking towards someone. A lovely young lady, who seemed to be waiting. //Kohaku...must have his own past to keep.//
In that moment, an overwhelming curiosity took hold of Kurama. If Kohaku was alive all this time, what was his life like? What do you do with the near immortality that comes with being a demon, full-blooded, in a human world of frailty? The red head looked at his hand. The fox had only been in the human world to recover or hide in some way. To be here so long...//I just worried about Daiki all this time. What if I was mistaken? What if the one who needs saving, protecting, is Kohaku?// Kurama closed his hand.
"Kohaku." He addressed the demon heart. "It must have been lonely for you. All those years. All those people, your family, being born and dying and doing it all over again." The fox demon asked the only one who could have the answer.
"I am a demon," The red head touched his chest, "so I can sympathize with the chains of immortality." He held out both hands. "But I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. To think that you should be a human. And for that to be the one thing you could never be." He paused hoping to get some kind of answer, maybe a sign, but everything was quiet. "I can't change what happened to you. I can't take back all of those years you spent without your mother, without your true father. But I can listen, if you want to tell me. I'm here, if you want to show me who you are."
The fox demon heard a sound like the flutter of a wing across a drum. Daiki's garden fell away, leaving the feudal market place remained. The world around Kurama began to move, not the rushing of years, but a gentle rolling of minutes. The frosty haired teen met with the young lady, who had been waiting patiently for him to find her through the crowds.
"What are you doing here, Touru-chan." Kohaku spoke in concerned tones. "Hajime wouldn't approve if..."
"Our brother sent me on an errand. He knows I take my own time." The girl had the kind of devilish smile you take when you're enjoying doing things your not supposed to. "I was shopping anyway and it's your birthday so..." The raven haired girl held out a carefully wrapped package, bound by a silk ribbon.
"You'll be punished if he finds out..." he protested before even looking at it.
"You let me worry about that." Touru took Kohaku's hand and placed her gift in it. "Happy Birthday, Kohaku-kun."
"Touru-chan." Those forest green eyes were still worried but there was something else. There was a softness, like giving in to the inevitable tides that sweep you into the ocean. "I'm sorry." he apologized, holding the gift to his chest.
"I should be the one apologizing. I could do nothing when Hajime forced you to leave after father died. And on top of it all, he's forbidden us to socialize with you. Even though you changed your name to Hazama for our sakes." she seemed frustrated. "I mean, you're the eldest. Why didn't you stand up for yourself?"
"Well, that's..." The frosty haired teen half looked over his shoulder.
"Forgive me." Her raven hair fell in waves as she bowed to him. "I know your appearence so well, I forget how different it is to everyone else. And of course, social status to a family is more important than it's members." There was a painful truth in her words and hollow silence between them, drown out by the busy market place around them. "I should be going now." She said finally, turned to leave but stopped and looked behind her. She seemed to want to say something, but some how couldn't find the words. So, Touru left Kohaku standing there with his present. Probably the only one he would receive from his family.
//They abandoned you.// Kurama had watched respectfully and waited to see if there was something else to follow. The world moved forward again, months and then years. Kohaku, twenty two years old. Fully grown and strong from the work he had done, his face and manner still exude elegance. His hair was still quite long, but he bound those gorgeous white locks closely to his head with a series of maple leaf-shaped clips. The pale green clips accented the pink kimono he wore, contrasted by a water lily design.
This seemed to be Kohaku's home. It wasn't large but for the time period, it was an excellent accomplishment from the peasant status he began from. He was alone in the room plucking on a lute. He was probably practicing. The frosty haired man would just smile if he made a mistake and start over. Kurama could help but smile at his optomistic attitude. Suddenly there was a rapping on the sliding door.
"Who is it?" He put the lute aside when he called.
"Brother," //That voice, it belongs to his sister Touru// "I've just heard some news of great urgency." she seemed frantic. Kohaku rushed to the door and opened it.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Hajime. He's lost his home and was told to leave by tomorrow."
"Don't panic." His forest green eyes told her. "We'll go to him, invite him to stay here..."
"You know he's too proud for that." she insisted. "He lost his buisness and he wouldn't accept your help then. That's why I came here, he doesn't cope well with failure. I worry for his wife and children. He may go mad from dispair, what if..."
"Calm down. We can't solve anything by talking like this. We'll go to him now and see how he fares. Then we can better plan what to do."
"Thank you." The raven haired girl took his hands in hers and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. "Thank you so much."
Time passed again, perhaps a few hours. Kohaku and his sister and a few others rushed to the aid of a house ablaze. A woman Kurama hadn't seen before was told to get others to help. The remaining men gathered buckets and found the nearest water source.
Touru seemed to be in shock. She just stood there watching the fire slowly eat away at the house. Her eyes and mouth were held captive by abject horror. Kohaku was busy helping toss what little water they could retrieve from the small swamp nearby on the inferrno. It wasn't working. Suddenly a shout errupted from the house and a soft crying sound could barely be heard from the crackling of the wooden support beams.
"Hajime!" Touru cried out. When she heard no answer the girl hesitated, then ran into the collapsing home. Kohaku just barely managed to see her move, out of the corner of his eye.
"Tohru!" He dropped the bucket of water he was holding and ran after her. "TOHRU!" Kurama ran after them, through the heat of the flames and the blinding smoke. He couldn't see, he could barely hear Kohaku's voice calling his sister's name. A terrible rumble followed by a sickening crack sent firy debris raining down. Several planks fell right through Kurama's body. The red head jumped reflexively, but remembered that he was like an image himself in this world of memories. //Where are they?// the fox demon searched frantically. All at once a cold wave exploded, quenching the flames instantly.
Although the force of the wave was enough to finish collapsing what was left of the supports of the house, it didn't. The cold was permiating the air now and large stints of ice branched upward, piercing the roof and walls of the charred building. The smoke escaped quickly and with the flames gone, it was easy to find Kohaku. He was crouching over the broken body of his sister. Touru, Hajime and his family were all dead. The demon fell to his knees sobing uncontrollably. Kurama could only watch. //Kohaku, I'm so sorry.//
Years leaped by in the world around Kurama. It all rushed to the modern day acctually, eleven years ago. A five or six year old Daiki was sneaking through the halls of the Hazama main house. //Now what are you doing, little one?// The stawberry blond boy was carrying something wrapped in a cloth. Whatever it was, it was thin and as long as his hand.
Daiki slid along the wall and stopped at the corner. He looked left to right. When he felt confident no one was looking, he took a deep breath and darted accross the hall, rushing toward the adjacent wall like a foot ball player. Emerald green eyes blinked with surprise. The boy didn't slam into the wall, a panel opened on a spinning axis, like a rotating door, and he easily slipped through.
Kurama followed him straight through the wall, curious where the boy was going and what he was going to do there. The fox demon froze, he would have gasped if he had the strength to breath. The emerald eyed teen felt his stomach turn as he stood there in horror. The beautiful Kohaku, still appearing to be twenty two years old, trapped behind an old style prison of dark wooden lattice. There was a copper lock on the small door and a tiny window that opened up to the light of day.
Kurama fell to his knees when the elegant man looked up from his small table, where he had been writting. He put the pen down and a cascading set of clinks sounded. Yugasa's son, this most beautiful creature full of power and life was chained to the wall. There were four iron cuffs on for each hand and foot. The chain was thin, and long enough for him to reach the lattice and manage in this tiny prison. The space was clean and it seemed he needed for nothing but...//Kohaku...What have they done to you?//
"Kohaku!" Daiki called out his name like he hadn't seen him for a long time.
"Dai-chan." The frosty haired man came to the lattice and looked at the boy through the square holes. "Did you get permission this time? I don't want you to get in trouble. Remember the last time..."
"Let me worry about that." The stawberry blond boy waved a hand.
"But..." Forest green eyes blinked. His surprise melted into a kind smile. "You're going to do what you want, aren't you?" //Just like Touru-chan...is that what you're thinking?//
"Hey, I'm a good kid, I just..." Daiki's pause made Kurama glance at him. He looked a little flushed from his dash. The little one rubbed his chest roughly and his breathing was a little more shallow than before.
"Are you alright, Dai-chan?" Kohaku hooked his fingers in the lattice, watching the boy carefully. "Just breath, don't think about the pain. Think about your mother and new little sister. Remember how calm you felt when you held her the first time. You're just excited, you need to relax." The boy nodded as his breath began to even out.
"I'm fine." The little boy scrubbed the sweat from his brow with his little yukata sleeve. "Daddy's gone today and mom told me to go have fun, but not outside." he was trying not to talk about his pain.
"Not outside huh? That's disappointing for you. I know you love the garden."
"Yeah." he slumped his little shoulders and pouted, "But I get to see you! So that's nice." his blue eyes immediately brightened.
"I'm very glad you came." Kohaku laughed.
"Are you lonely in there?" Daiki looked a little serious all of a sudden. The white haired demon wasn't expecting this.
"Yes," he admitted, "but I know you're always right on the other side of that wall, so it's not so bad. Some times your father even takes me walks around the garden."
"Kohaku?" The little boy came closer to the lattice.
"Yes?"
"Did you do something bad?" Those blue eyes looked like they weren't sure which answer he wanted to hear.
"Why do you ask?" Pine green eyes asked sincerely.
"My tutor was talking about punishment yesterday." Daiki fidgeted and mummbled a little. "She said that only people who did something bad go to prison."
"Did she now. Hmm." Kohaku gathered his thoughts. "I didn't do something bad, but it might be trouble for you all if I leave here."
"What kinda trouble?" An innocent enought question, even Kurama wanted to know what it was they were afaid of. Why Kohaku was treated this way.
"Well," The frosty haired man didn't seem to know how to answer this question. "I'm not like you, you see." The demon turned around and sat against the lattice, letting his head hang. "I'm not...normal." There was a moment of silence before the green eyed man spoke again. "Listen, Dai-chan. I think maybe you should go...and maybe it's better for you if you don't come here anymore, oka..." A sharp click sounded in the copper lock.
"Dai-chan!" Kohaku protested. The little strawberry blond took the lock off the door. "You shouldn't have that. You know you shouldn't be in here." The demon told him sternly. Daiki opened the heavy lattice gate and crawled inside. "Aren't you even the least bit..." The little boy's big blue eyes looked into those pine green pools. They were at the same level, Daiki standing and Kohaku sitting. His little hand reached out and touched the man's cheek. "...afraid?"
"Let's see. You've got two eyes, a nose," his little finger tip touched the man's nose, "Lips, ears," the strawberry blond rubbed the other's ears. Kohaku giggled a little, he was probably ticklish. "Hair, that's important," he added, lifting some white locks with the backs of his hands, fanning his hair out. "Two arms, two legs. Let me see those hands." Daiki ordered, holding out his own for Kohaku to touch. "Yep, you've got to hands alright. Hmm, what else?" The little stawberry blond crossed his arms, trying to look like he was thinking seriously, "Oh, yes!" he proclaimed, promptly sitting on Kohaku's lap.
"What are you...?" The demon held up his arms in an awkward looking shrug. The iron shackles on his wrists, drooped a bit.
"Quiet," Daiki leaned close pressing his hear against Kohaku's chest, "I'm listening." Those pine green eyes looked around a little confused but not sure what to do about it. "Hmm." The blue eyed boy nodded, looking up at the demon. "You've got a heart." The little one smiled sweetly. "You seem pretty normal to me."
"Dai-chan." Kohaku said his name softly, relaxing. He knew the boy could never understand, not really. Even so, he accepted the demon as a human. The frosty haired man wrapped his arms around the boy, who didn't seem to mind the chains that drapped around him, and held him tight. "Thank you." //Daiki...You're amazing.// Kurama was truely moved. There are very few who are so good and even less who have the chance to prove it.
Ouch...My brain hurts.
Chapter 43
Kurama looked around at the literally frozen world. //My voice seems to be the command, like a remote control for a VCR. I should be careful what I say.//
"Show Daiki." A thousand hundred images rushed around him, some passing through him. //I can't touch anything...good.// The images stopped on a hospital room. A woman giving birth and a doctor holding a tiny infant. //Okay. That's not what I wanted exactly.//
"Let me see Daiki, age..." //Let's see, he would have been six years old when the fire took place. No that doesn't matter. Judging from Daiki's reaction, he didn't want me to see something. If I were to betray that trust by freely searching his memories...No.// "Age 17." he specified.
Those images, people, things, places rushing here and there. They were all a part of Daiki's past. Kurama allowed his eyes unfocus, letting the soul speed through events. The images stopped again.
"Continue." He commanded, his green eyes focused. There were overlapping memories! Ghostly images of a seventeen year old with long white hair passed through a city street in a feudal Japan market place. All over lapping with a large garden the strawberry blond teen was manicuring. The images carried noises with them and the sounds were so contradictive it was giving Kurama a head ache to try and focus on just one thing. "Stop!" Both images froze.
//Thank god.// he steaded himself. //Okay...// Green eyes looked around before he gave the command to just show Daiki's memories. In the muddle of overlapping scenary Kurama recognized that Kohaku was walking towards someone. A lovely young lady, who seemed to be waiting. //Kohaku...must have his own past to keep.//
In that moment, an overwhelming curiosity took hold of Kurama. If Kohaku was alive all this time, what was his life like? What do you do with the near immortality that comes with being a demon, full-blooded, in a human world of frailty? The red head looked at his hand. The fox had only been in the human world to recover or hide in some way. To be here so long...//I just worried about Daiki all this time. What if I was mistaken? What if the one who needs saving, protecting, is Kohaku?// Kurama closed his hand.
"Kohaku." He addressed the demon heart. "It must have been lonely for you. All those years. All those people, your family, being born and dying and doing it all over again." The fox demon asked the only one who could have the answer.
"I am a demon," The red head touched his chest, "so I can sympathize with the chains of immortality." He held out both hands. "But I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. To think that you should be a human. And for that to be the one thing you could never be." He paused hoping to get some kind of answer, maybe a sign, but everything was quiet. "I can't change what happened to you. I can't take back all of those years you spent without your mother, without your true father. But I can listen, if you want to tell me. I'm here, if you want to show me who you are."
The fox demon heard a sound like the flutter of a wing across a drum. Daiki's garden fell away, leaving the feudal market place remained. The world around Kurama began to move, not the rushing of years, but a gentle rolling of minutes. The frosty haired teen met with the young lady, who had been waiting patiently for him to find her through the crowds.
"What are you doing here, Touru-chan." Kohaku spoke in concerned tones. "Hajime wouldn't approve if..."
"Our brother sent me on an errand. He knows I take my own time." The girl had the kind of devilish smile you take when you're enjoying doing things your not supposed to. "I was shopping anyway and it's your birthday so..." The raven haired girl held out a carefully wrapped package, bound by a silk ribbon.
"You'll be punished if he finds out..." he protested before even looking at it.
"You let me worry about that." Touru took Kohaku's hand and placed her gift in it. "Happy Birthday, Kohaku-kun."
"Touru-chan." Those forest green eyes were still worried but there was something else. There was a softness, like giving in to the inevitable tides that sweep you into the ocean. "I'm sorry." he apologized, holding the gift to his chest.
"I should be the one apologizing. I could do nothing when Hajime forced you to leave after father died. And on top of it all, he's forbidden us to socialize with you. Even though you changed your name to Hazama for our sakes." she seemed frustrated. "I mean, you're the eldest. Why didn't you stand up for yourself?"
"Well, that's..." The frosty haired teen half looked over his shoulder.
"Forgive me." Her raven hair fell in waves as she bowed to him. "I know your appearence so well, I forget how different it is to everyone else. And of course, social status to a family is more important than it's members." There was a painful truth in her words and hollow silence between them, drown out by the busy market place around them. "I should be going now." She said finally, turned to leave but stopped and looked behind her. She seemed to want to say something, but some how couldn't find the words. So, Touru left Kohaku standing there with his present. Probably the only one he would receive from his family.
//They abandoned you.// Kurama had watched respectfully and waited to see if there was something else to follow. The world moved forward again, months and then years. Kohaku, twenty two years old. Fully grown and strong from the work he had done, his face and manner still exude elegance. His hair was still quite long, but he bound those gorgeous white locks closely to his head with a series of maple leaf-shaped clips. The pale green clips accented the pink kimono he wore, contrasted by a water lily design.
This seemed to be Kohaku's home. It wasn't large but for the time period, it was an excellent accomplishment from the peasant status he began from. He was alone in the room plucking on a lute. He was probably practicing. The frosty haired man would just smile if he made a mistake and start over. Kurama could help but smile at his optomistic attitude. Suddenly there was a rapping on the sliding door.
"Who is it?" He put the lute aside when he called.
"Brother," //That voice, it belongs to his sister Touru// "I've just heard some news of great urgency." she seemed frantic. Kohaku rushed to the door and opened it.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Hajime. He's lost his home and was told to leave by tomorrow."
"Don't panic." His forest green eyes told her. "We'll go to him, invite him to stay here..."
"You know he's too proud for that." she insisted. "He lost his buisness and he wouldn't accept your help then. That's why I came here, he doesn't cope well with failure. I worry for his wife and children. He may go mad from dispair, what if..."
"Calm down. We can't solve anything by talking like this. We'll go to him now and see how he fares. Then we can better plan what to do."
"Thank you." The raven haired girl took his hands in hers and thanked him from the bottom of her heart. "Thank you so much."
Time passed again, perhaps a few hours. Kohaku and his sister and a few others rushed to the aid of a house ablaze. A woman Kurama hadn't seen before was told to get others to help. The remaining men gathered buckets and found the nearest water source.
Touru seemed to be in shock. She just stood there watching the fire slowly eat away at the house. Her eyes and mouth were held captive by abject horror. Kohaku was busy helping toss what little water they could retrieve from the small swamp nearby on the inferrno. It wasn't working. Suddenly a shout errupted from the house and a soft crying sound could barely be heard from the crackling of the wooden support beams.
"Hajime!" Touru cried out. When she heard no answer the girl hesitated, then ran into the collapsing home. Kohaku just barely managed to see her move, out of the corner of his eye.
"Tohru!" He dropped the bucket of water he was holding and ran after her. "TOHRU!" Kurama ran after them, through the heat of the flames and the blinding smoke. He couldn't see, he could barely hear Kohaku's voice calling his sister's name. A terrible rumble followed by a sickening crack sent firy debris raining down. Several planks fell right through Kurama's body. The red head jumped reflexively, but remembered that he was like an image himself in this world of memories. //Where are they?// the fox demon searched frantically. All at once a cold wave exploded, quenching the flames instantly.
Although the force of the wave was enough to finish collapsing what was left of the supports of the house, it didn't. The cold was permiating the air now and large stints of ice branched upward, piercing the roof and walls of the charred building. The smoke escaped quickly and with the flames gone, it was easy to find Kohaku. He was crouching over the broken body of his sister. Touru, Hajime and his family were all dead. The demon fell to his knees sobing uncontrollably. Kurama could only watch. //Kohaku, I'm so sorry.//
Years leaped by in the world around Kurama. It all rushed to the modern day acctually, eleven years ago. A five or six year old Daiki was sneaking through the halls of the Hazama main house. //Now what are you doing, little one?// The stawberry blond boy was carrying something wrapped in a cloth. Whatever it was, it was thin and as long as his hand.
Daiki slid along the wall and stopped at the corner. He looked left to right. When he felt confident no one was looking, he took a deep breath and darted accross the hall, rushing toward the adjacent wall like a foot ball player. Emerald green eyes blinked with surprise. The boy didn't slam into the wall, a panel opened on a spinning axis, like a rotating door, and he easily slipped through.
Kurama followed him straight through the wall, curious where the boy was going and what he was going to do there. The fox demon froze, he would have gasped if he had the strength to breath. The emerald eyed teen felt his stomach turn as he stood there in horror. The beautiful Kohaku, still appearing to be twenty two years old, trapped behind an old style prison of dark wooden lattice. There was a copper lock on the small door and a tiny window that opened up to the light of day.
Kurama fell to his knees when the elegant man looked up from his small table, where he had been writting. He put the pen down and a cascading set of clinks sounded. Yugasa's son, this most beautiful creature full of power and life was chained to the wall. There were four iron cuffs on for each hand and foot. The chain was thin, and long enough for him to reach the lattice and manage in this tiny prison. The space was clean and it seemed he needed for nothing but...//Kohaku...What have they done to you?//
"Kohaku!" Daiki called out his name like he hadn't seen him for a long time.
"Dai-chan." The frosty haired man came to the lattice and looked at the boy through the square holes. "Did you get permission this time? I don't want you to get in trouble. Remember the last time..."
"Let me worry about that." The stawberry blond boy waved a hand.
"But..." Forest green eyes blinked. His surprise melted into a kind smile. "You're going to do what you want, aren't you?" //Just like Touru-chan...is that what you're thinking?//
"Hey, I'm a good kid, I just..." Daiki's pause made Kurama glance at him. He looked a little flushed from his dash. The little one rubbed his chest roughly and his breathing was a little more shallow than before.
"Are you alright, Dai-chan?" Kohaku hooked his fingers in the lattice, watching the boy carefully. "Just breath, don't think about the pain. Think about your mother and new little sister. Remember how calm you felt when you held her the first time. You're just excited, you need to relax." The boy nodded as his breath began to even out.
"I'm fine." The little boy scrubbed the sweat from his brow with his little yukata sleeve. "Daddy's gone today and mom told me to go have fun, but not outside." he was trying not to talk about his pain.
"Not outside huh? That's disappointing for you. I know you love the garden."
"Yeah." he slumped his little shoulders and pouted, "But I get to see you! So that's nice." his blue eyes immediately brightened.
"I'm very glad you came." Kohaku laughed.
"Are you lonely in there?" Daiki looked a little serious all of a sudden. The white haired demon wasn't expecting this.
"Yes," he admitted, "but I know you're always right on the other side of that wall, so it's not so bad. Some times your father even takes me walks around the garden."
"Kohaku?" The little boy came closer to the lattice.
"Yes?"
"Did you do something bad?" Those blue eyes looked like they weren't sure which answer he wanted to hear.
"Why do you ask?" Pine green eyes asked sincerely.
"My tutor was talking about punishment yesterday." Daiki fidgeted and mummbled a little. "She said that only people who did something bad go to prison."
"Did she now. Hmm." Kohaku gathered his thoughts. "I didn't do something bad, but it might be trouble for you all if I leave here."
"What kinda trouble?" An innocent enought question, even Kurama wanted to know what it was they were afaid of. Why Kohaku was treated this way.
"Well," The frosty haired man didn't seem to know how to answer this question. "I'm not like you, you see." The demon turned around and sat against the lattice, letting his head hang. "I'm not...normal." There was a moment of silence before the green eyed man spoke again. "Listen, Dai-chan. I think maybe you should go...and maybe it's better for you if you don't come here anymore, oka..." A sharp click sounded in the copper lock.
"Dai-chan!" Kohaku protested. The little strawberry blond took the lock off the door. "You shouldn't have that. You know you shouldn't be in here." The demon told him sternly. Daiki opened the heavy lattice gate and crawled inside. "Aren't you even the least bit..." The little boy's big blue eyes looked into those pine green pools. They were at the same level, Daiki standing and Kohaku sitting. His little hand reached out and touched the man's cheek. "...afraid?"
"Let's see. You've got two eyes, a nose," his little finger tip touched the man's nose, "Lips, ears," the strawberry blond rubbed the other's ears. Kohaku giggled a little, he was probably ticklish. "Hair, that's important," he added, lifting some white locks with the backs of his hands, fanning his hair out. "Two arms, two legs. Let me see those hands." Daiki ordered, holding out his own for Kohaku to touch. "Yep, you've got to hands alright. Hmm, what else?" The little stawberry blond crossed his arms, trying to look like he was thinking seriously, "Oh, yes!" he proclaimed, promptly sitting on Kohaku's lap.
"What are you...?" The demon held up his arms in an awkward looking shrug. The iron shackles on his wrists, drooped a bit.
"Quiet," Daiki leaned close pressing his hear against Kohaku's chest, "I'm listening." Those pine green eyes looked around a little confused but not sure what to do about it. "Hmm." The blue eyed boy nodded, looking up at the demon. "You've got a heart." The little one smiled sweetly. "You seem pretty normal to me."
"Dai-chan." Kohaku said his name softly, relaxing. He knew the boy could never understand, not really. Even so, he accepted the demon as a human. The frosty haired man wrapped his arms around the boy, who didn't seem to mind the chains that drapped around him, and held him tight. "Thank you." //Daiki...You're amazing.// Kurama was truely moved. There are very few who are so good and even less who have the chance to prove it.