Kurama's Tale
Chapter Zero: Prologue
Soft amber light spilled over the deep wood of my desk, dying the paper on it an aged, yellow hue. I turned from the parchment to punch some numbers into an advanced calculator which quickly summed up a list of random numbers. I turned to carefully write them down on the paper. I quickly glanced at the clock on my desk, which lay primly beside the cheerful little lamp that spilled light into my room, although not quite strong enough to banish the shadows from the very corners of it's pale walls. 8:15 pm, it stated. I looked back to my work. Elegant handwriting brandished the surface of the paper upon which I had written my answers. I was nearly done, yet felt as though I had done no work at all.
Soft footsteps quietly tapped on the thick carpet of the stairs. I smiled to myself, but let it slide from my face as I heard them stop outside my door. I didn't need to glance through the crack in my door to know who it was. My keen sense of smell told me that she was close, her nearly silent breath warm against the air, her heartbeat steady against her chest. It briefly made me remember how weakly it had struggled against the binds of her disease so long ago. It seemed like ages ago that Yusuke Urimeshi had saved both myself and my human mother from the grip of death after I had asked the Forlorn Hope to take my life in exchange to ensure the woman lived.
"You may come in, Mother," I called out softly. I could hear her start at my voice. She always had. She always seemed to become unsettled at the thought that I always knew that she was close at hand. My door opened wider and she stood in the doorway, smiling at me gently, myself returning the gesture.
"You always catch me, Shuichi," she said, a small giggle in her voice. My smile widened slightly.
"Please Mother, come sit," I said, gesturing to a chair beside the door. She opened the door to it's full width and stepped into the room, taking a seat on the offered chair.
"Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?" I asked. She gave another smile.
"Shuichi, dear, you worry too much about me. I am fine," she said. I nodded. "I was just watching you. You look so much like your father, you know." I looked into her sad eyes. My human father. He had died when I was young. There was a pause in which something in me shuddered, thrashing helplessly against it's ties. The sudden urge to tell the human woman what I was flashed through my mind. I shook it away, just as I had done so many times before. To tell this woman that I was really a thief and a criminal, not to mention the obvious detail that I was a kitsune fox. What would she think? Surely a human could never love such a beast with such a hideous past. The thought branched off into another. Me. Youko Kurama. Wanted in the Demon World for various and infamous thefts. My name brought fear to brim even the bravest of eyes. A name darkened with the ashes of deceit and crime. It made me remember why I had come to this world, the Ninginkai. Why I had been forced into this body. How I had come to be known as perfect schoolboy Shuichi Minamino instead of a notorious thief. It reminded me of my own, first, death, as well as the death of my partner. Kuronue.
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Authoress' Notes: yes, another one! This one is from Kurama! This is just the prologue, but the GOOD stuff comes in the first chapter, so be patient my dear readers! ^_^ Yes, Kurama FINALLY got to work on this. Unfortunately, but not entirely so, this is not a one-shot as planned. It'd be much too long! ^_^ its going to be about five or so chapters. Maybe six! Well, if ya enjoyed it, press the awesome little button down there and tell us what you think! Kurama's currently exhausted since I stood over him while he edited this and is conked out on the couch. ^_^. Flames are welcome, as long as you have an excuse for it! Please review, for it gets Kurama off his lazy butt and into the computer chair! Youko appears next chapter. Thanks for reading!
R&R if it pleases you!
