6

Note to my readers: As far as I am able to understand 100 yen is about one American dollar, and one yen is about equal to the value of a penny. So by following this logic I'm pretty sure 40,000 yen is about equal to 400 dollar's, however I'm not completely sure. For the purpose of my story I'm just going to have to ask you to pretend like it is if you find out I'm wrong.

Chapter 7: Me and my self.

Youko felt something digging painfully into his ribs, but he wasn't sure what it was. He had been recently knocked unconscious, and he decided to do what he always did when he woke up not knowing what was going on: play dead until he was able to analyze the situation further. He kept his breathing even, and pretended to still be unconscious. He was lying next to something warm, and whatever it was, or rather whoever it was, was alive and breathing. The fox decided that thing digging into his side was probably a limb of some sort, most likely a knee. He figured it was probably unconscious judging by the rate of its breathing. It could have been playing dead just like him, but Youko doubted it since that was a trick few other people had the kind of self control to use. The ancient fox sniffed the air cautiously, and stiffened when he caught the sent of the shadow demon who had been attacking them.

'So she's still here?' Youko thought to himself. 'Kurama wake up, we've got problems on our hands.' Youko mentally rolled his eyes when he did not receive an answer from his human counterpart. 'Sleeping on the job again Suuichi? I guess I'm going to have to clean up this mess for you. I seem to be stuck doing that quite a lot lately.' Youko sighed.

Youko tensed as he sensed the shadow demon moving over to him. He waited until she was only a few feet from him and sprang to his feet with impossible speed, charging at her before she could react. He swiped at her with his claws, making gashes in her arm so deep that it hung useless at her side. Youko blinked in surprise at his bloody claws.

'That's weird… I didn't call my form yet.' He thought, his brain slightly muddled for the moment.

'Wait a minute… Shuiichi where the fuck are you!' Youko began growling menacingly with pure rage as his brain finally put two and two together.

"You bitch! You killed Shuiichi! You will learn what it means to cross Youko Kurama." Youko hissed with pure malice. His eyes held a level of hate and intensity that only a five hundred year old fox demon could manage.

The shadow demon held her wounded arm, and eyed the fox warily. "Look behind you fox." She said.

Youko glanced at where he had previously been in a heap unconscious. Kurama, was laying unceremoniously on the floor in what looked like a very uncomfortable position, however the human boy was very much alive despite a few inconsequential injuries. The ancient fox breathed a sigh of relief, and turned his attention back to the woman who was responsible for their separation.

"His survival was unexpected, that human must be far stronger than I had originally thought." She said offhandedly.

Youko growled in pure rage at her words, and lunged forward pinning the shadow demon against the wall by her throat. "If I desired my freedom I could have obtained it on my own, were I willing to take that boys life." Youko growled low, putting his face inches from the shadow demons. "However I was not willing to make that kind of sacrifice, so what right do you have to rip us apart? Especially if you knew Shuiichi would die!" he dug his claws into her neck till he drew blood, still growling with fury.

"I only follow orders; the boy was of no concern to me." The woman choked back. Instantly regretting her choice of words when she looked into Youko's eyes. They were burning red from his anger, as the angry fox hardly bothered to suppress his blood wrath.

"Who are you taking orders from then?" Youko hissed, baring his fangs.

"I can't answer that." The demon replied.

"Then you are of no use to me." Youko said dispassionately, squeezing the hand he had around her neck till his claws ripped through her throat. The woman's skin turned a dark gray color, and her face twisted until it almost resembled the face of a bird. Big leathery bat like wings ripped through her shirt from her shoulders, and spines grew out if her back along her spine. Once the shadow finished transforming into its true form it melted into shadow matter and sunk through the floor, disappearing completely. Youko finally forced himself to calm down and stopped growling. He headed into the kitchen and rinsed the blood off his hands before returning to the unconscious heap on the floor that was Kurama.

'Shuiichi.' Youko reminded himself. 'I'm going to have to start calling him Shuiichi now. After all Kuramas my name.' He laughed quietly as he thought of how Shuiichi was likely to react to this new turn of events. He shook his head in amusement, finally able to relax knowing that Shuiichi was going to be ok. Youko was free at last, and his avatar had not had to pay the price. He scooped Shuiichi off the floor and began carrying him toward his room, pausing to look at himself in a mirror hanging on the wall in the hallway. He twitched one of his furry white fox ears and grinned like an idiot. He was free, and it was finally beginning to sink in. In place of the emerald green eyes, and red hair that he usually saw in the mirror was golden eyes, and silver hair that cascaded down his back past his waist. Youko eyed himself critically with growing excitement.

After a few minutes he tore himself away from the mirror and carried Shuiichi to his room, laying the boy down in his bed, checking him for serious injuries and pulling off his shoes before tucking him in. he stared down at the body he had been inhabiting for the last seventeen years or so in mild shock. He had never seen Shuiichi with his own eyes before, only in mirrors and photographs. He gently ran his claws through the boy's thick red hair with an odd fatherly expression on his face before he realized what he was doing and snatched his hand back. He finally gave a snort and turned, heading for their closet deciding he was not properly dressed for modern times. He removed the white tunic and pants he always wore and stuffed them in Shuiichi's laundry basket. The ancient fox sighed as he looked through the boys clothes; they were close to the same size and build, however Shuiichi did not have many pants that would work with a tail. The fox finally decided on a black pair of pants. He used a claw to make a slit down the back low enough for his tail to fit comfortably and then pulled the pants on. They didn't seem to want to stay that way, however.

Youko used one hand to hold his pants up, while pawing around in one of Shuiichi's desk drawers with the other.

'AHA!' Youko thought as he held up a safety pin victoriously. He used the safety pin to pin the back of his pants good and closed, and then retrieved a cream colored belt from Shuiichi's closet to hide the safety pin. He dug through Shuiichi's closet until he found a burgundy colored shirt that he liked. As he put it on he absently began to wonder how he was going to hide his tail. Shuiichi didn't own any trench coats, and nothing that wasn't longer than forty five inches or so from his waist would cover it. Finally Youko remembered a human girl from one of Shuiichi's classes used to wear a stuffed tail to school every day. He had found the girl unusual at the time; however he was glad for her strange antics. According to the girl she was not the only one who wore tails. Anime geeks and people called furrys also wore them. So Youko decided there would be no need to hide his tail so long as he wore a coat long enough to cover his butt so that no one would see where it was coming from.

Youko grabbed his favorite of Shuiichi's jackets and put it on, laughing slightly at the knowledge that it was also Shuiichi's favorite jacket. The boy would be less than pleased when he woke up and discovered that Youko was running free, and causing trouble, wearing his favorite black and gray, hooded, zipup wind breaker no less. He searched through Shuiichi's sock drawer until he managed to find a pair of matching white socks, and pulled them on. Finally dressed, Youko grabbed a pair of shoes and put them on, adjusting them till they were snug and in place, and then tied them. He headed for the door before he suddenly realized he was forgetting something important. He twitched his ears at his carelessness, and was about to go look for a hat before he realized Shuiichi didn't own one.

'Shu wears hats!' he thought, snapping his fingers victoriously. He went to his younger stepbrother's room and looked for a hat. Shu had many hats hanging on tacks by the door. Youko eyed the hats one by one finally deciding to risk being clichéd and going for the navy blue baseball cap with the black fox racing logo on the front. Youko put on the hat, covering his fox ears completely. He looked at himself in a mirror and smiled in satisfaction. No one would be able to tell he wasn't a normal human unless they examined his tail closely, and he could easily keep them from doing that. Foxes are able to move their tails at will, however they do not subconsciously show emotions with their tails the way dogs and cats do, there for Youko figured it would be easy to pretend his tail was fake. He was pleased with his appearance, and once he was satisfied that he looked as normal as possible he tore a piece of paper out of Shu's note book and wrote him a quick note:

Shu,

I borrowed one of your hats. I hope you don't mind. I will return it once I am able to purchase one of my own. Thanks a lot.

-fox

Youko tacked the note to the wall where the hat had been hanging previously. He didn't think the boy would mind too much, he had several other hats and he did not wear the fox hat very often, he wasn't really into racing. He did wonder how the boy would react to the "fox" part of his note. He had not known the boy for very long but the old fox was becoming almost as attached to mini Shuiichi as his human counted part was. He laughed and headed into the living room, getting ready to leave. He passed the place where he had killed the shadow demon suddenly quite glad Shu was spending the night at a friend's house, and that Shiori had gone out for dinner with Youko and Shuiichi's step dad. There was a huge bloodstain on the wall, and Youko was quite sure that not a single one of his human family members would react well to the sight. The ancient fox cursed his stupidity as he went into the kitchen and found an old rag and soaked it in the sink, and returned to scrub the blood off the wall, relieved that not a single drop had reached the carpet. Once Youko was sure the living room was a safe sight for when his family returned he grabbed a spare key out of a box by the door and left, dropping the bloody rag in the big green trashcan that was out by the street, waiting for the garbage truck to come the next morning.

Youko stole the rubber band off the news paper lying in the driveway and used it to tie his hair back into a long silver braid. Once he was finished getting his hair under control the fox headed for town, eager to enjoy his new found freedom. He took a short cut down a few back alleys when he caught the scent of a few humans who seemed to be following him. Youko turned around and arched a silver eyebrow at the thugs.

"Hand over your cash or we'll cut you to pieces." One of the thugs, presumably the leader, called.

Youko's face remained carefully controlled, however he was laughing hysterically on the inside. "I'm afraid I do not have any money, please sir I don't want any trouble…" Youko lied, placing the most innocent and helpless expression he could manage on his face. The old fox was absolutely itching for trouble.

"He's lying man, I bet if you rough him up a bit he'll cough up the dough." One of the thugs said to the first.

"I bet your right." The first thug replied, pulling a switch blade out of his back pocket. Unfortunately the thug was too preoccupied to notice the evil gleam in the fox's eye.

The thug lunged at Youko gracelessly, taking s random swipe at the fox with the knife. Youko sidestepped the attack and grabbed the thug's wrist and squeezed until he was forced to drop the knife. He snatched his attacker and lifted him off the ground by the collar of his jacket, searching around till he found the man's wallet and dropping him in a heap on the ground.

"40,000 yen? Quite a stash you guys have acquired tonight. I'd say this would be sufficient compensation for my time, wouldn't you agree?" Youko said, his face completely emotionless and his voice even. He watched as the entire gang of thugs nodded vigorously, and barely managed to keep his stoic mask in place, wanting to laugh his head off like a mad man.

He removed the money and tossed the wallet back to its owner before stuffing his loot into his pocket and walking away. He waited till he was out of ear shot and then busted out into laughter. The fox was still laughing so hard that there were tears in his eyes when he finally reached the main road. He got several suspicious looks from passing pedestrians, who made a point to leave a good amount of distance between the fox and themselves. Youko took a deep breath and managed to stop his hysterical laughter, wondering what to do next.

Youko wandered aimlessly up and down random streets, watching the nightlife with avid interest. He passed several bars night clubs lit up with neon signs, and blasting loud music. There were many strange people walking around, however Youko seriously doubted any of them were half as strange as himself. After a while Youko decided he was hungry. He back tracked a ways, remembering seeing a quiet little restaurant that was still open a while back. He went inside and sat down at a table, waiting patiently for the waitress. After a few minutes she appeared out of the back room and handed him a menu.

"Nice tail." The waitress commented.

"Thanks." Youko replied.

"What's it made out of?" she asked.

"Fox fur." Youko answered, not liking the attention she was paying his tail.

"Can I pet it?" she asked.

"No." Youko said flatly.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because it's attached to my butt." Youko answered.

"Oh." The waitress said. "Well… do you know what you want to order?"

"Yes, I'll have a slice of pepperoni pizza, and a coke."

The waitress scribbled his order down on her note pad and left the fox in peace. He sighed in relief once she finally disappeared into the back room. Youko pulled his braid over his shoulder and lounged back into a more comfortable position, absently wondering what time it was.

'Note to self: steal a watch from somebody.' He thought, completely disregarding the fact that he had just stolen 40,000 yen.