To put things bluntly- everything started when he died. Again.
Now to be fair, Kurama hadn't been expecting to die while on an outing with his mother, father, and brother while visiting the beach. In fact, he had been expecting to have a bit of fun and to be able to check out some of the local greenery. However, that wasn't what had happened.
Everything was fine for the first hour or two. He engaged in a splash fight with his brother- that he won. He played some beach volley voll with his father, and even managed to collect seashells with his mother while she asked him if he was excited to be starting his second year of university.
All in all, he was having a wonderful time spending time with his family. But that changed when he decided to go for a swim after his brother had challenged him to a race.
He'd entered the water's expecting things to go smoothly, despite the few warnings from locals about some fisherman's nets being lost in the waters somewhere just off of the beach. In the deeper waters.
His brother had pointed out the red buoy floating at least fifty or so feet from the shore. It was a distance that was easy to cross for both he and his brother. So, he wasn't feeling concerned about getting out into the deeper water and having something happen.
The race started out well, but once he reached about forty feet or so from the shore- things took a terrible turn. First, he got caught in some seaweed. Which wasn't so much terrible as annoying, but he managed too easily free himself.
He got a few feet more and somehow managed to get one of his legs caught in something else. His forward movement came to an abrupt stop with a concerning lurch. And while that had him a bit worried. It didn't worry him overly much since he could easily tell that he was tangled in something again.
He took a moment to let his head break the surface of the water so that he could wave at his brother when he paused in his own swim to make sure that he was alright.
Kurama quickly told his brother that he had won the race and to return to shore. He left out the part about being tangled in something so that he wouldn't worry his brother. Kokoda didn't ask any questions since he used a commanding tone with him. And did as he bid him without hesitation.
Leaving him to deal with whatever he was tangled up in.
The net was a tangled-up mess of half chewed; half cut up pieces that seemed to go on forever. And the more he attempted to free himself, the more tangled he seemed to become. Every time he attempted to move a piece off- another two seemed to snare him until one of his arms, and his waist, and even his neck wound up tangled in the mess and he couldn't surface anymore.
He panicked once he realized this. How could he not?
It was horrifying to think that after everything he'd been through, everything that he'd managed to survive these past few years- that it would be drowning that would do him in completely.
He kept struggling for as long as he could- vaguely aware of the fact that his family had realized that something was wrong and were calling him from the shore. Each of their voices frightened.
His heart pounded; his lungs burned- starving for air. And before he knew it...his life slipped away.
He found himself floating across from his human body as it floated. His expression afraid even in his final moments. His human life snuffed out as his body began to sink a bit deeper.
He blinked back tears of regret and desperation as he watched everything from there unfold. He had thought that he would live a long human life and finally return to Maki once his family was gone. But this...this was one hell of a slap to the face.
His family had outlived him. His friends had outlived him too.
And he couldn't help but wonder what their future might hold for each of them without him there to help them.
He waited, floating there for someone to come a collect his soul- time itself could no longer touch him as he waited. It could have been a moment, or years. But the concept of time no longer mattered to him.
So, when the surface finally broke, and he saw someone swim down to help him- he was understandably startled. Even more so when he saw that his would be savior was a girl.
Whomever she was, she was smart. She carried a military grade knife on her person and was quick to grab his body by one of his wrists and begin to cut him free. She worked quickly, disposing of every piece of netting that he was tangled in and then once she was finished, she swam up with him wrapped in her arms.
Barely five minutes later, his soul was viciously forced back into his body as he turned over onto his side and expelled with water from his lungs and then gasped for air. His heart was pounding again in his chest, and he was wheezing for air- almost desperately wanting more of it as his crying mother grabbed him and hugged him tight while his dad and brother both crowded around his shivering body.
He was disoriented, cold, and his mind was reeling from what had just happened to him. That was the closest that he'd come to death since the time he'd spent fighting in the Dark Tournament. Even so...his eyes flickered around from face to face, searching before finally coming to rest on the girl that had saved him.
She was a very beautiful girl.
Not terribly unlike Yusuke's mate Keiko, or even Botan. Her features were...delicate, her body athletic, and lithe like a dancer's. But it was her eyes and hair that set her apart.
He could tell that she had some American blood in her from those.
Strawberry blond hair- that shone more copper than blonde, and eyes that were a piercing green. Not a deep emerald like his own. But a lighter shade of it. Moss green, maybe? Either way, they were the loveliest shade of green that he'd ever seen before.
And when she spoke...his breath caught in his throat. He shuddered and attempted to reach out for her as he heard her say, "An ambulance is on its way. I'm going to go and-" It took him a second or so since his coordination wasn't so good at the moment. But he finally managed to wrap his fingers around her wrist and stop her from leaving before she even had the chance to move.
She looked at him startled and just a tad bit confused as he rasped out, "No."
"Darling, you just drowned-" His mother started to argue, but he turned one of the fiercest glares that he could muster at the moment on her. His mother seemed to pause, slightly upset that he would look at her like that.
He would apologize to her for his glare later.
But right now, this just somehow seemed more important to him. Finally shifting his attention back to the girl, he rasped out almost pleadingly, "Don't leave. Please."
It wasn't in him to beg for anything for any reason. It never had been. Living for more than three thousand years would harden even the softest and most gentle of hearts.
His own heart was no exception to this. So, for him to beg for this stranger to stay close to him- even if she had saved his life- rankled his pride a bit. But it was deemed necessary. He at least needed to know her name before she left him.
How else would he be able to repay her for saving his life if he didn't have the necessary information?
The girl looked as if she wanted to argue with him too for a moment. But he already had a few things resting on the tip of his tongue to shut her argument's down if he needed too.
She looked torn between carrying out her self imposed mission and something else.
The brief helpless look that she pinned him with nearly made his lips curl a bit into a small smile. Almost, but not quite. Finally, his brother decided to go and do what she had been about to do, himself.
He took a moment to assure her that he was capable of flagging an ambulance down and then ran off to do just that while his father began to collect their stuff from the beach so that they could follow the ambulance in the car.
His mother asked her to stay with him for a moment while she went to help his father, and then all but thrust him into the girl's arms, startling her a bit as she lost her balance and fell on her butt. Not that he minded any. It gave him the chance to be close enough to her to get her scent and speak with her without being overheard.
The first thing that he noticed about her once he was in her arms was how awkwardly she held him while trying to make him comfortable. The second was her scent. It was unusual to him since most girl's used perfumes, body sprays, lotions and such.
But underneath the smell of sea water and salt- all he could detect was oranges. The scent was warm, citrusy, sweet and inviting.
It suited her.
"Thank you," He finally said after a moment or so of silence. "For saving my life."
She looked down at his face for a second, her eyes wide upon hearing him thank her. Her expression was hard for him to read. It seemed almost like a cross between understanding and discomfort. Though he didn't know why she would be uncomfortable with his thanks.
"Don't mention it." She muttered quietly as he let his eyes drift closed for a moment.
"May I ask your name, Miss?" He asked.
She opened her mouth to respond when the sound of a siren made her jump a little bit. She tightened her arms around him a fraction before seeming to catch herself and loosening her hold again as he asked her again, insistent that she give him her name before he was taken away.
She hesitated a moment longer but finally gave him her name. And he inwardly preened at a job well done as he turned her name over in his mind, Ichigo Kurosaki, wasn't exactly a generic name. So, once he was free of the hospital it would be fairly easy for him to look her up.
A short time later he was loaded into the back of the ambulance with an oxygen mask on his face while his parents and brother ran for their car, leaving his savior standing there watching as the back of the vehicle was closed.
Locking him inside with his thoughts while the paramedics did their job.