Alice Alive

By, KKYOKO

Chapter Three: Proof

Kurama doesn't take well to me being in his class. He shoots me cold looks, as well as everyone around him. Some of the children try to talk to him, but he usually ignores them. The children all seem to like him, especially the girls, no matter how cold and standoffish he appears to be. He's too popular for his own good.

Our teacher is nice. She's a young woman in her twenties that smiles a lot. She pairs us into groups and lets us work on projects together, but she doesn't pair me with Kurama, which is okay. I make friends with an adorable little girl named Toki. She has a big, wide grin, and her short black hair is paired into two spiky pigtails. She likes me immediately because of my foreign looks, and wants to braid my hair.

After a day of being an elementary student again, Kurama and I walk home together. His sharp green eyes slide over to me. "Are you having fun?" he asks scornfully. "Being a human child, that is."

I answer him with an (intentional) annoyingly happy grin. "Of course I am. You've never been a human before, so you wouldn't know, but being an adult sucks."

He raises an eyebrow at me. "Really now," he says dubiously.

"Yes," I said flatly. "You have to worry about a humongous car insurance bill every six months, rent, doctor visits, birth control, groceries, college tuition, jobs that suck, how you're going to afford Christmas presents, politicians stealing money from your school so that you can't get into the program you want – it's all really ridiculous. All you have to worry about when you're a kid is to keep you grades up and your room clean. It's not a big deal. Enjoy your youth." I move past him, annoyed, and head to the house at a faster pace.

Kurama comes in a few minutes after me and tosses his bag down next to mine. I'm busy untying my shoes while he slips his off and goes into the kitchen. I hear Shiori greet him, and him respond politely. Shiori is probably getting dinner ready. I can hear her chopping something. Something is dragged across the floor and I hear Kurama murmur something about needing a glass.

I freeze and turn in the direction of the kitchen.

"I can do it," I hear him say.

Suddenly I hear a crash and then a surprised "ah!" and then Shiori's shriek of pain.

I forget untying my shoe and run into the kitchen where I find Kurama scrambling out of Shiori's bleeding arms. She is clearly in pain, and there are a few pieces of shattered glass sticking out of her arms, blood oozing from the wounds. She smiles at Kurama, eyes watering. "I'm glad you're all right, Shuichi-kun. I'm glad I was in time. That would have been painful for you."

A strange look comes over Kurama's face. "Y-You saved me, Mother." His green eyes are huge.

"Of course I did," Shiori says, still giving him a wavering smile. She is in so much pain, right now, but she smiles at her son all the same. "I will always save you, Shuichi-kun."

"We have to get you to a hospital," I say, glancing at Kurama who seems to be in a trance. "What should I call, Shiori-san?"

She nods her head and tells me the number and I grab the phone and dial it. I explain to the lady what happened, and give her the address. She tells me she's sending an ambulance over right away. I thank her and hang up.

I turn back to see Shiori looking at me curiously. "You aren't afraid of blood, Alice-chan?"

"Nope," I say, "I've seen lots of blood before." I flash a childish smile.

"On TV?" she asks. Her frown is concerned.

I shake my head, seeing a chance to make my fake parents seem suspicious. "No, one time Daddy beat up a guy who was trying to do something bad. Daddy said the guy was going to shoot me and Mommy, and then we had to run away." I frown, as though sad. "I guess Mommy and Daddy don't have to run away anymore."

"No," Shiori says, looking almost nauseated. "I suppose not. Although, I'm sure that they are happy that you don't have to run away either."

I nod cheerfully. "They'll be happy that I have a good home now."

Shiori's face lit up and she smiled at me gently. Glancing back to a still-somewhat-stunned Kurama and then to me, she says, "You two make me very happy too." She chuckles.

Kurama blinks, and then his face breaks out into a weak smile. It's an authentic smile, but it's covering a lot of emotion all the same. His hand goes up and rubs his eyes, and he looks very small and fragile. But he looks up at Shiori again, and even though he doesn't smile, I can see his appreciation for her. He's beginning to come around to the Kurama he was in the series.

"I'm going to wait for the ambulance outside," I declare, deciding to give them space, and go to put my other shoe back on.

Kurama and I sit beside each other in the waiting room, staring at a clock. The nurse behind the counter offers us a coloring book, but neither of us is interested. Shiori is just now being examined by an intern, but I'm guessing that she might have severed a nerve or two, and he'll need a consult with a neurologist. I imagine that we'll end up spending the night in the hospital. I sighed and turned to Kurama. He has been silent ever since we've arrived.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"I suppose," he replies. His green eyes are fixed on the floor, expression unreadable.

"Do you feel guilty?"

He blinks, and a bitter smile widens his mouth. "Yes, Alice. The point you made the other night – I see it now. She has done a lot for me, hasn't she?" I can see that he feels awful. His expression is pained. I can almost hear him thinking thoughts about what a horrible person he is, and that he is virtually worthless.

I put my arm around him and put my other hand on his small shoulder, half-hugging him. I set my chin on my hand that rests on his shoulder, and look up at him as his green eyes slide over to my face, surprised. "This," I say, "is called affection. Humans express affection to other humans when they see others upset or in pain. Because we are a socialized species, we need touch and affection. Humans can send messages through contact like this. This contact means, it's okay, you aren't a horrible person, you've seen what you've done wrong and now you can change your ways, and we still accept you in our socialized world."

He cracks a small grin and chuckles, hand covering his mouth. Then his hand drops and he turns serious again. "I can't ask her to forgive me, of course. Do you think she will?"

"Don't be stupid," I say flatly, giving his arm a squeeze to soften my tone. I pull away and meet his sad eyes. "Mothers always forgive their children, no matter what."

"But I'm not her s –"

"To her you are. Let her love you, Shuichi-kun," I respond.

He flinches at the name. "Call me Kurama."

A nurse steps into the waiting room, and we look up expectantly. She goes to a family though and they gather their things and follow her. We sigh together, disappointed and stressed.

"I wonder what's taking so long," he says, squeezing the chair tight enough his knuckles turn white. "Does that doctor know what he's doing?"

I turn my face away so Kurama doesn't see my grin at his behavior. Sobering, I turn back to him. "Maybe he needs a neuro consult," I say, sharing my suspicions with him.

He blinks at me, confused. "What?"

"Sorry, I've watched too much Grey's Anatomy in my past life. What I'm saying is, maybe the intern needs a consultation from a neurologist to check on for any nerve damage. They're probably doing some scans on her arms too; to make sure that her radial artery or vein wasn't nicked or cut. It's good that they take their time, though," I say. "It means they're being thorough."

Kurama nods, understanding, and then looks back at me curiously. "Actually, what did you go to college for?"

I shrug. "I took a lot of different classes. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. At least three of them were medical-field related – five if you count the lab time. My anatomy and physiology professor was actually a doctor, so he had some awesome surgical stories to share. I thought about being a nurse for awhile, but I realized I couldn't work and do clinicals forty hours a week. By the time I died though, I was seriously considering being a registered dietitian."

"Ah," he says.

Another nurse comes into the waiting room and her eyes fall on us. She bends down in front of us and gives us a small smile. "Your mother is just fine," she says. "She shouldn't have any lasting damage aside from a bit of scarring. We're going to keep her overnight though, just in case. Do you want to see her?"

We nod and follow the nurse down the hall, and she leads us into a small white room. Shiori is sitting up in the bed, arms wrapped in bandages, and she smiles at us. Kurama goes to her immediately and asks how she feels. As they murmur together, I hang back and slide Shiori's chart off the foot of her bed and examine it quizzically. I'm only curious to see if I know if anything on the chart makes sense to me. A few medical terms jump out that I know – or rather can remember from college, and can make out from the katakana. It'd be easier to understand if it were written in English.

I hear Shiori ask Kurama to buy some juice, and the clink of change as she hands him the money. He obeys and leaves the room to find a vending machine.

"Alice-chan," Shiori says, surprising me because I am very absorbed in her chart. I set it back on the foot of her bed and approach her. Her brown eyes are warm and her bandaged hand comes up and touches my cheek. "What kind of people were your parents?"

I look up at her, frowning. "They were good people, Shiori-san. My mommy and daddy loved me very much."

She gives me a reassuring smile. "I know. I'm just trying to figure out why someone would want to hurt them."

"Mmm," I say, precociously, "I head Daddy say once that the government wanted them dead."

Shiori blinks. "The government?"

I nod. "Then Mommy said something about contracts expiring and leaving the country."

Shiori's face is in awe. I think I have made a crime drama successfully come to life for her. I don't like lying to her, but I have to explain my nonexistence somehow. "Alice-chan, do you know what kind of work your parents did?"

I frown. "I heard something like …infil…infiltration – is that right?" She nods. "What does it mean?"

"Alice-chan, I think your parents were government spies, and that must be why…why I can't find any information about your parents' deaths." Her eyes flash with an idea. "It's a cover-up!"

"A cover-up?" I ask, curiously.

She nods. "The government – whichever one they worked for – hid the evidence of their deaths from the Japanese police. I should…go to the police and tell them," she murmurs thoughtfully.

"My mommy said not to trust police," I say frantically, leaning forward. "She said the government doesn't know I exist, and if they find out, they'll hurt me!"

"Oh!" Shiori exclaims, brown eyes wide. "You're right, then." Her face grows as she leans forward and kisses the top of my head. "We'd better not do that. I think the sooner I adopt you, the safer you'll be."

"Mmm, Shiori-san, you're really going to adopt me?" I ask. She seemed to come up with that pretty quickly. I wonder if she thought it through.

She smiles. "It wasn't a hard decision to make, dear. You're a very sweet girl, and I already love you very much. Plus, I think Shuichi could use a sister. He doesn't make friends very easily, and maybe you could keep each other company."

I smile, happy that Shiori said she loved me.

"I'm back, Mother," Kurama says, coming through the door. "I've brought you apple juice." He hands her the bright green can and her change. Shiori smiles and holds the can in her hands thoughtfully. I then realize, about the same time Kurama does, that it'll be hard for her to open. He moves to take it from her, but she just shakes her head. "I can open it for you," he says.

"Oh, yes dear, I was just thinking what you two will do tonight, since I've got to stay here," she muses, handing him the can. He pops the tab open and returns it to her. "You two have school tomorrow."

"We can go back home ourselves, Shiori-san," I offer. "I remember the way we came."

"It's a bit of a walk dear," she replies, "plus I worry about your safety." She frowns thoughtfully, probably thinking of neighbors to come and get us. I don't imagine that she's coming up with many. As a working mom, she probably doesn't know nor speak to the neighbors often.

"We can call you as soon as we arrive at the house, Mother. We can take a train back," Kurama offers. "We should be fine if we're careful and stay in populated areas." His tone is not appropriate for his apparent age. He's too firm and too well-spoken.

Shiori doesn't seem to notice though, and frowns again. Finally she sighs and nods, seeing no other alternative. She explains which train we should take to get home and where to go from there. She digs in her purse again and hands Kurama some cash for the tickets. Then, her eyes level with ours and she suddenly looks very firm, and so very mom, that it surprises me for a second. "Make sure," she says quietly, "to call me when you get home." Then she writes down the room number and the number of the nurses' station outside on a small piece of paper and hands it to me.

We nod and say our goodbyes, and Shiori gives us each a hug and a kiss. Her smile is very bright when Kurama wraps his little arms around her neck, and I file that away to comment on later. We leave her room with a smile and a wave from me, and Kurama shuts her door. He looks down at the floor for a moment, but when he notices me looking at him, he shakes his head and smiles slightly.

"Are you still being silly?" I ask, pulling on my coat as we make our way down the hall.

"If being concerned for her is silly, then yes," he replies coolly. Kurama obviously doesn't appreciate me being nosy or my accusatory tone.

"That's not what I meant. Just stop punishing yourself." I do believe he is still agonizing over his new feelings toward Shiori, but I don't say anything more about it, and he doesn't either. He'll have to work it out himself, I suppose.

We leave the hospital and head to the train station. It's even colder out than it was earlier, and I pull my hood up around my blonde hair, trying to stay warm. In my old life, I lived in a much warmer climate. Even in December, Texas still had warm days.

The wind blows through me as we make our way down a surprisingly empty sidewalk. Looking around, I don't see a soul. I look up at the dark blue sky, punctured with hues of pink and orange as the sun sets, trying to judge the time. It should be about six o'clock, and people should be on their way home from work. I turn to Kurama, looking for any signs of tension in him, figuring that he would sense anything out of the ordinary before me. His mouth is pressed in a line, but his eyes are downcast. He looks like he's sulking.

"Hey, Kurama," I say, feeling odd saying his demon name. I realize that it was his name used throughout the series, but I really got used to calling him Shuichi-kun. It sounds cuter for him at this point, anyway. Kurama looks up at me, green eyes flashing with realization as he examines his surroundings.

"I see," he responds. The street beside us and the buildings and sidewalks ahead of us are completely empty. I would not bat an eye if a tumbleweed blew in front of us. "This is not a good thing."

A dark feeling grabs my heart – the same feeling I get when there's a demon around. "I'm not sure where he is," I say, "but he's close. I can sense him."

Kurama's green eyes focus intently on my face. "Can you sense a power level?" he asks, seemingly knowing that I'm talking about a demon.

I close my eyes and try to focus on the energy that I'm sensing. I never could see them with my eyes open. He feels small and red. I can tell that he's already noticed me, because I can sense him wanting to swallow my energy and do me harm, which is what most demons want when they realize you know they're there. I examined him a little more, but I could tell that he wasn't very strong. He was the bottom of the barrel when it came to demons.

"Small and pathetic," I say, and then frown. "He shouldn't be able to have anything to do with clearing out the streets."

"Could there be something you're missing?" Kurama asks, eyes darting around.

I sigh. "It's possible. A friend from my first life had a demon guardian for awhile, and I could never sense him. He was able to hide his energy from me. According to her, he was taller than my house and quite powerful. I kind of wondered if she just wasn't full of it after awhile." I can feel the smaller demon coming closer. I wonder if I should even bother with him, but then again, if he doesn't attack me, he could always go after someone else. Like a child. A real one.

Kurama sighs. "Let's just keep walking. Whoever is doing this will reveal themselves soon enough."

"Could the demon I sense just be spying?" I wonder aloud to him as we walk.

"It's possible," he replies. "I am a very interesting target, and so are you."

"I suppose I could change his mind," I say. "He's hiding in an alley, I think."

Kurama blinks at me in confusion. "What do you mean, 'change his mind'?" he asks.

I give him a slow smile. "I can strip his powers and weaken him to nothing." There, I show Kurama my trump card. I can trust him to not kill me now, so I feel all right about it. Good vibes have never let me down before.

His eyebrows shoot up into his bangs. "I did not realize you were capable of something like that, Alice."

I grow thoughtful. "Well, unless what happened to you - regarding your powers - has happened to me, I should be able to do it at least. It would be good practice anyway."

His expression becomes closed and observant. I can feel him working out the fact that if I could do something like what I claim, I could be a great danger to him.

"Not like I plan on doing anything to you," I add, giving him a half-smile. "If you were concerned."

He doesn't reply, but I can see him filing that away for the future. "Which alley?" he asks, turning to face the buildings, apparently deciding to trust me for the moment.

The buildings that stretch along side of us are mostly red brick and wood. The one closest to us is a small office that's connected to a boutique aimed at mostly teenage girls. The lights are on inside, and I can see people moving around the racks, which makes me feel a bit better. Between the boutique and the next building, a café, there is a small alleyway. But there is also another alley on the other side of the café, and that one was a bit bigger. I move to the closest alleyway, where I'm pretty sure the demon is hiding, and Kurama follows close behind me.

As I turn the corner, I stop in surprise. Kurama almost walks into me, but he catches himself and slides beside me, facing the alleyway with me. "What's wrong?" he asks, eyeing the small figure on the ground.

"I – I can see him," I say. And I can. The demon is small and red like I imagined, and he is probably about my height as a child and would come up to my upper thigh as an adult. His skin is a matte red, a bit dusty. His limbs are thin and spindly, and his face is round with two big black marble eyes. His mouth stretches as he sees us, revealing a row of pointed teeth. "I can only see them when I close my eyes, otherwise they just look like shadows," I add. "It's just different. I'm not scared though," I assure Kurama. I know better than to be scared of demons. They feed off fear.

"I see," Kurama says thoughtfully. "It may be the influence of my demonic energy, but we can't be sure."

"Well, your theory makes the most sense to me," I say, turning back to the demon. "What are you doing here?" I ask him.

The demon flashes his pointed teeth again. "Wondered when you were going to take notice of me, human. Ain't you scared? I could rip you limb from limb. Make you do things you'd never dream of doing."

"What are you doing here?" I repeat, pulling the familiar feeling of anger over me. Anger is what feeds my ability to strip a demon of its powers, and I'm very good at getting angry if I do say so myself. Kurama seems to sense the change in my energy, and he shifts away from me, watching me curiously.

The demon doesn't appear to take notice of me and looks mirthfully at Kurama. "And if it isn't the great Youko Kurama," he comments, amused. "Stuck in a weak, human body without an ounce of his powers. You couldn't defeat even me now, could you, Kurama?"

"Yes, please do continue to underestimate me. Although, I'm not the one you should be particularly worried about," Kurama says with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "I think you will make a very good guinea pig for Alice."

I flinch at the guinea pig reference, and that doesn't go unnoticed by Kurama. His red eyebrow ticks up and I shake my head, deciding to explain later.

The demon turns his black marble gaze back at me and shows me his teeth. "This human?" he spits, amused and insulted. "What could this weak low-life slug –"

I feel my blue eyes widen as my power snaps forward and snakes around the demon. The demon struggles in the grasp of my power, but the viridian coils only tighten around his small red body. He hisses and writhes, but to no avail. He can't get free. The coils only grow tighter with another wave of my anger, and then suddenly there is a pop, and the demon and the viridian coils dissipate into thin air.

After a beat of shocked silence, Kurama says, "I don't think that constitutes as stripping his powers, Alice. In fact, I think you killed him." His green eyes slide over to me, calculating. "I am going to assume that this has never happened before."

I huff, eyeing the spot where the demon was. "No," I say, "it hasn't. Usually I just weaken them to a point where they have to leave or go into hibernation. I've never killed a demon before. Honestly, I didn't really think they could die."

Kurama raises an incredulous eyebrow at me. "After meeting me, why would you think that?"

I feel my face grow pink at my stupidity. "Oh, right. Um, well before you then. Because of the Fallen."

"The Fallen from heaven?" he asks. "You are talking about the betrayal of God, and the casting out of angels from heaven, right?"

I nod.

"Those are only legends, Alice. Nothing more," he says, shaking his head. "They don't exist in this world."

I frown thoughtfully. Perhaps then the Fallen don't exist in this universe, not like in mine. There was too much evidence in my world, in my old life even, that those sorts of demons existed. The demons that I had come across in my old life were descendents of the Fallen, which is probably why I've never killed one before. The demons of this universe do not have the blood of angels. They don't have the immortality that the demons of my universe do.

"Hm," is all I say to Kurama on that matter. "Then that clears up a lot. Your energy must be feeding into my abilities, which is the only reason that I can think of that I ended up killing him." I shrug. I'll let Kurama believe that then, and maybe he won't question it too much.

"I suppose." He glances at the setting sun. "We should hurry home. Mother still expects a phone call, and we are running a bit late."

I nod in agreement, and we get out of the alley and back on the sidewalk. After a few minutes of walking, we make our way to the train station. Kurama buys the tickets to our neighborhood, and then we hop on a train to take us there. Luckily there aren't a lot of people on the train, and we can sit down on the plastic seats and look out the window.

"Oh," Kurama says. "Why did you flinch when I told the demon he would make a good guinea pig?" He looks at me curiously, the passing lights glinting off of his young face.

"Because I thought about animal testing," I reply. "I'm firmly against it. It's completely cruel." Don't think I'm some wingbat nutjob hippie, but I really find animal testing repulsive and generally scientifically misleading. The poor animals are often ruthlessly tortured all in the name of "science" and "medicine", and don't have any say in it at all. I mean, I understand that doctors and scientists don't want to test on other humans right away, but one can't ignore the cruelty that animals face because of it.

"Ah," Kurama says. "I've noticed that you push your meat around your plate at dinner and don't eat it. Are you vegetarian?" he asks. He seems genuinely curious instead of condescending, and I'm grateful for it. I faced a lot of discrimination in my old life because of my eating habits, but it might have been different if I had lived in a place like California instead of Texas.

"Vegan," I reply.

Kurama made a thoughtful sound. "Why?"

"Health reasons, animals, political reasons, and environmental reasons. Plus, I really, really hate the meat and fur industry. If I go into detail, I'll end up in an angry rant," I say with a smile.

His mouth quirks upward in an amused half-smile.

"What?" I ask.

"You just killed a demon. And you're vegan."

"Are you the vegan police?" I demand.

Okay, so I am getting worn out writing in present tense. Seriously, so next chapter is going to be in past tense and so on for the story. Hope that doesn't seem too tacky, but it's taking me longer to write that way, so yeah.

Leave me a review! =D