Beauty Reborn- A Yu Yu Hakusho Fic.

Written by- Painin Uranus

.:AN:.

I have to say, even though I know nothing about Kurama's childhood, I am pretty damn good at making this up, don't ya think? I mean, even I believe it!—well, maybe that doesn't count… anyways, here's the next session of Beauty Reborn. Hope I maintain your interest…

Chapter 3: Making A Friend Without Power Or Threats

"…Happy Birthday, dear Suichi. Happy Birthday to you!" three women sang with happiness. Shiori, Ms. Hidori, and their senior neighbor, Hisako Urata crowded around the newly turned 9-year old Suichi Minamino (Kurama) at the ancient dinner table, setting the birthday cake down in front of the shinning boy's face. Mrs. Urata's husband sat in a chair beside the cake, his mouth watering and his fingers itching to taste the sugary chocolate coating of the birthday cake that had just been placed on the table.

The women's singing was off-key and hurt Kurama's sensitive hearing rather badly, but surprisingly, he didn't mind—if anything, he appreciated it.

Needless to say, Kurama was slowly getting use to the strange ways of the Human World. For example, he had found it impractical to celebrate the date of one's birth, but then realized that, despite mankind's vindictive past history, humans treasured life dearly. They celebrated every occasion, diving headlong into the mysteries the world provided for their curious minds… they even managed to capture nature's beauty with artistic talents that rivaled even his own. Kurama couldn't blame them for such adventurous actions—after all, they had a considerably short lifespan compared to that of a demon's, since Kurama himself was once physically well over 700 years old… even if now it was only mentally.

"Make a wish, Suichi, and blow out the candles!" his mother told him with a pleasant smile adorning her radiant face.

Kurama always got confused at this point of the celebration, unsure how a simple birthday wish could make anything come true. He had been frustrated in the past when this specific ritual was held, cursing the God that controlled the birthday wishes, with words that should never leave a young child's mouth, for not granting his— his desire to return to his demon form with his energy intact so that he could resume his thievery ways back in the Demon World. He had been so excited, thinking that he could finally be free from his human prison earlier than he had planned, but had been quickly shot down. Now, however, he had recently changed his wish from his typical request for his original power and then some, to something more personal in his human life—the well being of his mother.

He had noticed that the last couple days were filled with his mother's pain, as her coughing condition grew worse. He had watched her almost collapse after every attack, grasping any nearby prop for support until here knuckles were white with the pressure and her face as pale and sickly as sour milk. The very sight tortured him, wrenching at his heart mercilessly, and forced him to gasp for air as well. When he had retreated to his room to hide his discomfort from his human mother, he had unconsciously gone through a mental list of all the plants that could assist her recovery from such an insignificant disease. He had been appalled that he would willingly attempt to heal her, but quickly became more disgusted when he discovered that he couldn't do a thing and nearly broke down in tears when he realized the emotional agony the conclusion brought him. This was not suppose to happen…

He was not supposed to get attached to anyone that might jeopardize his original plan…

To leave when he had recovered enough Spirit Energy to fend for himself.

He had known for a while that the connection he shared with his human mother was strong and affectionate, but he had simply assumed it was his childish instincts that had contributed to such a relationship, and that they would disintegrate as soon as he escaped and returned to his original life… his original purpose. His reaction to his mother's relentless illness had effectively proved him wrong—and he was not happy about it; he had done exactly what he had tried to avoid.

Once more calling on his aspiration for his mother to recover, he took a deep breath and blew; his created current of air extinguishing the small flames resting vibrantly on the small wax candles…

Knowing that as he made that wish, he was wishing away his sacrifice for his mother's life.

I have yet, Kurama thought with distaste, to enjoy such transitions…

Kurama and his mother stopped their walk as they approached the school grounds once more. Kurama stared with subdued hatred at the surrounding children, wishing once more that he had decided to run away a little earlier than he had planned.

"Well, here we are," Shiori said with hesitation. She was still relieving the events of the last couple years of school, and was praying that nothing like that would happen again.

Kurama just made a soft grunt, turning his head away to look at the strong trees that towered overhead, making his vibrant red hair shine like a polished ruby in the sunlight.

Shiori gave into a small smile at his behavior and put her slightly shaking hand on his shoulder. He tensed a bit, but relaxed again, keeping his eyes defiantly on the trees.

"Suichi, please look at me," she whispered sadly.

He looked at her, but didn't fully turn his head. It wasn't that he was mad at her, but more that he was disappointed that she wouldn't tell him that she was ill. He was silently praying that she would tell him now…

"I want you to behave yourself this year. I know that this is new to you, but you don't see any of the other kids constantly getting sent to the Principal's office, do you?"

Kurama just grunted again. Yes, he was getting to be quite the troublemaker, but he knew for a fact that it wasn't his fault. The only time he got sent to the Principal's office for a good reason was when he had beaten the two boys, Yoshiro and Hiroshi, mercilessly, and that was after he got back from the Emergency Room. All the other times, he just was… well, he was innocent, that's all that mattered.

"Now, I don't want to get any more phone calls from the Principal telling me that you've made another kid soil his pants alright? I have enough problems I need at the moment…" her voice drifted off as she tried hard not to cough, placing one hand over her mouth and another on her chest.

It was at that moment that Kurama felt guilty and ashamed, so much so that he bent his head, allowing his bangs to hide his uneasy eyes. He knew that she was trying to remain strong for him, even if she was unwell, and he had to go and make it even harder on her...

Slowly, he brought his arms up and draped them around his human mother, giving her a firm, but loving hug. He hoped he was doing it right—he never actually hugged his mother like this before…

Shiori herself was smiling with happiness at her son's rare show of affection. She gave him a squeeze before allowing him to pull away and take a couple steps towards the large building of the school.

Then, he turned back, and gave a wide grin. He wasn't showing his teeth or anything, but his smile shone like the sun that made his hair glint brightly.

"I love you, Mother," he told her firmly, like he was assuring her of something. And in fact he was—he was telling her that despite all that he said, the way he acted, he cared deeply for her.

"I love you too, Suichi," she told him with a smile. Kurama prayed that she understood what he meant, but the chances were very unlikely.

"I will see you after school, okay, Mother?"

"Yes, Suichi. I will see you after school."

"Don't hurt yourself while cleaning the house."

"I won't, Suichi."

"And don't strain yourself too much while working."

"I won't, Suichi."

"And don't try to weed the garden, I will do it when I get home."

"Okay, Suichi."

"And please be careful when shopping at the market, you could get mugged. I don't want you to try and get back what they might have stolen. If need be, I will retrieve it for you."

"What's wrong, Suichi?"

"And I want you to ask for help when"—he tried to continue, but Shiori covered his mouth with her hand and asked again.

"What's wrong, Suichi?"

Unable to look her in the eyes, Kurama closed his eyes before looking away at the trees once more. His soft reply was barely heard by her.

"You'd tell me if something was wrong, wouldn't you, Mother?"

She was silent, staring solemnly at him.

He gained enough control to look her in the eye, and asked her in a stronger voice, "You'd tell me if something was wrong, wouldn't you?"

She stood up and pulled her hand away from his shoulder, saying dully, "I will see you after school, Suichi. Be careful walking home." And with that said she walked away from him…

…Pretending that she didn't see the silent tears rolling down his face as he sunk to his knees and quietly cried.

"And so, the little boy said, "I'm too tired to go to school. I want to stay home and play with my puppy."

"The mother said, "Hunny, the puppy needs its rest, because it is also tired. It won't want to play with you."

"Fine, then I won't play with my puppy," the boy said with a pout. "I will play with my toys."

"The mother said, "But, Hunny, you're toys are too worn out from you playing with them for so long. They are also tired, and they will need rest or they will break. You won't want to play with them when they break, would you?"

"Okay, then I won't play with my toys," the boy said with a pout. "I will play with my friend, Billy."

"The mother said, "I'm sorry, Hunny, but Billy is sick today. He needs his rest."

"Alright, I won't play with Billy," the boy said with a pout. "I will play with Henry."

"Dear Hunny, Henry went away for the rest of the week. He can't play with you because he is not here."

"Then who can I play with?" the boy asked with a pout.

"Maybe there are some kids at school that would play with you," the mother said.

"Well…" the boy sighed with a smile. "I guess I'm not so tired to go to school after all."

The End."

The teacher put down the small child's book, and smiled a wide, cheery grin that looked like Botan's, except it was EXTREMELY fake. Kurama winced every time the teacher smiled like that.

"Now that 'Story Time' is finished," she said in a sickly nice tone, "what is next on our schedule?"

"Snack Time!" the children chorused with silent cheers.

"Very good!" the teacher praised, her eyes widening as well as her false smile. "I need two volunteers," she added as she held up two fingers, "to help me pass out today's snacks. Who would like to help me?"

Although his spiteful feelings were still great, Kurama sighed and raised his hand in the air, straight and perfect. Seeing this, everyone made sure that their hands were down, as if afraid to work with "Meanie Minamino" (lol).

"Only Suichi wants to help me?" the teacher asked innocently, hurt clearly written in her tone.

Kids turned to look at their neighbors, muttering to each other and daring each other to assist the teacher along with Suichi. Suichi sighed, lowering his hands just as a few went up.

"You don't want to help me anymore, Suichi?" the teacher asked pointedly, uncharacteristically raising an eyebrow.

Suichi opened his mouth to explain, maybe to say that he wasn't feeling good or his leg was aching, but he was cut off as the teacher said, with finality, "Alright, I want Suichi and Maya to help me pass out snacks for snack time."

There was a small gasp as a brunette girl stood up from the sea of students, with her hands brought up underneath her chin, clinging to one another and making them turn white. Her knees were visibly trembling, but other than that, the girl stood tall and proud.

Kurama had to respect her for that—he was starting to feel like himself back in his old thievery life when everyone stared with fear at him. He tried to smile friendly at her, but she wouldn't meet his eyes properly… the smile didn't have the desired affect.

"Y-Yes, Mrs. Mika," she mumbled, avoiding all eye contact while keeping her head high.

"Thank you, Maya. You pass out cups and napkins while Suichi distributes the snacks."

"Actually, Mrs. Mika," Kurama interrupted politely when the fearful mutterings began again. "I was hoping that maybe I could pass out cups and napkins, and Miss Maya could distribute the snacks." Kurama worried that his peers would start a rumor that he had slipped some poison into their snacks to explain some nameless kid's stomachache.

"Okay, as long as you both help out and everyone else gets their snacks," she responded dismissively.

And so they did, and so they worked, never once looking at each other. Kurama noticed that the girl kept glancing over her shoulder when he'd walk by, and he sighed once more. When would the fear disappear? He'd take anything over this distance between these people he wanted so much to blend in with…

The educational part of the school day ended shortly afterwards, and throughout the whole day, the children in his class were tense and worried, fearing the worst from their short break meal. Kurama inwardly scoffed. Did they really think he would poison their snacks? Did they really think so lowly of him? Did they even know how farfetched that proclamation even sounded? Where Kurama had grown up before he merged with his human counterpart, it was not unheard of for death coming from ill food, but he hadn't expected it to be the same in the Human World…

The last hour of the school day was dedicated to recess, and it was safe to say that Kurama's peers were quite happy with that fact. They swarmed out of their classrooms so fast that it created a brief sea of bobbing heads blended together. Kurama waited politely for the majority to leave before exiting himself, making his way pointedly to his favored "flower patch".

On his way, he paused momentarily to see Maya sitting adorably on one of the school benches, reading what looked like a fairly thick library book. Too enthralled in the story, Kurama had not the heart to sneak up on her, even if it was with amused intentions. It taunted him, telling him that it would be so easy… but he didn't want to scare her. He didn't want anyone to fear him now.

So, Kurama silently turned away, noting offhandedly that the name of the novel was Nature's Beauty. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as the name registered in his mind as a history book on plants and their medical capabilities.

Looking up quite a while later from his lilac patch that he had just "nurtured", he heard the piercing sound of the dismissal whistle, and couldn't stop himself from releasing a brief cry of joy. In the back of his mind, his mother's health always pulled at his attention, making him wish to be at her side. He stood gracefully, stretching his stiff muscles due to crouching for so long, and trotted elegantly towards his home, weaving through the flow of excited and eager students. Once he broke free of the crowd, he paused, noticing that something was left on the bench that the girl, Maya, had occupied before.

It was her book.

And Maya was nowhere to be found.

Ah, wait, she's up there… at the front of the crowd.

Pause.

Uh-oh.

"Maya!" he called to her, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to hear him. After all, there were screaming kids filling the air…

Sighing, he quickly scooped up the library book and made his way towards Maya. Only he didn't seem to be getting any closer to her as he meant to. So he followed her home.

She may have thought it to be stalking, but she never heard him when he called to her, and was too weighed down by his backpack to run after her. The sidewalks they took to get to her home were packed full of people anyways.

In no time, they made it to her home. She took the steps leading to her house two at a time, and knocked on the door three times before it opened up for her to enter. She smiled at the person who opened the door and spoke, her lips forming words of appreciation, as far as Kurama could tell.

She went inside, and the door closed, just as Kurama was within a few steps of her house's entrance. Climbing the stairs much like Maya had done beforehand, Kurama caught the sound of her sweet, energetic voice floating through the open window near the door of her home.

"…and I had to help him pass out snacks! That was so scary, everyone thought that he would put something nasty in their food or something."

"Maya," another voice spoke, probably her mother due to her kind and feminine tone, "don't you think that you kids are jumping to conclusions? This Suichi boy couldn't be that mean."

"I know," Maya's voice said, hinting a bit of confusion. "It's weird, Mom, but he looks so small and kind from just looking at him. But he hurt those two boys a long time ago, and now everyone thinks he's bad. And he really didn't do anything to those snacks, they just think he did."

"Maybe he takes defensive classes, Maya. He could've just been defending himself from those boys."

"Maybe…"

"And maybe you could be his friend!"

"You're right, but… I don't know, Mommy, he just was so mean to those kids. I can't help but be scared of him."

"That's okay, Maya…"

Kurama stood in his position, unsure of whether or not he should just leave the book on the porch or knock on the door and deliver it himself. Did they really feel that scared of him? Did he really seem that mean?

…was that why no one liked him?

He had been asking these questions for a while now, and even though he knew the answers to them, he didn't want to believe. Sometimes he didn't want to admit the fact that the kids were scared of him. But this Maya girl…

She didn't think that he was that mean. She didn't think he was bad. She seemed different somehow…

Making up his mind, he set down his backpack, opened it up, and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. Kneeling down onto the hard, flat porch, he scrawled a quick note onto the paper. When he had finished, he folded it in half and stuck it in the front of the book, so that the top stuck out a little to insure that she would see it. Then, he got up from his hunched position and knocked calmly on the door.

It opened to show a smiling little girl. Maya.

Her smile quickly turned into a fearfully shocked expression, but Kurama didn't give her time to say anything. He held out the book, and told her as warmly as he could, "I saw you reading this during recess. You left it when the whistle blew. Make sure you don't loose it again, or you could get into trouble with the school librarian. Who knows, she could make you write a paper on a clipping from the encyclopedia." He tried to joke, but he wasn't sure how. He'd never had to attempt humor before.

Even so, she giggled softly, before quickly grabbing the book. She muttered a quick thank-you, and started to close the door.

But he didn't want her to. Not yet. He still had something else he wanted her to know. Something that he hoped would make him seem like a nice kid, not someone to be feared.

"I'm not a mean person," he told her hurriedly.

That made her stop, the door opening slowly once more, her head poking out to stare at him.

"I… I'm not a mean person," he repeated, softly this time. His eyes drifted towards the floor. "I was only defending myself when Yoshi and Hiro tried to injure me. I didn't really want to hurt them, but they gave me little choice. I'm not all that different from the rest of you people, and I just wanted you to know that…." His voice drifted off as his thoughts returned to his mother. "I just wanted you to know that…"

Maya stared at him sadly, a pitying smile finding its way to her lips. She stepped out slowly onto the front porch, hesitancy still seen in her eyes. Even so, she stopped in front of him, staring him deeply in his eyes before giving him a simple, yet loving hug. Kurama tensed immediately, but forced himself to relax. To be perfectly honest, he didn't actually think she would pull such a maneuver, and he didn't know what he should do. So he did what he thought he should do.

He hugged her back, burying his head in her shoulder. He took a deep breath of air, and smelt the familiar smell of…

Lilacs…

They pulled away almost immediately after the embrace, but Maya looked him straight in the eye.

"I'll be your friend, if you want."

Kurama's eyes, which had drifted back to the floor, shot back up to meet hers in a surprised action. Maya stood in front of him, an adorable smile plastered to her face as she shuffled her feet cutely.

"Excuse me?" he asked her politely, as if he was unable to believe what she had said moments ago.

"I said, I'll be your friend, if you want," she repeated.

Kurama stared at her for what seemed like eternity. Then, he slowly broke out into an honest smile, and nodded his head in agreement. "I would like that," he told her with sincerity. "I would like that very much so."

She smiled at him in turn, and they continued to smile at each other. Then, Kurama's thoughts snapped back together, and he remembered his mother.

"Oh! I'm sorry," he apologized, his face turning into that of anxiety. "I must return to my home. My mother needs me. I'll see you tomorrow for school, ne?"

"Okay," she agreed, waving to him as she watched him run away. She continued to stare after him, her face still smiling as her thoughts ran wild.

For some reason, she believed that he would be an important part of her life later on…

And until then, she would be an important part in his.

.:AN:.

Aw, wasn't that just beautiful? I'm oh-so loving! Anyways, thanks for reading, and feel free to review on your way out!