The Childhood Friend of Kurama Part 7: The Secret That Ended it All Comes to Light(A Friendship Restored)
A few days had passed since I got permission from Koenma to tell Ayame the truth about me. I had spent the last few days trying to find a way to tell her without coming across as crazy or completely insane.
'Hopefully, Ayame will take it well. Last thing I want is to scare her off.'
I looked around her apartment building, but none of her neighbors had seen her all day. I also checked the park, the mall , and even the arcade, where Yusuke mentioned he sometimes sees her, but I haven't had any luck.
"Where could she be? I've checked all her usual spots."
I decided to take a break and headed for Genkai's temple. To my surprise, Koenma was there as well in his teenager form and judging from the look on his face, looked like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have.
"Kurama, we were just talking about you."
"We?"
I walked inside the temple and gasped as I saw Ayame sitting in front of Koenma.
"A-Ayame?"
"He told me everything. I saw him wandering around back home and confronted him about when I saw him on that compact mirror. After some...convincing, he took me here and told me about you, what you really are, and all about the adventures you and the others went on."
I narrowed my eyes at Koenma, who laughed in embarrassment.
"Koenma, didn't we talk about me telling Ayame?"
"Yes we did, but she cornered me in your city and insisted I 'talk or else'."
Ayame smirked and crossed her arms.
"I mentioned I have a black belt and wouldn't mind giving him a 'demonstration' if he wasn't willing to talk. With the feeling I'm getting from him, I knew he wouldn't be able to handle it."
I sat beside them and sighed.
"I'm guessing he-"
"Told me about Spirit Energy? Yeah, he did. He mentioned about Kuwabara and how he and his sister have had it for a while. I told him about the feelings I've been getting and he thinks I may have Spirit Awareness like Kuwabara does."
"Well, I see this as my moment to leave. Good luck, Kurama."
Ayame's POV:
After Koenma left, I looked at the man who I now knew was named "Kurama". It seemed hard to believe, but it all made sense. He became aware of being a fox demon at the age of 10, around the time he started keeping it from me, which resulted in the end of our friendship. I had known him as "Shuichi" for so long, and now he turns out to be someone else posing as "Shuichi".
"Ayame? Ayame, please say something."
I hesitantly looked up at him as tears began forming in my eyes. He helped me to stand up and gasped when he saw the forming tears.
"Ayame, please don't cry. Everything you heard was the truth. The last thing I want to do is lie to you, especially after all we've been through."
"I know. It's just...sinking in. I've known you as 'Shuichi' for so long, it's hard to believe you're really a fox demon called 'Kurama'."
He laughed and I found myself laughing along with him. Then,my face grew serious as I looked up at him.
"Now that I know everything...Kurama, I don't want a repeat of when we were children. I don't want to later discover you're keeping more secrets from me."
"I assure you that you've been told everything I would've said to you."
A smile formed on my face as the tears began falling down. Kurama wiped them away, then kept his hands on my face.
"Ayame, not having you in my life the past 9 years has been hell for me. Knowing that my fear of how you'd react to my secret ended things for us tore me up inside. I never want to go through this again, and I'm sure you don't either."
"No, I don't. So, what do you say?"
Yusuke's POV:
Koenma stood out of sight with me as we looked into the window of Genkai's temple. I smirked as I saw Ayame hold up a pinky.
"Really, a pinky swear?"
"That's probably how they sealed the deal for their friendship as children, Yusuke."
"That's fine and all, but it's too...childish to do something like that as adults."
Koenma smiled and shook his head at me.
"Let's just see it as a sign for a new beginning. After all since she knows everything now, she'll have to be trained to better handle her newfound Spirit Awareness."
My smirk turned into a soft smile as Kurama linked his pinky with hers. My eyes widened as Ayame pulled him into a tight hug.
"Didn't see that coming."
"I must admit, I didn't see it coming, either."
My heightened senses, which came from me having Mazaku blood inside of me, let me hear that Ayame was softly crying while hugging Kurama. Kurama smiled and held her just as tight, obviously pleased about having his best friend back in his life.
"C'mon, Koenma. We probably shouldn't be watching this."
That's a wrap for part 7. After 9 long years, Ayame finally discovers the secret Kurama was hiding and accepts it, which results in her friendship with him being restored. Part 8 will begin in Ayame's POV as she is being taught by Yusuke how to control Spirit Energy. Also in part 8, Hiei and Kurama talk of how well things went when Ayame discovered the truth about her childhood friend. Stay tuned to see what happens