Kurama , The Past and the Present

蔵馬 • 南野 秀一
Age: 15
Family: Minamino Shiori ⋅ Hatakana Kazuya ⋅ Hatakana Shuichi
Occupation: Spirit Detective ⋅ Student at Meiou High School

Youko Kurama, a fox demon, was the leader of a group of bandit theives and had two partners, Yomi and Kuronue, as an ally when he stole. With Youmi as his partner in leading their group or bandits and Kuronue, a bat demon, that followed in soloing. During one of his thefts with Kuronue in a palace, Kuronue was caught and stabbed by mutliple sharpened bamboo stalks when tried to retrieve a pendant that held much value to him and had always said he would give the pendant to his heir.

As a close friend, Youko couldn’t leave Kuronue behind, but his friend ordered him to go since there was no point in the both of them getting caught. Later during Youko’s life as Kurama, he encountered Kuronue once more, but his friend became his enemy and claimed Youko left him to die. In disbelief, Kurama was confused because the memory of his dear friend’s death was different than what the Kuronue before his eyes claimed, and he could not bring himself to fight his old friend. With clues and careful observation, Kurama discovered the demon claiming to be his old friend was nothing more than an enemy in disguse. Assured that Kuronue was still dead, Kurama was able to fight the demon that threatened him and posed as his dear friend.

As a demon thief, Youko had a large bounty on his head and was hunted continuously by bounty hunters where he was caught and died. When he died, he performed a spell which used most of his energy that released his soul from his dying body where it went into the human world and randomly chose a body to inhabit to regain his strength because he was too weak to transform nor possess another being; at the time he had chosen Minamino Shiori’s unborn child and was reborn as her child, Minamino Shuichi.

As Kurama’s begining years, he joined Yusuke as a spirit detective when he accomplished his first mission, to gather three stolen artifacts. To obtain Kurama’s artifact, a mirror that granted a wish in return for something, Yusuke was given a promise from Kurama that he would return the mirror after using it once. Although Kurama was the enemy at the time, Yusuke couldn’t help but feel he could trust Kurama and allowed him to do as he requested. Because of Yusuke’s trust for him, Kurama felt he could tell Yusuke his feelings from living a life of deciving the woman he accepted as his mother and how he felt his presence was not needed for his mother’s happiness. Because Yusuke had already witnessed his own mother desparing over his death, he wouldn’t allow Kurama to give up his life to cure his mother because Yusuke knew it would only create grief.

Without another thought, Kurama was ready scarifice himself for the woman that had cared for him for fifteen years. In an incident where he almost died from falling off a stool to grab a container in the kitchen cupboard when he was younger, his mother had protected him from falling on broken dishes when he fell. Her hands were scarred and bleeding, but she smiled and had more concern towards her son than herself. Her protection from his near death haunted Kurama because he couldn’t forget how she smiled while in pain nor could he get over the scars that remain on her hands.Because Yusuke offered a part of his life at the same time Kurama was sacrificing his, Yusuke prevented Kurama from sacrificing his whole life. He was able to help Shiori regain her health and keep Kurama alive so there wouldn’t be another mother grieving for a deceased child.

After years as Kurama/Shuichi, Youko reappeared in the fight with Urashima, a demon with telepathic powers, when he tricked Kurama using his kind heart. Urashima had known Kurama’s weakness, the kindness he had towards others and the love for his mother, believing Kurama would surely lose, but by using Kurama’s kindness, Urashima only created a path of painful death by the hands of Youko.

Demons are separated into classes by strength with S being the highest. Because Youko is a fox demon, a demon that can live about 1,000+ years, Youko had the intelligence and strength of an A-class demon, but when he died and released his soul into the human world, he had used much of his strength, reducing his skill level to a lower class. As Kurama fought during his Rekai Tantei years, he was able to regain the lost strength from the releasing of his soul and bring himself back to A-class. Kurama was also able to learn to control his transformation with his true demon form and current form without a need for potions and with his current life as Shuichi, Kurama still resides in the human world taking care of his mother and new family.

Kurama values everyone important in his life, especailly his friends and allies, the Rekai Tantei. He is quite intelligent and looked up to at school where his peers want him to join their study groups. His patience and sophistication is over the average person while he is still a bit a tease when it comes to his friends.