The Kitsune Child (originally named Kurama's Child)

Chapter 42

Kurama heard a knock on the door just like the day before and instead of ignoring it he this time opened the door to reveal Choji eating a bag of chips and Shikarmu holding a shogi board.

It didn't take long for Kurama to pull up some chairs and for Shikarmu to set up the board onto a small table.

"I'll let you go first." Kurama chuckled.

-About an hour and a half later-

'He's toying with me. He can destroy me at any moment with any move he chooses but he is enjoying watching me struggle' Shikarmu thought in disbelief as he looked at the game in front of him with horror.

'What the hell am I supposed to do!? There's no way I can win this! There has to be something I'm missing. Anything!" Shikarmu thought straining his brain. He had been sitting here for at least 10 minutes trying to figure out his next move.

He reluctantly made a move.

"I think this has gone on for long enough." Kurama said blankly.

He quickly made a move and captured his king.

(I have no idea how you win shogi)

"There. The game is done. Per the deal you two stay away from my son." Kurama said leaning back in his chair.

The room was silent for a moment. Shikarmu balled his hands in a fist so tightly that his knuckles began to go white.

" Please give me a rematch. I beg of you. I'll do anything for a rematch." Shikarmu pleaded.

"Why the hell should I. We had a deal." Kurama sneered.

"The deal was that if you won against me we would stop seeing Naruto. But we never specified how many games we could or could not play." Shikarmu stated.

"Damn brat. You got some nerve." Kurama spat.

"I know. But I'm begging you to give me another chance." Shikarmu pleaded once more.

-30 minutes later-

Shikarmu has been defeated 3 times now.

"Damn it! What the hell am I doing wrong!" Shikarmu shouted.

"There's nothing wrong with your strategy. It's just too predictable and easy to figure out once you know what your looking for." Kurama explained.

"Again." Shikarmu said restarting the board.

-2 hours later-

Shikarmu has lost 18 times since he has walked into this room.

He was sweating heavily with a sour expression as he looked down at the board with his now captured king and Kurama subtly reading a book.

"One more time. I think I almost got it." Shikarmu said restarting the board once more.

"That's enough. The sun will start setting soon and I'm sure your parents are wondering where you are." Kurama said standing up.

"Your crazy if you think I'm giving up now." Shikarmu replied.

"Come back tomorrow and I'll challenge you again." Kurama said.

Shikarmu looked up hesitantly and pondered it for a moment before nodding.

He cleaned up the board and left with Choji out the door.

-the next morning around 5:30am-

Kurama woke up to hear a knock on the door. He recognized the scent to be Shikarmu's and Choji's. He dragged himself to the door.

"What the hell do you think your doing here. The sun hasn't even risen yet." Kurama groaned.

"We have a mission today at 7:00 so that gives me an hour and a half to defeat you." Shikarmu explained.

"By those eye bags it would seem that you didn't sleep last night." Kurama said letting the boys in.

"I was practicing." Shikarmu explained briefly.

"-An hour later-

"I win again." Kurama yawned.

"I think you two should get ready for that mission." Kurama added.

"We still have another 30 minutes." Shikarmu replied.

"There is nothing wrong with being a little early. If you finish your mission early you can come back whenever. Even another day is fine." Kurama explained.

"We can come whenever we want? Even if it's just to visit?" Shikarmu asked.

"Yeah of course. You are Naruto's friends after all." Kurama said with a small smirk.

"But I didn't win." Shikarmu protested.

"You were willing to keep trying just so you could be friends with my son. It's obvious that you care about him." Kurama explained.

"Thanks....." Shikarmu said with a defeated sigh.

:)