Disclaimer: The characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi and Studio Pierriot, Viz Media and Funimation
Yomi really should have known better.
Kurama watched him walk away with his son, Shura as they started their training journey. Not more than several days ago Yomi had helped him off the battlefield after he had accused him of betrayal for a second time. He mentally scoffed as a derisive look made it onto the kitsune's face.
The former Gandaran lord really should have known better than to trust his former bandit leader. First he had threatened his mother, the most precious person in his life. Then Yomi's grandiose ideas of world domination threatened the Human World, which in turn would threaten his mother and his human friends like Kuwabara. Really what was he expecting, steadfast loyalty? Not likely. And then to accuse him of betrayal? In his mind it wasn't betrayal just simple manipulation of a situation to his advantage.
Then Yomi had set him up in a separate room with the demons he had brought back to the demon world from the Human World, as potential safeguards in case of an assassination attempt during the meeting with Yusuke.
Yusuke.
Now there was an entirely different person from Yomi, not only in terms of personality but how Kurama felt about them. There was someone who had earned the kitsune's loyalty and friendship, and who still had it, even after not seeing each other for such a long period of time. Yusuke had saved his mother instead of threatening her and he had saved Kurama's at least twice. So he felt no qualms about leaving Yomi's service and going along with Yusuke's idea of a Demon World tournament.
Really Yomi, even after all these centuries you still don't know or understand much about loyalty do you? Kurama thought as turned and walked back to meet with his other friends. It can't be threatened or coerced out of people like you did with me but threatening my human mother. It has to be earned through genuine acts of friendship like Yusuke and Kuwabra and even Hiei showed me. Loyalty is also nothing without trust, and I didn't trust you when I got here and now a year later that still holds mostly true. I suppose I trust you some but not much.
Kurama didn't think he would ever trust his former subordinate completely; there was just too much bad blood between them. Sure they had managed to forgive each other and were even somewhat friendly with each other by the time the tournament ended, but Kurama knew better. Their history had too many negative spots to really be reconciled enough for a genuine friendship to form.
Plus there was the fact that while Yomi said he understood his reasoning to leave the past behind him, Kurama wondered how much he really understood. From Yomi's perspective Kurama had just been a temporary figure who only needed to be pushed in the right direction to reclaim his true form and nature of Yoko Kurama the cruel, former thief. Yomi could not or would not seem to grasp that his time spent in the human world had changed him too drastically to ever go back to that personality. He still retained aspects of his former self, but that was tempered by his new human traits.
So really was it his fault that Yomi couldn't see all this and failed to understand him and labeled it as another betrayal? Kurama rounded the corner and saw a grouping of his friends sitting and talking with each other. They shouted greetings at him when they spotted him and Kurama couldn't help smiling warmly at them. It was a shame really that for all of his age and wisdom Yomi failed to see Kurama's true purposes and reasons.
Kurama couldn't help chuckling to himself as he went to join his friends, Really Yomi you should have known better.
AN: I wrote this after watching the Makai saga a few days ago for the first time. The relationship and dynamic between Yomi and Kurama was the one that stuck out most to me and I've spent the last few days trying to figure the two of them out, and this small fic was born of it. This is just how I see the relationship between the two which I think is one of the more interesting ones out of the show and I wish we could have seen more interaction between the two.