Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any its characters. This is my first posting on this site so enjoy!
Kurama was sitting in the living room with his human stepfather and stepbrother, helping the latter with his homework while the former read a book and his mother cooked dinner. All was a normal evening in the Minamino home until their doorbell rang. "One moment!" Shiori called from the kitchen, but young Kokoda stopped her.
"It's all right, Mom!" he called, getting up and walking toward the door. "I'll get it! You don't mind if we take a little break, do you, Shuuichi?"
"Not at all," he replied, getting up and stretching. "I'm going to take this opportunity to go upstairs and change out of my school uniform. Of course, it's straight back to work after that, Kokoda."
He nodded with a smile as his big brother disappeared up the stairs. He then opened the door to see a young woman there. She couldn't have been any older than seventeen or eighteen, and she had long white hair with black streaks that flowed down her back, accenting her deep blue eyes that were so light they might have been mistaken for a very faint gray.
If she attended high school, it wasn't evident, as she was out of uniform. She was wearing instead a pair of blue jeans, a white sleeveless turtleneck, a black calf-length jacket, and matching black boots. Her look was extremely serious, and yet there was a very distinct hint of worry in her eyes.
She bowed and said, "Konnichiwa. Is this the Minamino residence?"
"Yes, it is," he replied, leading her inside. He shut the door behind her and said, "Can I help you with something?"
The young woman glanced around a bit anxiously and said, "I do hope so. I'm looking for Shuuichi Minamino. Is he at home?"
"Yeah," Kokoda said. "He just went upstairs, but he'll be right back down if you want to wait here in the living room." He then showed her the way and said, "Dad, this young woman is looking for Shuuichi. Is it okay if she waits here until he comes back down?"
"Of course," he replied, standing up to shake her hand. "I'm Shuuichi's stepfather. Are you a friend of his?"
She smiled for the first time, though it didn't relieve the anxiousness, and she said, "You might say that. My name is Minaku Takatori. I'm not even certain if Shuuichi will remember me. We knew each other quite some time ago."
Just a moment later, Kurama came back down the stairs and stopped when he saw the lovely young woman standing in his living room. He quickly hid his shock, however, and went the rest of the way down saying, "Hello. Can we help you?"
"Shuuichi Minamino?" she said with a bit of hope in her voice.
"Yes," he replied, bowing to her. "And you are?"
She glanced around at the watching eyes and said quietly, "Would it be all right if we took a walk, Minamino-san? I have something of the greatest urgency I need to speak to you about."
He nodded and called, "Mother, I'm going for a walk. I'll be back before dinner is ready."
"All right, dear!" she called back. "If your friend would like to stay for dinner, she is more than welcome to, as well!"
They took their leave and started walking down the sidewalk in silence for several minutes. Finally, Kurama turned back to her and said, "Please, what is your name? Why have you come here to see me?"
"That all depends," she replied, not looking him in the eye. "Would you like my human name, or my true name?"
He raised an eyebrow. "So you are a demon, as I suspected. You hide your energy very well, but there was still the distinct hint of a powerful Spirit Energy lurking beneath the surface. Tell me both of your names."
She smiled a hollow smile and said, "My human name is Minaku Takatori. As for who I am as a demon, you will find out soon enough, I am sure. The point is, Youko, that I have come to speak to you about a project you are already working on. I know all about the Demon World Tournament that will take place in a few months, and I fully intend on being there, not to win but to defeat some of the more meager competition for you and your friends."
He was still a bit confused as he said, "So why have you come to me? Merely to tell me that you will be there? That seems a bit unreasonable, don't you think?"
"Not at all," she replied. "And that isn't the only reason I came here today. I did want to tell you that I'll be at the competition, but I also wanted to offer to you a very intriguing proposition."
She stopped him where he was on the street and pulled him into an alleyway before going on quietly, "Yomi the Spider Demon will die before the end of this competition. I know that he is a former friend of yours and very close to you even now, but even you must admit that he's just manipulating you, using your guilt to trap you into service for him.
"You and I both know that he is the one who should be serving you. After all, you are the great Youko the Spirit Fox, the legendary King of Thieves. Once upon a time, he was your cohort, just another follower and worshipper of the Great Fox. You tried to have him killed once, remember? A trick that didn't work very well, indeed. I'm giving you the opportunity now to right that wrong. Help me destroy him and give him the death that he so rightly deserves."
He had to admit that he was astonished by her offer. Of course he'd considered trying to kill Yomi again, but he'd never even come close to carrying it out. Finally, he said gently, "And what is your personal vendetta against him, if I may ask? Has he harmed you personally, or is this just another random assassination attempt by a demon not worth her salt?"
She glared at him angrily, and it was perhaps her calm tone that frightened him the most when she said, "You do not know to whom you are speaking, Fox. You may be a legendary demon yourself, but that does not mean that you are the only one. Yomi owes me a great debt after all he's done to harm me and my kind. This is not an obscure assassination attempt. This is personal. I will give you until the end of the first elimination round of the tournament to give me your answer."
Without another word, she began to walk back toward the street and away from him. "Wait," he said, making her stop and turn back around to him. "At least give me a hint. Who are you?"
A little smirk crossed her lips as she recited:
In the mountains I dwelled for many years,
Centuries of tradition only led to tears.
My kind and I were driven away
By a demon who refused to let us stay.
Now all but three have lost their souls,
And now this trio to that demon his evil fate bestows.
With that, she disappeared around the corner, and by the time Kurama had memorized the limerick and walked out onto the sidewalk, she had disappeared completely. He looked around a bit confusedly and decided to go home and contemplate the riddle before making any kind of decision about helping her.