Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters used in this fanfiction. This is purely for entertainment purposes. Please do not discredit or redistribute without the authors prior knowledge or approval.

P.S this is only a Prologue, please bear with me as I recompose my writing style. It's been a while.

Chapter 1 (Prologue)

The light from the sun shined brightly onto Kurama's face. He lifted his hand up to shield his eyes from the intensity and chuckled.

"Is it too bright?" she said, separating his fingers away from his face. He peeked through his fingers and could see her brown eyes and sun kissed cheek between the black frame of his shadowed fingers.

He shook his head no. Now wearing a pair of sunglasses, he pocketed his hands and followed behind her skipping figure over to a single tree where a blue blanket with a small basket laid. He laid down on the blanket besides her. He rested his cheek against her bare shoulder and could smell vanilla and orange blossoms. He looked at her pink lips that were curved up into a smile. His cheek felt warm against her skin.

"What was that?" She asked, tapping the tip of his nose delicately with her finger.

He closed his eyes and shook his head again before rolling over to lay on his side. He felt upside down and opened his eyes, now looking up into a sky of bright stars ; each star twinkled brilliantly before the navy ocean. He could feel pressure against his chest causing him to frown. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't hear his own voice. He felt grass beneath the back of his head, the cool blades caressing the sides of his face.

"Kurama,"

He turned his head to the left and saw her fairly clearly for the first time through unfiltered lens. Her dark hair rested softly around her face and her bright eyes glistened from the light of the fireflies that hovered around them in the tall grass. They stared at each other through the blades of glass, their faces illuminated by the moon and soft yellow lights flickering around randomly like flakes of gold.

Kurama saw his hand reach out and move strands of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"I think it's time for you to go," she whispered, closing her eyes at the touch of his hand against her cheek.

Suddenly, a wave of black overcame his vision and orbs of yellow and orange star bursts floated across his eyes. The sound of birds chirping and laughter replaced the twinkling sound of the stars and the cool breeze of night was quickly warm against his skin.

"C'mon, Keiko, throw the ball here!"shouted Yusuke.

Kurama sorely opened his eyes, squinting most of the light from the sun away before adjusting to the brightness. He looked around him and recognized the park he was at and nodded his head in acceptance.

"That's right, fox. We're still here" said Hiei, leaning against the same tree Kurama was resting against. His arms were crossed.

"It appears we are." Kurama said, taking in a deep sigh in hopes the heavy feeling around his chest would expire with his breathing.

Hiei raised a brow and watched him from the corner of his eyes. "If your wish is an eternal sleep that's something I'm sure we can arrange."

Kurama smiled and stood up, dusting his jeans off.

"Hey!" shouted Kuwabara, running over with a childish look on his face. "Well, I hope you had a nice little nap there, Kurama! Are you ready to get back into the game?" He asked, tapping the volley ball he had cradled beneath his arm.

"I'm not really in the mood for games today. It's getting a little late, I'll probably just retire for the rest of the evening."

Kurwabara dropped his jaw and scratched his head, "What! It's not even close to being late!"

"You look like a baboon," interrupted Hiei.

"Well, you look like a deformed baby but you don't hear me saying anything about it." retorted Kuwabara, giving Hiei a very broad cold shoulder.

"Make another comment like that and I won't be hearing you say anything, anymore."

"Now , now boys, today is a day of bonding" chimed in Botan, sporting a real casual look for their visit to the park. She jogged over from the game, Keiko and Yusuke trailing shortly behind her. "Let's save the threats for tomorrow when we meet Koenma." she smiled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Koenma!? Where - " started Yusuke, looking around from side to side.

Botan and Keiko laughed.

"He's not here, Yusuke." Botan reassured him.

Yusuke ran a hand through his hair, "Good! Today is a restful day, let's not mention the baby breath!" he snatched the ball out from between Kuwabara's side.

"Hey!" shouted Kuwabara.

Yusuke smoothly dodged his advances to get the ball back and they, except for Hiei, began to laugh together.

Kurama took this time to slip away by stepping behind the tree and carefully walking out of view, even when Yusuke called out after him he continued to walk away. He pocketed his hands again and strolled his way back home, passing by his favorite coffee shop and book store. The sun was beginning to set and the pink and amber sky painted his white rooms with their soft lights through the windows.

Quietly, Kurama prepared boiling water for a cup of tea. Waiting for the water, he sat in the kitchen silently, the only noise was the ticking of the kitchen clock, the flame from the stove and the water slowly picking up to a boil. He sat with hands on the table, looking at them folded within each other. It felt like an hour before he looked up from his hands to the sound of the teapot screeching for attention. He poured himself a cup in his favorite mug and made his way upstairs to his room.

He was taking a sip of the hot liquid as he entered his room, removing his house slippers at the same time .

He placed down the mug near his bedside and undressed then put on his white shirt and blue pajama bottoms before sitting on the edge of his bed. Kurama took another sip of his tea and grabbed the book that sat on his night stand. The bookmark showed him where he last left off and he quickly remembered the history of it's pages. He fitted himself comfortably into bed with a layer of blanket over his legs and a pillow to support his back as he reclined.

It wasn't long until his eyelids began to drop and he found himself fluttering his eyes to stay awake;

"Hard to sit here and be close to you," was the last thing he read before closing the book and sliding all the way down into the sheets, bringing the pillow down with him to rest behind his head. He laid down and stared up at the ceiling, fighting sleep out of habit of his insomniac like ways from the past.

Discomfort overcame his drowsiness as he shifted his legs from bending them to straightening them, bending the left, straightening it, bending the right, bending both. He flipped onto his right side then to his left. He felt warm. He contemplated going to the restroom then tossed back to the right, then to the left again and as his cheek grazed the satin cover of his pillow his nose touched the tip of hers.

Surprised, Kurama breathed in quickly and held his breath.

Her eyes were closed, and her face was rested. Her features were soft and youthful. She was sleeping peacefully besides him, her hands curled between the two. He could feel the knuckles on her right hand touching his chest.

The light bleeding into the room was gentle against the lining of her exposed neck. Heat rose to his cheeks as he carefully withdrew his arm, that he didn't realize was wrapped around her, and slowly removed himself from the bed.

Her brows furrowed and she shrugged her shoulders, her eyes slowly opening. She propped herself up with her arms but remained on her side, the sheets sliding down her shoulder and bunching around her delicate wrists. She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand and Kurama took a step back, watching her carefully.

"Kurama," she spoke, her voice shaky from sleep, "What's wrong, are you okay?" she continued, her eyes opening to look up at him. They shined with amusement and curiosity at his behavior.

He stared at her and felt his throat begin to tighten and his heart begin to ache. It was a similar feeling to the one he had earlier that day; the longer he looked at her the more it hurt. He clutched his chest and clenched his jaw against the pain then fell to his knees unwillingly.

Kurama felt the slow drip of liquid touch the corner of his lips and suddenly could feel his eyes sting. He used the back of his forearm to wipe away the tears clouding his vision and then looked down at his hands. Water began to fall onto the palm of his hands as he looked down at them. He let the water hit his hands as he looked back up at the girl, her face blurring from the tears and falling rain.

"I-" he gasped, "Who are you?" he forced out, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears. He questioned his own authenticity but remained determined to find an answer.

Her hands entered his field of vision and slowly came up to caress his face and cup it into both of her hands. She lifted his face until their eyes met but all he could see was bright light and the corner of her lips move as she spoke.

"What?"

Her lips moved but all he could hear was the rushing of leave and summer cicadas loudly buzzing in their nests.

"I'm glad I met you"

Kurama opened his eyes into the cover of his damp hands, their clamminess sheltering his forehead, eyes, nose and mouth. He pulled his hands away from his face and wiped his wet hands against his shirt. He looked around his empty bed and stared into the sea of white sheets. His heart was beating quickly and it took him a moment to catch his breath as he analyzed his current state and tried to understand what had just happened. His sheets were damp with sweat and his pillowcase absorbed a significant amount of liquid as well. His book had fallen to the floor beside his bed. He reached for his mug and looked at the clock as he took a sip of his tea. He furrowed his brow but drank the cold liquid. The clock read a quarter past four in the morning. He placed the mug back down on his night stand.

He bent down and picked up the book; "Tender is the Night" by Fitzgerald.

He slowly ran his thumb down the spine of the woman on the front cover while a drop of water splattered on the plastic cover. Kurama lifted his hands from the book and the droplet was gone.