First ever story... hope it's okay. Many more chapters ready once I figure out how this site works. Let me know your thoughts! Obviously I don't own these characters or the original story line. AmdcpleSe insert all other disclaimers here.

Chapter 1

47 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes and 3 seconds. That was when Tomoe first noticed Kurama was acting differently. It started one morning when Nanami had been talking to Ami before class. Tomoe had been watching her, to ensure her safety of course, and the bell rang. A startled Nanami jerked her hand and her pencil dropped toward the floor. Tomoe was about to grab it but before he had a chance, Kurama swooped in and snatched it mid-air. As he made this big show of rescuing a silly pencil, Nanami gave him one of those enormous smiles of hers.

The incident intrigued Tomoe. There was no way Kurama should have noticed the pencil unless he had been watching the two girls rather closely. Of course it was Tomoe's job to rescue the pencil… not Kurama's. He was her familiar so he was the one that should see to Nanami's needs. But Tomoe liked Kurama so he would over look his interference.

Then it happened again a few days later. Not a pencil of course. This time, Nanami was handing a book to Ami and, klutz that she is, Nanami nearly managed to drop the book on the poor girl's foot. Again, Kurama caught the book before it made contact. This time Tomoe had been a bit distracted because he had been watching Kurama watch Nanami. Still, his reflexes were faster and would have been the one to assist if it Kurama hadn't been standing so damn close to Nanami.

Later that same day, as Tomoe walked to the lunch table he usually shared with Kurama and Mizuki, he found Kurama was missing. "Where's the crow?", he asked drily.

"He is eating at Nanami's table today," Mizuki answered in his normal chipper way.

Tomoe looked over. Sure enough, there he sat. Across from Kei and right in between Ami and Nanami! Tomoe felt his face flush. This was too much. Even Tomoe was not permitted to eat with Nanami and it was his job to keep an eye on her.

"She should be studying for her test next period," Tomoe said to Mizuki. "I overheard Ami tell her that she would go over the last three problems with her during lunch. He is distracting them."

"Well, I guess there is more to life than studying," smiled Mizuki.

Of course Mizuki wasn't going to be any help looking after Nanami's interests. What a sorry excuse for a familiar he was. Tomoe would have preferred not to pick a fight with his Mistress this afternoon but, once again, it was left to him to remind Nanami to be responsible.

Tomoe began to walk toward the table. He could smell Nanami's scent intermingled with the smell of that saddle wood soap she liked to use. But there was another smell that he found almost unpleasant. What was that? He knew the smells of every creature in this school and he knew this scent was not among those he recognized. Was the someone new in the room? He scanned the crowd. If there was, the creature was in hiding. Could it be that there was someone, or something, stalking Nanami? He sniffed again. It smelled a bit like Kurama but stronger and more…. Tomoe stopped. His eyes grew large. Was that smell Kurama's pheromones? Was Kurama producing a scent to attract Nanami? Tomoe felt he might be sick.

Tomoe walked up to the table, grabbed Kurama by the collar, and lifted him to his feet.

"Kurama," he said with a controlled voice and angry smile, "It has been so nice of you to entertain Nanami and her friends this afternoon but sadly these ladies must prepare for the math test we will be taking in a few minutes. I'm afraid I will need to ask you to save your numerous antidotes for a more convenient time."

Kurama looked pretty surprised. He was actually speechless for a minute but when he saw how angry Nanami looked he decided he didn't want to escalate this situation further. "Okay… Dad," he said with a smirk, "I was actually just planning to leave anyway. I needed to give something to Mizuki." He dusted off his jacket, picked up his lunch tray and walked over to table.

Nanami looked at her friends than back at Tomoe. Her face was red but she very calmly said to him that they would discuss this later. She then turned her back to him as if he was not there. Tomoe looked over at Mizuki and Kurama and he looked at the three girls. He decided he would sit out the rest of lunch in the library.

After that, Tomoe began to keep a closer eye on Kurama. He found his feelings toward the tengu change. He was feeling less and less friendly toward Kurama. Tengus are a type of yokai, and Kurama knew that love between humans and yokai is forbidden. Was Kurama trying to hurt Nanami? "Even if he never intends to do anything about his feelings," Tomoe would think, "is he going to hang around like some love sick puppy dog and try to protect and serve MY Land God?"

Tomoe found himself growing angry with Nanami as well. He was especially annoyed at her for giving Kurama those big smiles. Surely his anger was founded. That stupid girl was encouraging Kurama. She was making the situation worse.

Not without some insight into his own emotions, Tomoe did recognize something was different. He was very familiar with rage and this feeling was not quite anger. There was a slight pain that went along with it. At first he thought that it was a new sensation but that was when the nightmares began.

This dream always took place in the same setting. Tomoe was just a young many then. He would be dreaming about going on a killing spree with Akura-Ou and returning to his home. A feeling of satisfaction overwhelmed him until he lay down in his bed where he'd see Nanami's hairpin. Suddenly, he would become consumed by the same feeling that he had been struggling to understand during his waking hours. In his dream, he would walk out of his room and cross to the main house. There he found Nanami. She was always dressed as one on the peasant girls that he used to hire. She would be lying there and as he would walk forward, he would realize the room was covered in blood. Sometime when he had this dream there would be a wail coming from somewhere in the room. Other times, all he heard was an eery silence. He would rush forward but no matter how many times he had this dream he could never get to her in time. Just as he was about to touch her, she would die.

He would wake up in a sweat. Had he just dreamed that he had killed Nanami? He had this same dream over and over. He would never hurt Nanami he told himself. That dream took place in a different time in a different life. Nanami hadn't even been born when Tomoe indulged his blood thirsty desires. Even if she had known him then, he couldn't have hurt her… could he? That question didn't even matter. He was no longer that man and would never again be that man. Still… he could not shake this nagging feeling. The dream had seemed so real. And the feeling had felt so strong. Had he felt this feeling before? Something nagged at the back of his mind. Something made his feel that this was not the first time he had felt this way.

But if he had experienced this feeling, what was it? What would have caused it?

One week ago, Mizuki of all people inadvertently offered Tomoe the answer to these burning questions. Tomoe's mood had been growing worse and worse given his lack of sleep and the added duties of protecting Nanami from Kurama. One day, as they were finishing their lunches, Kurama reached into his bag and withdrew a tin of mochi.

"I think I might see if the girls want this," he said with a smile looking over at Nanami's table.

Tomoe reached across the table, grabbed the tin from his hands, threw it to the floor and crushed it with one swift stomp. Mizuki and Kurama stared at him in shock. Tomoe didn't know what to say. He was as surprised as they were. He didn't know what had come over him. "I'm sure they are watching their figures," he said, hoping this might explain his bizarre behavior.

Mizuki's face broke out in a smile. "Tomoe is jealous!" He squealed in joy.

"Certainly not!" Tomoe responded, " I don't even like sweets."

"Unless they come wrapped in a cute little skirt," Mizuki teased, that same stupid smile frozen in place.

"Ridiculous," Tomoe thought. But over the next week, Mizuki's words continued to ring in his head. He began to really consider what he thought of Nanami. The more he thought about this the more he came to realize he did have feelings for her. Once he was able to admit this, he started to consider that these feelings were deeper than mere affection. But then he would remember the nightmare and would push these thoughts to the back of his mind. He could not truly love Nanami. He would not allow it. It just wasn't safe. As the week wore on, Tomoe's mood grew worse and he continued to struggle with his own internal battle. He had a test this afternoon but with all these distractions, he just hadn't been motivated to study. It was, of course in one of those useless topics that the humans spent so much time trying to learn. It was foolish of these people that lived such short lives to spend so much time learning to answer questions like, "if person A leaves a a spot going at one speed and person B leaves another spot at some other speed when will they meet". Who cared when they would meet? Just find a location to meet and bring along a nice cup of tea. They will meet eventually. Even if one needed to know such silly specifics, how did these humans always forget that they might need to stop for traffic, or to encounter some other unexpected delay?

Tomoe sighed. He knew this test… no this subject… was pointless, but the thought of Kurama doing better than he would was beyond annoying. He decided to get to school a bit early. Maybe if he could get away from Nanami, he could focus and get a bit of studying done so he would be ready for this afternoon's test.

Ugh! I got to chapter 13 and thought, I would go back and clarify where and how this story would fit into the original cannon only to find it doesn't. Maybe It fits into the anime but I blew it on making it fit into the manga. I can eventually tweak it to make it work, but for now let's just say this is an alternate ending to the Akura-Ou arch.