This is the world of the anime, if Kurama never got injured and turned into a human. As a result, he never met Yusuke.
There will be plot differences but personalities will stay the same.
That day, Youko had been pursuing a renegade member of his thief troupe through the woods, a man named Mikael that had botched a robbery of theirs on purpose, intending to sell them out for a payout from the opposing party. Youko himself had not been present during the theft or the planning stages, otherwise he definitely would have caught onto the duplicity before even fruition of the mission.
It was only after the death of three of his most able brethren and the injured forms of a dozen more, being escorted back to his encampment, did Youko decide to deal with the traitor himself.
Mikael had yet to realized the kitsune chasing him currently was just toying with him; Kurama could have caught him much earlier on but this week had been particularly dry for the silver haired fox demon. Every robbery and crime he'd partaken in had gone unappealingly smooth.
Youko was a thief more for the euphoria and adrenaline of the hunt than he was for the actual merchandise. Of course he was intrigued like any normal person when a particularly unique artifact came into his claws, but for the most part he tried to find the best security and lock systems to break into.
Just to challenge himself.
Because life would be so dull for him otherwise.
And so, while he was slightly irked for having his men duplicitously slaughtered, he was mainly chasing Mikael for the fun of it. Mikael de Tyki, also known as the speed demon, could run across the entire Makai universe in less than 57 seconds, on record. While it was true Youko speed's was no match for the purple haired demon, Kurama more than surpassed the man in intellect.
Which was why the white robed fox demon was currently running on par with Mikael.
Right before the demon had taken off running, Kurama had summoned tiny vines to appear beneath the man feet, planting on inside Mikael shoes without him noticing, two Koma seeds. They were a special genus of botany found only in the Northern parts of the Spirit World. Replicating and modifying the seed's anatomy with his demon energy had been a cinch for Youko Kurama.
Now, the Koma seeds he'd planted presented a psychological illusion across his chosen victim: Kurama had complete control of the man's movements, including the agility he took, while presenting the deception to Mikael that he was still moving at top speed.
The purple haired demon paled as he saw the kitsune less than a foot away from him on an adjacent branch, leaping in tandem with him as they both traversed across the forestscape.
"W-what!? WHAT!" Mikael cried in disbelief as his face drained of all color.
Youko smiled contemptuously and inclined his head, intoning smoothly: "Watch your step."
As if the fox demon could predict Mikael would misstep the next branch, the speed demon slid off the thick bark and plummeted straight down to the forest floor.
Youko sighed in disappointment as he landed gracefully to the same clearing, standing not less than five feet from the writhing in pain demon.
They'd been travelling at an extreme height: nearly ninety feet above the ground and nothing had broken Mikael's fall when he'd landed straight on his back. It was obvious his tail bone was shattered by the way he squirmed onto his side, blood seeped out of his nostrils and the corners of his mouth, signalling severe trachea and alveoli damage.
He was already dead, basically.
To say Youko was dissatisfied by this killing was an understatement.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" he exclaimed, completely disheartened as the last of Mikael's life seeped from their eyes and the purple haired demon's eyes fell close.
Just as Youko was about to incinerate the man's body just to vent out some of his anger, his eyes caught the sight of something white and glowing, Northwest of his current position, at a fairly long distance away.
Youko shifted at his top speed and in an instant found the object that had attracted him: it was a woman, dressed in an all white kimono slip that was traditional japanese underwear of the Human World.
Kurama slipped soundlessly behind a thick tree as he took in the sight before him: it was another large clearing, only taking up most of the circular space was a pond of magically shimmering water, the source of the glowing he'd first seen. The woman kneeled at the edge of the immaculate water, testing the liquid's temperature with her slender right hand.
At his current angle, Youko couldn't see the female's face but he she looked to be a human in her early twenties. That was what her figure told him anyway. While not a stranger the wiles of female company, Youko never found himself too taken over by their appeal of sex. Their beauty was always so simple, straightforward and quite possibly the shortest type of entertainment anyone could choose to partake in. Once satiated, they literally held nothing else attractive. He'd seen nearly all types of "seduction" techniques from the female populace during his longevity across all three Reikai, Makai and Ningenkai planes. Countless women had thrown themselves literally at his feet and even more had tried the subtle "hard-to-get" approach; then there were some that actually thought of creative approaches to try and get his attention. None had ever succeeded.
He didn't like women that sought his attention. In truth, it went back to his tendency for challenges. He preferred the chase, not that he ever had to apply this to a woman.
Still, for the sake of curiosity, he stayed where he was to watch the scene that was clearly more than a simple bath play out.
The girl had finally turned around so that Kurama could see her face.
She was beautiful. Light sapphire hair that ran down her back in a ponytail with thin wisps framing an exquisite face of cherry red lips and deep maroon eyes that were large and far deeper than he'd ever seen on any human girl. They resonated within them wisdom and knowledge far more than her physical appearance eluded too.
She was no simple human girl.
As if to answer his curiosity, the girl suddenly looked around herself, almost directly in the direction he was currently hiding in. She had found him? Kurama was sure he hadn't even made the barest of noises, how in the world-
-but it was just a false alarm because the girl merely turned to look in the opposite direction a second later, as well. It was obvious she was making sure that there was no one else in this area than her.
Without anymore prelude, the blue haired girl undid the obi to her kimono and shucked off the entire white ensemble, letting it pool around her ankles.
And just like that, Kurama was staring at the girl in all her naked glory. She was flawless, not a single mar upon her porcelain ivory skin. She had plump tender looking breasts and shapely legs along with curvaceous hips.
What the hell? What was going on with him? It wasn't like he'd never seen a naked woman before. So, what made this girl so special? Why was he feeling this way?
The blue haired girl stepped out of her circle of clothes and moved straight into the center of the pond. The shimmering iridescence of the water reflected upwards from the ripples to project across her skin, making her look all the more ethereal.
Kurama couldn't take his eyes off her.
The maiden raised her arms and immediately the lights from the pond lifted themselves up with her limbs, as if pulled by an invisible net. The girl closed her eyes and started chanting something, quiet and low, almost like a deep drum melody.
After a few seconds, lights soured out suddenly from all over the forest, coming at every angle to reside within the blue haired girl's grasp. One even flew right over Kurama's head.
For a second, he could have sworn he saw Mikael's face inside the glowing white orb of light, before it joined with the rest of the radiant mass above the girl.
Kurama immediately knew what he was looking at: souls. This was a soul sending ritual. She was a ferry girl. Or grim reaper as the Human World liked to say.
As soon as the last of the souls came into her grasp the ferry girl suddenly sent the lights straight up into the air.
At the same time, she leaped up into the air and used the momentum to twirl at the apex of her jump. In an instant, clothes materialized on her body before her spin ended: a pink kimono tied at the waist by a white obi and red sandals. Just as it seemed like she was going to plummet into the pond again, a straight wooden oar soared through the air right then. The blue haired ferry girl landed with unfounded grace onto the shaft of the oar.
All this occurred before the mass of souls had even reached the apex of their throw. Right as they started falling again, the ferry girl aimed her oar and caught them right on scoop of the pedal.
In a second, she was flying off into the night.
Finally stepping out, Kurama couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed. It was like an amalgamation of grace, beauty and intrigue all rolled into a sight far too stunning to consume.
Who was that creature?
Perhaps out of all species in the three planes, Youko Kurama knew the least about ferry girls from the Reikai. This was because he'd never found a reason to be interested in them, until now.
But that was no matter, he always got what he wanted.
And he wanted her.
Even if he had to tear apart both the Makai and Ningenkai to see her again, he would do so.
Youko Kurama grinned to himself, oh yes, he would find her again.