Kuronue opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. It was fuzzy, but he could tell that it was an unfamiliar ceiling. He had no clue where he was or why he was there. The last thing he could remember was going off stealing with Youko. His memory was foggy after that, although he could vaguely recall something about his necklace.

Absent-mindedly he reached up to touch it around his neck. It was there, as always, and he felt a little better upon completing the habitual action. Still, he was unsure as to what was going on.

He was obviously lying on a pile of furs in a small, wooden building. He couldn't remember entering the building, and it was easy to tell that someone had obviously laid him down. He never slept on his back because of his wings. It tended to be uncomfortable; however, whoever had laid him down had taken extreme care to not rumple his wings.

And why in the world was he naked?

Kuronue chucked and sat up carefully. His muscles felt stiff and weak, as if he had not moved in months. That, or he'd had way too much sex the night before. Maybe that was what had happened to him. He'd become overly drunk and end up in some female's bed. Usually he had memories of the night before, but it wasn't unheard of for him to not remember.

Looking around at his surroundings, he mused that if he felt so bad this morning, then the sex had either been horrible or it had been beyond amazing. His eyes flitted from a simple, low table to a few pots and pans. The room he was in was certainly small, and judging by the contents, it was obvious that it was the only room. A fire blazed in the corner of the room, the walls there made of stone, the smoke exiting through a hole in the ceiling.

When he glanced down at his feet he saw his clothing, and he grinned. It seemed that whomever he had gone home with was neat. His clothes were folded.

Throwing the fur off of him, he moved to get dressed, but stopped in the process. He had scars all over his body. Some were more noticeable than others, although the one in his chest was obvious.

'What the hell?!?!'

The single door in the room opened and closed, allowing a small female inside bundled up in thick clothing and covered in a small coating of snow.

Kuronue blinked, both forgetting and not caring that he was standing up fully naked in front of the female. Well, since they'd obviously had sex, it didn't matter if she saw him naked. But what caught his attention was the fact that she was covered in snow. His last memory was of the spring with budding plants and greenery.

"Where-" Kuronue tried to say, but he voice sounded rusty. He cleared it a few times and tried to speak again, while the girl stripped off her coat and shook the snow out of her hair. "Where am I, cutie?"

And she was cute. Her black hair may have only been waist length, and her eyes a non-descript gray, but she looked small and delicate enough while still having curves. She wasn't someone he would have picked for himself, but she wasn't bad. He did prefer taller women with more curves, and he liked more exotic looking females, but he had to admit that the girl was cute in a small, furry pet kind of way.

Unfortunately, he couldn't tell what kind of demon she was. She wasn't powerful, by any stretch of the imagination, so he didn't feel like he was in danger. However, he was used to being able to tell what kind of demon someone was.

She smiled softly at him. "You're at my place; where else would you be?" She put more logs on the fire, seemingly nonplussed about his nudity. He sat back down on the furs and looked at the clothing in his hands. If he looked close enough he could see where his clothes had been torn and then repaired. What had happened to him?

"I'm glad you're awake though. You've had a long recovery." She moved about the small room, bringing out two mugs and filling them with a liquid from a pot that had been sitting close to the fire.

Kuronue tried to ask another question, but he ended up coughing instead. His throat was dry, but what she had said about a long recovery bothered him. He wanted to know what had happened.

She handed one of the mugs to him after blowing on the steaming liquid a little. "This should help you feel better."

The black-haired female sat down in front of him, holding her own mug. She took a few sips of her drink and then he did the same. The liquid was hot, but it soothed his throat and gave his muscles strength.

"I know you have questions for me. Ask, and I will answer if I can." Her voice, like the rest of her, was small and soft. She sounded rather weak for a demon.

"What happened to me? How did I get here?" Kuronue was beginning to doubt his whole sex theory, which kind of disappointed him. He wanted to know how much fun the girl was in bed. And if they hadn't had sex, why didn't she seem to care that he was naked? His ego took a solid hit. Dammit, she was supposed to stare or compliment him or something. It was rude not to, at least among the demons he was used to it was rude.

"You were badly injured by bamboo. Bamboo pierced through you in many places," she replied. An image flashed in his head of his necklace coming off and him running back to get it only to be stabbed through by what felt like thousands of pieces of bamboo. He had been fatally injured, and he knew it. "I brought you here to nurse you back to heath."

"And now how did you do that?" He gave her an admiring look. Demons that could heal were rare, and considering the wounds he had had, she was a very strong healer.

"My family has a technique which is passed down from parent to child. I used that."

Kuronue could tell that she was being vague, and he wasn't sure why. Something was nagging in the back of his mind, however. The female had found him wounded and then had proceeded to go through an obviously long process to heal him, even though she didn't even know his name. No one did that without a good reason. Youko would do something like that for him, but then they were close friends. The woman probably wanted something from him.

Curious, he set down his mug and leaned forward, putting his mouth on her ear. "And now why would you do something like that for little o' me?" he asked, letting his lips brush her skin. He watched a shiver go down her spine and he felt better. She hadn't said anything about his nudity, perhaps because she had taken care of him for ages, but she wasn't unaffected by him. His ego rose back up.

"Because my clan had a debt to pay."

Kuronue frowned and stretched his wings out some. Her vague answers were becoming tiresome, and he wasn't sure how to get better answers out of her. His nudity didn't even seem to bother her, and she didn't even more away from him when he moved nearer. Unsure how to deal with a female who didn't react to him physically like every other female did, he sat back and stared at her. He wasn't sure what she saw in his eyes, but she looked down at her lap after a moment.

She sighed gray eyes rising up to meet his. "Our debt was to Youko for him sparing a youngster's life. In one of his thieving trips, he set one of our children free who was being kept as a prisoner. I know you to be his partner, so we would be allowed to pay the debt to Youko by saving you."

"Ah, that I do understand, little one." Debts were easy to understand. She didn't want anything from him but for him to be well when he left her company. He could handle that, although he was curious if he could have a little bit of fun with her before he left. He could finally tell that he had been without any kind of relief for months; even though he had obviously been unconscious, it didn't matter. The girl wasn't his first choice, nor would she have been his second or third, but she would work.

"What do you plan to do now, Kuronue?" Her expression was blank, her eyes giving nothing away as she stood up and put her mug away. "I can point you in the direction of where Youko was last seen and heard of, or you may stay here among my clan. If you wish to leave, we will give you clothing for this weather; if you stay here, you will be given your own temporary housing or you will live in the bachelor's building."

Kuronue grinned, feeling immensely better now that he knew what had happened and everything that was going on. "Awwww… I can't stay here with you?" he whined playfully, leaning back just enough so that the firelight shone off his chest and highlighted muscles. For all that he was almost as picky as Youko when it came to women… okay, so he was no where near as picky as Youko when it came to women, but he did enjoy flirting and playing. Oh, hell, he loved flirting and playing, and the girl just seemed too calm. He wanted to see her unsettled, even if it was only for a little bit.

She shook her head. "I would not force such a thing upon you as what would incur by your continued presence here."

"Now what would I incur, little one? A reputation for seducing healers?" he joked, admiring her legs. She had very nice legs, despite the fact she was a little on the short side and that there was thick cloth covering them.

Without answering, she put on her furry coat. "I will send someone over here tomorrow morning with food and clothing. Whether you stay or leave, you will need both." Then, she left without another word, leaving Kuronue there to pout.

"Honestly, that was rude," he mumbled and he shook his head, fighting not to laugh. He did find her amusing. She seemed to avoid anything she didn't want to talk about. "She didn't even bother to introduce herself."

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The next morning clothing and food did arrive as promised, as well as a bag for carrying all the food and some cold weather gear. Unfortunately, the black-haired girl from the night before did not return, although Kuronue didn't really care. He was planning on leaving. The boy that had dropped off his stuff had given him the information he needed to find Youko, so all he had to do was pack up everything and head on out.

So, Kuronue ate some food, got dressed, packed everything up, and left the little house. The valley he was in was covered in snow and dotted with other small houses made of stone and wood, however the building he had stayed in was at the very edge of the village a good hundred feet or more away from any other house. Smoke rose out of most of them, showing which ones were inhabited and which ones weren't. The village was rather small, with there only being fifteen houses with smoke coming out. Somewhere in one of the houses was the little one.

Grinning, he waved and shouted out to the village. "Goodbye, little one! I will tell Youko your debt is paid." Humming happily to himself, he began walking off. Ah, it was good to be alive.

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Back in the village, the black-haired girl watched Kuronue leave. Her parents and grandparents were behind her, sitting around a low table.

"He is leaving," she stated, sitting down at the table. "He will not return."

"Oh, I think he will," the grandfather commented darkly. His once black hair was now long and streaked with gray, but his red eyes were still bright and intelligent. "You have likely doomed this village with your thoughtless actions."

"I will not condemn him for something he had no say in," the black haired girl replied. She had never seen her grandfather so angry. He no longer had the power he used to; he had been attacked too many times and suffered too many wounds. It was likely he would die soon simply because his body was too worn own from all the healing. "If the village is doomed, then blame me, but do not blame him. His fate lies elsewhere, I'm sure."

The girl sat completely still, even as her father reached across the table and smacked her. "If he had merely stayed here, we not only would have found what we needed, but Youko would have been in our debt!" he growled out. "You know the punishment for disobeying me as well as convincing your cousin to obey you. Leave now, before I see that you are challenged."

She nodded her head, and went to the door without picking up her coat. Punishment was not pleasant, but she was far too physically weak to handle a challenge. Punishment was easier.

Her grandmother cleared her throat as the black-haired girl opened the door. The young healer turned to look at her grandmother's unseeing but still seeing eyes. "His fate lies where his soul is, as well you know."

Without responding, the girl left, quickly disappearing behind a snowdrift.