Author's note: Hello everyone! For those of you still reading this story here is chapter three! Thanks again to SissyPerigrin for the review! You are right, Kyouran is definitely a spoiled brat for sure! Maybe a certain foxy red head can whip her into shape :)

Btw...REVIEW! I need feedback from those who are reading the story so I know if you guys are enjoying it! I would LOVE an in-depth review about character personalities to know if I am doing a good job of keeping them in character or not, yadda yadda, BUT I know a lot of readers don't feel like going to those lengths SOOOO even just a "good job, liking the story" or "Bad job, Don't like it" would still be greatly appreciated!

Chapter Three

Cat and Mouse

Kyouran diligently followed Kurama, keeping tabs on him, also sometimes following his subordinates, but he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He would come out of his room and join the others in the dining hall to eat, then go back to his room and call his humans. (Kyouran couldn't figure out why such a powerful demon would involve himself with such weak creatures.) And then he would attend meetings with Yomi, after which he either went to the gardens and spent hours with the plants there, or went to the training fields and, well, trained. Kyouran couldn't find any ulterior motives, or hidden agendas. Maybe he really doesn't have any. She thought as she followed him to the gardens. Today was warm, and pleasant, very rare and uncharacteristic of this region in the Makai, so as Kyouran perched herself in a fragrant, flowering tree to observe Kurama, she found herself nodding off.

"Why don't you come join me? Surely my company would be a much better alternative to falling out of a tree?"

The kitsune's silky voice startled Kyouran into awareness and she snapped her head in his direction, locking her eyes onto his green ones. This was the first time that he had spoken to her even though Kyouran knew that he was well aware of her presence following him for the past week or two. She hesitated, not really wanting to interact with the fox, but eventually she dropped to the ground gracefully and stood a few feet from where he crouched in front of a plant. She leaned on her right leg, placing her hand on her hip and staring down at him. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled.

"What's your name?" Kurama asked the surly demon standing a safe distance from him. He found it amusing to try and throw her off her game as it was the only entertainment he could find.

"Soragoto Kyouran. What about yours, fox?"

"Youko Kurama. Do you know much about plants?" He saw her eye twitch in annoyance.

"No." she growled. "Why?" Kurama, undeterred by her churlish tone, used his hand to beckon her over to the plant he was in front of. It held the appearance of a red colored weed, with orange little fronds at the tips of its jagged leaves. Kyouran grudgingly edged closer, and crouched down next to Kurama.

"This plant is often considered a weed, and is very common around the Makai, but what most demons do not know is that it is good for staving off infections." Kurama cut the small plant at the base of its stem, and pulled off the orange fronds. "You grind its leaves and stalk into a poultice and apply it to any wound. As long as you regularly clean and apply a fresh batch twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, then it should prevent the wound from getting infected." Kurama then demonstrated how to make the poultice and had Kyouran make it. Two hours later Kurama stood up and dusted himself off. He had taught Kyouran about many of the plants that were in the garden and their uses. Kyouran was perplexed by all this, but none the less appreciated it.

"I am afraid I have a meeting to attend so I must go. It was nice meeting you, Soragoto-san." Kurama said as he offered a hand to help Kyouran to her feet. Kyouran ignored it while giving him a snide look, but then on a second thought called out to Kurama as he walked away.

"Hey fox," he stopped and turned his head. "Thank you, it was…enlightening." He gave her a simple smile and continued on his way.

"He knows a lot about plants."

Yomi stared at Kyouran in complete silence for a few minutes. "What?"

Kyouran glanced up at Yomi with one eyebrow raised. "You're blind not deaf ya old goat." Then she looked back at the human novel that Kurama had given her to read. She had to admit that humans had extremely wild imaginations, most of which stemmed from ignorance and fear but none the less made for great bedtime stories.

"You've been tailing him for months! Raizen's death could be any day now and you're telling me that you've learned nothing?" Yomi shouted at Kyouran who winced at how loud his voice was. Kurama's voice is so much softer and more pleasant to listen to. Kyouran sighed wistfully, thinking about the fox's gentle manner. After the day that Kurama had first spoken to Kyouran, it became a sort of routine to join him in the gardens or woods and have him teach her about various plants, enjoying each other's companionship and talking about whatever was on their minds. She enjoyed how relaxed she felt when she was around Kurama; there was something about him that piqued her interest, but also soothed her. Maybe it was because Kurama always kept himself calm and composed no matter what he was faced with or how bad-tempered Kyouran could be.

"Kyouran are you even listening to me?" Yomi shouted again and slapped her upside the head.

"Hey don't hit me! You act like my mom." Kyouran grumbled as she rubbed her head and glared at him. "And for your information, I've learned quite a lot; that knowledge just happens to be about plants and practically useless human traditions. Did you know they celebrate a holiday called Christmas by having some strange man named Santa Claws sneak into their places of dwelling while they are asleep, and leave gifts for them? I mean, how much stupider can you get? Why would anyone want some stranger with claws in their house while they are completely defenseless?" she continued to rant about the strange things that humans did until Yomi hit her with a small blast of yoki that sent her toppling off the bed. "Ow you mother fucker that hurt! What the hell was that for?" she popped up from the floor on the other side of the bed, dropping the book that had lain in her lap and her hands balling into fists and eyes flashing.

"You were supposed to be spying on Kurama, not having tea parties in the garden with him!" Yomi was irritated beyond belief and felt he might seriously maim the she-demon standing in front of him.

"Reality check Yomi; I was never trained as a spy. I was a twisted sadist, who became a brutal assassin, who became your interrogation lackey. Sneaking up on someone to kill them is a lot easier than having to follow them day after day without being noticed. Kurama spotted me on day one, he's not stupid, on the contrary he's actually quite brilliant. Besides, I don't think Kurama is hiding anything. It's obvious that he holds loyalty to Raizen's brat, and the only reason he is here is because you've got some sort of leverage with him. He hasn't really tried to hide that tidbit of information genius." She snarled back at Yomi, her Yoki flaring as she became more agitated. Yomi took a swing at her which she dodged with a shocked look on her face.

"You are completely useless! I don't know why I've put up with you for so long!" Yomi tried kicking her this time, but she blocked it, grabbing Yomi's leg and throwing him through the wall. He easily shook it off and sent another yoki blast at her. She dodged but got a kick to her back, this time being the one sent threw a few walls.

"Put up with me? You were the one who thought that he could force me to stay! And just to let you in on a little secret, I could have left whenever I wanted; you hold no power over me!" she said as she rose from the pile of rubble and launched herself at Yomi.

Kurama had been resting in his room peacefully until he heard raised voices coming from Kyouran's room, catching small bits of their conversation. He had found out over time that it was a common occurrence for her and Yomi to bicker with each other, so he ignored it and went back to what he was doing. After a few minutes Kurama felt both of the arguing demon's yoki flare before there was a rumbling that sounded like a crumbling wall. He set his things down slowly, and was about to check on Kyouran and Yomi when the wall opposite him seemed to explode. When the dust cleared a bit he saw Kyouran pushing pieces of wall off of herself and standing up.

"Put up with me? You were the one who thought that he could force me to stay! And just to let you in on a little secret, I could have left whenever I wanted; you hold no power over me!" Kyouran shouted at Yomi and took off at an extreme speed. Kurama Jumped into action and intervened by stepping in between the two and catching Kyouran around the waist and stopping her surprisingly strong punch that was headed for Yomi's face. Her body radiated ferocity but Kurama calmly turned her towards him and put a soothing hand on her shoulder. He held her pinkish purple eyes that were filled with rage.

"Honestly," Kurama started as Kyouran yanked her shoulder out of his grasp and huffed, breaking eye contact, "You two fight like a married couple." The comment was meant to diffuse some of the tension in which it was successful.

"Married couple? What's married?" Kyouran asked as her eyes returned to his, glare slowly softening and the tension leaving her muscles. Kurama chuckled at her and her interest in things relating to humans, and then turned to Yomi. He was still riled up and kept the scowl on his face, but addressed Kurama with a measured tone.

"You should not have interfered, Youko, for that spoiled brat needs to be taught a lesson." His remark made Kyouran's eyes narrow but Kurama put a hand on her shoulder again to keep her from starting up another battle.

"I understand your frustration, but you cannot blame her. I am not easy to spy on." He said with a knowing smile that bordered on a smirk.

"Tch." Yomi knew when he was beat and sent one final nasty frown at Kyouran before he stomped away. Kyouran glared at his back until he was out of sight and then turned to Kurama again shrugging off the hand on her shoulder.

"You should have let me beat the crap outta him." she huffed and then looked back to his room where the wall was destroyed. "Sorry about your room." She mumbled as an afterthought. The redhead just laughed softly and shook his head.

"Technically it isn't my room, it's a guest room. I'll just have to move my stuff into a different one." He looked through the hole and saw that Kyouran's room had been demolished as well. She followed his gaze and shrugged.

"I've been meaning to redecorate, or even just leave. Maybe this would be a good time to get out of here." She started thinking that it would be a good idea to get out of here before Yomi really started trying to off her.

Kurama stared at the she demon as her eyes became unfocused in deep thought. He didn't really want to see her go; she was great company even if she was overly sarcastic and difficult to deal with sometimes. She often reminded him of a mix between Hiei and Yusuke, which always made for great entertainment. He smiled at the thought. He really did miss his friends, and was not looking forward to when he had to face them in a real battle.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" a loud siren began going off, startling the two demons. Commotion broke out as soldiers swarmed through the halls. Kurama was about to report to Yomi and see if he was needed when everything stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

"Wonder what that was about." He muttered to Kyouran, but she ignored him and without saying a word walked away. He was a bit taken aback at her sudden departure but figured she was just in a mood.

Kyouran had felt a very familiar yoki when the alarm went off. She hadn't felt it in a while, but she could never forget it. What the hell is she doing here? She grumbled to herself, not needing anymore trouble at the moment. She stormed through the halls until she came to a place where the traces of yoki were strongest and analyzed it. It's definitely her. She cursed to herself and tried to pinpoint where the other demon had gotten off to, but there were no others signs that she had been in the tower. She sighed and went back to her decimated room, grabbing some essentials and bringing them to one of the unharmed guest rooms that were on the same floor.

A few days later Kyouran felt the familiar yoki of the other she-demon again and raced to try and catch her. She had already disappeared by the time Kyouran managed to pinpoint her location, and Kyouran cursed. "Stupid bitch, bein all sneaky and causing trouble."

The game of cat and mouse was on.

"Kyouran, what exactly are you doing?" Kurama had come across the flustered and out of breath demoness throwing a mini temper tantrum just outside the tower.

"Absolutely nothing of your concern." She grumbled as her tantrum subsided. She regained her composure and faced Kurama with her full attention. "What brings you out here, foxy?" she gave him a self satisfied grin at her new nickname for him.

"How original," his sardonic tone made Kyouran's grin vanish to be replaced with a scowl. "I'm out here because I needed fresh air. I've been cooped up in the meeting room with Yomi and Yoda for a few hours now, so I figured I'd stretch my legs."

"Ah, makes sense." Kyouran said, seeming slightly distracted. Kurama took the chance to study her for a moment. She was an interesting demoness that was for sure. He didn't know the specifics, but had a small understanding of her powers which seemed to be extremely useful and fairly lethal in the right situations, her physical strength was nothing to be laughed at, and she was very intelligent and quick thinking although she didn't seem to utilize that very much, reacting more based on her short temperament instead. Overall if she chose, Kyouran could be a force to be reckoned with. This begged the question of how and why she ended up working for Yomi if their unstable relationship was anything to go by.

"Why are you here, Kyouran?" Kurama finally asked after a bit of thought. She blinked in slight surprise at his seemingly random question.

"Because I don't really have anywhere else to be." She answered and tilted her head as if wondering if she had answered his question right.

Being more specific, Kurama questioned "I meant how you ended up working for Yomi? You two do not always seem to get along very well." Kyouran made an "O" face underneath her mask in understanding before she answered.

"I was wandering around after deciding that I didn't want to be a freelance assassin anymore when a demon approached me and told me that he wanted me to kill one of the three ruling demons of the Makai. It was going to be my last job. I happened to choose Yomi as my target, but he caught me before I had a chance to kill him, and made me a deal; he wouldn't kill me if I chose to work for him as his interrogator. If I had chosen to I could easily have escaped, but I thought what the heck, since I wasn't going to be an assassin anymore I might as well take him up on his offer." Kyouran explained, looking fidgety. Kurama noted her odd behavior.

"And this is why you choose to listen to Yomi only half of the time?" he asked with an amused tone. Kyouran smiled and laughed.

"Yeah, he thinks that I took his deal because I feared for my life. It gets on my nerves that he underestimates me so much, but what can a demoness do? I also hate to admit it but I don't have the same blood lust I used to, everything is so boring now." She sighed. Then something caught Kyouran's attention and she mumbled a quick goodbye to Kurama before she took off.

"I wonder what's got her so occupied lately." He spoke to himself as he continued on his walk. He would have to remind himself to look into her odd behavior in more depth later.

Kyouran Picked up the intruding demons scent and followed it to a secluded part of town on the outskirts of Gandara. The scent cut off and Kyouran looked around her as demons started to surround her. All of them had glassy eyes that looked at her without seeing her.

"that damn rat, setting up a trap like this!" Kyouran took her anger out on the demons that were attacking her, killing them as quickly as she could. "Aaaaahg! Show yourself you piece of shit!" Kyouran roared to the skies and set off to search as much of Gandara as she could. Every now and again just as Kyouran was getting closer to finding the wily demoness, delusional demons would jump her, causing a blood bath. Eventually Kyouran became too worn out to continue and decided to return to Yomi's tower.

Walking through the halls many demons moved out of the way and gave her plenty of room to pass; not wanting to attract attention from the blood covered and irritated demoness. One unlucky demon who was only a lowly attendant rounded a corner too fast, plowing into Kyouran head on. Without hesitation Kyouran grabbed the small, blue eyed water demon and threw him down the hall to smash into the wall at the end. It was that moment that Kurama walked around the corner as well, stopping just in time before he too bumped into the irate demoness. He quickly glanced at her bloody figure, then to the demon who was stumbling to his feet, and back to glare at Kyouran.

"Was that necessary?" He said in a cold tone. Kyouran glared just as intensely back, snarling at him.

"would you like the same treatment?" Kurama didn't respond, holding her glare as she tried to stare him down, which pissed her off even more. When he didn't back down, Kyouran lashed out at Kurama, reaching to slice his neck with her claws. Kurama was quick to retaliate, snatching her wrist where it was covered in cloth, careful not to touch her skin, and twisting her arm behind her back and pushing her towards the wall. He then pressed the forearm of his free arm across Kyouran's upper back just above the shoulder blades, effectively pinning her to the wall.

"calm yourself and then I will release you." Kurama's voice was low and even, penetrating the haze of rage in the demoness' head. The one thing Kyouran couldn't stand was being trapped, and she would do anything the fox said to get him to let her go. She stilled her thrashing and relaxed her muscles, letting out a huff of breath in defeat. Seeing that she was calm, Kurama slowly released his hold and took a step back. Kyouran scowled at Kurama but turned and continued on her way to her room.

Kurama watched her go, frowning after her. Kyouran had been acting strange for the past couple of days; she was moodier than usual, distracted, and frequently came back from her outings covered in blood, wounded, or both. And along with her odd behavior, weird occurrences were happening around Gandara as well; battles were breaking out in unusual frequency even for the Makai, and even people around Yomi's tower were acting strange. He was trying to put the pieces together, knowing that Kyouran must somehow have something to do with this. The next day as he was thinking about this, he was approached by one of the guards. "Can I help you?" he asked with a friendly smile.

"You…" the demon said in a low voice and Kurama's smile slowly disappeared. "You son of a bitch! You're the spider demon who killed my brother!" the guard shouted before attacking Kurama. Last he checked, Kurama wasn't a spider demon.

He thinks I'm someone else. Is he under some sort of spell? Kurama observed the demons behavior while dodging attacks, noticing that his eyes seemed to look in Kurama's direction but not actually focus on him. He was looking for a way to stop the guard without hurting him when the demon suddenly fell. Kurama rushed to check on him, but he was dead. In another part of the castle there was a commotion and he rushed to check what was happening. All over the castle guards and attendants were fighting each other, and just like what happened to the demon that attacked Kurama after a while if they hadn't already been killed demons would just drop dead.

"What the HELL is going on?" Yomi bellowed as he came upon the scene.

"Yomi-sama!" one demon shouted in surprise. Another explained, "We don't know, all of a sudden half of the tower's occupants went insane and started attacking fellow demons!"

"Kurama, is this true?" Yomi turned to him and he nodded.

"I was attacked by a guard just outside. I think these demons were under some sort of spell because they were not in their right minds when this happened. The demon that attacked me seemed to think I was someone else." Kurama elaborated.

"K-Kyouran." One demon stuttered. Everyone turned to look at him. "That's what she does to people, right? She makes them go insane. She must have been the one who caused this!" just as he finished his sentence all the color leeched from his face.

"Exactly what did I cause?" Kyouran asked in a deadly calm voice as she came upon the scene before her. Everyone turned sharply to look at her. Kurama was about to speak but Yomi spoke first.

"A group of guards attacked fellow demons out of nowhere. According to Kurama they must have been under some sort of spell, but they show an uncanny resemblance to symptoms caused by your power, Kyouran. Care to explain?" she locked her eyes on him as he spoke and then turned her attention to Kurama. He held her formidable gaze, waiting to see what she would say.

"There is no need for me to explain because I didn't cause this. Honestly, what would I expect to gain from killing these worthless wastes of space?"She turned her back to Yomi and stalked off in a huff.

Yomi turned pointedly to Kurama. "Follow her." he said and Kurama took off after Kyouran. He caught up to her near the gardens where she had stopped to pace furiously back and forth. She was mumbling under her breath and Kurama simply watched her for a moment.

"Do you know who did this?" he asked after a while. Kyouran stopped pacing and glared at him.

"Well it wasn't me, if that's what you're implying." She snarled and Kurama shook his head and gave her a smile, trying to calm her temper. She must still be mad at me from the other day. He thought.

"that's not what I meant at all," he began, "it just seems that you know more about what is going on that anyone else." Her anger did not diminish as Kurama had hoped, but merely seemed to be directed somewhere other than him. She started mumbling to herself again and resumed pacing. Kurama was just about to say something but she suddenly stopped.

"I just have to set up a piece of cheese she can't resist." Kurama heard her say as a feline-like expression appeared on her face. She then turned to Kurama and addressed him directly. "Come with me." she abruptly turned and walked at a furious pace towards her room. Kurama followed after a moment of hesitation and waited as she rummaged through her room, tossing things about until she found what she was looking for. "Keep this with you, you might need it." She handed him some black fabric.

"What is it exactly?" he turned the fabric over in his hands, inspecting it.

"It's a mask like mine. I'll be back soon. Try not to get too lonely without me." she smirked underneath her mask and then she was gone.