Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho


"MAAASTEEER!" Emi and Eri yelled as they dropped the clothes of the bandits and ran straight towards an average sized house, their small steps echoing loudly in the silence of the forest. The house was practically infused with the tree it was built in. Moss, vines and other greenery lined its walls as the large tree trunk acted as the buildings base. As Youko looked up, he noticed that there were more tiny room like structures sticking out from above which led him to believe that the tree must've been hollow. How in the world did one make a tree hollow –it was practically an oversized log now- without snapping the thing in two?

Youko wondered how her customers didn't just attack her and steal whatever was in her abode which –from where he stood- looked like it held some juicy secrets. Were her guards really that strong? Or did she have a powerful figure backing her up that made others think twice? He was very tempted to just get the vixen to work for them, he didn't like having to pay the woman such large amounts of gold. No matter how much they profited from the information she gave.

The two bandits made their way up the small flight of stairs leading to a small plain entrance, light peeked out from the door the twins had left open in their rush to get inside. The door was so small that both Kuronue and Youko had to bend down a considerable amount just to get inside. Almost as if the thing were made for the small twins and not for her customers. But thankfully, once they were inside the place was exceedingly large.

As they stepped inside, they were greeted by the sight of strange trinkets of all kinds surrounding them, most looked as if they weren't of much value, but they were still all quite eye catching. There, in the middle of the room was a table filled with stacks upon stacks of paper, scrolls and every other piece of writeable parchment that existed in the Demon World. Youko's eyes, more out of instinct than anything, raked through all of the trinkets pinpointing the ones that seemed to be of most value. Two small swords adorned with emeralds in the corner, a container filled to the brim with melted down silver in another, stacks of tomes by his feet, some kind of priceless rug thrown haphazardly to the side and while they all seemed fine enough to steal, what caught Youko's attention the most was situated in the far back. Spanning the entire back wall stood a large glass case, beneath it one of the most magnificent sights Youko had ever seen. Which, with all things considered, was saying a lot.

Rows upon rows of jars stood there. Each jar containing a demon soul, each a different color, and each a darker shade than the last. A string tied around each jar, connected a small glass vial filled with blood. In all his long years of life, the thief had only seen an actual soul one or two times. But, there was no doubt in Youko's mind that those were hundreds of actual souls. The real things. Taken from their physical body and placed in a jar for reasons only the woman that sat in front of them could know.

He finished his minute assessment of the place and let his eyes fly to the vixen in front of him, seated casually on the floor behind the paper filled desk. Emi and Eri were at the vixen's side hugging her, before moving back with grins on their small faces as they talked to her at breakneck speeds, the excitement ringing clear in their voices. Kuronue had been right saying that the moment he saw her he'd want to fuck her speechless. She wore a loosely tied plain gray kimono that matched the two pups, it looked like the same high quality fabric of the twins' robes. Due to the loose tie of the darker in shade obi, her legs were exposed just enough to be tantalizing, the top opened enough to show bare skin. She had pale grey eyes that were focused solely on the twins in front of her and thick white hair. Her –longer than average- fluffy tail the same shade as it curled around her. Her white hair didn't stand out so much, at least not as much as his own silver hair, but as she sat next to the twins with the same shade of bright locks, she almost looked like their mother.

Though, that didn't change the fact that his inner beast was flaring as his sensitive senses could clearly inhale her scent from where he stood. His nostrils flared as he took in the vanilla aroma coming from her person. Why in Enma's name was that damned bat trying to keep him away from this vixen? He let out a breath, 'Ah yes.' It was because they had to maintain a good relationship and if vixens were known for anything, it was that they liked to mate. A commitment he would never burden himself with.

Those eyes fluttered to the two bandits and Youko, knowing Kuronue was watching his every move, his every twitch with eyes screaming, 'Don't you dare, you damned fox.' He tried his damned hardest to tame his little demon with willpower alone, which was proving to be exceedingly difficult, especially when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Kuronue." She called, tone all business. "Where's my money?"

Youko let out a slight grin. So, she really was a money loving vixen.

Said bat threw a pouch on the table in front of her, the thing opening a bit and spilling some of its contents. When she saw it, she grinned in pure happiness, before taking it with a hand and handing it to one of the twins who took it without a word and disappeared into a back room. His little footsteps sounding noisily as he scurried off to wherever he needed to place the money.

"It's a bit late. This guy's persistent." Kuronue said with a slight grin on his face, knowing that no matter what he said, he'd always be safe from the silver kitsune's wrath. Youko had coldly killed demons for saying far less.

"A pleasure as always." She said to the bat, tone more relaxed. Her eyes moved to the fox at the winged demons side. Knowing eyes filled with knowledge, eyes that held secrets. In Demon World -knowledge meant next to nothing- strength was power, but if one was striving to rise high enough to compete with the likes of Raizen and Mukuro, they'd need more than brute strength and she was the one to provide that little extra. "Youko Kurama, King of Thieves."

He suppressed a groan at his name coming out of those lips.

He should have gotten laid before coming to meet the woman because his insatiable lust was starting to take control. It had been a long time since he had had a vixen in his bed.

"We finally meet." Youko said, arms crossed and face masking all his emotions and thoughts as he stared her -seated form- down with his towering seven foot height. "I've heard much about you."

"Everyone," She began with a slight amused shake of her head, Eri –the twin left- hugged her side. "Is always following a rumor." She rubbed the boy's head at her side, "So, you've come because you're curious about me." It wasn't a question.

"Is that a fact?" Came his smooth voice, a hint of amusement playing in it.

"Merely an observation." Emi came running back at that moment, the little boy and his twin sitting beside the woman as they began playing with a few papers, folding it and making little planes. "And? Was there something you needed from me?"

Kuronue stayed silent, watching the two foxes, prepared to interject if the conversation took the wrong turn. Right now though, they were entering a different level of mind games and wit, one he couldn't hope to compete on. Kitsune were such annoyingly cunning demons.

"I wanted to put a face on the demoness taking all of my hard-earned gold." He took a seat in front of her, the table between them as Kuronue busied himself with looking around the shop. He wasn't in any mood to actively participate in the complicated language of clever riddles and sarcastic wordplay, foxes –at least the ones he hung around- liked to talk in. Instead, he contemplated the thought of just what would happen to him should he steal one of the many trinkets littered around the area. He doubted the twins could beat him if he did, but he still didn't know if she had any other demons under her command. If she did, they were either never home or masked their presence extremely well.

"And what have you found?" She asked, eyeing the bat as he moved for a second, before completely focusing on the silver fox seated in front of her. He was handsome, she'd give him that. He stood out with his height, plus the fact that his face and body coupled with stunning silver ears and a long, thick tail belonged in any woman demon's wildest fantasies. Even his bat companion was quite the looker, standing out in all black. His whole persona screamed mysterious in the hottest way possible. These two were the living forms of a woman's personal fantasy.

"A vixen far away from home." Youko drawled, eyeing the white haired vixen as she fiddled with her fluffy tail.

"This is my home." Was the quick response.

"With no village for protection?" He teased, trying to get a reaction. "How unlike a vixen."

"There are kitsune villages?" She said sarcastically in mock surprise. "I'm pasty white and stick thin. I'm not an outdoorsy type, so I wouldn't know."

He was tempted to silence that spitfire mouth. But, ultimately decided against it. This woman was important and he still didn't know if she had a powerful figure backing her. Someone they may not want to be on the bad side of. Youko was powerful, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't need to make enemies out of immensely powerful demons, but that didn't mean he was going to become friends with them either.

"To actually live in the feared Forest of Tears," Youko began, changing the topic to one where he could hopefully get a few answers from the woman without taking out some cold, hard cash. He needed to be subtle and choose his words carefully. "With children."

Emi and Eri didn't even look up from the paper planes they were busily making.

"They are orphan pups under my care, out here where I can live and work in the privacy I crave." She answered, purposely revealing a slight bit of information to him regarding the twins. To sate a small part of his curiosity for a brief moment, only for that small part to reignite and fuel itself as more questions undoubtedly popped into the silver fox's active mind. "Prying neighbors and their bothersome ways are quite annoying, no?"

So she wasn't their mother? With their eerily similar white hair they looked like a small family. A rather well to do family, judging by the expensive fabric of their robes. Information was a really profitable business. Especially, when dealing with the type of information that blood was spilled for. His eyes never left hers, searching for a stutter or a weakness whenever she opened her mouth to speak.

"Kitsune demons have and will always strive on unity." He grimaced slightly at his own words. He understood that there was advantage in numbers, but his race had always been weak, which was the reason why they needed to have close-knit communities in the first place. If they weren't in a closed off village with the rest of their kind, they travelled in groups as some no name member. There were very few kitsune that actually honed to near perfection the limitless power sleeping within and fewer that actually left their village solo. Youko being one of those few, reaching power demons dreamed of with an entire band of men prepared to die at his command.

The woman whispered something into the twins' ears, the two demon pups scurrying off somewhere with a small nod and skip in their steps as if they were on some extremely important mission that only their master could trust them with.

"I agree." She said simply, the slightest glint of amusement in her tone. "What a pathetic unambitious race we hail from."

"Ambition is for those with the power to fulfill them." He stated, watching her carefully, warily. "Do you have such power?"

"You overestimate my capabilities, fox." Her words and all-knowing smirk fooled no one. She didn't reach where she was now from luck. "I am merely an information broker trying to get by."

"Doing quite well from what I see."

"Everyone loves whispers of scandalous events, stories of hidden treasures and tales of unknown powers. Even the greatest of demons can be driven by greed." She shrugged pale shoulders. "Which proves that in the end, people are just people."

Kuronue took a seat beside the fox, having finished looking around as the woman continued speaking. "So, yes. I do quite well for myself."

"Soooo…" Kuronue began, interrupting the conversation. He could tell Youko was trying to get her to divulge any information without cost. Something he was failing at. "I see you two are getting along."

"Which is why there was no reason for you to worry." Youko replied dryly, turning his eyes back to the vixen. "In fact, we should have met much sooner. The information you've provided us has led way to some rather profitable ventures." He wanted to ask how she came by such information, though he knew he'd never get an answer. At least not a straight one.

"I would expect it to," She said with a small grin as her eyes drifted to the bat. "Whenever this one comes in asking for information, he asks only a few things. 'Do you have a layout of the place? Where is it? What is it? What is it worth?'" She grinned slyly, "He has been coming more and more frequently the past month, have you two been pleased by my service?"

"More than pleased." Came Youko's answer.

"Oh yea. Huge fan here." Kuronue stated, "Not a huge fan of your prices though."

"What is fifty gold pieces compared to a dagger worth fifty times that amount?" She asked rhetorically, hinting at their latest venture.

"It's the physical parting with the fifty pieces that bothers me." Youko and Kuronue stated simultaneously, eyes meeting as they grinned briefly at each other. Their greedy sides coming out in full force.

"It hurts way more than you know." Kuronue said with a small joking frown.

"Though I am curious to know why you didn't just take it yourself." Youko said as if just stating his thoughts out loud. He used her words against her to compel her to answer, "Yet you chose fifty gold pieces over a dagger worth fifty times that much."

"Daggers adorned with gems do not interest me." She stated clearly, "Nor do I have enough manpower to take such an item even if I so wished." Youko grinned slightly at getting something out of the woman. She said she didn't have enough manpower, did that mean her few servants were not strong enough? Or was she just messing with his head to get him to believe something completely false? "I like to make myself scarce, sending my demons out to take something that doesn't pique my curiosity will only draw unnecessary attention."

"You are too cautious, vixen." Youko replied, drinking her words in and trying to discover each secret behind them. "If gems do not catch your eye. What does?"

Kuronue looked over at his companion who was now asking questions straight up. The woman took the moment to grin slyly, smelling opportunity in the air. She raised a hand, loose kimono sleeve falling to her elbow as she began rubbing her thumb against her fingers in a universal gesture that the two bandits knew all too well.

Youko smirked at her as Kuronue took the time to roll his eyes. This was the only reason he hated visiting, she'd always milk him of all his money and by the time he left, his pouch would always be considerably lighter than when he arrived. He prepared to take some gold from his pouch, only –to his utter surprise- for the fox to reach into his tunic and do it himself. Bringing a piece of gold to his lips, before tossing it at the woman who caught it with a hand.

"Sovereign." Came her quick response as she scrutinized the small piece of currency for any signs of it being fake. "Gold, whatever you'd like to call it, is what catches my eye. Straight up cash is better than a few shiny gems."

The two regarded her carefully as she played with the hard coin. Youko found that he could control himself more and more. Easily reigning in his desire to have her, only because his burning lust was replaced by curiosity at the vixen. Curious for any and all answers that came from her. Only for those answers to give birth to five other questions. Just then, the two twins came scurrying back inside the meeting room. Emi holding a tray with three cups of steaming tea and Eri tightly hugging a scroll almost as large as his body to his small chest. Emi placed the tea in front of each person as his counterpart brought the scroll to the vixen.

"Thank you." She murmured as the two came up to her with wide grins, behaving in front of their guests. She left the two as they began running around chasing each other in the small room, their voices growing louder and louder. They were docile little things.

"Who are you exactly?" Came Youko's voice, going back to business. Wanting to get to know the vixen he had travelled all the way here for. He already threw a handful of gold coins on the table in front of her, so that she would speak and answer his questions continuously. "Kuronue never told me."

"Hey, man." Kuronue's voice piped up as he took a sip of tea, only to grimace at it. He was never a fan of the stuff. "Stop sounding like I betrayed your trust."

"Oh, were you offended?" Youko asked patronizingly with an eyebrow raised in question. "Should I apologize to you sensitive inner self?"

The bat huffed in response.

The white haired woman held out a hand to the fox. All five fingers raised as she said, "I have five rules when doing business." Youko remembered Kuronue mentioning that she had rules he needed to abide by and therefore could not give out all the information the fox had wanted.

She put up one finger each time she said a rule. "One, never tell my name to anyone. Two, don't harm anyone or anything here in any way. Three, do not ask information regarding any of my other customers. Four, don't come here with empty pockets and five," Her voice came out menacing, completely serious with the final rule. "Never be late with payments."

Youko was sorely tempted to insult those rules, but kept his mouth shut as she continued.

"You look like a smart demon," She smirked, "Hopefully you abide."

He returned it with his own smirk. One from Hell. "And if I don't?"

She didn't answer, only closed her eyes and sipped at her tea. "My name…" Youko's ears twitched, waiting for her as she took her time. Clearly in no rush. "Ayama Kagime."

Ayama, huh?

He smirked.

"Kit or rather…" His eyes were smirking at her, in a way that made other women swoon. "Vixen suits you more."

She grinned. The man knew how to flatter a woman with simple words, she'd give him that. How he could say what she was and make it sound unbelievably sexy said much about his experience with women. Youko Kurama wasn't a demon to be trifled with and she could feel the overwhelming power that surrounded him. She would have very much liked to see him in his demon form, letting out complete rage. The fox was very… appealing for a male.

"You smooth bastard." Came Kuronue's voice, even though he only mumbled it under his breath, their keen fox hearing still picked it up.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" The loud playful yells of two frolicking demons invaded the conversation.

Emi and Eri came running towards them, Emi going straight for Kuronue as he tried to get the bat up to play with him as Eri went for Youko, clutching at his white tunic with a bandaged hand and staring up at his hair adoringly. He had an inquisitive look in his green eyes as he asked the silver fox question after question about his origin and the lower parts of Demon World. With Emi's constant yelling and Eri's quiet questions, it was sorely obvious who the more behaved of the two was.

"Do you not leave this place?" Youko asked, getting information instead from the young demon who answered his questions all too happily. Ayama let him answer without complaint as she drank more tea.

He shook his small white head in the negative, hair going slightly over his eyes. "We do, but we only go to the nearby villages." Came the small reply, he could speak perfectly for someone so young and from the way he couldn't completely mask his demon energy, Youko could see that he was quite powerful. More so than other children. The vixen was probably training them to become her guard dogs in the future. Demon dogs were known for their loyalty.

"They have weird hair out there." The small demon ruffled his own white hair as if to prove a point, innocent green eyes peering at the silver fox. Little did the boy know that he was the one with the strange hair color. "All different colors and the other kids don't train like we do." He made a motion as if to grab a lock of Youko's silver hair, but stopped himself. "You have nice hair though, nicer than ours."

"Is that so?" He said with a smirk, regarding the young boy with careful golden eyes. "Do you live with others here?"

The little boy nodded. "Takoki and Hyoukoki. They're working right now though. Master sent them out."

Were they also twins? What was with the similar names of the people here? And by 'working' did the boy mean doing the woman's dirty work? Maybe Kuronue's theory about how they gathered information held some truth. Youko had the feeling that this woman was training these two to be just like this Takoki and Hyoukoki, Eri mentioned.

"And what do they do?" Youko asked, he could feel the woman's gaze on him. She was only letting him ask his questions, why, he didn't know. Kuronue was already playing some strange game with Emi, the bat listening in on the conversation and letting Youko do his thing. The fox was good at these sorts of things, games of intricate wordplay

"Work for Master." The childish response came complete with a confused tilt of his head as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "Tako is fun and plays with us, but Hyoukoki's scary." Came the whispered continuation, "He glares a lot… like you."

The fox gave an amused grin. "Do I scare you?"

Eri shook his head profusely. "You talk to me, so you're okay!" He let go of his grip on Youko's tunic, bringing his hands back to his side. "You're a fox like Master and the others at the village, but they're different."

Youko raised an inquisitive brow.

"They'r—"

"Youko Kurama." Ayama called interrupting Eri's sentence, using his full name simply because she didn't know what he would like her to use when addressing him. "If you give him too much attention, he'll become clingy."

"Would you rather I ignored him?" Came his amused response.

"If you'd like to know more about the other two, you are free to ask me." She said with an air of finality directed at Eri who bowed his head in apology. She turned slightly to the young pup, "I'm not angry, Eriya."

His green eyes immediately lit up and he left Youko's side to sit on Ayama's lap with a grin on his face. Once Emiya saw this though, he left Kuronue alone and also went running towards his Master. Sitting on the floor by their side as he started playing some sort of hand game with Eri.

"I'm sorry about them." She said, trying to get Eri who was still on her lap to stop squirming as he continued to play with his brother. "I may have taught them proper manners, but they're young and threw them out the window. Their brothers were never so playful."

Kuronue's eyebrows raised at the free information that left the woman's lips. In his time coming here she never mentioned the others that lived with her, nor did he even see them. They were either always out or could mask their presences extremely well to the point that he never noticed them. He had never brought it up in conversation for fear that she might take more of his money, but here she was giving it free of charge.

"Brothers?" Youko's voice sounded a little too happy at the freebie as he asked more questions, preparing to milk it for all its worth. "Are they related?"

"It doesn't take blood to become family." Was the simple response.

"Yet they call you Master." He shot back at her.

Her gaze hardened at the fox, before she frowned down at the two playing pups. "They insisted on it once they heard the other two call me as such. Takoki and Hyoukoki were having an argument with me about how embarrassing it was for them to call me their mother in front of influential guests and these two simply copied. Not unusual for their age."

Youko's smirk grew a bit wider at her defense. Picking up the important parts in it. He had gotten responses, but more questions popped up to replace the ones answered. So she had raised all of them? Picked up, clothed and trained. For what purpose would she do such a thing? For them to lay down their lives for her without a second thought? There were two ways to ensure the steady loyalty of a demon. One was through fear and the other through gratitude. If a demon with any sense of pride was indebted to you, you'd have a powerful ally prepared to do your every whim should you command it.

But, to have four of them…

How interesting…

"But," She waved a hand to and fro as if to wave the topic aside. "That's enough about me." She took the large scroll the twins had gotten a while ago and tossed it towards the two thieves. "Another freebie for you, King of Thieves, as a sign of my pleasure in our meeting." She stood, her full height towered over their seated forms. She was unnaturally tall for a vixen, though still considerably shorter than the two males.

"Now, I must take these two to the village south of here. Where I will also be waiting for your gift of gratitude for that scroll." The meaning behind the words weren't lost on the two demons. Both Youko and Kuronue rolling their eyes when they understood. Of course she'd never actually give this giant scroll for free. "We'll see you out."


A/N: I couldn't wait to get this chapter out, and I promised that I'd have it out early, so here ya go. Meet my new OC, watcha guys think? Check the bio on my profile for more information about updates and all that. Don't worry, everything there is important and I don't place any weird things on my profile that might bother you guys.

I already personally PMed all those that followed, favorited and reviewed this story since it came out... wat? Two days ago I think? Yea, there aren't a lot of you guys, but I love ya all~! Thank you for giving my new story a chance! You guys are my first five!

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