Kurama made it home after only an hour of running through Human World. He stopped in the garden to let his legs rest before entering the kitchen and toeing off his shoes. That was where he found her. Kane was pacing in the kitchen with her hands folded behind her back staring daggers into the ground.
"How are you?"
"Your brother needs to butt the fuck out." She'd come home after him, considerably after, so now he hadn't had a chance to hear how her day had been and apparently, it wasn't good.
"Uuh," Kurama frowned, "What'd he do?"
"He keeps pestering me about the flowers and my secret admirer, well, he can back the fuck off because I don't want to tell him who gave me the flowers or where they went! They were mine! He keeps saying I didn't like my admirer because I threw 'em out, but I didn't throw them out and I can't convince him of that because you, you! Might have grown things around them and seeing that it's possible to grow plants like that could help them figure out how you did it. Have you told your family yet?"
"Not entirely?" He winced, "Mother knows, obviously, but uh… I've been beating around the bush if you will."
"Well get on with it. She can't hold onto your secret forever. You've got to tell them you're a demon sooner than later."
"I know." He sighed, "I, really have kind of avoided them." He took a seat at the table and rubbed his legs, smoothing out his pants. He'd need to tell them eventually. He hadn't been wanting to break it to his stepfather yet. Mostly because he feared Hatanaka might up and leave his Mother, and he didn't want that to happen. He glanced at Kane and swallowed, nervous about her reaction.
Kane sighed and settled down at the table too, kicking back in her usual chair. "Yeah, well time is going to make it harder, not easier."
"I know. I'll get on it soon."
"Good, that way I can explain that the flowers came from seeds and seeds can go back to seeds." Kane nodded. "Unless you just want to give me more."
"Maybe I should head over really quick and rip it off like a band aid."
She nodded. "Do you want company?"
He considered it for a moment. With Kane it'd probably make it easier, or harder. He frowned but nodded after a moment, "Yes, please."
"I'm sure your father will be okay with it," Kane stood, "It's Kokota I'm worried about honestly. I mean, with Kazuya he really enjoys the knowledge and variety of life I bring because of what I am, but Kokota, he just gets flustered, confused, and envious."
"Let's go," He got up and offered a hand to Kane.
She took it and accompanied Kurama to Shiori's home. When they reached it, he knocked, a little sweaty from the run, but no worse for wear otherwise. It took all of five minutes for Shiori to answer the door. When she did, she had a towel in her hand, and laughed seeing the two of them, hand in hand, "Oh well is this a formal visit about some little secret you two haven't shared yet?"
"Um, maybe. Mother, I came to tell Kokota and father about, my, thing." Kurama frowned.
Shiori frowned, "You mean your ancestor thing? You're not here because you two are dating?"
"Well, that too." he nodded.
Kane flushed and jerked, surprised. "Oh, you're telling them that too?"
"Uh, yes?" His face fell.
"Okay then." Kane laughed and squeezed his hand, "I just wasn't expecting that."
"Who is it Shiori?" Kazuya came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist setting his head on her shoulder to peer at Kurama and Kane.
"It's just us Father. I have some things I want to discuss with you."
"Well come in, come in," Shiori and Kazuya stepped aside and soon all five of them were settled in the living room between two chairs, and a couch.
Kurama shifted nervously in his spot, tugging at the neck of his shirt, "Uh, do you remember the thing about me being a demon?"
"What? Oh, the guy who came here and accused you of that?" Kazuya nodded.
"Wait, I thought this was about the nerds dating." Kokota interrupted.
"We are dating." Kurama nodded, "But, there may have-"
"See! I told you her flowers were from him!" He jumped and pointed at Shiori, who waved him off.
"They were actually, I made Ms. Tamashi cry," he mused, "Anyways! There may have been some truth in that accusation."
"Wait, what accusation? That you two are dating or that you were a demon?"
"Th-the-" he swallowed, "Demon."
"The latter." Kane affirmed.
"So, Kane lied to us?"
"I lied to you."
"Well that doesn't matter, you're family." Kazuya dismissed, staring at Kane.
Kurama's mouth twitched, "If you punish Kane for this I'm not going to be happy."
"No, no, not punish, I just, want to understand. I never thought Kane would be the type to lie to me."
"I'm a demon." Kurama said it outright.
"I didn't really lie. His soul's a demon's, but his body is human. He even gets body odor and all of that." Kane lifted Kurama's arm and wafted his armpit at them.
Kurama jerked and put his arm back down, "I do not get bad body odor, I eat right."
"You barely sweat." Kane corrected.
"That's also true," He sighed, "But, yes, I am a demon. I'm a spirit fox."
"I see, so Kane's first loyalty was to her kin, but she just, omitted some of the truth."
"It was not just to her kin, it was also to the legendary Youko Kurama," he smirked, happy with that thought.
"Actually it was because I didn't want to ruin the company accidentally." Kane remarked with a sigh. "Suddenly having a demon as one of the top executives in a human company could be taken poorly by the markets, especially one as talented at illicit activities as Youko Kurama."
Kurama grinned, "I am a demon, and this is my human body. I have a separate body from this one."
"Did you know about this Honey?" Kazuya asked Shiroi softly.
Shiori nodded, "Only for a week or so. I knew Kane wasn't telling us the whole truth, so I cornered her into answering everything. It was that day I went over to Shuichi's house last week."
"Oh, that's why you came home so dazed."
She nodded again.
"So you're a legendary illicit guy?"
"I'm a legendary thief."
"You, a thief."
"Very much so. I like shiny things."
Kane smirked.
"But I don't let my urges into my human life. When I was a child I had a hard time with it, but I learned how to deal with it."
"And now that you're older, it's easier because humans develop impulse control over age."
"So, Kokota, those flowers did come from your brother, they were not thrown away, I reduced them to seeds so I could store them and bring them out whenever I wanted, potentially as weapons. He provided me with a good variety for that purpose, which is why it didn't look like a traditional group of flowers."
"Really, the reason I gave them to her was to apologize. I kind of um, threatened her."
"We were both having off days."
"But now we're dating."
"O-ooh, so how old are you?"
"Three thousand." Kurama winced.
"Three, three thousand?"
Kurama nodded sheepishly.
"Why are you in customer service? You should be in science!"
"Uhm, I was a scientist at one point, or I got into science."
"He's not up on the latest technology. He's been stealing for the last oh, several millennia."
"I think she's gloating, bro."
"Would you like to see me?" He perked up a little.
"Yeah!" Kokota nodded quickly.
Shiori smiled and nodded her consent.
Kurama got up and moved away from them. He took a deep breath and raised his energy steadily for a while, feeling the excitement boil in his stomach when he finally flared it and felt his natural skin take over. He sighed heavily in delight and tossed a bit of his hair, feeling it straighten out as he did so.
The first scent that struck him was Kane. She, apparently, was very excited to see him in his fox form, and she didn't bother shifting or moving to hide it, fully aware of what he was smelling. He flushed and shook his head, clearing his throat, his ears flicking about as he focused on his human family.
"Kane, stand beside him, let's see how you two pair up for real." Kazuya recommended.
"Oh," Kurama folded his hands in front of his lap, "I am male, I'm taller."
Kane stood anyway, and came up to about his shoulder. Kazuya whistled, "You've got to be like seven feet."
"I am." He nodded and glanced at Kane, flushed a bright red.
Kane smiled and took his hand, lacing their fingers together.
"You're very handsome Shuichi."
Kurama smiled, "Thank you, Mother, but my name is Kurama."
"You'll always be my Shuichi. I don't care what your first mother called you," She smiled.
His tail swished in happiness and he made his way over to her, kneeling in front of her. He pulled her into his arms tightly and rested his head against her shoulder, his ear flicking some of her hair about as he settled down in her arms.
Shiori hugged him back.
Kurama snuggled up to her for a moment before he pulled back to look at Hatanaka, his ears trying to decide if they wanted to flatten out of fear or perk up.
Kazuya smiled and nodded, "You look good. I always wondered why you ducked a little when you went through doors. Now it makes sense. You don't always do it, just when you're distracted."
Kurama nodded, "Yes, it's always been a habit of mine I could never lose."
"Yes, well if I looked like a lovely silver man, I would duck all the time too."
He laughed and shook his head, glancing over at Kokota, his ears flicking.
"If you're three thousand years old, then aren't you, like, older than the modern era?"
"Yes?"
"So what was it like in the BC?"
"I wasn't around a lot in Human World during the BC era. Only a few times. When I was here, it was very different. You could see the land stretch out for miles," he smiled.
"Did humans ever know about demons before?"
"Yes. We were always in a state of warring. That's where all the hell scrolls came from."
"So, if you're a fox, and we had Kitsune, and they could change image at will, can you become a girl?"
Kurama laughed nervously, "Well, uh, no. Kitsune tend to be more illusionists, I'm a spirit fox. We tend to be more plant oriented."
"Oh. So why are you so girly?"
"I am not girly." His ears flattened.
"You've got long hair, you're soft-spoken, you aren't really scary, you're prettier than you are handsome, and you're all like, leen and shit."
"Being girly is a cultural identification. It's not a natural state of being. Your identifiers of girly just don't match up with ours."
"I'll have you know that I've… been called, the best," he flushed, "Uh, no, that's not family oriented, I shouldn't say that. I don't have boobs, I have a penis and balls." He offered.
"Wait, so what about him is manly to you?" Kazuya asked Kane.
"How he wears his hair, the way he moves, sits, and so forth." She wasn't filling in all the truth about it, their gender roles were well defined, but not really by those features. Then again, it would be hard to explain the social structures in place to explain masculine and feminine roles to humans.
Kurama sighed, "Youko men tend to be taller too. Many demons don't look quite like the genders here. I had a partner," he took a deep breath, "Who also had very long hair, and I'm sure you would think he was feminine too. In Demon World, where we come from, appearance doesn't really matter. I'm sure you notice how Hiei is very childlike in his looks, but he's a well respected person. There was a leader who everyone thought was male, but she finally came forth and showed everyone her true colors."
"So is it just like, posture, that stands as a marker of male or female?
"Somewhat, or their personality." Kurama shrugged, "Human World and Demon World are very different." He got up after a moment and went over to Kane, his tail swishing in delight of being near her, "I have something I want you to do."
"Oh?"
He smiled and offered her his hands, "As part of our courting."
"I understand."
"I want you to go shopping with my Mother."
"Oh! That will be fun!" Shiori grinned and clapped, "What do you say Kane? Would you like to go shopping with me?"
"Of course Shiori, but I have a feeling it won't go as well as you expect."
"Nonsense."
Kurama leaned down and pecked Kane on the lips, purring in delight, "Mm, what would you like vixen?"
Kane smiled, "I think you already gave me that."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"What did I give you?" He knelt down in front of her rather than standing over her and rested his head against her leg, flushed a bright red from the smell she was emitting.
Kane ran her fingers gently through his hair, a hand on his shoulder, "You gave me flowers."
His ears perked up and he smiled, nodding, "Alright, I'll leave you two to shopping then, vixen." He leaned up and kissed her.
"Tonight?"
"It's not that late."
"We'll go get you something less," Shiori waved her hand over Kane's style, standing, "I don't know how to describe that, foreign?"
Kurama stood and offered Kane a hand to get her up.
Kane stood with his help and kissed him, "Go home, I'll be back later I guess."
Kurama took a moment to pull her closer and kiss her, hoping for a rise out of Kokota for the PDA, grinning.
"Eww, come on, if people Ma and Dad's age shouldn't kiss, you two really shouldn't."
Kurama chuckled and kissed Kane a little louder before pulling back, "Get to it vixen."
"You too Mr." Kane pecked his cheek then patted his butt, "Go home."
"Yeah, I will. I might stick around for a few minutes."
"Shall we go?" Shiori asked picking up a purse.
Kurama made his way to Shiori and hugged her, "Have fun Mother." He watched them go and the three boys talked about their unanswered questions before Kurama reverted back to Shuichi's form and went home.
Vena frowned from her spot in one of Yukina's guest beds. It had been about a few weeks, and Hiei had yet to bunk with her, and it'd rained several times within the last couple of days. She got herself out of bed and made her way out of the little temple to find Hiei. It didn't take long, seeking out his energy, but when she came upon him her heart sank, "Hiei?"
He was pale and sweaty despite just sitting in the nook of a tree. His cloak was still wet from last night's rainstorm. It had lasted for hours, and the morning dew hadn't yet lifted. Hiei shivered every few minutes as his body fought to stay warmer.
"Hiei, Hiei come down." Vena called, patting the tree, "Please Hiei, you don't look good."
Hiei shook his head, a bit of water fluffing out of it.
"Please, come on Hiei. I want to see you."
Hiei sighed and pushed himself up, out of his nook, hopping down to the ground. He stumbled when he landed and slipped to his knees catching himself with his hands.
Vena's face dropped and she dropped to her knees in the mud, "Hiei, you're not okay."
Hiei was breathing heavily and she could feel the heat radiating off of him.
"Come on, we're getting you better." Vena scooped him up and started for the temple.
Hiei shut his eyes and leaned against her sighing and relaxing in her arms.
Vena made her way into the temple, "Hey, Kazuma, I've got a sick demon here."
"What?" Kuwabara looked up, "Oh! Hiei? What's going on? I didn't feel anything nearby but him."
"He's sick."
"How?"
"He's shivering and wet, Kazuma, he hasn't been coming in at night. He's a fire demon and he's been out in the cold." Vena explained, "And the rain."
"Oh, well go take him somewhere to rest and I'll get his extra clothes to get him changed."
Vena hurried to her room and set Hiei down on her warm bed, pulling his cloak off and his shirt. She tugged at his boots, "Is this better, in a warm bed?"
Hiei tried to sit up, but his head spun and he lay back down. "I need to protect the temple."
"The temple is fine Hiei. You're sick." Vena explained as she started undoing his belts.
"No, you don't understand," Hiei tried to grab her hands, but stopped bothering after missing a few times. "I have to keep her safe."
"She's perfectly safe, but you're not."
"People might want to get at her while I'm sick. I can't, protect her right, I need you to- to protect her Vena. You need to keep Yukina safe."
"I will Hiei, I will, but I'm also keeping you safe."
"Good." Hiei relaxed into the bed and started napping letting her have her way with his clothes. Vena stripped him easily and covered his waist with the blankets, stepping out into the hall, "He's going to need a good dinner."
Kuwabara passed over the clothes when he reached her and sighed, "Well, we'll just have to say you made it then."
"We will." She took the clothes and made her way back in to dress Hiei.
Kuwabara followed her in, "He looks like he's got a cold or something. Staying out in the rain probably weakened his immune system."
"Probably." She tucked pants onto Hiei beneath the sheets and started dressing him quickly, "A warm shower? Maybe?"
"I think if you just let him rest for now, keep him dry, he might start to bounce back in a day or so. He needs strength to fight it, so if you fed him some energy it might help."
"Alright. Thank you Kazuma," Vena smiled at him, and crawled into bed beside Hiei wrapping her arms around him and she kissed his cheek. That was when Kuwabara left. Vena sighed heavily. She didn't expect the first time snuggling up with Hiei while he was asleep would be because he was sick. She expected snuggling up to him after a long battle or a long night. Still, she'd take the opportunity to snuggle with him nonetheless. She rested her head against his chest and rubbed her hand along his stomach, feeding him energy.
Hiei shifted and groaned as she fed him energy, moving closer. She continued to feed him until Kuwabara appeared in the doorway with a bowl of soup and she got up to retrieve it, thanking him, and making her way back to the bed, "Hiei. Hiei, I made you some soup."
Hiei blinked and woke up enough to stare at her, incredulous. "You made it?"
"Yes, I made it."
"You cook?" Hiei sat up on his own accord proving he was doing somewhat better, but she could still see his face was flushed and he was sweaty.
"I can." She handed him the soup, sitting on the edge of the bed, "I can feed you if you feel unsteady."
"When did you make it?" Hiei yawned and scooted himself up so he could lean against the wall.
"Mm, quickly." She didn't bother answering his question, just getting closer to him so she could offer him a spoonful of soup.
Hiei put a hand on hers to help guide it, but didn't try to take the spoon or the bowl as she settled in beside him. He ate the first two bites before shifting over so he was laying over her giving her arms more room. She sighed and smiled, "Are you feeling better?" She asked him as she gave him another spoonful of soup.
"Some," he said after swallowing before she fed him.
"Do you think a nice hot shower would do you good?"
"No."
"No, okay." She nodded and took a spoonful of soup herself before giving him another, "Anything special you want?"
"No."
They finished the soup and she continued to feed him energy. She leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, happy he was feeling better.
Hiei yawned and curled up against her chest, comfortable practically laying in her lap.
Vena stroked his hair and sighed, leaning back, closing her eyes, "It's good to be near you Hiei."
Hiei groaned and sighed reaching for her shirt. He caught it in his fingers and wrapped his hand around it.
She watched him, unsure what he wanted. She rubbed his shoulder and shifted until she was comfortable.
"Miss you," Hiei whispered after a while.
Vena smiled, "I've missed you Hiei."
"Don't stay here, don't endanger my sister."
"Hm?" She frowned, "Who?"
He didn't elaborate or repeat himself.
"Hiei, who's your sister? Where is she?"
His face furrowed, "She's here, Yukina."
"Yukina is your sister?"
"Shh, don't tell her." Hiei reached up and put a finger over her lips.
"She's fine Hiei."
"No, she's in danger, she's always in danger." Hiei leaned up as best he could to whisper in her ear, "She's a Koorime."
"Whoa whoa whoa," Vena frowned, "I knew that, but you're telling me you're a fire demon and a Koorime? How the hell does that even work?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"Of course you weren't," she sighed, "So, just go to sleep Hiei."
"No, I have to protect my sister."
"You can't protect her if you're weak Hiei."
"No, I have to."
"I will tie you to this bed."
"You have to protect her." Hiei urged.
"I am. Nothing is near the house."
He relaxed and nodded, "Good."
"So go to sleep." Vena leaned down and kissed his cheek, settling in, "I'll keep watch."
He followed her suggestion.
