WARNINGS: This chapter contains some very deep depression scenes, atempted suicide, death and mentions of attempted rape and sexual situations (only mentions or insinuations, nothing graphic or too descriptive -this is not M-).

Chapter 10. Promises Fulfilled, the Unbreakable Bond.

Vision/Memory

The youkai-hime Shinrin Kontyuu paced back and forth in the studio that had until recently belonged to her father. It had been three days already since the funeral, two since the day she was supposed to leave the manor but had changed her mind after the unexpected theft.

"My lady?" Ren called from the door.

"What is it Ren?" she didn't even turn around to acknowledge him.

"It is been confirmed my lady." Ren told her. "Some of the servants saw him too as he left, the thief was indeed a silver kitsune, the one they call the King of Thieves…Youko Kurama."

"No." she refused to believe it. "It can't be."

"But my lady…"

"Leave now!"

"As you wish my lady."

Once alone she began pacing. It couldn't be, it was impossible. When they became friends Youko had promised her he would never touch anything that belonged to her or to those related to her, and that included her father's manor.

"There's got to be some explanation." She insisted to herself.

And even then she couldn't find one.

Two days later

She had reached a state in which she really couldn't care less what happened with her family's belongings anymore, she had made up her mind already. She trusted Youko, he was incapable of betraying her, and she had to go back to him before he believed she was the one betraying him, that certainly wouldn't do, not when they were about to mate.

She already had her most important belongings packed in a small bag, glad to take off those expensive kimonos she had used the previous days and dress again in her favorite dress-style. She knew that if she flew fast she would be able to get to Youko in two days at the most, and then take some time in explaining to him what had happened, surely enough he would want to take revenge over whoever pretended to be him to steal in her house, and she wouldn't be stopping him this time.

Just some minutes later the youkai-hime was about to leave the manor when some unexpected guests arrived. When she saw them she just couldn't believe it, they were servants of her former-fiancé.

"We've come here to lend our help milady." One of the youkai explained. "We've been sent by our lord to aid you in any way we can, we know how awful it is to suffer a theft of the silver kitsune, but you shall not worry because we'll take care of everything."

"I'm not worried at all sir, that I can assure you." She replied a bit annoyed for the interruption in her departure. "I couldn't care less what happens with the things that belonged to Lord Hoshaku. And about the thief I don't know who may have done it, but I do know it wasn't Youko Kurama."

"And how may you know that mi lady?" the youkai asked.

"Because I know him." She replied. "He would never do that."

"He's a thief, it's in his nature."

"He may be so, but he made a promise to me long ago he would never steal me or mine and I trust his word."

"Thieves have no word, nor honor my lady, thought you knew that."

Now she was really getting mad.

"Anyway, sir, what happens to me or mine is none of your business, nor of your lord's by the way. I can sort out things on my own and if you may excuse me I was leaving already."

She walked past the youkai, the bag still in her hands, not noticing the strange glint in his eyes and the weapon in his hand.

It all happened too fast for her to do anything about it, she just felt pain in the back of her head and darkness claimed her.

Some time later

When she woke up she noticed she was in a bedroom, for the looks of it her bedroom. Now the questions would be: Who knocked her unconscious? Why? And if the intention was to kidnap her for being the to-be-queen or something like that why was she still in the Shinrin Manor? It made no sense.

"So you are awake already?" a voice asked.

She turned in time to notice one of the youkai that had arrived, he was standing at her door.

"Seems you have quite more resistance than I first thought." The youkai said with a smirk.

It was obvious he had no idea everything she had been through since she had left the manor, all the training and the dangers when being with Youko, and yet it was to those things she so wanted to return to in that moment.

"You know, you are really as beautiful as they said." The youkai suddenly approached her. "Why don't we have some 'fun' before my lord gets here?"

"If your lord really was the one who sent you here I very much doubt she would like to know you put your hands on me, on his fiancée." She said as a matter of fact.

Even if she hated to consider herself betrothed to anyone but Youko, in this case it may be worth it.

"Oh, but he doesn't have to know." The youkai insisted. "We can make him believe the one who touched you was that stupid fox."

She was about to retort to that comment but something made her stop, the youkai before her was changing his appearance.

'He's the youkai I saw the other night.' She thought. 'A shapeshifter.'

And right then he assumed a form, one she knew so well. The form of a silver-haired, golden-eyed kitsune youkai.

"You!" She cried out angrily. "It was you who broke into the manor and stole my mother's jewels five nights ago!" now she was really furious. "You are the one who pretended to be Youko Kurama!"

"Now, now, you are really intelligent." He said sarcastically. "Though I would have expected you to notice it long before this. Perhaps in some hours you will be able to tell me how it feels to be raped by the one you say you love."

"You aren't Youko!" she cried out giving a few steps backwards. "And you won't touch me."

"You sure?" He asked approaching her. "I wouldn't bet on it."

And having said that he went after her and tackled her down, managing finally to get on top of her, her uncovered back laying against the carpeted floor.

"Get off me!" she hissed furious.

"I don't think so." He shook his head. "I rather like this position."

"Then too bad I won't let you stay there for long." She said.

And with a harsh movement of her hips and legs she managed to throw him above her and against the bedroom's walls.

She immediately jumped onto her feet.

"My, my, are we violent." He said with a smirk as he got up.

But even when he was trying to hide it, the way he had hit his head against the wall had affected him, his vision was a bit blurry and he felt dizzy. Obviously the effect wouldn't be lasting for long, but it was enough for her to make a run for it.

She didn't even care about her things or anything, the only thing she wanted was to get out of there and to Youko as soon as possible.

"Arg…" the other youkai was now furious. "Get her!" She made her way down the halls, running and tumbling in every turn, she had almost made it to the stairs when she noticed more youkai approaching her.

"Ren!" she called desperately. "Ren!"

"If you're looking for that stupid raven we took care of him already." One of the approaching youkai said with a sadistic smile.

"And we'll take care of you as well." Another told her.

Now she knew it, Ren had been killed, and unless she managed a way out of there and fast she would be facing the same consequences.

Without second thoughts she just turned and went back through the corridor she had come, in the end there was a big glass-panel of beautiful colors, she went right against it, breaking it and going down. The fall was of about four stories high, but she just brought out her wings and with the coming breeze got enough height to fly away as soon as she could,

A while later she was still flying, even being out of the manor she knew she was still in the Shinrin's lands, and she could still feel the youki of those pursuing her. In a certain moment she took the chance to look above her shoulder to see how far they were, it was a mistake… even if they weren't too close, that distraction cost her dearly, as she wasn't looking before her, she didn't notice a low branch, and even when she managed to move so as not to be hit in the head her left wing was hit and wounded.

From the on it was impossible for her to fly, if she tried it just hurt her too much, so she had to run, as fast as she could.

That night she passed it crouched in a high tree-branch, keeping her youki as low as possible and with all her senses in high alert. She just wished Youko or one of his allies would find her soon, before her pursuers did. He didn't even want to begin to imagine what may happen to her if she were recaptured before she made it Youko.

'Those youkai can't be working for my former-fiancé.' She thought to herself. 'They are just too evil. I don't think he would send them to try and kill me, or anything.'

The following day

She had had a very bad sleep, in fact she barely slept at all, and after finding something she considered comestible in the nearby trees she made her way, trying to go through the trees so as not to be seen by her pursuers, she knew they were very close.

Hours later she noticed they had stopped, and for a moment she had the hope they had given up on getting to her, but she didn't have that much luck. In fact, she noticed right then, luck seemed to be against her in that moment.

The youkais pursuing her didn't stop because they had given up on finding her, but because they had just found someone else:

"No…" she gasped in shock when seeing who was there, standing right before the other youkais. "Youko…"

And even when she had been wishing to find him, to be rescued by him the way she had been some centuries ago, in that moment she had a very bad feeling about everything.

"I can feel you're pursuing someone, who is it?" Youko asked the youkais.

"Who do you think?" the leader of the other group asked.

And as if answering the question he threw a piece of cloth to the kitsune's feet, it was a piece of one of the youkai-hime's dresses.

'They want to provoke him.' She noticed.

"Where is she?" Youko asked seriously clutching in his hand the piece of cloth. "What have you done to her?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong with her, don't worry." The other youkai said smirking. "I just want to have some more fun with her like I did yesterday."

This certainly sent Youko over the edge.

"If you dare as much as touching my mate…" Youko began taking him by the shirt's collar.

"Oh, but she wasn't yours." The youkai taunted. "She wasn't marked, that means I could do anything I wanted with her."

"You bastard…" Youko began.

And right then she noticed what the other youkais had been planning, because as the leader distracted the kitsune with his words, some sort of hunter approached him from behind, a knife ready in his hand.

In that moment she decided to forget the fact that she was hiding, and exactly why she was hiding, it didn't matter, she had to help her beloved.

"Youko, beware!" she cried out jumping from the tree.

And it was until then that the King of Thieves felt the hunter's youki right behind him and managed to dodge the knife in the last moment.

"Damn…" the leader cursed under his breath.

"Hotaru!" Youko called dashing to his beloved's side. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, an injured wing and some scratches, nothing to really worry about." She assured him.

"I got so worried when you didn't return in the date you had promised." He explained.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized. "So many things have happened. Someone pretending to be you stole my mother's jewels, and then this youkais."

Right then Youko turned around, again facing the attackers, while pushing the youkai-hime behind him, protecting her.

"Who are you?" Youko asked seriously. "Who sent you?"

"It doesn't matter who we are." The leader said calmly. "And about who sent us, I think this may give you an idea."

With that he threw something at Youko, it was a crest.

"They were sent by the one who I was supposed to mate with so long ago, the night you helped me out of my house, remember?" she asked him.

But Youko has shocked, he seemed to be able to recognize the crest too, and not from what his beloved was telling him, he knew to whom that crest belonged to, someone he had known a very long time ago.

"It can't be…" he murmured between clenched teeth. "Traitor…"

And before she had a chance to even try and ask him what he was talking about they were attacked by the other youkais and had to fight their way out of that forest, and in the direction they knew the lair was located.

The youkais seemed quite impressed when they noticed the youkai-hime knew how to fight, and was quite good at it too.

Youko and Hotaru did a great team in fight, their abilities complemented each other's in a remarkable way, making their fight against those youkais look almost like a child's play. But they committed a major mistake: this time they both forgot the hunter was still around.

Minutes passed by, and the battle went on; daggers and whip lashing almost savagely against their enemies. And even if it looked like the couple had the upper hand, she still had that bad feeling in her heart, something awful was about to happen.

And just then she noticed it, the glint of a knife at it was thrown right at Youko, and being as concentrated as he was with his whip he didn't notice, he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time and she didn't have time to create any kind of shield.

Her instincts reacted even before her mind did, the youkai essence in her commanding her to protect the one standing next to her. Even the reincarnated Hotaru recognized the feeling, as it was the same one she had felt when seeing Karasu threaten Kurama; ningen or youkai, mated or to-be-mated, it didn't matter, that desire was still there, the desire to protect the one she loved, no matter what the cost.

So she did the only thing she could think of, with a quick movement she positioned herself right before Youko, protecting him from the fatal injury using her own body as shield.

"No!" he cried out.

Too late had he noticed what was happening. He felt her falling against him, pain coursing through all her body, and the handle of a knife noticeable in her back.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"I had…to protect you…" she explained, gasping in pain.

Then he didn't care anymore if she didn't want him to be a killer, he lashed viciously, killing each and everyone of the youkais around, with the exception of the hunter, who by mere luck managed to get away.

Ever so slowly Youko took the knife out of her body, trying to stop the blood flow with a piece of his own tunic, but it seemed to be almost useless.

"What do I do now?" he asked concerned, although he didn't really expected an answer.

"Don't let me die here." She whispered to him. "Take me…home…"

For a moment he wondered if she wanted to go back to her manor, and he definitely couldn't take her back there.

"Home…" she repeated. "With you…"

Finally Youko nodded, scooped her in his arms, and being as careful as he possibly could he immediately dashed to the lair.

Some time later

They made it to the lair in record time. Once there Youko put his best healers to work in saving his beloved, but she knew there was no way she could be saved. That knife had been poisoned, the venom was already in all her body, it was already hard for her to move, almost impossible to talk, soon she wouldn't even be able to breathe.

"I don't know what to do Hotaru, my love." Youko said sorrowfully. "I don't know how I can save you."

"You already did." She assured him. "You…didn't let me…die…in that…horrible place…"

"But I can't let you die." He insisted. "There must be some way to save you."

"There is…none…" she assured him. "But don't…cry…I'm happy because…because I went down pro…protecting the one I love."

"Hotaru…my love."

"Sh…don't cry for me…I promise you, one day we'll be together again…I love you…"

And with those last words she slowly closed her eyes, the last thing she heard being:

"I love you too…"

End of Vision/Memory

.---.

She ran through the woods non stop, her simple shirt and skirt getting scratches as she didn't seem to care what got in her way, all the while leaving a trail of salty drops behind her: tears.

It had been like that ever since she opened her eyes, after going all through the events that lead to her death. It was true what her youkai-self had said, it was hard for her, maybe too hard; but at least now she knew, now she understood all those feelings she had had ever since she met Kurama, and that strange sensation that she had left something undone, it had been that promise, the promise she had done of the both of them being together one day. And it pained her not only to have forgotten it, but the fact that she knew he hadn't forgotten, he had always known. At least she had been happy when being ignorant of all of that, but he had had the knowledge, he had been waiting for her to fulfill that promise for so long… and she hadn't known that until now…

'So long…and I didn't know.' Hotaru reprimanded herself. 'Even when I learned I was a youkai's reincarnation I never imagined something like this had happened. How could I have known? Unless…'

And just as the thought entered her mind she felt a great deception and fury, both feelings aimed at one same individual.

.---.

"Koenma!!!"

Hotaru's cry reverberated in the four walls of the room where Koenma was currently sitting, the glass panel before him even vibrating due to the sound-waves.

And just as violently as she had thrown open the doors she slammed them close behind her, going straight to where Koenma was sitting.

"What the hell is the matter with you girl?!" Koenma was pissed off.

It was very early morning, he had been calmly organizing and signing some papers George, the blue oni, had brought him from Reikai that needed his immediate attention; and he didn't exactly liked for someone to barge inside what currently was his office crying out his name at the top of his lungs.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!" Hotaru cried out slamming her hands hard on the desk before the Reikai Prince.

"What are you talking about?" Koenma asked.

"You know exactly why I'm talking about 'oh-so-mighty-Prince-of-Reikai'." Hotaru said sarcastically. "Why didn't you tell me about Shinrin Kontyuu, about me?"

This really left Koenma in shock, he suddenly didn't know what to say.

"You know…" Koenma began.

"I know everything." Hotaru said, calming down a bit. "Ever since the 'invitation' to the Ankoku Buujutsukai was delivered to the apartment where Kurama and I live I began having strange visions in my dreams. And last night I had the last one. I now know almost all of what happened when I was the youkai-hime, when I got the name of Hotaru. When I met Youko Kurama, left my home to live with him, my father died, and I was about to mate with him when a hunter stabbed me with a poisoned knife, that injury killed me."

"It seems you have remembered practically everything." Koenma said with a sigh.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hotaru asked. "Why when I was at Reikai training you told me that there was nothing interesting in my past-life, that my life had been simple and I had died in an accident? None of that was true, those were all lies. Why did you lie to me? What was your purpose?"

"It may sound stupid but I was afraid."

"What?"

"I was afraid if you knew who you truly were you would want to return with your past-lover, and when Kurama had you back with him then he wouldn't care about anything else and would go back to his old ways as a criminal in Makai, thieving and killing."

"Youko may have been the King of Thieves but he was never a killer. Ho…I would have never permitted it."

"Looks like you have digested everything, you are already considering both of your lives as just one person."

"I have."

Koenma didn't say anything.

And suddenly it dawned to her.

"That's why you seemed so renitent about letting me leave Reikai, and then when you knew I would be staying with Kurama…" Hotaru finally seemed to understand everything. "You thought he would be going back to Makai, taking me with him. You thought he would go back to being the thief he used to be once he had me back next to him; you even thought he would take advantage of me, my position as youkai-hime…"

Koenma had to admit he had been thinking something along those lines.

"Then it just proves you don't know us at all." Hotaru sighed sadly. "You don't know me or Kurama, not at all. And it's a pity, it's a pity you still don't trust us, even when we work for you, when we solve out your problems, you still think us capable of betraying those we have pledged loyalty to, you really think we're that dreadful, that we've got no honor at all." She sighed once more. "You have deceived me Koenma."

She spun around and left the office, the hatred she had been feeling when entering having turned into sadness. Sadness for knowing that no matter how hard she and Kurama and anyone else may try there would always be some people that would not trust them just for the fact that they were youkais. It was not fair, not fair at all.

.---.

Kurama was hysteric already, even when he didn't show it. He had awoken late, the events of the previous night taking a toll on his body, but the worst hadn't been the last to wake, but not seeing her there when he did.

It had been really awful, to go to the small 'living room' that connected the bedrooms his team had been assigned, seeing almost everyone there eating and some chatting in a low voice. But not her, she wasn't there.

He had asked for her, and the only things they knew was that she wasn't in her room, she had left, long before any of them woke up. She hadn't said anything to any of them, nor left any note of her whereabouts, she had just…left.

Kuwabara had asked if they had fought, he had the belief that maybe she was angry and that's why she had left. But Kurama knew that wasn't possible, she wasn't one to do that kind of things, she had never done something without thinking about it carefully, without knowing perfectly well the consequences her actions would be having. And especially, he knew she would have never left him without making him know where she would be and when she would be back.

'She promised me once, she would be back and nothing would pull us apart.' He thought. 'Yet something did…death…'

And suddenly it dawned on him, and he could help but wonder: could it be possible really? Had she remembered what had happened that fateful day?

"Hotaru…" he couldn't help but ask aloud. "Where are you?"

.---.

She could hear him, in the back of her mind, Kurama's voice calling to her, wanting to know where she was, he was really worried for her, for her well being. And as much as she wanted to ease his mind she just couldn't bring herself to answer his calls, she was just in too much pain at the moment.

And it was that something in her had broken, the moment she relived her death, in Youko's arms, seeing his sad face knowing she wouldn't make it, hearing his voice whispering that last declaration of love, as if trying to make her passing a bit easier. And yet he hadn't had it easy in the least, even if she had no way of seeing what had happened to him she knew he had suffered with her death. And when they reincarnated, her miko side dominated over her youkai one, burying any memory or thought about him and what she had lived with him; yet he had never forgotten, he had always known.

She couldn't help but cry, cry just at the mere thought of the pain he had gone through. And the terrible feeling she had at knowing that the two greatest promises she had ever done to him, she hadn't kept them…she hadn't been with him when he needed her the most. And yet now, being with him, she couldn't help but feel she didn't deserve him. He was just too good for her to hold, to good for her to love.

So deep in thought she was that she hadn't noticed when she had reached the place she was now standing in, a cliff that overlooked the sea, the waves crashing at least thirty feet below her, a long fall indeed… What would happen if she were to fall?

'Hey, you, don't do anything stupid.' Her other self called to her.

But the youkai-miko wasn't listening to her anymore, her mind too clouded with her sadness and pain.

'Maybe it would all be better if I were just to be here no longer…' she thought sadly, as her eyes watched the crashing waves with some strange fascination.

.---.

Kurama was officially about to lose it. No matter how insistent his call was for his beloved, and that he knew she could listen to him, she just didn't answer. And suddenly he heard something, a voice in the back of his mind.

Kurama… It was her voice, and it sounded distant, and almost off.

Hotaru… He called back.

In a way. the voice replied. I'm what she once was, what she'll never be again if you don't come here right away.

What? he was confused. What's happening?

But he received no answer.

For what he could understand, that voice had been the youkai side of her, somehow it had managed to use the miko powers of her other self to contact him. What was happening to her?

"Hotaru…" he whispered. "I will find you."

And so, he closed his eyes and just let his heart guide him to her.

.---.

In the 'living room' in the hotel some were a bit worried about Hotaru's disappearance.

"Kurama hasn't returned, nor Hotaru." Yukina said worriedly. "I wonder if they are alright."

"Both are strong enough to take care of themselves." Hiei said with apparent indifference.

"Hiei is right." Botan nodded, though she sounded doubtful. "What do you think Keiko?"

"True soulmates can't be apart for long, their love is so strong it calls them to each other." Keiko murmured, her eyes fixed on the sky outside the window.

The girls just looked at each other, wondering what Keiko had meant by that.

.---.

Hotaru was still standing in the cliff, her eyes fixed on the waves crashing several dozens of feet below her. Suddenly she closed her eyes and extended a foot to where there was no more ground, she was about to give the full step when a hand holding her left arm brought her out of her daze.

"Don't do it…" The voice, barely above a whisper, called her.

"Kurama…" She didn't even dare turn around, she just couldn't face him.

"Don't do it, please." He insisted, tightening his hold on her arm. "Don't leave me, I love you. I've lost you twice already; I don't think I'll be able to handle it a third time."

"I love you too Kurama, but I can't stay."

"You said you loved me, please Hotaru…Why do you want to leave me now?"

"I don't deserve you."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I've remembered, what happened that day, after my father's funeral, when those youkais where pursuing me and you tried to help, when that hunter killed me…"

"Hotaru…"

"Let me finish. I saw your face, and having now my miko gifts I could feel your pain, how much you suffered knowing I was dying and there was nothing you could do about it."

"But you promised me to return, and you did."

"I did, and yet I didn't know I had a promise to fulfill; I didn't know I had someone who loved me, waiting for me to return those feelings."

"I didn't want to push you."

"I know, you're great, but I just feel too bad because I made you go through all that suffering, that's why I don't deserve you."

"And you think that if you were to jump off this cliff right now and kill yourself that wouldn't make me suffer?"

"Ano…"

"It would, and let me tell you something. When you died, I followed you, I died just three days after that, killed by the very same hunter; the second time you left me, when I had to leave you in Reikai, I kept myself going with the hope that one day we would have the opportunity to be back together. If you kill yourself now I won't have any hope left, not without you, and it is likely that I would go right after you."

"Kurama!" She couldn't believe it, he couldn't possibly be suggesting he would commit suicide, but he was.

"So, it's up to you my love. We live, or we die, whatever the outcome I won't go on without you ever again. I have no interest whatsoever in living if I'm not with you."

"What about Shiori-oka-san?"

"As much as I love my mother, not even her love would be able to make me go on if you're not with me."

She still had her back turned to him, and even without watching his distressed face she felt distressed herself, and tears ran down her face nonstop as her body trembled in time with her low sobs; she didn't know what to do anymore.

"Choose Hotaru, it is up to you…" Kurama insisted to her.

And right then she made up her mind, she spun around and threw herself into her beloved's arms, crying openly as she kissed him all over the face over and over again.

"I'm sorry! Oh Kurama, I'm sorry!" she cried without letting go of him. "I love you."

"Oh Hotaru…" Kurama smiled as he hugged her back. "I love you too."

.---.

In the bedroom the girls turned to see Keiko when she suddenly left the spot right next to window she had been occupying the last hour or so.

"Are you sure you're alright Keiko?" Shizuru asked.

For the last couple of days the woman had been having the feeling something strange was going on with Keiko; especially after all the unexplained crying she had done the previous day. Though, deep down, Shizuru knew there was a reason, one no one would like.

"Yes, I'm fine, just fine." Keiko nodded with a smile, and turning to take one last glance to the scenario out the window she whispered. "Time has come for them to reach the final stage in their relationship, for the unbreakable bond to be forged between them, for their promises of love to be fulfilled."

.---.

The sun was coming down already, Kurama and Hotaru had moved into the protection of the trees, never letting go of each other.

Hours passed with them just there, hugging and once in a while giving each other a little peck in the cheek or neck; until suddenly the mood of the both of them seemed to take a turn to the wild side…

Kurama was feeling Hotaru's lips on his collarbone, it all was alright until he felt her gracing lightly the spot between his neck and shoulder with her tongue and teeth, as her slender hands worked rapidly the buttons on the purple-grayish tunic he was wearing.

"Hotaru…" he began.

But before he could even finish forming a clear thought her mouth came crashing upon his, drowning with her passionate kiss any logical reasoning.

The kiss went on for a long time, until they had to break out to get the so needed oxygen.

She was about to kiss him again when he stopped her.

"Wha…" she was confused by his sudden actions.

"Hotaru…"He murmured. "Do you know really what you're doing?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I'm kissing the man I love."

"But you're not only doing that." He shook his head. "Can't you feel it? You're waking in me a desire, a need, so great I don't think I'll be able to hold myself for too long; I had never felt it before, not in this life, and my past one had long ago forgotten."

"I feel it too. Both sides of me feel it. The desire, the need, for nothing but you." Having said that she kissed him roughly.

"Stop." He broke the kiss fast, not wanting to lose control and end up hurting her. "Don't begin something you don't plan on finishing."

"And who says I don't plan to do so?"

The only replies to that statement were the following kisses, caresses, and the exposure of more skin with every passing minute.

A movement from the kitsune and the branches of nearby trees moved to form a refuge that granted them privacy and protection.

"Are you sure of this?" he asked suddenly.

They were just one step away from taking and giving everything they had, yet he didn't want to force her, he didn't want her to regret this on the long run.

"Yes." She nodded confidently. "I'm yours, now and forever."

No more words were spoken, as their bodies and souls connected, their promise of love fulfilled, their unbreakable bond sealed…forever.

One of my first readers asked me once to make a lemon of this couple, but I really don't do that kind of stories. (I have nothing against them, I just don't write them). So this is the best I could come up with. If there's anyone interested in making the mentioned romantic scene in more detailed you can always ask me and maybe I could let you borrow Hotaru for your fic and mention what you've done somewhere around here so those who are interested in a lemon can go read it.

Now, besides that. I hope you'll like the chapter. I know that some parts were a bit depressing, but I wasn't exactly in the best of my moods when I wrote it; though I still think it came out just fine.

In the following chapter: the last round of the Dark Tournament is coming, and this time the Reikai Tantei have a lot more to lose than they could have ever imagined.

You just can't miss what's coming next! (Don't forget to leave review please).