San sat in her tree, the one she had planted years ago in the forest near Genkai's temple. The sun was shining brightly, the few clouds puffy and white, but the sky otherwise very blue. It damn well should be after the giant ice storm they had on their way back to first Kyrokai's and then on to home. She was not happy about this, thick layers of snow covering the ground. But who was she to stop nature's natural course? She hated snow, but the temple felt too crowded lately, and after everything that had happened the last week, she just wanted time to think, to plan their next move. Hell, it was even just refreshing to be in her human form again.

After stopping Yusuke from making a dreadful mistake, Hiei had disappeared to watch Yukina and refrain from killing the half demon. Moriko had managed to distract them, to pass the time in order to figure out what had happened at the temple of the seers and why Keiko was screaming. The wolf knew better than to enter, the barrier causing any demon incurable madness. It was placed once the Ningenkai was created, in order to protect the sanctity of the seers. Hours passed and there was no sign of the others. Fear had gripped the wolf's heart, but she did not feel any loss of power from where they stood.

And then she could smell Genkai, Kuwabara, and the seer, Kyrokai. What made her weary was that she could smell Keiko's scent, mingled with something else. What had happened while they were gone? There was a rustling in the leaves from the direction they were coming. And then Hiei was there, giving the wolf a knowing look. So she wasn't just imagining things, it had really happened. But how? Those questions could not be answered, they hadn't even approached yet. They weren't waiting long. First Genkai appeared, followed by Kyrokai and then Kuwabara, holding an unconscious Keiko.

"Keiko!" Yusuke called, running towards his mate. Moriko could see, no, feel the look he carried, the weight of fear inside of him. He took Keiko from his friend, bringing her towards the fire. Moriko stared at the girl, wishing that her fate was not sealed this way. Why? Why would she do this? "What happened?!" Yusuke demanded, looking at Genkai.

Moriko also looked to her human mentor. They only confirmed what she already knew, and the wolf looked sadly at the girl again, "Keiko wandered off while we were in the temple. We didn't even notice, none of us did."

"You were not meant to," said Kyrokai softly, "Keiko has made her choice, as foretold eons before her birth."

"Yeah? Want to tell me what choice that is?!" gritted Yusuke.

"You're not much of a demon, are you? Her scent has changed, one that you should be able to recognize," said Hiei.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Keiko's fate was to meet the old sorcerer, Orochi. There she was to make a choice about her future, a choice that once made, cannot be unmade. She has struggled with the world around her, demons more so in her life than humans, she is even mated to you, a half demon. As a result, she has regretted her life span of a normal human, and therefore, has taken up one of Orochi's perfected experiments. She will no longer live a normal human life span, for she is no longer fully human."

"She looks human to me," said Kuwabara.

"What did she do?!" yelled Yusuke. He clearly was not taking this so well.

Kyrokai smiled sadly, looking at the former detective, "She has, of her own free will, become a half demon, like yourself."

Kuwabara gasped.

"She what?!" screamed Yusuke, glaring at the seer.

"You heard the woman, dimwit, Keiko wanted to spend her life with you, she became a half breed," said Genkai.

"Doesn't she know what that means?!"

Moriko walked over and put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder, "For her, it means that she can spend her life with you in your world."

"She could have done that without becoming a demon."

"No, brother. You will live for thousands of years. Keiko would have gotten old and died by the time you blinked twice. She knew that, and did not want that fate for the two of you. She made her choice, and now we must help her adapt to her new body."

Yusuke dropped to his knees, placing Keiko down before him, "This is all my fault..." he trailed.

"How do you mean?"

"I... I told her about what you said. That I'd be alive for a long time, and she got scared. She didn't tell me, but, I could tell."

"It was something she would have found out anyway. Keiko being a demon might not be the worst thing in the world. If she can be trained, she will stand a chance at defending herself, which will make our enemies most likely to leave her alone," said Genkai.

"How do you figure?" asked Hiei.

"Because she is no longer out weakest link."

"So what? Now the only human is? He can hardly take care of himself."

"Shut up shrimp! I ain't human either! I'll have you know that my ancestor was a seer!" yelled Kuwabara.

Moriko looked at him sharply. She had suspected it a few days ago, even reprimanded herself for missing it. But still, the knowledge that he actually was a seer, at least part seer still shocked her. She looked to Genkai for confirmation and the old woman just nodded. She then looked at Hiei, who gazed at Kuwabara in disbelief. The tasks to perform, Keiko's choice and Kuwabara's awakening. They were complete, but the wolf never thought it would turn out like this.

"You're telling me that the knowledge of our future now resides with this oaf?"

"You can't call me things like that! Seers are supposed to be respected!"

"You will never earn that rank."

"Knock it off. And yes, it is true, in fact, he is Kyrokai's distant nephew," said Genkai.

"Hn."

They were all silent, sitting by the fire. None of them ate, none of them dared speak. There was too much running through their minds. Keiko was still unconscious, Yusuke's eyes on her, his presence near her. The wolf knew that he was not going to let anything else get to her. There was nothing more that could be done. She was not in any pain, just merely going through the transformation, much like Yusuke had done himself, years ago.

"Well, this has certainly been quite a night. After the night is over, we can get a fresh start in the morning. I smell snow," said Moriko distastefully.

"Did you even get what we came for?" asked Hiei.

"Yes, but I have been instructed not to read the prophecy until all who are mention are together, that means Kurama," said Genkai.

"My mate will meet us at the temple. That is where we go," said Moriko.

"I must stop first at my temple, to gather the necessary belongings for Kuwabara. He needs training," said Kyrokai.

And that was how it all happened. In one night, Kuwabara finally understood his unnatural ability that ran in his family to be spiritually aware, and Keiko became a half demon. San had no idea why that was part of the prophecy, why that had to be a task, but there was nothing she could do. Sometimes, she wondered if the seers placed that barrier just to make sure that Yusuke could never interfere with what was supposed to happen. It was better than incurable madness, a fate she never wished upon anyone.

She was right about the snow, only it turned into an ice storm which only had Yukina happy. They had to stay an extra day at Kyrokai's temple just to wait it out before going off again. San was not a fan of the waiting. She was desperate to see her mate, and the time she was forced indoors knowing she was so close to the temple made her short tempered, which was terrifying in her demon form. Keiko had not awoken, and the wolf was only slightly thankful for that seeing as if she did, they would have been delayed longer.

Moriko and Hiei were the first ones to arrive at the temple, and immediately, she could smell her mate. He was already here, but she could also smell his blood. She saw red as she burst into the temple. She knew exactly where he was, in her room. Kenji and Yomi would have no problem knowing her space, they were demons to. She knocked the door clean off its hinges, eyes ablaze. Kenji turned towards her, sober faced and unsurprised. Yomi didn't even move from his position in front of the Dragonite in her garden. But her gaze was upon her mate, who was unconscious in his human form in her bed. There was evidence of a cut on his cheek, and he was bleeding when he had gotten here.

"Your Majesty," Kenji bowed as if he was meeting her for Sunday tea, "It is good to see you are well."

"What the fuck happened?!" she demanded. She hardly cursed in her demon form.

"Not to worry, he will recover, that I can assure you. But he is just resting, his powers are low after our battle."

Moriko turned to Kenji and noted that he too, was injured, "Tell me what happened."

"All in due time, Majesty. There is much to talk about on both ends, and I feel the best time to give a full report is when we can all be in one place at one time."

Moriko growled but nodded at his sensibility. She knelt down beside her mate, running her finger lightly across his cheek. It healed at her touch, her energy feeding into him. At least nothing had changed there, "Does he remember?" she asked in a much softer voice, noting Hiei's presence.

"I cannot be sure. We found Arashi fairly quick, he was on his way towards the Tournament. We did battle with him, but something happened to the King during that time. He was fighting as he did in the tournament, and then he was hit still, as if something had struck him. But nothing hit him, and that was when Arashi took advantage of our surprise and nearly did us in. We will all heal, but you will be happy to know that Yomi has severely crippled Arashi's magic arm."

"Magic arm?"

"It is the only name I know for it. Intelligence told us that Arashi went rogue from the Keepers of Prophecy. There is not much known about them, but that was something you'd want to discuss with your friend, Takashi."

"There are many things to discuss with Takashi. Hopefully he will be attending our meeting as well."

"Your Dragonite needs to be moved," said Yomi, coming to stand at the door of her garden.

"I am well aware, but have been unable to tend to it properly without my mate."

"I am quite impressed with Genkai's temple. It is not at all what I expected it to be. But at the same time, it is exactly the type of place I expect you to be. Almost as if it was here just for you to stay while you had to be in Ningenkai."

"Perhaps."

"He fought bravely, Moriko, and will recover quickly. The lack of your energy weakened him, and his memories twisted did not help his fighting style. But I believe that will all take care of itself now that you are back."

"One can only hope," her eyes never left her mate's human face.

"The sound of your blood in your veins tells me that many things have changed since our last encounter. You seem to have picked up another demon."

"Not exactly."

"I see. We will all have to be a little more patient in order to exchange information. With your permission, I would like to sleep in your garden. I feel a very peaceful aura emanating from it."

"Do as you wish, Yomi," she kept her melancholy voice, changing into her human form and taking up residence beside her mate. Kenji and Hiei had vacated, Yomi standing still for a moment.

"Interesting," was all he said, before walking away.

San thought she was going to have heart failure when she saw her mate so beat up upon her return. But after the little amount of energy she needed to heal him, she decided not to kill Yomi for letting that happen. Genkai had worked to heal Yomi and Kenji, all the while waiting for Keiko to finally wake up. But who knew when all of that was going to happen. Kurama hadn't woken up either, but San figured that he was healing in a rather special way. Kenji had described something that she only wished she knew more about. But she didn't dare push her mind into his, she would wait to see if her suspicions were confirmed.

Sighing, she adjusted herself, to get more comfortable on the tree branch. This was the only time she got to rest, and she still couldn't stop her brain for going off in all directions. Not a day later Koenma had informed them that he would be arriving, no doubt tracking their moves from Reikai. San knew that King Enma wanted to get his hands on a copy of the full prophecy, and the only reason she didn't object was because she felt that she could use Reikai's resources in any way she demanded. Enma would not deny her that, knowing full well how important all of this was.

San was there when Koenma had arrived, it was the first time she left her mate in two days. Keiko had also woken up, though no one had told the poor girl what happened to her just yet. No one wanted to start that conversation, and San was afraid that they would turn to the wolf in order to get it all worked out. Kyrokai would have been best suited, but Keiko had only met the seer once, and did knew the wolf quite well. San thought about delegating it to Yukina, but she thought better of it. The wolf was the one who knew about the sorcerer, and therefore, knew more about what happened over anyone else.

"Well, aren't you all a sight for sore eyes," said a way too cheerful voice. San frowned, looking behind at the person who entered the temple.

"Botan?"

"Botan?"

"Is that Botan?"

"Hey, Botan?"

"Botan!"

"BOTAN!"

San was very happy to see the pilot, wondering where she had been this whole time. And it appeared she wasn't the only one. As the room crowded around the blue haired reaper, San smiled at the only amount of happiness anyone had experienced in days. She doubted any of them really noticed Koenma squeezing by to get inside the doorway. She smiled as all the hugs and chattering started, Botan being dragged away by Keiko and Yukina. San followed, wanting to know where the woman had been this whole time.

"Well, as it happens, I started a new chapter in my life," said Botan.

"Chapter? Did you meet a boy?" asked Keiko.

"Even better! I became a spy!"

San rolled her eyes smiling, "How is being a spy better?"

"Oh it's very exciting you see, I get to go undercover and figure out what all of our enemies are up to. I confess I was scared at first, but none of our enemies suspect that I'm smart enough to be double crossing them."

"You seem a little too happy about that."

"So where have you been?" asked Yukina.

"I've been a follower of Arashi. Been trying to infiltrate the high command at Hiroki's side," said Botan, "But I shouldn't talk too much about it right now. Koenma filled me in on what was going on here, and we all need to have a big group chat from what I can understand."

"You doing to be an undercover spy makes as much sense as me being a demon and Kuwabara being a seer," said Keiko.

"You know about that?" asked San carefully.

"I know that there's demon in me, but I honestly don't feel all that different."

"We can talk about it later," San assured the girl.

"Kuwabara is really a seer?" asked Botan.

"Yes. it's one of those things that were all waiting to talk about at this big group meeting."

"Well hopefully it doesn't take too long. Isn't it almost Christmas time here?"

"Oh no! I completely forgot!" shouted Keiko.

"The menial presents are nothing, Keiko. Just be grateful that we can all spend it together," said Yukina brightly. Keiko smiled at her and Botan grinned putting an arm around them both.

"It's so good to be home again!" exclaimed the pilot.

"How is Kurama healing?" asked Yukina.

San sighed again in her tree. That was a good question, and it was the very next day that she found herself here, hiding away from everyone in her tree. It was her only sanctuary in this temple, and she was happy that no one chose to look for her. The temple was crowded with so many people, and San just wished they could get on with their meeting. But they were still waiting on her mate, who showed no signs of waking up any time soon. This was why she left his side. There was nothing more she could do for him, he was healthy. Whatever happened to him needed to run its course, that she was sure of.

She didn't bother to ask Kyrokai what was happening to him. The seer would not have told her anyway. Besides, she was forming a connection with her nephew, training him in her ways. In truth, San had hardly seen Kyrokai or Kuwabara since they had come back to the temple. No one disturbed them, didn't want to interrupt. San was curious how one was trained to be a seer, but she wasn't sure she could stand hearing about how to only utterly confuse a person into insanity. No, she was better off staying away from that head ache. She leaned back on her branch, the bark she could swear, built to keep her back at a perfect comfort level.

The wisps of clouds were disappearing, but the sun was still shining. At least some of the snow would melt, she hoped. She closed her eyes for a moment, but then snapped her attention back up. She frowned, wondering why she didn't feel it before. The smell of roses reached her nostrils, and that could only mean that her mate was awake. But instead of rushing towards him, he was the one approaching her. She wondered if he was coming here by instinct or if someone had told him where to find her. It wasn't as if she announced to the temple that she would be in her tree all day. She decided to wait, seeing as there was no need to go anywhere.

"You're awake," she noted once he had reached her branch. He was still in human form.

"Yes, just a few hours ago. I waited for you, thinking that you would come. But then I got bored and decided to come and find you," his voice calmed her nerves.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better. I know that you assisted in my healing process, and you have my thanks."

"Get used to it, I'm not going anywhere."

"No, I suppose you are not. You are in human form."

"I find it convenient from time to time."

San held his gaze, his green orbs that did not tell her what she wanted to know. She was terrified of asking, not wanting to hear that he still did not remember her. But he did not question his human form. Why? Was he playing with her? Engaging her in a game? Well that was silly, how was she supposed to find anything out if he insisted on continuing either a ruse or truth? She could easily find the answer in his mind, but she did not want to risk putting herself through disappointment.

"I believe I've told you many times how beautiful you are in this form," he said finally.

San's eyes softened. She let out an involuntary whelp as she flew into his waiting arms. Despite her best efforts, she cried into him, as he held her tightly, lovingly, in a way that she longed for. She cried because she could not protect him. She cried because she was without him. She cried because she was finally with him, and everything in the world felt right again. He did not let go, he never would, and she felt safe and secure in his sure arms once more. She cried harder as she muffled her apologies through her choked sobs. And he held her tight, as she never wanted to be apart from him again. The dreadful whole that filled her heart was finally complete, and no longer caused her any pain.

"I'm so sorry," she choked over and over.

He shushed her in his soothing voice, "No San. Nothing could have prepared either of us for that kind of power."

"That is not true," she sniffled.

"What do you mean."

"If my powers were stronger, I could have easily stopped it before it happened."

"Do you mean to tell me that you think you can beat the forces of the prophecy?"

She looked at him in alarm. He took the opportunity to wipe her tears away, her bloodshot tawny eyes confused as his words. He kept an arm around her as he dried off her face and his neck and chest She could have filled a large fish bowl with the amount of tears she had shed. He held her gaze calmly, placing his other hand on the back of her head, so that his thumb could easily wipe away another tear that rolled down her cheek.

"What happened was preordained long before the two of us were born. There was no way you could have prevented it. I know you have been told this many times, and yet, you still chose to blame yourself. I cannot forgive you because you did nothing wrong. What was it you told me before this happened? That in order to move forward I must forgive myself? Perhaps you should consider your own advice."

"But I failed you!" she cried.

He kissed her forehead, wiping yet another tear and looking into her eyes, "No, koi. You did exactly what you were supposed to do, and because of that, we and the rest of our pack is alive and well. Some of us may have hit a few bumps, but we are all present and accounted for, unlike those of our enemies who will only continue to lose so long as they try and challenge not only us, but our will to win and our loyalty to each other."

San pondered his words. They were all truth, there was nothing she could argue here. By her one failure she had strengthened the bond that existed not only between the whole pack, but between the two lovers themselves. Their resolve was joined as one, and could accomplish anything they wanted to. In the on mistake, she had done more good than she could ever realize. Takashi had tried to tell her that, and Kyrokai, but she stubbornly refused to listen without the presence of her mate. Now he was here telling her the same things she already knew and it all made sense. In time would have made sense if she could stop to think less of her failures and more of what was going on around her. That was her lesson in all of this.

She smiled then, "Say that again."

"Which part?"

"You know what."

He smirked, "Koi..." and he pulled her into a fierce kiss then.

Tears escaped her eyes once again, but she was totally and utter content. She finally had her mate back.