Not much to say here. Hope you like it!

"There is only what you want and what happens. There is only grabbing on and holding tight in the darkness."

― Lauren Oliver, Hana

Vortex

With no Kurama, the next couple days dragged by. I focused on my schoolwork and read ahead in all of my textbooks, even finishing some of the essays I knew were coming up—though I was certainly not lacking distraction. Kuronue had come back from his little trip as soon as Kurama had left, and was currently staying in my room (though not indefinitely, as he was a night owl.) He mainly slept off and on during the day as I went to class, and though we hung out for a bit after I was done, he took to the skies a couple hours after sunset—though he always stayed near enough to hear me if I shouted for him, and apparently checked in regularly while I was asleep. I wondered occasionally what Kurama would think of that—would he be pleased that I had my own demonic protection detail, or ticked that Kuronue was staying in the same room as me? Kuronue hadn't made any passes whatsoever, and it's not like I could exactly hide infidelity from Kurama… in the impossible instance in which I would be tempted. I figured that Kurama wouldn't mind too terribly, so I let Kuronue stay. Besides, I liked the company, and Yana's remedial coursework was keeping him far busier than I'd been planning on.

The weekend after Kurama left, Keiko, Maya, and Yukina visited and kidnapped me for a night on the town. We saw a chick flick that Keiko had her eye on. It wasn't great per se, but I was in it more for the company anyway. Maya insisted on bringing us to an obscure little ramen stand after the movie, and while she and Yukina were off ordering our food, Keiko and I had a chance to talk.

"How've you been, Keiko?" I asked hesitantly, with a disarming smile. "We haven't gotten a chance to talk since I've been back. And…" I paused, wondering if I was overstepping my boundaries, but decided to say it anyway:

"And you look really sad. Worn, really. I'm worried for you."

She smiled slightly at that, and tugged at her now shoulder-length hair. I decided that I liked it better than the pixie cut she'd been wearing when we first met. "It's Yusuke," she admitted quietly. "It's… been a long time since I've seen him. Or heard from him. Or about him."

Over a year now, I thought, nodding at her admission. "He's alive and well," I said kindly, scooting a little closer to her as I lowered my tone—a family was sitting on a bench close to ours. "He's changed a bit…"

She looked at me sharply, real panic visible in her eyes for a brief second—and then she forced her expression into a mask of nonchalance. "Oh?" she asked, a mumble.

"In a good way, though," I was happy to inform her. "He's… more responsible. More level-headed, calmer. He's got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders now… it made him grow up a bit."

At that, Keiko snorted and shook her head. "I'll believe it when I see it." Her words, though critical, were tempered by a gentle tone.

"No, seriously," I said with a little laugh, bumping her arm with mine. "He's changed. He doesn't freak out in stressful situations anymore. I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for his quick thinking… he's honestly, truly turned down the crazy, Keiko."

She nodded at that. "Kurama said… Yusuke told him to tell me that he misses me, and that he's definitely coming home. I guess that's something."

"It is," I assured her, sobering a little at her subdued tone. "I… I'm sorry that you have to wait so long, Keiko. I can't even imagine."

"I'll be all right," she said, her tone suddenly bright. She glanced up, and rose as Maya and Yukina started walking towards us. "Thanks for the talk—I appreciate it."

Though her voice was bright and unworried, I could tell that inside, she was hiding a lot of pain. She'd reach her breaking point soon… Yusuke had better be back by then, to pick up the pieces. I knew that he was very busy with his newfound responsibilities as a demon lord of Makai, but she needed him. In a way, we all did. I saw it in Kuwabara's unease, like he was pent up with too much energy with no way to release it all. I saw it in Yukina's concern for him. Botan, when she was around, seemed to always be searching for something to do, now that she wasn't dragging Yusuke (kicking and screaming usually) to his next mission.

I felt it too. Something just seemed… off with our little dysfunctional family with Yusuke gone. When Kuwabara came to visit me we would talk for ten minutes or so, and then he would jolt to his feet, like he was waking up, and insist that we should go do something, anything—he had cabin fever, and the world was his prison.

"Yeah, it sucks," he said during one of the rare moments I could get him to sit and confide in me. "Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke all ran off on this super-dangerous adventure in freaking Demon World, and all I can do is sit here and study Chemistry. I don't even like Chemistry."

"That's a good thing, though," I assured him. "I know you feel left out, but… Kurama would like nothing more than to put Makai behind him. Yusuke's not even going to finish middle school, most likely. And Hiei's an asshole, so why do you care about him?" I asked with a slight smile, elbowing the younger Kuwabara as we walked under the live oak trees that dotted U-High's campus—he had decided to visit me in the middle of the week, and we had gone on a coffee run after my class had been let out. "You're going to succeed, and I bet you anything they want nothing more than to see that happen. What's going on in Demon World, well… the people involved are either very evil or very unwilling. It's not a place for good people like you, Kuwabara, and they want to keep it that way. Trust me."

Kuwabara seemed startled by this revelation. "Aw, shucks," he managed after stuttering over his words for a few moments. He rubbed the back of his neck in an agitated way. "You might be right, though… 'bout what Urameshi and the others think... 'bout me and school, that is. Urameshi told me he'd kick my ass if he came back and saw that I hadn't gotten into a good high school. Kurama was helping me study almost every day—though I think he was just trying to distract himself, 'cause that only started after you got kidnapped. Poor guy." He trailed off into silence, frowning at an unpleasant memory. I smiled wryly.

"What's your gpa like?" I asked lightly, trying to steer the conversation to more positive things.

He puffed out his chest with pride. "4.0 last term of 8th grade, 3.4 cumulative. I fucked up a lot when I was in middle school, but I'm bringin' it up."

He then dove into the thought train of making weekend plans, and I allowed it—he was very intent on distracting himself. I'd probably want to be humored if I was the one who had been abandoned by my friends and left completely out of the loop. I agreed to meet up with everyone at Genkai's temple (Botan was going to leave Ningenkai soon, via a portal on Genkai's property, to go to the Demon World tournament with Koenma), and saw him to the bus stop before I went back to my dorm.

That weekend, Botan was very nervous and frazzled-looking, and though Koenma was going to accompany her to Makai, he had the presence of mind to not drop by Genkai's temple. No one was actually pleased with him at the moment, and though nobody was angry at Botan, she was constantly anxious.

I pulled her aside after she'd dropped one of Genkai's china plates, and dragged her outside to get some privacy and fresh air while Yukina, who had insisted on cleaning up the mess, shooed us away with her broom.

"What's going on?" I asked abruptly, crossing my arms. The mark was almost fully healed at this point—it barely hurt now. It was just a thin, silvery scar that tingled slightly when I touched it.

Botan fixed me with a slightly exasperated, slightly concerned look. "You don't know?"

"No, I definitely know—that's why I'm asking you about it," I said with an eyeroll. She sighed heavily at my sarcasm and let out a little frustrated noise.

"It's you, Reina," she said finally, and then stuttered as she registered the shock in my expression. "No! Not like, you're the problem you, but you… you're… how can you not know this?" Her voice grew incrementally higher with stress, and I reached out, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a little shake.

She simply stared at me for the better part of ten seconds, and then sighed once more, clamping down on her quivering lip.

"How can you not be mad at me?" she whispered. "All of you? I still work with Koenma, for Koenma—I didn't know what Reikai had done to you, but aren't you mad that I'm still working for them?"

"Of course not." I let my hands fall, and gave her a relaxed smile. "It's not like you're fraternizing with the enemy—they're just a bunch of self-centered cowards who manipulate and lie to get what they want. That doesn't make you an insidious little bastard, though. Emphasis on little," I added, and Botan snorted at the reference to Koenma.

I sobered a little, deciding to change the subject because it seemed to really bother Botan. "You're going to be careful out there, right? Don't let anyone figure out that you're not a demon."

"Koenma and I have disguises ready to go," Botan responded cheerily. She whipped out a pair of glasses, and I snorted as she put them on—the lenses were covered with a black and white swirly design. I wondered how she could see through them.

"That'll probably attract more attention…" I hinted.

She took them off of her face and hooked one of the foldable ends over the neck of her shirt, fighting a smile. "Nonsense! It'll totally work."

I decided to not push the subject, knowing that Kurama, Jin, and the others would be there to help her if she did find herself in trouble.

"Just be careful," I repeated, smiling a strained grimace up at her. "That place isn't exactly a walk in the park. Get in and get out as soon as possible."

Botan could sense the tremor in my tone, and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'll be careful. We all will."

I drew a shaky breath, nodding quickly, and we turned back towards the temple.

It's time.

It was those two, simple words that woke me with a start. As I sat there in early morning darkness, trying to regulate my heartbeats, I struggled to figure out if those words had come from me, or from Kurama. Or maybe it was my subconscious just trying to freak me out.

I sat up in bed, raking my hands through my hair with a worn sigh. Papers and a book fluttered and thunked against the ground; I started at the sound and tried to concentrate.

Kurama had said that we would be able to communicate if I was at Demon's Door cave, due to the fact that the fabric of space-time between the two worlds was thinned there from Sensui's little adventure. Since the cave was so near Mushiyori City, I'd been able to sense a few emotions and brief images of his surroundings while sitting in my dorm. But never… words.

It was around the time Kurama said the tournament would begin. But he wouldn't bother trying to think words at me if it was just the preliminaries… unless he was grouped with someone like Yomi…

I was out of bed and scrambling in the dark for my clothes before I truly realized what I was doing. I hit my hip on my bedside table as I was jumping up and down to pull on my jeans, and hissed in pain. I grabbed my keys, flung open the window so Kuronue could lift me back inside (the building was locked from the inside this late), and headed out as silently as I was able.

It was utterly quiet as I broke into a sprint, running towards the cave. Even if this was a false alarm, I had to know. It was instinctual.

My breaths were heavy and ragged after only ten blocks—pathetic by my usual standards. I ran 5k's for exercise before I'd taken that ill-fated trip to Demon World, and I was winded after a brief little jaunt.

A brief image brushed through my mind like a cold breeze—an open, barren landscape. The sound of even breathing… a steadily thudding heart, pounding in my ears. My mouth was dry and I was blind, holding onto this image—searching desperately for answers.

Words, thoughts, plans flooded my mind.

Kurama had been wrong about our link—it seemed that Mushiyori City itself was an area where the boundary between the two worlds was thin enough for me to hold onto our connection. I held onto the images, to the sensations, and ran blindly.

This was a mistake.

My legs were too numb to keep going, and I didn't pick my feet up high enough to miss a crack in the sidewalk. I hit the ground hard, twisting my ankle on the way down, and the vision popped like an overinflated balloon.

Too weak. I was always too weak. I dragged myself to my feet, and started walking, limping to take the weight off my twisted ankle. I'd hurt myself pretty good with that fall.

"Kurama, I'm coming," I said under my breath, marching down the sidewalk. My left leg, my good leg that I was walking mainly on now, started to cramp. My eyes started burning not from the pain, but from my own anger at this humiliation. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been unable to run over a mile. So pathetic.

I heard the report of footfalls behind me, and cursed under my breath, wiping angrily at my streaming eyes and trying to make my breaths even. I didn't have time for any trouble my visitor could bring me—

Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound—a great shadow flickered over me—and then Kuronue dropped to the sidewalk in front of me, his eyes wild, an expression of great strain on his features. His demonic features. I forgot my hysteria and stumbled to a stop, bracing a hand against a nearby bus stop bench.

"D-demon form!" I hissed, spluttering in my haste. "Change! You'll be seen!"

He ignored me, rising to his full height and folding his wings behind him, darting forward with disconcerting swiftness. He grabbed my right wrist—though gently—and turned my hand palm-side up.

"I smelled your blood," he said, relief edging his tone. "Thought you'd be hurt worse—what's wrong?" he asked abruptly, finally noticing the panic on my face.

"It's started," I said, and in that moment, I fell apart again. I watched Kuronue's expression turn to horror through a filmy haze as my vision became unfocused, as I wrangled desperately with the fleeting visions, jerking my hand out of Kuronue's grip and rubbing my bloodied palm against my jeans. "I-I'm trying to get to Demon's Door—I have to be able to see—" My breath hitched as my grip on the images slipped and failed me.

I didn't need to say anything else; we were already moving. I shut my eyes against the howling wind as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and then—once we were beyond the city limits—he took to the skies, where it was dark and no one would see him.

It took two agonizing minutes to actually get to Demon's Door cave, Kurama's thoughts growing louder and becoming more clear every second. When we landed, I jerked myself from Kuronue's grasp and stumbled to the mouth of the cave, falling on my hands and knees in the gravel. My already injured palm stung, but I ignored it.

"I'm here, Kurama!" I called, my voice breaking over his name, echoing down the dark tunnels of the cave. "I'm here—"

The force of the vision made me gasp in shock, reel and almost fall over. I was dimly aware of Kuronue catching me before I completely collapsed. I didn't care. I was blind already—Kurama's view of the arena blocking out my own surroundings—so I gave in and closed my eyes, surrendering fully.

My heart started to race, matching his.

My thoughts whirled, all feverish planning but with none of Kurama's calm to organize the chaos.

And I saw—in a strange way, through his eyes—the tall, many-pierced demon standing only a short twenty feet away from him, a strange hooped sword curving around his torso. And I saw the rose in Kurama's hand.

Kurama's POV

I was instantly aware of Reina the moment her mind joined mine. I could feel her panic as she'd raced to the cave, but now that she could see what was happening, it dulled to mere apprehension and rapt attention. I took half a second to peer through her eyes and see if she'd put herself in danger with her haste—and saw Kuronue kneeling in front of her, trying to snap her out of it. Good, she wasn't alone—even if she was completely unaware of Kuronue's presence there, in the state she was in now.

Satisfied, I turned my attention to my opponent, Shigure.

"Begin!" the announcer yowled, and I bolted just as Shigure did, running parallel to him on the stone arena. The rose in my hand transformed into a whip, and I pulled extra energy into it, making the vine stronger, less likely to break. Shigure's eyes widened in slight surprise—he was probably expecting me to conserve more energy so early in the fight—and I took that as a sign that it was time to attack.

I leaped into the air, and as I drew closer to my enemy, I felt Youko pulling on the edges of my consciousness. A growl, half me and half him, ripped its way from my chest, and I brought my hand down, the whip flying towards Shigure's head.

He lifted his weapon at the last second, my whip glancing off of it—a thorn broke away from the vine and, travelling at the speed of a bullet, severed the chain of a small bell that was dangling off of one of Shigure's many facial piercings. He grinned, a vicious expression, and jerked his sword up, tugging at the whip.

It pulled me off course, and I balked in midair as he swung his weapon back towards me. It cut a thin line into my shirt, not harming me, but I still retreated a few steps after I landed, eyeing him warily.

The bell dropped to the ground.

Three seconds, and he had been shocked, recovered, parried my attack, and launched a counter-attack of his own. He was not a demon to be trifled with.

He smiled as if my deliberations amused him. "Nicely done," he said quietly, his gaze flicking down to the tear in my shirt. "You know how to keep your distance."

Anger boiled up inside me—a calm, yet violent anger—and I battled it down. I hadn't imagined that my other side would be attempting to take control so early in the fight. My voice was sharp with my annoyance at this realization. "Underestimating your opponent is the first step towards defeat."

"I've always thought of fighting as a game of chess… it is when you fail to see you adversary's moves in advance," Shigure retorted, braci himself and flipping the deadly hoop behind him with a vicious grin, "that the game can quickly turn on you!"

He hurled the sword at me; it travelled with blinding speed. I ducked and rolled out of its way and lunged towards the edge of the arena as he bolstered his attack with an explosion of demonic energy—which shattered the stone under my feet as I leaped from the arena into the forest surrounding it. Reina watched with rapt attention, flinching mentally at the explosion.

I bolted through the forest, hearing the blade singing after me. When it got too close, I leaped up and flipped over it, swinging my whip after it. It curved around the blade, and snapped without interrupting its flight. Sensing a demonic presence behind me, I twisted in midair, landing on the ground just as Shigure alighted on top of a twisted stump of a tree that his blade had felled.

I lunged up towards him while biting back a wordless snarl, and Shigure smiled.

I ducked away from him just as his weapon flew back towards his hand, and retreated once more, having missed my chance to attack him for a second time. No matter. There would be others.

"When demons come to me, asking me to operate on them, I take no payment," Shigure said conversationally, tilting his head to regard me from atop his stump. "I only operate on those who have interesting stories… and I can always tell by looking at their eyes." A gust of wind blew past us, making the various pieces of metal pierced through the skin on his face jingle like a wind chime. "And you have… very interesting eyes. What is going on behind them? I'm curious…" The word was a hiss.

'Don't let him distract you,' Reina encouraged, a breath on a fading wind. She stumbled and fell silent as something within me purred at her words—a deadly sound, like the low growl of a lion. Youko was too close for comfort.

"Words, and feelings," I answered Shigure cryptically, but then the anger was back, searing through my veins like ice. "All of which have less than nothing to do with you."

My energy branched out like tongues of flame, rushing into the green life surrounding us. Shigure noticed that he was at a disadvantage, and started drawing on his energy as well. He lifted his weapon over his head and began spinning it—the vortex it created, coupled with his energy, made me stagger and then retreat.

Suddenly the vortex shifted, turned, and rushed towards me. I saw a glint of metal, and moved as Shigure launched himself at me with a feral roar.

The metal hoop itself buried itself into the dirt, missing me by a hair's breadth, but the wind slammed into me, driving me to the ground and pinning me there as Shigure's energy swelled and rose.

The last thing I saw was a blinding, white light.

The last thing I heard was Reina screaming my name.

And then, from deep within, a disturbing calm swept over me, clearing the red haze in front of my eyes, driving me further within myself. I knew that I had failed. I knew that it was over. I felt the familiar ache of my limbs lengthening, my teeth elongating and coming to a sharp point against my lip as I tried—and failed—to fight the transformation. It was too late.

My darker consciousness brushed me aside like a cobweb, and I knew nothing.

Reina's POV

The impression of Kurama's thoughts shifted—much like peering into the bottomless abyss of a sea. It churned with purpose, with things I could see and not understand. Thousands of years of living created a vortex so deep that I felt myself slipping into its maw. I clung to what was left of him grimly as we sank with the tide.

The darkness was a wave, a roaring abyss that crashed over us endlessly, drowning out everything. Kurama was a warmth in my arms—unresponsive, deadweight.

The night around us was so threatening, filled with evil. I realized that the roaring was not like the ocean, but it was a crescendo of howls, vicious snarls, a chorus of guttural, feral growls. Something that was not Kurama, and not even Youko, not really—it was his demonic nature, pure, unaltered by thought or reason. The violence made me cringe into a little ball in the midst of this nothingness, gripping Kurama tighter.

All that was left of him was his guilt, his sense of failure. I clutched these dregs to me as we fell.

Don't you dare, I hissed. Don't you dare give up on me. I need you. I know you can do this!

Kurama recoiled pitifully, just wanting to be left alone in his misery. I wasn't going to have any of that. I didn't care how far we had to sink, how deeply I had to travel into the depths of his soul, I was going to bring him back, dammit, and he was not going to lose to Youko.

'Let me go, Reina. I've hurt you enough as it is.'

His voice was clear, and almost calm. I knew that it was a lie. That it was a ruse. He wanted me to let him go so he could be free to hate himself some more, so he could destroy himself without my interference.

'Go, Reina.' It was nothing more than a breath now.

Something in me snapped. I took him, the last remains of what he was, and threw him away from me. I could make him out now, a dim silhouette floating next to me—faceless, silent.

That's not going to happen, I snapped. Now get up. If you die, I die with you. I chose you, remember? I flashed him a mental image of the crescent-shaped wound on my desiccated arm, an image from what was supposed to be my deathbed in Makai, and he cringed. I've always chosen you, and I always will. Even if staying down here with you turns me into a brain-dead husk, I will stay with you.

Kurama was silent, and the darkness raged on. I wanted to reach out and cling to him like a talisman, but he needed me to be strong right now... strong enough for both of us.

You have the power to push me away, I reminded him, something in me breaking at the thought. He could do it, and I didn't doubt for a second that he would. Mentioning this fact was a huge risk that could produce consequences I was in no way, shape, or form prepared for. I'm here because you want me here. Because some part of you still thinks you can make this right. And you can. You only have to try.

'I've already tried.'

Try harder. What do you have to lose? Everything, that's what. Me, your friends, your family, this life you've created. Everything you've accomplished, all the good you've done. And then, more silently: All the memories we've made together. And all the ones we still get to make.

Our descent slowed slightly—I took that as a good sign, and pressed on.

Do you remember what I told you? All that emptiness I felt after I lost my memories? How it was you, all this time? We stopped falling, and hovered in the howling darkness, suspended like leaves on the water. I continued, adding to the din as my voice slowly rose. Even when I didn't know you, I knew what the absence of you felt like. And I will never, ever feel that again, do you understand me? Now GET. UP.

We started to rise. The howling grew louder—but now it wasn't all snarls and anger and frustration, it was wind… the wind of our passing.

I will die with you before I lose you again. Images, brief and insubstantial, danced in the darkness. A spinning blade, a deadly opponent. Explosions over a desolate Makain landscape. Do what you came here to do.

I reached out and gripped the shadow's hand, and watched as color travelled up his arm, spread across his chest, his face, and into his eyes. They flickered like a dying ember, shifting from gold to green to gold again. And I was not afraid.

"Go," I whispered, my thoughts and voice speaking as one, and I let him go.

Kurama's POV

I slipped back into my own body, feeling my heart jerk and stutter once more, starting to beat again. Shigure swung at me with increasing desperation, and I simply moved away from him, dodging him as my limbs shortened, my vision and other senses becoming duller—more human than demon. When I landed on the ground, in a crater that one of Shigure's blasts had created, I was my own person again… lacking even the faintest whisper of Youko.

I felt completely and utterly free.

Everything was silent as Shigure landed on the edge of the crater, as I kneeled in the dirt and tried to find Reina's presence again—where had she gone? Had she disappeared with Youko? Panic, cold and debilitating, flooded through me at the thought.

'I'm fine,' Reina said, sensing my worry. 'Don't concern yourself with me. You've got a match to win.'

I gritted my teeth as I fought off some emotion—overwhelming relief, a sense that it was finally over—and felt the most curious burning sensation at the corners of my eyes. I sucked in a deep breath as my vision clouded slightly.

"So your struggles are internal," Shigure noted as I gathered my wits. There was a faint humming in my ears, like static. "Even so, I can fix that." I did not respond.

"I would operate on you, if you were only to ask." Shigure insisted, watching me patiently as I rose to my feet completely, trying to mentally shake off the lingering vestiges of that strange sensation. It was surprisingly easy to do, even with Reina's ebbing support.

"I don't need a butcher to improve myself," I said back, glowering up at him. "I just need to learn a greater degree of discipline."

Something in his expression shifted—he was no longer eyeing me appraisingly, but instead frowning in real, thinly-veiled disappointment. Then, it shifted to anger. "Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting we just walk away from this battle." Shigure lowered himself into a crouch, deftly flipping his hooped sword into a position that was better suited for attacking, not defending.

"I should hope not," I murmured.

'Kurama…' Reina warned, and Shigure attacked. The blade spun towards me, a single glint of metal searing through the air. I ducked to the side, but it was too late.

The blade sliced deeply into my arm and side, slamming into the ground with another explosion of demonic energy. The blast tossed me into the air like a windblown leaf, and I couldn't hold back the howl of pain that ripped its way from between my teeth.

'Concentrate.' Reina's voice was flat. I could sense her panic, but she wasn't letting it get to her—the situation was too dire, she believed, to distract me with her own fear. 'You're hurt, but not dead, and you're falling. Land on something other than your head.'

I obeyed, twisting about in the middle of my descent to land on my feet, from which I promptly fell to my knees. I pressed my good hand into the wound in my side, spending a little of my energy to slow the bleeding and biting back a hiss of pain. I sensed movement; it wasn't Shigure's weapon, but the demon itself—so I glanced up without urgency, meeting his gaze.

"Are you ready to concede? It looks like you've had enough," Shigure suggested with a self-assured half-smile, shifting the large, golden ring pierced through his cheek and jaw—he was pleased to know that he was going to win this match, but still disappointed that I wasn't going to divulge my secrets to him.

'You think he's going to win?' Reina asked. 'Come on now. We both know you can do better than that.'

I smiled slightly at her petulant tone, laughing quietly to myself. Shigure frowned at this.

"What, are you planning something?" he growled, shifting his grip on his weapon. His eyes darted around the crater, searching for a trap, a trick, something.

The bloodied hand of my injured arm brushed the loose dirt underneath me. I smiled again as my plan began to form. The Okunenju tree… a life-form so massive that entire biomes formed on top of its canopy. It had taken thousands of years to grow from a seed… a seed that I'd dropped into the earth. Youko had spread these seeds wide and far—and others as well—knowing that someday he could use them to his advantage. It had been a millennia, possibly more, since that time.

I was no Youko. But I could still use this tree to win this. It knew me, knew my energy.

What little of it was left.

'Kurama, this tree is a fossil,' Reina started to protest. 'It'll take ten times more energy than you have to do anything—!'

I hated to do it—to exude force over her will—but I needed to concentrate, and I would not be able to do that with her concern for my well-being flooding my thoughts. I pushed her presence from my mind completely. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and an ache of longing in my chest.

New shoots, leaves, and branches began to push through the scorched earth.

Reina's POV

Stale air whooshed out of my lungs, and I tried to jolt up, to stand, to run—but something held me down. I turned and clawed at it like a wild animal, until, half a second later, my arms were restrained too.

"Fuck, woman! What happened?! You've been catatonic for like fifteen minutes!" my captor screeched. I couldn't see anything—I could only hear. His voice, his voice. Familiar. Who—Kuronue. It was Kuronue. I blinked rapidly, swallowing, my parched throat raw and burning. I squinted up at him, and finally, my vision cleared. I could see that his expression was pinched with worry, his face pale and eyes wide and dark.

"Kurama," I croaked. Then, shock froze me. Kurama.

I jerked to my feet and surprisingly, Kuronue let me go, rising only to catch me as I stumbled and almost fell.

"Is he okay? What happened? What's going on, Reina?" Kuronue's questions hit my stunned mind, rapid-fire. He spun me around so that I was facing him, something I didn't like. I wanted to run into the cave where maybe the connection would be stronger. But I knew that wouldn't do any good. We hadn't lost the connection… Kurama had shoved me out.

"Alive," I managed. "He's… he's hurt. He's got a plan. It's really stupid, and dangerous—he blocked me!" I was more terrified and stunned than angry, really, but the hurt still welled.

Kuronue must've seen it in my expression, because he drew me close for comfort. "It's going to be okay, Reina. Kurama knows what he's doing."

"Yes, he knows very well that he's going to get badly hurt if not killed, and that's why he pushed me away!" I protested, my voice muffled against Kuronue's shirt.

"Try trusting him."

"I…" My breath hitched in my chest, and I thunked my head against Kuronue's sternum. "I can't do this." Kurama, please hear me. Please open your mind. I'm going insane here.

Would I know if he had died? Would I feel anything? No. I wasn't the one who had ripped off a little piece of my soul to give to the person I marked. He would know if I had died, but not vice versa. It wasn't fair.

In that moment, I wished that humans were able to mark as well. Knowing the exact moment he perished was much better than hearing it secondhand from Botan, Yusuke, Jin… from anyone.

And then, in my weakest moment of despair… I felt him.

He was weak, very weak—and tired. But there was pride there, a sort of satisfaction mixed with a hint of wistfulness. The vision was so thin and wavering that I was able to see Kuronue draw back to peer down into my face, hear him say my name—a question. I was able to answer him as well.

"I feel something…" I murmured, staring unseeingly at Kuronue's shirt. Black, then a flash of something—gray, green, light pink rain. What?

I closed my eyes and Kurama broadened his thoughts even more, providing me with a vision of a sea of branches, a forest suspended in midair. Flower petals fell from an unseen canopy above his head. Shigure's hooped sword lay suspended by branches, inches from Kurama's face. The demon himself was nowhere to be seen.

"You're okay?" I asked, barely noticing that I had spoken aloud. My voice was tight, strained.

'Yes.' The answer was calm.

"Don't ever do that to me again." I was attempting to sound stern, but my voice was a whimper.

'Your wish is my command.' Then, everything went black.

"Kurama?!" But he'd just said… Oh. He must've passed out. Someone had better go get him. I would wait right here until he came to.

Kuronue must've seen the resolve on my face, because he frowned. "Um, Miss "I have a biology test tomorrow," you're going home. It's late, Kurama's fine, and I'll bring you out here tomorrow so you can have another talk with your dearly beloved." He snorted, rolling his eyes at the endearment. "If he's as badly hurt as you say, he's probably going to bow out after this match. Don't worry about him getting into any more fights."

"Since when did you become so responsible?" I grumbled. "You can't make me."

He lifted his eyebrow, reminding me that he could indeed make me do anything he wished. He was a demon, and I didn't even have so much as a static charge built up anywhere on my person.

"Fine," I sighed. "Just…"

I turned back towards the cave. The yawning darkness wasn't so scary anymore—not with Kurama only a thought away. No matter how far away he was, he would be there. A silly little smile spread across my face at the thought, and my eyes slid shut.

I love you, I thought, hoping that I could somehow reach him in his subconscious as he slept. Rest, and then come home.

Something, like a sigh of relief, drifted back towards me. The impression of his thoughts on mine, like a fingerprint, pressed and molded itself against my mind, leaving an indelible mark.

As Kuronue rose on a stiff midnight breeze, I caught an image flowing seamlessly into my mind like water. Kurama stared out over a windy plateau, squinting against the dust and grime. He stared across the flat and desolate landscape like a stranger in a foreign land, and yearned for home.

I wiped the sweat from my brow and peered down at the map Genkai had provided me with. I was an hour deep into the forest surrounding her temple—she said that Kurama had been able to hitch a legal ride back to the Human World this time around, and the portal was opening on her property.

I was going to surprise him as well as I was able. I mean, as soon as he re-entered the Human World, he would be able to sense my presence… but at least I would be closer to him than he was expecting. I was lost in the woods, but at least it was kind of near the place where the portal was going to open... I hoped.

After all this, he'd end up having to find me in this forest. I sighed, folding up the map and shoving it into my back pocket. I found a spot of shade and plopped down on a log, picking at the grass near my feet.

Once upon a time, I would've been able to sense a portal to Makai opening. The heat would've drifted to me on the breeze and entered my veins—a flash burn. But now, it was only the comforting feeling of Kurama's thoughts that alerted me to the portal's presence.

I waited for him to notice me with a growing smile spreading across my features. I continued to pick at the grass.

When he did, he sighed in an amused way. 'Where on earth are you, Reina? You've gotten yourself turned around.'

With a laugh, I stood and spun in a circle, taking in my surroundings for him to recognize. Confusion greeted me, and he let out another mental sigh.

'Oh dear. Well… no matter, I've caught your scent. I'll be there in three seconds.'

Don't be late, I teased.

He wasn't late.

Kurama stared directly into my eyes. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief—letting out my pent-up anxiety, releasing every thought and every feeling. Allowing it to pour out over both of us.

And he did the same.

It was a strange warmth, something totally unlike the heat of our auras clashing. It whispered over my mark, slipping up my arm and coiling in the center of my chest. This was the only warmth there was now—never again would anything come between us. Not even ourselves.

"Hello," Kurama said lamely, though his voice was slightly husky. A faint thrill went up my spine at the sound of it, and a small smile appeared on his features in response.

"You're back," I noted with equal lameness. Holy, look at how beautiful he is. Kurama smiled at me, and started walking forward across the sunlit stretch of grass. I was awed by the curve of his jaw, how the light reflected off of his face and in his eyes. Seriously. How did I manage to land him? I realized, a second too late, that he could hear every one of my words, and smiled wryly as he chucked lowly, his gaze not wavering from mine. He came to a stop not very far from me, so close in fact that I had to tilt my head back to look up at him and admire him further.

"You're very beautiful as well," he murmured, still smiling, and reached up to brush his hand over my cheek. It curved around my jawline and stayed there, his thumb dancing over my skin gently. His gaze was searching, darting over my features and lingering, finally, on my eyes. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then said nothing, simply settling for staring at me further.

It was a comfortable silence. It had always been this way... though charged with some sort of fire; the flame of my power keeping each other at bay. But now... that had changed. The new flame was back, and something shifted in his gaze as it flooded my veins once more.

I'm not sure who moved first; our lips collided almost violently. I was briefly aware of a flurry of sensations—his tongue barely brushing my bottom lip, his hands in my hair. The feeling of his shoulders under my hands as I held on for all I was worth, as my heart almost took flight in my chest.

And I didn't cry from happiness, or from the stress that had built up while he was gone—I was too overwhelmed for that. There was only him, the love pouring out from both of our hearts and minds, the connection that bound us together, marked not only in my skin, but in the very fabric of both of our beings.

Somehow—I'm not sure how—we ended up on the ground, still exploring with a feverish sort of haste. He broke away to give me a chance to breathe, holding himself so that he was hovering over me as I lay on my back in the grass, not a single ounce of his weight on top of me. Kurama was breathing hard too, and rested his forehead against mine.

"Continuing this way," he said roughly, his breath warm against my cheek as he shook his head in wonder, "would be…"

"—Reckless, I know," I said in a breathless voice. His eyes, which had been closed, opened and stared into mine. There was wildness there, a desire that called to mine. I could feel it in my veins—a potent, incapacitating drug. I looked at him through my haze, and made up my mind. His eyes widened slightly as he felt my resolve.

"Reckless sounds good," I whispered, quirking a small, almost hesitantly shy smile up at him.

He returned it, his gaze roving over my features. "I'm inclined to agree with you…" he said in an almost weak voice. Then he grinned, and bent down to me once more.

It felt like waking up.

I opened my eyes after it was over, and I was new. He smiled as he saw me looking at him in wonder, and ducked his head down to kiss my shoulder. We sat up, and just talked—about anything and everything—while picking bits of grass and twigs out of each other's hair. There was no rush, nowhere to be. We just enjoyed the company we shared in the light of the dying day. When it had darkened enough for crickets to begin chirping, we rose and left.

We walked out of the forest, entering the temple grounds with our fingers entwined. He turned his head and brushed his lips against my forehead; I snorted and bumped him with my hip.

"You have sex hair," Shizuru said with a smirk as Kurama and I sidled up to the porch, the railing of which was currently the resting place for her ashtray. She smudged out her cigarette and crossed her arms, lifting an eyebrow at me as I walked up the stairs—me donning a sheepish look, her one of close consideration.

"You remember when I said that?" she asked with a snort, glancing at the thin line of smoke rising from the ashtray. "Back at the Dark Tournament? Fond memories."

"Yeah, I do," I replied, pausing next to her and shooting her a coy smile. She nodded at that, satisfied, already digging in her pocket for another cigarette. She found the box, pulled one out, and popped it in her mouth.

"And yes," I clarified with a wink, "I remember."

Shizuru's eyes snapped to mine. I could see the cogs turning in her head as she stared at me, her mouth slowly falling open, her eyes widening. Kurama chuckled and put an arm around my waist as Shizuru's cigarette fell from her gaping mouth. When she heard his low laughter, her eyes darted to him, then back to me, then back to him—only to slowly settle on me for the final time. It was like she was watching a tennis match.

Slowly, Shizuru's shell-shocked look became more mischievous, and her expression of open-mouthed horror turned into a sly, almost… proud-looking smirk. She started digging in her pocket for her cigarettes again, shaking her head the entire time.

"Be safe," she said finally, still shaking her head, and lit up another cigarette, drawing on it deeply and releasing the smoke with an amused-sounding smile.

"Oh, we were, don't worry," I said casually, causing her to snort and choke on the smoke. She probably wasn't expecting me to continue talking about it after she'd managed to gather her wits about her.

"Stop," she said, flapping her hand at me. "Just stop. I can't handle this." She marched off around the corner of the temple.

"Can't handle what?" a soft voice asked. I whirled to see Yukina standing next to us, her hands folded primly in front of her as she blinked innocently up at Kurama and I. Then her brow puckered, and she reached out, snatching a small twig that Kurama had missed out of my hair.

She stared confusedly at the stick for a moment and then, the impish, utterly disturbing expression was slipping across her features again as she put two and two together. It was my turn to be mortified—I felt my blush taking over my neck, cheeks, and ears as Yukina shot me a knowing look.

I pointed at her. "D-don't you start," I stumbled in a desperate voice. "Not you. You can't know—"

"Know what?" Kuwabara boomed, sidling out of the temple to see what the commotion was about—then he spotted Kurama and grinned. "Hey! Welcome back, man!" He shook Kurama's hand, and then dropped a perfectly innocuous arm around Yukina's slight shoulder, lifting an eyebrow at my ever-growing horrified expression.

Yukina, very deliberately, looked up at her ginger boyfriend, and then back at me. Then she winked.

I said something very unladylike and escaped into the temple.

Things have come full circle, it seems. In ATG, Reina was mortified. And now… sweet, sweet vengeance. :3 And then more mischievous Yukina, because that's how I roll.

Next chapter's the last chapter. It's the EPILOGUE. Oh. Em. Gee. It's not over, it can't be over. What do I do with my LIFE now.

Start writing on Gravity, duh. Because I'm a loser who SHOULD be studying for midterms.

Please let me know how this all felt! I wrote a completely different side of Kurama—a defeated Kurama—and while it didn't feel wrong, it felt… different. Which was kind of the point I guess, but still… what do you think?

I don't think I can thank you guys enough for all the help you've given me, seriously. I'm definitely not bragging on myself because there is always room for improvement, but your help has made my writing much better. I look at the first draft of ATG and wonder who wrote that; everything's changed so much since then. All thanks to your feedback.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I wish I could buy you all coffee and just chat, get to know you and give you all enormous hugs. But my words here, unfortunately, will have to suffice.

Until next time!