The sun was setting and Rirī was truly hating Kuronue's guts, not to mention his absurd ideas for training. The bat demon dragged her through the woods all day and she was getting very angry with him, despite her resolve not to hate him. Her body was killing her from their constant walking and her chest hurt from panting so heavily. When they weren't looking she had to vomit several times because she had not moved around this much in nearly a month, and it hadn't treated her well.

Youko pitied her, which made her even more frustrated, and tried to get Kuronue to settle down and just let them break or stop for the day but the bat demon was persistent and refused to listen all day.

Now that dusk hit, they were making their way towards the temple, Rirī glaring at her bloody feet as she stumbled along.

"Are we almost home?" She asked in a weak voice that surprised her.

"Home?" Kuronue asked in confusion, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"The temple. Are we almost there?" She asked, or rather, demanded, in an impatient and breathless tone.

Kuronue snorted and waved her off, turning back around to look where he was walking.

"Yeah, yeah, stop fussing stupid girl. You can go to bed soon. But a pupil really shouldn't complain so much to their master. They should be grateful-"

Rirī tuned him out with a roll of her eyes. Youko slowed down so that he could fall into place beside her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

"Tired and hungry, with this strong impulse to kill a bat demon." She growled, glaring daggers into Kuronue's back.

Youko chuckled.

"I'd imagine. I am quite annoyed with him myself. He wasn't supposed to take it this far. You're not strong enough, at least you weren't earlier today. But I see that now, even though you are exhausted, your walking has improved immensely. and your Spirit Energy is as strong as ever. Unfortunately, this will give Kuronue the idea that this ordeal of his was actually a good idea, when it really is not." He said with a sigh. "He claims that I know nothing about humans now and that he planned this from the start."

"How about you hold him and I knock his daylights out." Rirī suggested with a evil grin.

The bat demon turned around to glare at the two with a deep frown, signaling that he had overheard their plot. Rirī gave a nervous chuckle as Kuronue turned back around to stomp angrily away.

"Guess I better lock my room door tonight." She said.

"As should I." Youko laughed.

Rirī gave a relieved sigh as the temple finally came into view, Kuronue running up to it and jumping on top of the roof, his hands on his hips, a large grin on his face.

"Somehow he is more frightening this way." Rirī whispered to Youko as they walked up the dirt path, earning a laugh from the fox demon as Kuronue's smile broadened as they approached.

"That wasn't too bad, for a crippled human. You're walking has improved, my young pupil, in fact, you have nearly recovered. Since this worked out so well, your master advises you to do this again tomorrow!" The bat demon said.

Youko looked at Rirī's crestfallen and exhausted face and gave a sigh, looking up at is partner sternly.

"Kuronue, she doesn't have shoes like we do. And look out worn out she is. If it were another human she could've been seriously hurt. Besides, we still don't know how she was treated when she was a hostage in care of the pirates." He explained.

Kuronue scoffed and flopped into a sitting position, crossing his arms over his chest impatiently.

"We would know if my dear pupil would simply tell us." Kuronue said shortly.

Rirī winced at the memory of Takai's hands on her body again, her hands closing into fists as her cheeks reddened in shame, her wrists and ankles stinging where her bonds used to be.

"No. Not until she's ready. We can't force her, Kuronue. Besides, even if we did know, she still doesn't have shoes." Youko said, having noticed Rirī's body language change, so he quickly changed the subject to distract his friend.

Kuronue noticed this but went along with it, groaning in irritation.

"Then I'll go buy the wench some shoes, no need to make a fuss. It's not like she was complaining, right, pupil?" He said with a smirk as her face turned at him with a teasing glare.

"Probably because I was plotting." She shot back.

Kuronue returned her glare and leapt from the roof before them.

"Fine. I'll go get you some shoes. But don't think I'm leaving you to lounge around. I expect a meal fit for a king when I return, pupil." He said, then flew into the air without another word.

Rirī shook her head with a chuckle.

"I am half tempted to go to bed and let him starve. It's a shame I'm so nice." She huffed as she made her way into the temple.

Youko supported her back as she went up the steps, noticing how tired she was.

"I'll help you so it isn't a chore." He offered, opening the door for her.

"Thank you, Youko, I'd really appreciate that." She said with a smile, walking through the house into the dining room, unsure where to go next.

Youko gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her after him to the opposite wall of the hallway to the bedrooms to decently sized kitchen. Rirī smiled at the sight of it. There were meats hanging in a pantry that wasn't closed all the way, a pump for the wash bin and on the back wall a room that looked like a bath. Rirī was awed but how advanced the kitchen was, nearly as advanced as the one at the Collins Estate, but entirely wood and rustic. She moved to the pantry to grab some of the exotic spices there, as well as a chicken and some rice, even though she hated the stuff. She was very pleased to find a vast array of vegetables, and a few jalapeno peppers from the Americas, a rarity that she only experienced as a child when her father's travels would gift him with rare foods. Youko looked over her shoulder as she grabbed a knife from the drying rack and cut up the poultry. He grabbed a pan down from the ceiling for her and lit the stove, Rirī immedietly putting the cut pieces of chicken in.

"Could you put some salt and pepper in there for me?" She asked, having a dish in mind.

Youko nodded and went to the pantry to grab what she requested, a grin on his face.

"I take it you like the kitchen?" He asked.

"It's amazing Youko. I haven't seen all these spices together before. How did you manage to find them all?" She asked, pausing in her cutting.

"While you were in the cave asleep I managed to find some pirates who had stolen a lot of rare spices. I just did some shopping while they were out looting. The rest came from the trade port." He said, a sly grin on his face.

Rirī smirked and tried to look scolding.

"Honestly, Youko. You cause so much mischief." She laughed.

"I'm a fox. We are known for being mischievous. You of all people should know that, Rirī." He purred into her ear, making her blush, quickly trying to change the subject.

"Potatoes." She said the first thing that came to mind and she felt Youko staring down at her and she could've smacked herself.

"Potatoes? What about them?" Youko asked in confusion.

Rirī quickly returned to cutting the chicken, trying to find anything to talk about that had to do with potatoes.

"Y..yes! Potatoes are very common in my father's homeland. We ate them often, as well as sheep stomach, which I'll admit, I wasn't too fond of as a little girl. I favored my mother's cooking to that of my father's." She said, suddenly not so nervous, but bittersweetly happy at the memory of her parents.

She finished cutting the chicken and tossed the bones into the waste bin, cleaning her knife and cutting board, then moving to wash the vegetables she had picked out: an onion, garlic, tomato, jalapeno pepper, and carrots. Youko chuckled at her outburst, taking the clean veggies from her and cutting them, looking curiously at the pepper like he had never seen one before, but cut it as well.

"Aren't all humans attached more to their mothers than their fathers in their early years?" He asked, wrinkling his nose as he cut the onion.

"Yes, I suppose that must be the case most of the time. But why sound so unsure? Are demons not attached to their mothers?" Rirī asked.

Youko finished putting the cut onion into the pan, stirring it in with the chicken before moving on to the tomato.

"I don't know. I never knew my parents. They were either killed when I was born, or they simply abandoned me." He said quietly.

"That's awful.." Rirī breathed, pausing her washing to stare at her hands.

'To never know your parents, or if they even loved you, that must be so awful..' She thought.

His arm wrapped around her and pulled her into his chest and he hugged her, squeezing her lovingly.

"Don't worry about me, Rirī. That was centuries ago. And as you said, I have people in my life who care for me now." He told her gently, nuzzling the top of her head.

She nodded and sighed, gasping as the hissing from the stove got louder and louder.

"Youko, the chicken."

Quickly he pulled away, stirring the chicken again. Rirī finished up cutting the rest of the vegetables and put them in as well, adding some honey from the counter and a few dashes of curry. Youko sniffed the air as she took over.

"Strange.. It smells sweet but at the same time it doesn't." He mumbled.

"I hope you like hot food." Rirī grinned.

Youko laughed at her.

"Isn't it being prepared on the stove? Of course it will be hot." He laughed.

"No, no I mean spicy." She corrected.

Youko tilted his head in curiosity.

"Spicy?"

"Well, yes that's what the pepper was for."

Youko looked to the chunks of green simmering in the pan.

"You mean that weird tiny green squash?" He asked with a confused frown.

Rirī held back a very unladylike laugh, looking up apologetically as he frowned curiously down at her.

"But that's not a pepper. I've seen peppers before. They're much bigger than that thing." He insisted.

She smiled and sighed.

"Yes but this pepper is from the Americas. Its smaller and very hot." She explained.

"How can it be hot if it isn't cooked?" He asked.

Rirī sighed and gave up, putting a cup of water in the pan and covered it so it could simmer, turning to prepare the rice.

"How about you just wait and see for yourself, love?" She suggested with a laugh as she saw he was still staring hard at the pan, as if it would explain to him what he wasn't understanding.

He nodded and lifted up a kettle from beside the stove, grinning when he saw her smile at the sight of it.

"Would you like some tea?"

-RK-

Soon dinner was finished and the two let the food sit on the now cool stove as they waited for Kuronue to return, hot cups of tea in their hands.

Youko noticed Rirī was starting to limp as they made their way into the dining room and frowned.

"Rirī let me heal your feet. You're hurt badly." He said.

She looked up and nodded, moving to sit down but he picked her up and set her down on her cushion, setting his tea on the table as he began to grow herbs in his hands. A thought crossed her mind and she quickly jerked her foot from his grasp.

"W..wait.. I think I can heal on my own." She insisted.

Youko looked up at her incredulously, then went back to her feet, putting herbs over her wounds and she sighed as they vanished, however she was still very anxious he would discover her secret.

"Don't be silly, Rirī, you needed these to be healed. Besides, in order for you to train as fast as possible, humanly possible, it would be best if you were-" He paused when his fingers brushed over the large wound encircling her ankle.

His eyebrows drew together in worry and concern, pulling the hem of her pants up to inspect the wound. Rirī didn't fight him and she sat and awaited his reaction as he looked at the grotesque wound, looking at the other ankle to find the same wound.

"Are there more?" He asked.

Rirī nodded silently and unwrapped the bandages from her wrists, showing him that the same wounds were on her wrists as well.

"Where did these come from?" He demanded, his gold eyes narrowed in anger.

"I tried to escape the pirates but failed." She said, deciding to avoid telling him about Takai assaulting her.

"They did this to you?" He growled.

"No, technically I did it to myself." She murmured.

"But why would you-"

"I was bolted down so my strength wouldn't return and so I couldn't fight back." She interrupted, stone faced.

She didn't want him to read into it too much and realized what she meant. She didn't want to see him look at her with even more pity, because Kami knows she's seen it from him far too much already for her lifetime. It was quiet for a long time and Rirī stared into her lap, avoiding his gaze, even though his was fixed elsewhere, deep in thought.

"The whole time?" He asked, his voice almost sounding vulnerable.

When she nodded she heard him curse.

"And we had you running through the woods while it was your first time moving in a month! Why didn't you say anything, Rirī? You could have been seriously hurt!" He scolded.

She shrugged.

"It wasn't important-"

"Don't you dare say it wasn't important!" Youko yelled at her, making her look up at him blankly, trying to hide her true feelings. "Why would you even say that, Rirī? Why would you say something like that unless-"

He stopped, as if releasing, finally, what she hadn't said. He had sensed something like that may have happened but he had hoped it didn't and now it was confirmed he felt like his heart ripped into shreds. She was in her care before this happened and he left her. He let this happen to her. After knowing everything she went through in her past, he left her to this. He looked up at her and saw that she was looking away in shame and anger rose in him at the sight. How dare someone hurt her so much that she should feel ashamed before him.

"I needed the exercise anyway." She offered.

He glared at the wounds on her ankles and began to heal them, apologizing when he would accidentally hurt her, or make the scabs sting but he was furious. Rirī studied his angry features as he worked, noting the sadness and guilt in his eyes despite his rigid composure. After healing her ankles he knelt in front of her and held out a hand.

"Let me see your wrists." He said in a voice that was rough and almost broken with the grief he was holding back.

She held out her wrists and said nothing, but noted he was trying not to look in her eyes. He studied the wounds closer and hissed at what he saw, quickly growing more herbs in one of his palms.

"You're lucky," He whispered in a tiny voice, "That you didn't injure yourself even a fraction of an inch worse. You were close to cutting into your arteries and bleeding to death."

Rirī didn't know what an artery was, but if it had Youko this upset, it must be very important. She looked down in shame.

"I'm sorry." She said, holding back tears threatening to surface.

"Don't apologize Rirī. Not for this. Never for this." He told her, finishing his work and pulling her against him.

"I should have known that there was no way that I could escape on my own. Trying to get free like that was a waste of my blood and energy. And I should've accepted his touch instead of trying to fight. I should be used to such things but I guess after being free so long I guess I forgot how to be obedient." She mumbled into his shoulder, tears finally flowing unbidden down her cheeks.

She never cried in front of Youko before and she never talked about details on what happened to her.

"It's not your fault. That isn't something anyone should ever need to be sorry for or feel ashamed of being strong through. Don't even argue, Rirī. Not about this, please." Youko ordered.

She looked up and saw he was staring straight ahead, his eyes angry, his jaw clenched. The look on his face was enough to scare anyone away because it screamed murder, but Rirī didn't move. She rested her head against his shoulder and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, his arms immediately tightening around her, holding her securely to him as he rested his chin on the top of her head, closing his eyes. He was angry, yes, but not at her. No, he was angry with himself for not preventing this, at Takai for daring to touch what was his, and Yomi for setting it all up.

Rirī pressed closer and sighed in comfort, her tears drying up as she was held by the man she loved, closing her eyes. Youko's arms around her tightened and brought her closer as he kissed the top of her head. Neither wanted to speak, only sit and feel the closeness of the other, holding tight and enjoying their company. After all, they were still thinking about Yomi and his plot, determined to find a way to stop him. However, their silence didn't last long. Kuronue walked in the room and at seeing the two so close he gave a disgusted yell of surprise.

"Ugh! Like rabbits you two, seriously! I leave for two hours and you guys-"

"Oh sensei Kuronue, we have dinner prepared just as you instructed." Rirī interrupted quickly, not letting him finish whatever embarrassing remark he was going to make.

Kuronue was easily distracted by her calling him 'sensei', puffing out his chest proudly.

"Ah, is it, my pupil? And what is it you have prepared your wise and powerful sensei?" He asked, seeming very smug.

"She made chicken curry, but not like Japanese curry. She said it's 'spicy'." Youko informed.

"'Spicy'? The hell does that mean?" Kuronue demanded, sitting at his place at the table.

Rirī giggled and stod to go in the kitchen to grab hier bowls of food, while Youko eagerly explained.

"See there is this little green pepper called a 'jalapeno' from the Americas and it is supposed to be hot."

Kuronue frowned.

"How can a pepper be hot? Isn't it supposed to be cooked for it to be hot?" the bat asked with a confused frown.

"Remember the tiny green squash I found? Apparently that is it and it doesn't need to be cooked for it to be hot. But I touched it before she cut it up and cooked it and it wasn't hot to me." Youko said.

"Peppers aren't tiny like that. And everyone knows they have to be cooked to be hot. and you said yourself it wasn't hot when you touched it so it can't be hot without being cooked. She must be telling lies and trying to trick us to get back at me for being so hard on her today. Humans are tricky you know." Kuronue said confidently.

Youko frowned at him seriously.

"Kuronue you don't know the slightest thing about humans." he said.

The bat demon glared at him and scoffed.

"Of course I do! Look how far we got today in her training. You baby her too much, Youko. My little pupil will go far because I push her. You just coddle her. You were going to carry her around for weeks, Mr. 'get used to being carried'."

"How do you even know about that?!"

"I didn't, you just told me! HA!"

"Um.. guys?"

The quarelling demons looked up and saw Rirī carried in a tray holding their bowls of curry, rice and cups of tea. She looked down at them with an amused but confused smile.

"Ready for dinner?" She asked with a laugh.

"Yes-"

"Bring on the meal pupil, so I may decide whether you fail your test or not!" Kuronue commanded.

The swords woman laughed lightly, setting the food on the table before taking her own seat; Youko glaring at Kuronue.

"You take it too far. She's just trying to-"

"To what? Give her sensei a good meal? Yes I agree! Let's eat, I'm freaking starving." Kuronue interrupted the fox demon, whose ears drooped in annoyance.

"Yes, lets eat." Rirī said, bowing her head a moment before taking a bite of her food.

Both demons watched her carefully as she chewed and swallowed. Youko delicately took a bite of his while Kuronue shoved half the bowl in his mouth at once. Once they tasted the spice of the hot pepper, they immediately downed their cups of tea, panting hard looking at Rirī with expressions screaming betrayal.

"Rirī are you trying to poison us?" Youko asked, his voice almost hurt.

"Why would you feed your loving sensei poison? Why!?" Kuronue bellowed, rubbing his tongue on his sleeve.

At seeing their reactions the human woman burst into a fit of laughter, m aking the to demons look at her in confusion. Kuronue leaned over to whisper to Youko.

"Maybe she's a shapeshifting demon." He decided, coming over to inspect Rirī, sniffing her hair, making her laugh as he recoiled, because she had been running all day and certainly wasn't a fresh spring flower.

"I don't think so. Her scent is the same." Youko said, kneeling on the other side of her, sniffing her as well.

"Speak for yourself." Kuronue grumbled in distate.

"You two are hilarious! Really, it's only some spicy food, nothing scary, I promise." Rirī said through her laughter.

Both stared at her curiously, causing her laughter to erupt all over again.

"Definitely fake." Kuronue said with a frown.

"Why does it burn?" Youko asked.

"Spicy food is hot, so it burns your mouth. people ignore the burn for the flavor." She explained.

She suddenly felt like she was much older than the two demons before her and she laughed a bit more.

"well if a human can ignore the pain, I can too!" Kuronue announced.

He quickly shoved the rest of his food into his mouth and swallowed it quickly. His face turned red and he began to sweat.

"Are you-"

Rirī stopped short as Kuronue darted towards the well outside, his empty bowl and chopsticks clattering to the floor in his haste. Youko, however took another bite and calmly continued.

"You're right. Ignoring the burning does improve the taste. I quite enjoy this flavor." He said.

Rirī chuckled and stood.

"I better get more tea, before the well goes dry." She chuckled.

A/N: Yaay another filler episode! Slightly more feels but not a lot, I'm sorry. I know fillers suck. The next chapter is more intense. We are going to see a bit of action and maybe some more Youko/Rirī fluff. I like to add it in where it isn't really needed. I also hope you all enjoyed Kuronue and Youko's first go at spicy food. I know that they're old and all and Youko traveled pretty much all over the world, but I figure it would be fun to see what would happen if it was their first time trying something spicy, especially if they have never heard of spicy peppers before. I know it was a bit of a risk and they went a bit out of character but I couldn't resist making a comical moment involving food. Also, in case any of you were wondering, Rirī's curry is actually something similar to Jamaican curry. I figured since her father traveled a lot when she was young she might have learned a few things, especially after her mother died and her and her father left Japan.

TiaKay I am so glad you enjoyed funny Kuronue. I creep out my family because I laugh out loud while writing him, and especially this last chapter with him and Youko trying spicy food for the first time. It's not easy explaining to your family your are writing demons who are centuries old trying spicy curry for the first time, haha!

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry if you didn't and I understand why because it is super slow. More action in the next chapter I promise! No guarantees on update dates so it could be tonight, tomorrow, or next week. We all know how bad I am about updating.

Until next time my lovelies!

~Galinia