Author note: Greetings and welcome to my YYH fanfic! ^ᴥ^
You may notice that I use Yoko as a sort of last name. Truth be told, I found out that 'Yoko' is not part of our favorite fox boy's name, but a word that literally means 'fox': his actual name is just Kurama. By the way, the Core is the equivalent of the heart in demons.
Some chapters will be in third person entirely and some others a mixture of first person parts and third person parts. I hope it will work out, please give this story a chance before writing it off completely.
The cover image is the original portrait I created for Sayuri.
oxoxoxoxoxo
(3rd person POV)
Fifteen years ago, Demon World
Two foxes ran side by side, their fluffy tails whipping the air as they tried to outrun the Spirit World hunter that was dead-set on killing them. The male fox turned to his companion, a beautiful female with the same silver-white fur as him, "We must split, Yuyu", he told her in their animal language, his eyes of molten gold full of worry and fear for her, "Find a place to hide, I will keep him away from you". "Forget it, Rara", she snapped, her own copper eyes hard as steel, "I'm not leaving you".
He opened his mouth to argue, but sensing movement behind them, he jumped on her to shield her with his body, the sound of a gunshot breaking the air, followed by his grunt of pain. "Rara!", she cried, scared and worried. With some effort, he pulled himself up from her, the wound hurt like hell, but he still smiled at her the best he could while in animal form, "Run before his companions get here. I will keep them busy". "No, I…".
"Run!", he nudged her with his snout, then let out a loud growl and whirled around to attack the hunter, who let out a startled cry as he felt the fox's teeth close on his shoulder. The female hesitated, but she heard the hurried steps of the other hunters and knew that she had no choice, so she turned tails and ran, but she shot a look back before leaving, "I'm sorry, Rara", she murmured, fleeing as fast as she could: she couldn't let his sacrifice be in vain. And she swore she would get him back one way or another.
oxoxoxoxoxo
(Sayuri)
Present day, Human World
"P-please, don't!", the human begged pitifully, looking up at me with swollen eyes full of terror, "I don't want to die, please, please…". I chuckled and knelt next to his body, admiring with satisfaction all the bruises, wounds and fractures I had inflicted on him during the last five hours, "Oh, but you must die: you wanted to abuse that poor child after all and I hate those who hurt children". "I-I'm sorry, really…". "And besides", I cut his whimpers off, "You will be the perfect bait". He frowned, "Bait?". "Yes. Bait", I confirmed, then snapped his neck cleanly, created a flesh-eating plant to dispose of the evidence and I hid behind a nearby tree in patient wait. It took three hours, but at length I saw my prey floating down from the sky on an oar and smiled to myself: it was all too easy.
The blue-haired reaper, clad in a cute pink kimono, let out a shriek of horror as she saw the broken corpse half-eaten by my demonic plant and tried to flee, realizing it was a trap, but I quickly summoned thick vines that held her firmly on the ground. "Not so fast, little miss reaper", I said, walking up to her. She froze as her gaze fell on me, "Oh, no…", she whispered fearfully, trembling and I smiled. "You know who I am. Good: that spares me the need to waste time with introductions and threats". "I-I'm just doing my job, I'm not looking for trouble", she whined, her pink eyes filling with tears. "Ssssshh, no need to be so scared, little girl", I walked closer and she recoiled as much as the vines would let her, "I only need you to bring a message to your boss, nothing else". "A…A message?", she repeated, relaxing a bit.
"Yes, you heard me right. Here is the letter", I added, handing her a sealed scroll, "If my request is not granted in three days, I will kill every single reaper I come across until I get what I want. That's all", I concluded, making the vines disappear. She hesitated and shot me another fearful glance, "So…Can I go, then?". "Yes, you can go. And take this bastard with you", I gestured to the human's soul. "O-okay!", she grabbed the spirit by the arm and quickly flew away, the smell of her fear lingering for a while after her departure.
I slipped back into Demon World through the gap in the barrier, removed the energy-draining leech plant from my arm to regain my upper A-class status and quickly went back to my secret den, the plants that hid the entrance withdrawing at my approach and closing tightly after my passage. I knelt next to the breathtakingly beautiful seven-feet-tall, slender but muscular body lying lifeless on the ground, "You'll be back soon", I promised him, stroking his silky silver-white hair and his delicate triangular ears, "I'm positive that Spirit World does not want to get on my bad side".
Of course there was no answer, but I knew deep in my Core it would only be a matter of time before I would once more hear his low and deep voice, see those amazing piercing eyes of molten gold open and meet my gaze, see his muscled chest once again rise and fall with each breath. Soon, I thought, soon he would come back to me.
oxoxoxoxoxo
"What do you mean, he's not here?!", I shrieked, my voice heavy with anger and prince Koenma flinched in his seat. "I'm sorry, but your brother's spirit didn't pass over", he said, trying to keep his own voice steady, though the fear was evident in his honey-brown eyes, "You know that we cannot send our reapers in Demon World to retrieve the souls of demons and…". "And that if they can't pass over on their own, they'll just linger around as ghosts, yes, I know", I cut him off, biting my lower lip, "Is there any chance that he could come up here at some point?".
The little prince tilted his head to the side, considering the question, "Maybe, but it's unlikely: if he hasn't showed up in two days, then his spirit must still be in your homeworld somewhere". My ears twitched with joy at those words, "So if I find it, I can force it into the body again?". He frowned, "You can try, but it will take a power greater than your own to do it".
I shrugged, "Ah, no problem, I have what I need", I replied, my mind drifting back to the small and apparently insignificant ring Rara and I had stolen three months ago and that had the power to bring back to life a creature. Of course, it only had one charge, but that would be enough. I quickly took my leave and as soon as I was back home, I spread word that I would give a reward worthy of a prince to whoever gave me valuable information regarding Rara's soul.
Many people showed up at my den, claiming to have the answers I was seeking, yet not a single one among them had anything even remotely useful to say, just a bunch of lies made up in the hopes of fooling me. Fooling me! A vixen! I had never been an even-tempered person to begin with, but my frustration, outrage and anger grew with every month I was forced to waste and with every false lead that was presented to me, causing me to lash out more and more violently at the culprits until, after five years, nobody dared to approach me at all anymore for fear of meeting an untimely and extremely gruesome end.
I spent the following ten years in complete loneliness, only Rara's perfectly preserved body keeping me company in the small cave and I even toyed with the idea of becoming a ghost myself to find him more quickly, when a male low and velvety voice came from behind the thick curtain of vines and leaves. "Yoko Sayuri, I need to speak to you". "What do you want?", I asked tiredly, not even bothering to turn around.
"I have information regarding Yoko Kurama's whereabouts". "That's the same thing I've been told many times over the last fifteen years and they've all been lies". "I am not a liar", the voice hardened and I felt a wave of angry heat wash over me, meaning that whoever was speaking was a fire demon. I hesitated, I did not want to have my hopes crushed once more, but I also could not ignore a possible lead.
"All right", I stood and walked out of the cave, only to stop and stare at the stunningly handsome man in front of me: he was shorter than me (not that it was unusual, as I was a solid six feet), he had long, thick black hair with bluish highlights and short white streaks which stood on end on his head in the shape of a flame and shorter white bangs falling on his forehead, large slightly slanted ruby-red eyes that stared back at me with confidence and determination and he had his hands casually stuffed in the pockets of his long-sleeved black coat. A white stripe of cloth was tied around his forehead and I knew from the subtle power that came from under it that he had a Jagan eye.
"What's your name?", I asked him, admiring his features before my gaze fell to his lips, full lips just a shade darker than his peach skin. He raised an eyebrow, "Is that important?". "I always prefer to know the name of the people I'm doing business with and besides, I can't simply call you 'cutie', now can I?", I joked, winking at him. He inhaled sharply for a reason I could not fathom, then frowned, "Hiei". "Pleasure to meet you, Hiei. So, you know where Rara…I mean, Kurama is?". He nodded, "In fact, I do". "Well?". He was silent for a long moment, an unreadable look in those beautiful eyes of his, "I will lead you there", he said at length. "Oh", I blinked, that was unexpected, but I didn't mind as long as I could be reunited with Rara, "All right. Show me the way, then".
