Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha
"Damnit bitch!" a rather angry and loud voice of hanyou origins echoed throughout the forest. "We don't have time to sit around and wait for you to take your stupid tests!"
"Look Inuyasha," a junior high girl in a green skirt yelled back. "There's a big test coming up tomorrow that I need to study for!"
"We just got a new lead on what might be another jewel shard," Inuyasha said while positioning himself in front of Kagome as she tried to get past him and through the well. As usual their other companions, a small boy with a fox tail and pointed ears, a woman in her mid teens with long hair and a giant boomerang thrown across her back, and a monk with a rosary around his right hand in blue robes with his left hand reaching ever closer to the boomerang girl's butt sat not too far off while they had their 'lovers' spat. "And we're not just going to stand around for two days so you can go back to your own time!"
Kagome, seeing as how Inuyasha wasn't going to listen to her, decided on the usual way of removing his impediment to her future education. "SIT, SIT, SIT!" As soon as the hanyou had formed a nice little crater in the ground she jumped over his prone body and headed towards the well.
Chapter 1. A Thief in the Night
It was a cool autumn day as the ex-demon thief Kurama walked down the streets of Tokyo. Three weeks had passed since the Dark Tournament and he along with all of his comrades had returned home from that miserable island. Although his somewhat temperamental friend and team leader Yusuke didn't exactly like the lull in the action, Kurama enjoyed it immensely.
At times like this he could stop being the reborn Yoko and return to Shuiichi Minamino, your average high school- oh hell who the heck was he kidding? Even without the demons, the almost constant presence of those fan club girls that seemed to follow him around everywhere except for his house hardly made his life relaxing. Personally, Kurama didn't see what was so damn special about his human identity; sure he looked good and had a flawless grade point average along with a cool and mysterious attitude, but that didn't really seem like a good enough reason to him.
With a sigh of confusion thanks to today's teenage youth, Kurama brought his thinking of that particular problem in his life into the back of his head as the demon reached the front door of his house, thus bringing the journey from school to its conclusion.
Putting on a quick smile for his mother Kurama opened the door and called out to the woman to announce he was home before taking off his shoes and walking into the house. Perhaps tonight I should be the one to handle dinner, Kurama thought. Or maybe take Mother out to eat, I haven't exactly been spending that much time with her since I got mixed up in Spirit World business. Maybe he would try and pry the name of the man she had developed a romantic interest in recently, judging by her change in mood lately that's what it had to be.
He chuckled a little bit at that thought. Most of the time it was the child's mother trying to get involved in their son's love life, not the other way around. Then again, how many parents have a son whom is at least ten times older than they are? Kurama thought with a smile.
However all thoughts of finding romance for his mother were cut short when a slight breeze brought the smell of burnt grass and blood coming from the kitchen. It was his mother's blood, and the traces of a demon's aura lingering in the air. Immediately upon smelling it Kurama reached up and took out the seed for a rose from his hair while holding in a growl. Within the depths of his mind he could feel the part of him that was still Yoko –who had been a bit more outspoken since the tournament- practically seethe with rage.
Careful to conceal his aura Kurama peered around the corner, only to find a rather large hole in the wall adjacent to the scorched earth that was once his flower garden. A quick search of the room with his other senses told him that whatever did this had long since fled and left no surprises for the demon fox, all the while Kurama had been in school.
The demon let out a frustrated snarl before banging his fist into the nearby dinner table. He should have anticipated something like this! During the tournament that low class fool Roto had some how tracked down his human mother and used her against him when they held their match, and after everyone saw just who Kurama really was, the want to control him in some way would have become even greater.
From what he could tell by testing the air his mother had been alive when the demon took her, terrified beyond words and bleeding a little from what his eyes and nose told him, but alive. It had only been one demon as well, although beyond that Kurama couldn't tell.
So, what to do now? Assembling the team for a rescue mission was out; Kurama had no idea where his mother was. Hiei might be able to locate her with his abilities, but if they all went charging in with spirit guns blazing, so to speak, then Shiori would most definitely be killed.
Sighing, Kurama looked upwards as if to ask the heavens for help…and received it when he noticed a letter hanging from a string that was attached to the ceiling.
After a quick inspection to see that it held no surprises for him, Kurama pulled the envelope down from the cord and quickly opened it to read what was inside. "Yoko Kurama," he read aloud, noticing they used his old name instead of just Kurama or his alias. "It has been many years since I've last heard of the great bla bla bla…" skipping the formalities and all the useless flattery the demon skipped down to the bottom of the page. "The deal is thus: In a shrine within the city of Tokyo there lives a girl whom has come into possession of a most powerful artifact, the Jewel of Fours Souls, or at least quite a bit of its fragmented shards. I have been keeping an eye on the girl who holds them, and from what I can determine she will be home this night and up alone in her room due to academic reasons."
Kurama looked up from the letter and blinked. Like most demon thieves who were collectors of antiquities such as himself, Kurama had heard of the item. Supposedly it had disappeared a good 200 years before his original birth, but the actual reasons surrounding its disappearance were never clear. Hell, some stories about the jewel said that pieces of it had started appearing fifty years after it's disappearance. But like the original story, there were so many rumors that floated around about it that none of them could be proven true.
With his reminiscing done Kurama looked back down at the letter to continue reading. "Retrieve the jewel shards and then come to meet me at the park three blocks West of your house at midnight. Come alone and with the shards or the woman will die. Below are instructions on how to get to Higurashi shrine."
After a quick glance down to study the crudely drawn map below the note, Kurama crumpled the paper in his hands and destroyed it with a quick flare of his yoki. If the foolish demon wished to meet him in a park, then it would be the last mistake the creature would ever make.
Quickly glancing at the clock Kurama took note of the time, then headed over the phone to file a missing person's report with the police if his neighbors hadn't already. It would be best to wait until nightfall to do this anyway, and he needed to kill time.
Much later it was ten o'clock at night as Kurama stood outside of the shine, hidden within the branches of the nearby holy tree. He had been here for a good half an hour to observe the place and see just what he was getting into; he didn't become the greatest thief of the demon world by just rushing in after all.
From what Kurama could tell the girl who held the shards on her desk did indeed have spiritual powers. She was a miko in fact, and probably one of the last few humans around with that old strain of natural abilities. Unlike with Yuske and Kuwarabura, whose powers were more geared towards destruction of anything and everything, a miko's abilities were tailored to effect only demons for the most part. However because a miko was so geared towards fighting demons they tended to have above average combat abilities than a normal spiritually aware person, but if Kuwarabura was to fight a miko, she wouldn't even slow him down.
There was also the smell of a dog hanyou around the area, which was strange. Sesshomaru had moved his people into the demon world hundreds of years ago when human's started to industrialize, a dog's heightened senses didn't mix well with all the noise and smells, and from what Kurama knew few or none had ever crossed back over. So the fact that the creature was only half dog demon was an even bigger enigma; what with a dog demon and a human to mate to make one when there was no contact between the two races.
I can think about this mystery a little more later, Kurama thought while watching the girl with long black hair through the window. A quick run of his fingers through his hair and Kurama pulled out a lotus flower with purple leafs that he had quickly grown thanks to his abilities. "Time to get to work."
Kagome sighed as she looked upon the math book below her as she tried to study. The key word being tried, she had a killer migraine and still two more chapters to cover. She really was spending way too much time in the past to make it in school. Maybe she should just stick a few wards on the well house and take a week off or something?
The junior high girl smiled at the thought of a week off in this time. She could finally spend some time with her friends, maybe even go to a movie or something. It would serve Inuyasha right if he had to wait around that long after all the things she'd dragged her through.
Kagome's thoughts about a vacation from the Warring States Era was cut short when a rock burst into her room and shattered the window just above her desk in the process. Thankfully none of the stray glass came anywhere near her a she had jumped back as soon as the crash occurred. Thankfully, developing good reflexes had been one of the beneficial side effects of constantly having to worry about being attacked by demons in the night.
"What the hell?" the girl murmured before walking up to her desk that the stone was sitting on. Ok, stones just didn't go flying through windows without reasons, so just what the heck was going on? Some punk vandal wanting to make trouble for some reason she couldn't understand maybe?
Kagome's own unasked question was soon answered as she felt the approach of a demon, according to her senses anyway. Oh, if Inuyasha broke her window then she was going to sit him until he was ten feet under! "Inuyasha come out, I know you're out there somewhere," the young miko yelled.
However the person who appeared at her window was definite not Inuyasha, although judging by what Kagome was feeling he was defiantly a demon of some sort. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I am not the hanyou," the boy in front of her said. Had Kagome not been feeling the boy's demonic aura she would have sworn he was cute with his long red hair and green eyes. "Now then, shall we do this the easy way and you just give me the jewel, or shall I take it?"
Kagome's mind suddenly stopped just wondering of how there was a demon standing in front of her in the modern era and turned her eyes towards the jewel shard that she had put on her desk while she went to take a bath and didn't bother putting back on. Without waiting to give her reply the girl lunged at the half jewel in hopes of grabbing it and then taking off towards the well.
In response the boy leisurely took his hand out of his pocket and tossed a flower blossom towards her that was about the size of his hand. Kagome put her hands up in front of her face in hopes of somehow deflecting the attack, or whatever this thing was, but before the flower even touched her she could feel the demon's energy flare and the flower exploded in a cloud of pollen.
Kagome started coughing as she inhaled the cloud while the demon leisurely took the jewel shards. Reacting on instinct and remembering all those times with Naraku and his miasma Kagome's body soon become engulfed in a thin layer of pink energy while she waited for the demonic gas to disperse, or at least for the effects to dissipate.
"Well it seems you have some control over your abilities after all," the demon said before pocketing the large shard while Kagome collapsed onto her hands and knees with a blurry vision. "But I wouldn't bother trying them against that planet, since there is nothing actually demonic about it you will find your powers quite ineffective against it. Don't worry, you'll be all right in an hour or so, but I must be going. Pleasant dreams."
The girl tried to say something but was unable to before the darkness overcame her and she collapsed onto the floor all the way. Where the heck was that dog demon when she really needed him?
Kurama sat on top of a new empty convenient store across from a bank as he silently watched the minutes pass by; 11:55 was what it said now. Five minutes and then it would be time to meet his mother's kidnapper in the park for the exchange. He had gone over what could happen again and again if he came here, and none of the outcomes were favorable. Oh sure, Kurama could go in, exchange the jewel for the woman, and walk away without a fight; at least till the demon came to threaten them again, and again, and again, not to mention his own mother's questions on the matter.
Another option was that Kurama could simply kill the demon. In reality it was the only real solution, when Roto had threatened his mother back at the tournament that had been the real reason for his gruesome death; he knew Kurama's weakness and was willing to exploit it, so he needed to be made an example of. The only problem with that plan was the obvious problem of Shiori finally finding out her son's dirty little secret. Truthfully Kurama feared that almost as much as her dying.
How would she react to what would eventually come this night? Would she hate him? Worse, would she fear him? Shiori had never been one for religion as far as Kurama knew. Although he had lived with the woman for all of his human life Kurama truly didn't know what his mother would do when she found out there really were monsters that went bump in the night, and her son was something at even most of the monsters ran from.
Then there was the final option. Reaching behind him Kurama found the small flask he had tied to his belt there, and brought the bottle to the forefront. It was the elixir of the former life, twice before the same magic had allowed him victory in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament. With it he would return to his former self, Yoko Kurama, a form far more powerful that what he was now. Since he found out about the kidnapping Kurama had been feeling the more demonic part of himself rage within his mind, as if trying to beat down the walls that separated his two halves. In that form there was no doubt that Kurama could easily rescue his mother, or that she would recognize him. But how long would the transformation last? During his final match at the tournament he had found the potion's duration was shortening, and if it didn't last long enough, would Shiori suddenly see the demonic creature in front of her turn into Shuiichi? Or would the transformation wear off at an even worse time?
Yet, it was the only way to assure both his mother's safety wasn't it? Yoko had more speed, power, and was more aware of his surroundings than Kurama, and he knew very well that the slight personality shift that came with the removal of his humanity wouldn't mean the abortion of this mission. If anything, the demonic part of his soul wanted to rescue the woman even more than the human part did.
"Strange," the demon in the human body mumbled. "Although there are many options and roads open before me to walk down, I find that I have no choice at all." A few moments later Kurama stood upon the rooftop to head into the park, dropping the now completely empty bottle behind him. If one sip would last a little under five minutes, then what would over a hundred do?
"HEY, WAKE UP STUPID!" a very irritated and annoying voice rang in Kagome's ears.
Kagome groaned and put her hand to her head as she slowly opened her eyes to stop it from spinning. Only for her elbow to come in contact with something hard, and making the first thing she saw a very irritated hanyou rubbing his nose. "Hey," Inuyasha yelled. "What the heck was that for?
"Inuyasha?" Kagome said with surprise written all over her face. "What're you doing here?"
"That's not important," Inuyasha replied after a brief pause. However the grammar book on the floor next to him kind of gave her a hint, Kagome must have left it behind last time and he brought it to her. Usually, Kagome might have actually appreciated the gesture, but right now as his face was barely four inches from hers and he was screaming in her ear. "But what happened to the jewel?"
"The jewel?" Kagome mumbled in confusion while she tried to beat back a killer headache. Oh no! That boy-demon, he-he must have taken the jewel! However, a second after thinking that, Kagome just frowned at her own thought. Well duh, that's what he said he was hear for after all.
"KAGOME!" Inuyasha's voice rang in her ears.
"WHAT? Oh right, the jewel, well uh," the junior high girl replied more and more sheepishly. "It was sort of… stolen."
"How the heck could you let something like that happen?" Inuyasha cried out in anger. "I thought you were supposed to be studying or something, I thought that was supposed to keep you up all night. Weren't you at least keeping watch?"
"How the heck was I supposed to do that and study at the same time?" Kagome yelled back. "Besides, it was a demon that stole it!" At least it certainly felt like a demon. "Weren't you keeping an eye on the well? I would of thought anybody jumping though that thing would of at least given you a clue as to what they were up to!"
"Well? Demon?" Inuyasha asked, obviously confused for the moment. "What the heck are you going on about? I don't smell any demon. Although… there is a new person's scent that I can pick out now that you mention it. I smelled it outside near the sacred tree too, but it's kind of hard to in here with all this… what is this stuff anyway?" However before Kagome could reply, or at least wonder about Inuyasha's response, he was already down on the ground and sniffing like crazy.
"Wait a second, you mean no one went through the well?" Kagome asked, although she didn't expect much of a response as Inuyasha was down on all fours and sniffing up a storm. Although, now that she thought back to that incident, the demon had been wearing modern clothes, a dark pink school uniform in fact.
"Okay, I think I know his-his-"
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as he train of thought derailed before she could finish putting two and two together. Down on the floor the hanyou was still down on the ground, and from the looks of things it seemed he was about to…
"ACHOO!"
…sneeze.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked with a small hint of concern in her voice.
"It's nothing," the half-demon replied before wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Now come on, I got the scent and-and-ACHOO!"
"Are you catching a cold or something?" Kagome asked.
"What are you stupid or some-ACHOO!" Inuyasha said, the sneeze cutting off his last word. "Something? I'm half-demon, we don't get sick!" Although to Kagome he did sound pretty stuffed up at the moment. "Now come on I…I-"
"If you've got sneeze again use this," Kagome said before reaching over and grabbing the dog some tissues.
"Kagome! Y-You can sense the jewel shards from here, right?" Inuyasha asked in a desperate tone, and yep, he definitely did sound stuffed up.
"Well no," she replied sheepishly. "They must be too far away. But if you follow that other guys scent you-" Kagome trailed off as she looked at her hanyou's frowning gaze. "-can't, can you, since your nose is too stuffed up?"
That pollen! That guy must have put it here to make sure Inuyasha couldn't track him, Kagome thought. But, if she couldn't sense the shards, and if Inuyasha couldn't smell the guy then… "But that means that we have no way to follow this guy," whispered the time traveling girl in despair.
Shiori Minnamino huddled up in a ball to try and conserve what little warmth she had left, her light cotton shirt and shoeless feet were hardly suited for a cold autumn night in Tokyo. Rubbing her arms with her hands the woman tried to get some heat with the friction of movement, while also trying to forget about the cold and slimy worm-like creature wrapped around her neck and ready to choke her at any moment.
In front of the woman, her kidnapper stood in front of her, turning back and forth every now and then to check the area around them.
That was probably the worst thing of all, Shiori's kidnapper that is. Before today whenever she had watched the news and seen people that abducted children from their homes, the mother had always called those people monsters, inhuman. But the…thing in front of her not only fit that description in the in the metaphorical sense, but the physical one as well.
The creature looked something resembling a bipedal spotted frog that stood a good eight feet tall. It had no neck, blood red eyes, and Shiori had seen the monster's mouth open more than enough to swallow her hole. She knew it could speak Japanese, as it had done on numerous occasions when giving her commands and telling the woman that the creature wrapped around her neck would choke her to death should she try to escape, but Shiori had no intentions of trying to get a dialogue going.
Although she was in this hellish situation, the mother couldn't help but worry for her son. Shuiichi would have gotten home by now to see the disaster area it had become. Shiori could only hope that her son was okay and not as panic stricken as she would be if their situations had been reversed.
Shuiichi. Shiori's son was her pride and joy. Back when she was at the hospital he came to visit her almost every single day. He was such a good son, although it still confused her how the boy could have changed so drastically practically overnight. A long time ago, when Shuiichi was just a little boy, he had been…difficult, almost as if he looked down upon his mother. Then one day when she had injured herself because of a foolish stunt he had pulled the boy had gone from bratty to looking at her with an almost quiet awe. It was as if he was trying figure out something that he couldn't just wrap his mind around. As the years passed that air of wonderment about Shiori seemed to disappear from her son, leaving in its place the ever cheerful and kind attitude the redhead always seemed to have along with the every present smell of a rosy perfume that he always wore.
"Well now it seems like you're almost out of time doesn't it?" the creature asked in a deep and gruff voice. The monster however, didn't share the woman's idea about that last part. "Such a pity, he doesn't seem to care about you as much as I believed."
The simple woman once again took note of how the demon in front of her mentioned this person; at least she hoped it was a person the monster was talking about. All night it had been going on about this mysterious stranger whom he expected to just come riding out of the trees on a white horse to save her. Although right now that turn of events didn't seem out of the realm of possibility considering who was holding her hostage.
Then without any forewarning or reason, the demon looked away off to the side and smiled, his jagged sharp teeth seeming to glow in the moonlight. "Ah, it is about time you came here. I have to say I almost expected you not to show. Did you bring the item as agreed upon?"
Looking over to see whom the monster was talking to, Shiori gasped when the figure walked into view.
He was tall, well over seven feet and maybe even more with the…ears? He had ears, not normal ones like a human, but tall and pointed with silvery blue fur giving them color to match his silver hair. As the wind started to pick up his loose fitting snow-white clothes blew in the breeze, also revealing a tail on the man. Had it not been for those features Shiori would of actually considered him beautiful; in fact even after seeing those things she still did, the animal appendage and ears just seemed to give the man an exotic quality to him.
"The demon fox Yoko Kurama," the monster said with a slight bow. "I didn't expect you to come dressed for the occasion. Now then, about the item I requested?"
"Let the woman go first," the demon replied in a cool yet commanding voice. "Then I shall give you what you wish."
The monster simply let out a chuckle and shook the top half of its body like saying 'no' to the other creature. "I don't think you understand this situation my dear thief, so allow me to explain things to you. For starters I know very much that you care for this woman and that as of late you have let her filthy kind's ideals of kindness and mercy get into your head to take your edge away. Now, if you'd look at this poor human woman, you'll notice that I have put an essence worm that I have linked to himself around her neck with very specific commands of what to do should I become harmed. So in other words if I so much as suffer a scratch that worm will squeeze the poor woman's head off. So if you were to try anything I wouldn't even need to tell the creature to do its job.
"Now, give me the jewel that we agreed upon as payment, and after I'm safely out of your reach I'll release the worm from the woman's neck. If not, then I'll kill her here and now."
"Then I'm afraid it is you who does not quite understand this situation," the one called Yoko replied with a frown. "You see the only thing keeping you alive right now is the fact that Shiori is still alive; if not for that I would have killed you instantly when I came here. Now let the woman go, and I let you keep your miserable life. Kill her, and you will experience pains the likes of which you have never even imagined, and you will keep experiencing them for a very, very long time."
Another shiver rocked Shiori's body, this one having nothing to do with the cold air around her. She could only stare in wonderment at the creature in front of her. What was he? How did he know her name? Why had he taken an interest in her when she had never seen the anything like him in her life?
"I wouldn't make such threats if I were you Yoko," the monster spoke up. "I watched you very carefully when you attended that tournament. I'm not stupid enough to give you enough time to let one of your plants get the better of me. So even if you did have something that could get you and your woman out of this by he time you reach for it she'll already be dead. My life may be forfeit if that happens, but judging by the way you fought Roto even you would never sacrifice her just to get me."
"You're right about that," Yoko replied before looking over to the woman with his golden eyes. "If I, or the woman over there, were to make even the slightest move at this moment to attack you or escape she would most likely die from injuries placed about her neck."
Just then in a split second Shiori tensed as she suddenly tensed as it felt like a hundred knife points were pressed up against her skin, some actually drawing a bit of blood. The monster in front of her however…Shiori blinked in confusion and would have gasped, actually she did try to, but the second she felt air rushing through her throat a thousand tiny pinpricks and the sensation of her skin being broken as well as a bit of blood flowing down he neck caused her to stop.
In front of the woman sitting on the rock the frog demon's body stood almost perfectly still as dozens, hundreds or thousands, of long and razor sharp blades of grass stick out of it every direction as if the body were a pincushion. Then the creature's body fell forward, and was sliced up into dozens of pieces from the blades of grass before hitting the ground.
"But then again," the other demon spoke to the dissected body. "Who ever said I had to move to kill you?"
Turning his attention away from the dead monster, the demonic fox looked back up and over to Shiori, his golden eyes glittering in the moonlight. Seeing him like that, panic filled the woman's being. She wanted to run, to hide before she ended up like the creature that had been sliced apart. But as the other monster started to come closer to her, Shiori slowly pressed up against the pointy grass; shaper than any razor.
The two creatures previous conversation forgotten for the moment, Shiori's mind filled with terror. She wanted to run, to scream, to hide, to wake up in her bed with the reassurance this had all been some kind of nightmare. Then something unexpected happened, the fox demon reached up with an open hand towards her, and the blades of grass around just withered up and…died.
Not sure about what just happened, or even caring about the how. The Minamino woman knew if there was ever an opportunity in life then this was the time to take it. So with her fears pumping adrenaline into her legs that would of collapsed without it, Shiori quickly bounded off in the opposite direction the demon was coming from. Hoping against all odds that she would get away.
As he saw his mother take off through the woods, Yoko didn't know whether to be annoyed with the woman, or feel ashamed at scaring her half to death. Although in the end he choose annoyed since the woman had been scared for no obvious reasons. Didn't she get it by now that if he had wanted her dead she would have been the human equivalent of chopped sushi?
Well, obviously not if she was running away.
For a moment Yoko stood there, unsure of how to proceed. He could simply follow the woman and make sure that she wasn't attacked by muggers or something before meeting up with a person to bring her someplace safe. Then again, if his mother happened to start babbling about what she had seen…Yoko didn't even want to go down that road.
So he didn't have much of a choice then. He would simply have to catch the woman and relive her of consciousness before figuring out his next step. Yoko just hoped this whole incident hadn't traumatized her.
Sniffing the air and picking out her terrified scent, the fox demon took after the frightened woman at speeds no human could hope to match. He caught up to her not two minutes later, and after taking a quick trip into the trees to move over the woman without her noticing, Yoko landed merely once pace in front of Shiori and quickly reached out to cover the woman's delicate mouth with his clawed hand.
There were no plants from the human or demon realms, no foxfire, nothing to do her harm. Yoko simply covered the woman's mouth as well as her nose till she finally ran out of air and collapsed into his arms. Once there, Yoko quickly gave her support and lifted Shiori up into his arms before looking around.
The only question was, now that he had his mother, where the hell was he supposed to go with her?
"You want to stay here?"
Looking at the demon towering over her, Shuzuru Kuwabara took another drag from her cigarette, and then blew the smoke in the tall demon's face. If it bothered the creature, Yoko Kurama didn't seem to give much of a damn. He just looked down at her with those creepy golden eyes of his and that too damn sexy to be human face for a few moments before replying. "That is what I asked when I arrived at your home was it not?"
"Listen here fox boy," the arguably better half of the Kuwabara siblings said before poking her finger on his chest. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I have these little things called parents. You know, it's like that one you brought in, only there are two of them. How the hell do you expect me to explain her and you just showing up out of the blue like this?"
"It was my understanding that your parents were out for the weekend," the demon countered. "That is was what Kuwabara said was going to happen this week. Was he mistaken?"
"Why in the hell would he go and-that idiot was planning to have a party or something wasn't he?" she mumbled. I was probably just some lame excuse to get that ice demon he had the hots for over here too. Oh, just wait till she got her hands on him. It wasn't that Shuzuru didn't like the ice apparition, but more than likely those three stooges he called a gang would be brought over too, and they always left their crap around for her to clean up. Either that or Yusuke would be coming over, which was even worse.
"That was what I gathered from the way he was talking a few days ago yes," Yoko told her.
Taking a puff of her cigarette to calm her temper so she wouldn't do something stupid like try to smack some sense into the demon in front of her, the older sister of Kazuma Kuwabara shoved that little piece of information into the back of her mind for later, then looked over to the fox standing in front of her. Damnit, she really wished that drug he used to transform had worn off, it was a lot easier talking to a three hundred year old high school girly-looking kid than some seemingly emotionless monster.
"Okay fine," Shuzuru finally agreed against her better judgment. "But only for tonight and tomorrow morning! Plus, you're the one whose going to be making up the cover story for whatever the hell happened, so you're doing all the talking."
"I accept your terms," Yoko said before turning back around and heading for the back door.
"Hey, just where the hell are you going?" Shuzuru demanded.
"Up on the roof," Yoko told her without turning around and just continuing on. "I need to wait out the transformation and get its effects out of my system. Don't worry about the woman waking up, I gave her some medicine before coming here that should keep her out the rest of the night. Just make sure that brother of yours knows what's going on when he returns."
"Whatever," Shuzuru assured him before he left her line of sight. Alone in the living room, except for Kurama's mother who was sleeping on the couch rather peacefully, the young woman went to find some spare blankets and grumbled about how her life was so much simpler when she could just feel ghosts and demons walking around the city instead of having to interact with them.
Up on the roof of the human's house, Yoko Kurama looked up at the sparkling object above him while he waited until he was once again returned to the confinement of his human form, and the things that came with it.
The Shikon no Tama, or about a third of it anyway, it was something he had never thought to see inside of the human world. The question was now, what to do with it? Yoko would turn his own tale into a stole if that girl he took it from was just going to sit around and do nothing about it, and there was that dog hanyou's scent he had detected outside of the shrine after arriving there. Was he a friend, or another demon who wanted the jewel?
The thought of Yoko just giving the thing back did cross his mind, and was thrown away about a tenth of a second later, as was the idea of just handing it over to Koenma for safe keeping. He might of still been under contract to the ruler of Spirit World, but that didn't mean he couldn't deny himself the usual pleasers of his old life.
Yanking on the small string to bright the jewel up so he could take old of it, Yoko decided to just let the decision sit for now. He knew that when he eventually returned to his human form, his opinion would become different anyway, so there was no use giving himself a headache about something like this. So with a sigh, the fox demon just laid back on the roof and tried to relax while attempting to tune out the constant annoying sound of horns coming from nearby traffic.
Damn noisy humans, it was no wonder most of the demons with heightened senses left with all that racket they made.