Just wondering, how many of you people actually read what I type up here and down at the bottom? I hardly ever myself. I'm feeling swamped in work I ought to be doing. Realize that I say that I ought to do a lot of things, but I don't. In fact, I feel like gluing stuff to my poster in the morning. How's that? Maybe ten minutes before I have to go to school? Don't know, but I really think I need to get some sleep NOW.

So here's chapter 6. I'm thinking to leave it short. I know, I keep saying my chapters will get longer, but I find the most interesting places to stop. This stopping place is meant to give you room to breath and digest the significance of the last part. It may not seem to mean much, but there's a lot that goes unsaid here. This might as well be a reading comprehension paper. See if you can figure out what it means.

There is a reason for all that I do in this story. Nothing is without purpose, even Tsuchi's vague answers are important. I had to leave space for more details that shall not be mentioned. But don't take my word for it, read.

With the Sunset Goes My Love: Chapter 6

People Live and People Die

Dream

Alarms are going off, signaling trouble in the Ari Museum. Two figures land twenty feet before the main entrance, a bat and a fox. The silver fox raises his right arm to display a mirror framed in gold, most likely with some magical property.

The two thieves smirk as the museum guards come running out the main entrance. They leap off again into a familiar bamboo forest.

The Tsi Forest, the very same forest they had run through to escape Lord Mi's guards. In the Summer, said forest is filled with an open spaced park like area. A few trees here and there, hardly even a forest anymore, mostly composed of willows and cherry trees. During Autumn, the trees become maples and mahogany trees. When Winter comes rolling around the threes morph into an assortment of oak and pine trees. As of now, Spring, bamboo and beach trees are the main focus.

From around Kuronue's neck, the silver chain of his garnet pendant gleams.

The chain breaks. Seeing his precious pendant fall to the ground, he swings back using a bamboo tree as a pivot. He catches his necklace only to be skewered by a bamboo trap. He is now bleeding badly and stuck with the guards fast approaching.

Youko stops running and tries to go back to save Kuronue, but is told to save himself. Hesitantly, he turns to run again.

Normal

Tsuchi's eyes shoot open suddenly. Why she awoke, she knows not. Staring up at her star-studded ceiling, she sees they spell a single word: DEATH.

Somebody dies every five seconds. What's so special about this death?

Then she remembers her dream. No, not a dream. A vision. She debates in her head whether or not this development should concern her now. It had been three moons since her encounter with the demon thieves. She had returned to her normal life, working at the flower shop everyday and singing at the bar every Friday night. Does she really want to change that?

Finally Tsuchi throws off her covers and hops out of bed. The skirts of her flowing light aqua gown twirl around her feet as she rushes out of the building.

It is dawn. The sun glowing a deep red, a sign that blood had indeed been shed that night. Once again, in the forest, Tsuchi finds Kurama, passed out from grief and exhaustion against a bamboo tree.

Tsuchi's eyes flash with recognization. They then fade to a deep blue as she remembers the circumstances at which they parted. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to approach the kitsune, her slippered feet making no noise against the spring grass.

With a sigh of relief, Tsuchi sits back on her heals. Youko was not seriously wounded. A few scratches here and there, probably from running through the forest so fast. He was simple tired, most likely emotionally pained. If she was to do any healing this time, it would be of the heart.

Time Lapse

"You're awake." The kitsune had been awake for a few minutes already, hoping Tsuchi wouldn't notice. He needed time to himself, time to think, time to grieve. "I was beginning to think you would sleep for weeks."

He sighs and opens his eyes. A cup of tea is placed in his hands a soon as he is positioned comfortably in an upright position, with some help from Tsuchi.

He eyes the contents of the cup questioningly. "Poison?"

Tsuchi chuckles. "No, not poisoned," she assures him.

"How did I get here?" He asks before taking a cautious sip of the tea, watching Tsuchi over the rim of the cup. It was soothing.

"You were carried." Tsuchi replies matter-of-factly. Youko rolls his eyes. "I found you in the forest again. Kami only knows why I even bother to help you. You've been out for two days." She answers before the fox could ask.

Youko nods. "Thank-you."

Tsuchi's eyes twinkle with amusement. "Did the great Youko Kurama just say 'thank-you?' Well, there's a first time for everything."

Now normally this comment would have elicited a response from the King of Thieves, but not this time. A silence falls between them.

Uneasy about leaving Youko to his thoughts, Tsuchi tries another subject. "You seem to like running east when you're in trouble."

Youko tilts his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Both the Ari Muesum and Mi's mansion are west of here." Tsuchi pointed out.

There's yet another moment of silence. "He's gone." Tsuchi didn't need to ask to know who he was talking about. "He's not coming back to get me this time. I won't ever see him again."

Tsuchi bows her head slightly and closes her eyes. "He was a good man, especially for a demon. Loyal if nothing else." Tsuchi takes a deep breath of regret and opens her eyes. "Look, I have to get to work, you just rest and get your strength back."

Youko nods and Tsuchi is gone. He stares after her for a while, thinking about his situation. Sinking lower into the pillows propped up behind him and he notices a gleam on the bedside table to his left.

Sitting right there, out in the open for all to see, was the mirror worth millions in gold. It was priceless, as priceless as life itself. And Kuronue had paid this price, with his life.

And so the chapter ends. Kuronue is dead and Youko is once again in Tsuchi's capable hands. What will Youko do now that he no longer has his bat friend to accompany him on his heists? And what is the significance of the mirror? Many questions to be answered, but the more answers you get, the more questions you will come up with. Just another reason to continue reading. Er, I sound weird. Review and tell me what you think about the mirror. If you have any predictions, feel free to guess.

However, any ideas on how the story should go should be kept to yourself, because you will be talking to a blank wall. My ideas are set and that's that. I ain't making any drastic changes to the plot line. I just need to figure out details like dialogue.

Responses-

Darknesspirals- /giggles/ sounds fun. I've gotten the inspiration to go back to writing THIS story. But it has the worst timing cause my homework piled up over the weekend as I didn't do the stuff due Friday cause I was on a fieldtrip on Friday and I figured I wouldn't have to turn it in anyway. Hah, me the idiot. Oh well, guess what, I wrote chapter 10 of this story! And I just remembered I have like one paragraph of chapter 8 in my notebook. Now to put in the filler of chapter 9, which should be a normal length, not too short, not too long. Chapter 10 was only four pages. Heh heh.

LovingHiei101- Lol, love the saying. /holds up hands/ promise I won't steal it. Er, yeah, about the OOCing…I figure my excuse is that this is when Youko is more of an amateur. I'll make him more in character later. Hopefully…

Princess Kandra- Oh I wrote more, I will never run out of ideas for this thing. And how's it going on the White House thing anyway?

Let Me Be- /eyes gleam/ Now, now, you can't possibly expect me to continue beyond them falling in love if my reviews stay at the level they have been lately. I know I have more readers, they're just too lazy to do anything like click a button! Ok, enough ranting. I have many an evil thing planned for Kurama /evil grin/ but I have a lot that I haven't written out and a lot that I have lost to the evils of my floppy disks so if I find myself lacking in support to go beyond /starts counting on her fingers/ chapter…10 (approximately) then that's where I'll end it. I just realized that I should have categorized this thing a Tragedy as well. Oh well, too late, I said death is key. Oh, did you read my note at the end of chapter one about this just being an insert between the events that really happen? Well, I made a mistake timeline wise, but not many people will catch the detail anyway, so of course you can expect me to have ideas all the way to the Ningenkai. After all, I did say in my summary that Death is key in this story. How can I stop before anyone dies? (if I put my responses BEFORE the actually story this might make more sense cause by the time you read this, Kuronue is already dead…heh heh) Whoa, long rambling response. I'm done now. /Can just here readers shouting "FINALLY!"/

Hah, I almost forgot to remind y'all to review! Anyway, standard procedure, REVIEW! Might want to read my response to Let Me Be to find out why you should.