Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter XVII

"So, what happened after mom died?" Yumi hesitantly asked.

They, her and her father, were now walking among the soft, lavender colored fields surrounding the castle. She had insisted he take a breather – he had talked an awful lot during his monologue before, and he seemed to be suffering from some sort of emotional trauma in her eyes. Besides, she needed a break from it all as well. Even though she was finally able to remember her past, it still didn't answer questions. Of course, her father had seen to that and now, with painful clarity, she was beginning to see the big picture.

Clearly her enemy, the ice queen - and oddly enough her grandmother - , evidently needed her and her sister for something that Zane had yet to reveal. Though a little irritated that she wasn't getting the info she needed directly, she was still intrigued about events she knew nothing of. After all, her father had kept these things from her when she was a child and well, after he died… that didn't matter. All that mattered now were the important things, such as what happened after her mother died.

Zane sighed, long and deep as if trying to rid himself of something – of what, Yumi could only guess. Straightening himself, he wearily eyed her from the corner of his eyes. "After she died chaos ensued."

Yumi stopped walking and glared. She was NOT going to go beating around the bush with vague answers again! It was not acceptable. Evidently Zane noticed this and stopped walking as well, turning to face her directly. It was all he could do to withhold the smirk that threatened to break from the corner of his mouth.

"Patience Yumi, you'll know everything sooner or later." Her scowl only deepened making him loose his inner battle and break out into a full, toothy grin. How he loved teasing her.

"Okay! Geez, I was only having a little fun Yumi!" he said, holding his hands up in a mock gesture of surrender. She was not amused. "(sigh) Anyways, as I was saying before, everyone panicked. It took a long time to calm everyone down considering my guards had to do it for me; I was too busy cradling Celestia and futilely trying to revive her. Finally I was forced to accept that she was no longer with us and, as her last wish, I was told to give you this…"

With another warm smile, he pulled the chain off that, just moments before, hung from his neck revealing it to actually be a pendant of some sort. Upon closer inspection she realized - as soon as he had given it to her- it was truly a memento. It was beautifully decorated, yet simple, with an oval piece of jade in its center. The gold had been pressed with numerous designs depicting magical runes.

"T…this was from mother?" she asked in a whisper. All she received from her father was a curt nod. Turning the precious piece of jewelry in her hands, she noticed hinges on its corners. So it's a locket? she mused to herself. With nimble fingers she opened the memento-locket only to find words engraved on the inside.

"segretta no imagis?" she read aloud, looking questioningly to her father.

"It simply means with all my love," he informed her.

Yumi nodded absentmindedly before continuing her examination of the object. On the other side of the locket was a picture or, rather, painting of herself holding an infant? No, it was her mother she realized after doing a double-take. It was her mother holding herself as a newborn.

"She loved you with all her heart Yumi," Zane said as he walked up to her. "She wanted you to know how much she loved you."

"Why didn't I have this before?" Yumi asked, looking up. "If she wanted me to have it, shouldn't I…well, already have it?"

"You did have it." He answered. "But when I erased your memories I decided to take it away from you with the intention of giving it back when you came here."

"Oh…" Slightly embarrassed, Yumi ducked her head down letting long auburn locks hide her face.

"Come now, don't do that." He sighed as he bent down, lifting her face up. "You used to do that all the time when you were little. Hell, we couldn't get you to show your face in a crowd – you'd always try to hide!"

Yumi blushed a little, but hid it well. She smirked. "Bet I was a pain in the ass too."

He mirrored her smirk. "Right you are."

NO.

What was he supposed to do now? Accept that she was dead? Give up all hope and say 'oh, how sad. Nothing can be done now'? No, that wasn't possible, he wouldn't allow such thoughts to creep in and make themselves at home. He didn't give up on finding Yukina – or find out about his mother for that matter – and he wouldn't give up on something as important as this either. Yumi was all he had left now, and he wouldn't let such a thing be taken away from him…

Again.

He was confused though. Utterly confused. He knew that something had been overlooked; he knew that they had missed something whatever IT was.

Yes, he could admit that much to himself, he WAS confused, and that was a bad thing. A confused Hiei led to an irritated Hiei, and an irritated Hiei led to a pissed off Hiei – not a very good thing if you happened to be any tangible object in his way.

Such as a stubborn piece of thick underbrush among a densely thick forest.

Needless to say said underbrush had been hacked away within a matter of seconds…along with nearly all the other twigs or thorns that happened to be in his way. He was careful, though, not to get any scratches on Yumi's porcelain skin or any twigs in her hair. He would take care of her body until she woke up. Yes…she would wake up eventually – it was only a matter of time. And if not a matter of time then…he would surely find out some way, some loophole to get her better again.

Hiei stopped his assault on the underbrush for a minute and looked up. A rain drop greeted him, promptly falling on his head with a loud splat! He scowled, holding Yumi a little tighter and jumped to the top of a tree and scanned the area. He was far from the temple already and the last rays of the sun were setting over the horizon casting the trees in orange light. It was a beautiful sight and, if it were any other moment than this, he would've probably stopped to appreciate nature's beauty.

Wait. Scratch that; he probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

His eyes kept scanning the area until they fell upon a cave a short distance away. In a flash he was gone and standing before the cave's entrance.

Beware all animals that happen to live in said cave.

"Aya?" Kurama asked as he slipped into her room. They were still at Genkai's temple; Kurama thought that it would be best considering the efficient barrier it was able to hold up.

Since she was told of her sister's death – and after her bout with Hiei – Aya had locked herself up in her room, silent. She hadn't talked to anyone except for when absolutely needed. Her silence could rival that of Hiei's except…it was worse.

"…"

He sighed. He had expected as much. Even though he had tried everything he could think of, nothing changed. She sat still, rigid, her eyes hollow. She had undergone a sort of transformation that bellied her grief. Or guilt, he mused.

Hmph. You can't do anything right.

Really? I do believe it was I who wooed her first.

But she fell in love with…us… when she saw ME.

Whatever.

Let me out. I'll have a better chance of getting her to speak than you.

He sighed. It was no use arguing with him. Even though he suppressed the Kitsune he shared a body with, it wasn't fruitful. He could lose control sometimes and Youko would come out, leaving him in the corner of their mind, a spectator. Of course he wasn't able to do that until after Kurama had gotten stronger…

Kurama could feel the eagerness and irritation radiating from Youko at the moment which only meant that it'd be a matter of time before he would force himself out… or, possibly, come out when Kurama was asleep. He found out that Youko could do that the hard way; one tends to become suspicious when they 'sleepwalked' into numerous jewelry stores and woke up the next morning in a tree with priceless treasures surrounding him.

Not that he minded really. He could care less if the Kitsune was able to leave his body or not. Hell, when Youko sought safety in his body he became an entirely different being: half Kitsune, half human. It was really confusing and irritating sometimes.

Fine, I'll let you out just… try not to hurt her feelings or anything…

Hmph, baka, like I'd go and do that; she's already hurting enough as it is and I'm sure you're well aware that I care for her as well.

Not in the least comforted by what the thief had said, he nevertheless let himself relax and be at ease. He could feel the familiar tingling that welcomed him every time the two 'switched places'. Familiar gray smoke shrouded him as his body grew slightly taller, a tail, fox ears, and longer silver hair.

"Finally…" Youko Kurama whispered as he slightly stretched. Every time he was confined inside the red haired human…well, simply put, he hated it.

"Aya? Heeelloo?" he said as he walked up to her playfully. His tail whipped behind him in the same playful manner – he was trying his best to look cute and cheer her up, (Youko fan girls: Awwwwww!) however, it wasn't working. His grin faltered a bit as he crouched down in front of her so that he could look her in the eyes. He knew for a fact that she could hear him, so why didn't she say anything, or, for that matter, even acknowledge his presence?

As his golden eyes met her lifeless and joyless ones, she quickly averted them. Though not too surprised by the action, his mouth still dragged down at the corners in a slight grimace. Quickly he changed that grimace into a pout and puppy dog eyes. Hell, she better react to this in SOME way – he wasn't doing anything for charity ya know!

The only response he got was her getting up and walking to the window. Pride and ego now thoroughly stomped on and deflated, he resided to simply throw himself backwards onto her bed with an overly dramatic sigh. Bored, he looked up at the ceiling.

"Why?" he finally asked after finding that the ceiling wasn't very entertaining after all. Aya seemed ruffled up a bit at the question, but still didn't respond nor did she bother turning around. For the second time withinfive minutes, he sighed long and deep. "I won't take that as an answer Aya; maybe Hiei, but not you."

"I won't take that as an answer Aya; maybe Hiei, but not you."

Her head involuntarily twitched at the statement. Stupid head betraying me… she thought to herself. Right now she was going to mourn and grieve for her sister if anything… even if that meant ignoring her love interest - or one of her love interests if you count the redhead too (she preferred to see them as one being not two). Still, she wasn't in the mood for doing much of anything at the moment, not so soon.

"Aya," Youko whispered in her ear as his arms snaked their way around her waist. When did that happen? "I know what you're going through." He said quietly into her hair. Again her body betrayed her by giving a somewhat annoyed grunt. She hadn't meant to do it, but still… how could he expect to know what she was going through? Yumi was dead.

She could feel Youko softly chuckle, his breath hot against her neck. "I know you don't believe me, but it's true. I've had a very f#&ed up life."

This interested her. That is until she started to reprimand herself mentally. She was supposed to only mourn! NOT think about his mysterious past, or his hands around her waist... or the feel of his breath brushing her neck… or her body leaning back against him…

Ahh! When will my body quit betraying me!

"Yumi is dead." She finally said aloud. Her voice was a little raspy from not talking so much, but she needed to say something in order to stop the direction her thoughts were taking. She also needed to actually accept what everyone kept on telling her and apologizing for. "She's gone, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Suddenly cold air filled the space that Youko had been only moments before. Somewhat confused, and now cold, she turned around to see where her object of warmth had disappeared. She found him simply starring at her, a calculating look in his golden eyes. She returned his look with a carefully neutral one.

"What?" she finally asked, becoming somewhat impatient after ten minutes. In one fluid movement he seemed to become like his old, laid-back self again.

"Nothing," he said, purposely turning around and walking for the door. He gave her one more calculating glance before shrugging nonchalantly and heading out the door leaving her behind, tail swishing lazily behind him.

Now what in the… Jerk!

Anger now coming from out of nowhere, Aya hurriedly ran to the door. "Hey! Get back here!"

"This locket thingy has some sort of protection spell in it doesn't it." Yumi stated. She eyed her father trying to get him to speak directly; no 'trips down memory lane' as she had so fondly dubbed his sudden comments that always led them off the subject. She couldn't help but wonder if he did it on purpose.

"Hm? Oh, yes, but it's not for protection but, rather, power."

"Power."

"Yes, power."

She raised her eyebrow. "What kind of power."

"To increase your strength; I also have one for Aya that her mother left behind as well." Well, there goes feeling somewhat unique and special Yumi thought. Oh well, at least I'm still the oldest… Now if I wasn't so damn short.

"Aya's mother?" She inhaled a deep breath, resisting the urge to smirk - it was time to start having some fun. " Who-was-she?-When-did-you-meet?-How-did-you-meet?-What-kind-of-demon-was-she?-(gasp) You-were-having-an-affair-on-mother!" she finished all in one long breath.

"Yes, Aya's mother. Her name was Tia. We met at a formal gathering, ball-type deal three years after your mother died. She was a Kitsune. We fell in love and got married. And no, I HAD NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR ON YOUR MOTHER OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ANY OF MY MATES!"

"Mates?" another dramatic pause. "Exactly how many whores did you have?"

He ground his teeth together in frustration and tightly shut his eyes. How in the world did she ever come to these conclusions? What had he done? "I. Have. Only. Had. Two. Mates."

"…"

He carefully opened one eye while still trying to suppress his growing rage and irritation welling up inside of him. He opened the other when all he saw was Yumi rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. "What the hell?" he murmured as he eyed her wearily. Had she gone nuts?

"You should have seen the look on your face!" she yelled in between fits of mirth. "It was priceless!"

He looked at her quizzically, head tilted, ears perked. "I repeat: what the hell?"

Yumi stood up slowly, holding a hand to her side - she was still suffering from mild bouts of what she was sure sounded like insane giggling. Her father was beginning to piss her off with all the teasing he did to her, it was only far that she got to mess around with his mind too. And from the looks of things she succeeded.

She wiped away a tear. "Oh, nothing dad, I was only messin' with ya. I know that you would never do anything like that! Now, tell me what happened next with Aya's mum."

He wearily eyed her not sure if he could trust that she wouldn't go into another fit of laughter. He supposed he did deserve it for pushing her for as many times as he already had, but still… he was the father. She wasn't allowed to do that… but oh well.

"Weeeellll," he drawled. "Nothing really important happened with all that. It was basically the same deal as what happened to your mother – she was assassinated two years after we had Aya."

"What! Another assassination? Did the new country you and my momunite break up when she died?"

"No, but everyone was a little freaked out about it. Still, everything turned back to normal after awhile and well, that's when the other assassination was made, but this time it was gruesome."

"Gruesome?"

"Yes. One day after coming back from a meeting I found Tia on our bed covered with blood. Someone had stabbed her… a lot… until she had died. By the looks of it, it had had to have been an inside job since I doubt that anyone would've been able to kill her so easily." He shuddered as the unwanted image decided to show itself in his head. "Anyways, afterwards I had you and your sister's memories erased and then I told one of my guards to take you both somewhere safe… anywhere."

"But why?" Yumi asked quietly. She didn't understand why her father had to let them go like that.

He sighed. "Because it was the only way to protect you. I knew that my demise would come soon after she was killed and I didn't want either of you to get hurt or have the images of my death burned in your memories forever. I wouldn't allow it. But now, I see that it was futile – you're still being pursued by Zeal."

"Yeah, about that," Yumi said looking up from the flower she had picked during her father's answer. "Why exactly is she so intent on getting us… alive for that matter?"

"Aaah, good question." He said looking at her calmly.

"You…you don't know?"

"I know."

Yumi stared at him. "Then why won't you tell me?" she asked slowly, grinding her teeth in frustration.

"Because I forget what she's after."

"But you do know that it's something, right?"

"Well yes. I think it's some sort of artifact of colossal power that was passed down in my family for generations – in order to protect, not use. Only those related to my family by blood are able to get through the barrier that surrounds it. If anyone tries to steal the treasure then they get a rather painful death for their actions."

Again Yumi raised a brow. "You can remember all of that and yet you can't remember the actual object being protected?"

He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Nope."

"Uhh… I think I'm gonna have a headache…" Wait, scratch that. She DID already have one. "Too late…" she grumbled to herself.

She heard her father's laughter from beside her. "Come on now Yumi! Unfortunately I'm sure that whatever that artifact is, you're going to get to find out sooner or later. You have to go back to the palace and kill Zeal. If you don't… well, I'm not sure I have to tell you what may happen."

Yumi nodded absentmindedly before being engulfed into a warm embrace. "Don't worry my daughter. Everything will be fine… but now, it's time for you to leave…" Her eyes widened a bit, but became their normal size once again when she realized that though he may seem real in this reality, he was dead and gone in the real world.

Slowly and unwillingly they both broke off the hug and simply stood there staring at each other. Yumi opened her mouth in order to say something, a goodbye at the very least, but nothing came out. Unintelligently, she closed her gaping mouth and simply stood there not quite knowing what she should do. What do you say to someone who is so important to you and yet at the same time is someone you know nothing about? Yumi felt as though she had just scratched the surface of her father's being. She wanted to everything about him, everything she should've already known. Try as she might, no words formed from her lips – she was never really that good at goodbyes anyway. She was saved, however, by her father.

"I'm sad to see you leave so soon Yumi, but you have to. I'm sure everyone must be worried sick about you… especially this boy named Hiei?" Her cheeks reddened slightly at the oh so fatherly look he gave her. He shook his head and grinned.

"No matter. He's a good mate for my daughter if he managed to put up with you and protect you. I'm glad that you are no longer so alone Yumi." Unbidden tears welled up in her eyes making them sting. She didn't' want to cry in front of him; she didn't want him to remember her with a tear streaked face, but try as she might, they still fell, twin streams running freely. She was surprised to see Zane's eyes start to become glassy as well.

"Before I send you away I have instructions for you."

"What?"

"Aya must come to me as well through her own pendant, and you need to say the words to send her here." Yumi nodded. "Alright, listen carefully. Just say terriime sas dis zeiomsan o las do nowamei while she is holding on to her pendant. It's as simple as that." Again Yumi nodded seeing as how she didn't really trust her voice now; it was a miracle that it was even when she spoke before.

Yumi felt her being wrapped in the same warm embrace as before, the only difference being her father's tears falling on the side of her face joining her own. "Goodbye Yumi…" she heard him whisper before she lost all sense of touch and vision.

"I love you daddy."

Darkness.

"I love you too…"

Hiei's eyes pierced what little darkness remained in the cave. He had earlier made sure that all the animals were…uh, gone... before making a fire and a makeshift bed to lay Yumi on – makeshift meaning a bed consisting soft grasses and his cloak. Now he was eating one of the animals that weren't quite as content as the others had been to leave for the unexpected guest.

Hunger satisfied, he turned to look out into the darkness at the cave's entrance. It was raining hard now, with lightening dancing among the black clouds and thunder sounding as soon as it had caught up to its partner. Utterly bored now, he resided to unsheathing his katana and examining the already memorized flaws in the deadly steel. Soon, though, his thoughts wondered back to where Yumi lie and whether or not she was okay. He quickly checked on her, checking her pulse, breath, anything he could think of, but nothing changed. Soon this all seemed to meld into some kind of routine: Stand, stretch, look outside, examine and/or clean weapon, check on Yumi.

Stand,

stretch,

look outside,

examine and/or clean said weapon,

check on Yumi.

After about the fifth time of his relentless routine he actually noticedsomething different. Yumi was… crying.

Hiei nearly slapped himself in case he was just imagining things, but… he wasn't. He knew he wasn't imagining things when she murmured something in her sleep. Then, almost as suddenly as this all happened, an immensely bright purple light flooded the cave making Hiei cover his eyes with his hand. Just what was going on?

Coughing. "Unn, what… whh..er…?" her voice probably sounded foreign to her own ears, but to him it was like music.

"Yumi?" he asked quietly, not exactly believing his own eyes just yet. Was this all a trick? Some sick game? Or maybe even a dream? He pricked himself in the arm with his own sword.

Nope. Not a dream.

He could see her try to sit up, but fail and fall backwards with a grunt. "Yumi!"

"Hiei?" she asked weakly as he knelt beside her, his hands uncertainly hovering above her slender form. If he touched her would she disappear?

Her eyes widened when she registered it as him and then all semblance of fatigue left her body at once. She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his muscular build somewhat desperately. Immediately – he definitely knew she was no illusion now – he returned the hug with as much force as she. "Where am I?" she asked.

"… You're with me." He simply stated. "I took you when they thought you were dead, but I knew you'd come back…" the last part was but a mere whisper. She pulled back with a questionable look in her eye, but it was quickly distinguished with concern as she took in his appearance.

"Hiei… what happened to you?" He shrugged. He didn't really care what he looked like though he could feel the scratches on his arms and face from the underbrush of the forest, but he had not paid much heed to them until now. He didn't care though; all that mattered was that she was awake once again. She put her hand to his face and he leaned into it – he had waited too long for that touch. Then she suddenly kissed him, hard and passionately as though she had been gone for years.

Though that's exactly how long it felt.

Their eyes met and they didn't need words anymore.

They had each other again.

Author notes

Sorry to all of you who were waiting forever forthis to come out! I'm really sorry, but I do have school and whatnot to do too ya know. So, hopefully, you guys can bera with me for awhile. Hopefully I'll get the next chappie up sooner than this one took me!

Thanks for all the awesome reviews but I have a special thanks to evlmuffin - you reviewed all of the chapters...I LOVE YOU!

I love everyone who reviews my stories and if you have any helpful suggestions just let me know.

Thank you all for reviewing again, just please remember to click the button and

REVIEW!

Oh yeah, HIEI! YOU WEARPINK HEART BOXERS WITH BARNEY ON THEM! O.o

Hiei: It was a dare I tell you! I dare!

Right... that can NOT be healthy for you...

Hiei: A DARE!

O.o

lol Well at least the view's nice.

Yumi: Hell yeah!