Thank Inari, I currently have access once again to the site and I pray to all that's holy it stays that way! So I'm uploading the chapter while I have the chance! Enjoy!

Arano Honou: Uh, hello? It's fanfiction. Everybody say it with me, now. Fan. Fiction. Who gives a shyte whether or not someone's not in character? Hell, Hiei would never act this way in the anime, not in a million…well, maybe a million years, if Kurama and he would just get off their arses and admit there's a wee bit more than friendship in that relationship of theirs. Maybe. So ignore whoever told you that and write the story however you damn well want to. If they don't like it, screw them, 'cause they don't have to read it. —nods sagely— Meanwhile, tell your lazy muse to get in gear and smack some inspiration into that head of yours. n,.,n

KuramaIsFine: And here ya go, another dose of our favorite adorable little (currently) one-tailed black fox-boy!

Darknesspirals: Well, see, the explanation is really in this chapter, which is why I suppose it confuzzled everyone to the —th level of Hell. Albeit, the explanation is simple, possibly overly-so, and delivered by a tired, slightly-woozy fox who wasn't there for any of it. (I still love Zephyr's reaction!) As for the threat, no, that was for Arano, not you. No worries!

Shadowkitsuneonna: You'll see, and no, she doesn't have everything back yet. Key word: yet!

Silverwing013: You'll get the answer to that in about a paragraph.

Kitsune Kit: Obsidian: T.T But…but…brownies! I wasn't gonna sneak off without telling anybody! Can I at least have one? Pretty, pretty please? —Kohaku grins and shares hers— n.n-! Brownies!

Niana: What? Don't I get one? T,.,T (-,.,n)

Asilin Kheldarson: The Avalons lived at the Lair, in a room of their own fairly close to the quarters of Aislin and Yoko—not to mention the bathroom. One of the perks of being a child in a place full of good-hearted scoundrels: they know how bad a kid can need to go and accommodate. n,.,n —Obsidian sighs with relief while munching his brownie—

Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover: This is in response to your review on Spring's Fire. No, it wasn't on purpose. In the Makai, Yin and Yan are likely very common names because so many are born in a balance: black/white, twins that are mixed genders, etc. Aislin and Hiei happened to pick those because they were simply a good alias back then. The Lightning twins were named that because of their coloration and personalities.

Magus784: Obsidian: But I DIDN'T, damn it! Niana, this is all your fault! Now everyone thinks I'm insane or stupid!

Niana: Well, they'll all be proved wrong when they read this chapter, now won't they? Siddown and eat your brownie. As for the possible reason everyone seems to have read 'crescent-blade' somewhere in my stories might be because of the tattoos all Blood Moon members have: a red crescent moon on their biceps. Since that was put directly next to the name of the two clans, people might have gotten it confused. Or someone else already came up with the name and you all read it and forgot where. n,.,n

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Obsidian takes a deep breath as they slip out one of the back gates, his senses locating neither Aislin nor Hiei nearby, but he's taking no chances. "Jaganshi-san? I'm sure you're somewhere close. There's no way you'd hang around the boys unless you absolutely have to."

"Perceptive child," Hiei says in amusement when he drops out of a tree not ten feet away. "Now where would you be slipping off to?"

"The hell if I know," an annoyed Zephyr mutters. Obsidian flashes her an apologetic smile before turning back to the smaller male.

"Hiei, how would you like to see the Makai again?"

"I'd be violating my parole."

"And that bothers you? You'd be seeing your homeland again, smelling the air," a more predatory smile, "running loose."

"Hn. You drive a hard bargain, kitsune. What's the catch?"

"Don't tell anyone what I'm doing."

"Which would be what?"

Obsidian points at the silver-haired girl behind him. "Taking her with us."

The garnet eyes rake across her as one eyebrow lifts. "To her death?"

"No! The hole I'm using comes out close to the Lair; and anybody with me gets a free pass among us. Deal, Jaganshi-san?" The utter desperation in the golden eyes seems to cement something in the fire apparition's mind because he nods, a sly smile turning his own garnet eyes darker.

"Why not? Besides, following you will give me an excuse to slip the toddler's leash for a change."

"And the boss?"

Hiei straightens as he closes his eyes, breathing deeply for a moment before opening them again with a nod. "Heading for the temple with the two adults. We have time."

"Good. Let's go."

"How do I get myself into these things?" Zephyr wonders aloud as she is picked up by Hiei and the two apparitions speed off.

It doesn't take long. Five minutes later and a panting Obsidian stops them by the huge tree just beyond the Dark Forest; it's the place that Genkai had once waited for would-be students to reach her during a race. The plant reaches up a good forty feet with heavy branches spread wide to soak up as much sunlight as possible. Hiei sets an exhilarated Zephyr on her feet to watch the fox sniff around carefully until he stops halfway around the tree from where the others wait.

"Here." And he reaches out with fingers splayed, sinking his claws into nothing to rip down. Zephyr stares as cool air puffs from the hole, smelling of damp stone overlaying decaying wood. Then he looks over at the fire apparition in concerned curiosity. "Hiei?"

Hiei flashes him a smug little smile that he's perfected over the centuries. "I've learned a trick or two from the snowflake. Worry more about yourself."

"Come on, fallen angel. We should return this to its rightful place." Zephyr stares when Obsidian pulls a statuette of white jade from beneath his oversized sweatshirt. It looks exactly like the one she'd had in her dream last night.

Amusement mixed with high distaste narrows garnet eyes. "Where did you get that, kitsune?"

Obsidian points at Zephyr. "From under her bed."

Blink, blink. "My what?"

"Hn. When on Earth did you find the energy to get there?"

"Why was it under my bed?"

Hiei rolls his eyes as Obsidian quickly explains while he uses gentle shoves to get Zephyr into the portal. "You remember me mentioning you're a reincarnation? Well, apparently you somehow reverted into Ivory, snuck into some human art museum, swiped this, stashed it, and went back to being human all in the matter of a couple of hours. Now come on, Zephyr! Before the boss catches us and I get my ass hauled back to jail!"

She blinks as she passes through a gold mesh stretched across the polished granite tunnel with Obsidian close on her heels. They wait while Hiei pauses on the far side, several round stones being produced from within the fire apparition's black tunic. These are tossed into the air but to Zephyr's amazement they do not fall; rather, they hang there glowing with violet-red light as Hiei walks through the netting.

The jewels follow, tumbling into the kajihenge's ready palm once they pass through, the light going out of them as though they are candles instantly snuffed. Obsidian nods in respect at the number of the jewels needed to contain D-levels of energy to allow Hiei passage through the Kakai barrier—more than a dozen hiruiseki were dangling in the air but a moment ago.

Zephyr squeaks as she is once more scooped off her feet, this time by Obsidian as he draws what energy he can around him and takes off in that infamous ground-eating sprint. Hiei keeps up this time due to the kitsune's underlying exhaustion shortening the Avalon's stride.

A feeling of cobwebs across their faces is the only warning they have before the tunnel abruptly ends in an ancient forest that sounds remarkably quiet to the trained ears of the two apparitions. Obsidian instantly finishes going back into human-fox mode, his ears twitching as he listens to the breezes blowing around them and he sets Zephyr on her feet. "Oh, good," he breathes, his knees giving way beneath him. "Nothin' around 'cept friends."

"Friends?" But Hiei's inquiry is too late; Obsidian, worn from the running and opening the portal, has been once again reclaimed by sleep. "Feh. Damned kitsune. They never give you an answer unless they bloody well feel like it."

"Halt!" an imperious voice demands from the shadows beneath the trees. "And be recog—oh, hell, it's just the Jaganshi."

"Hello to you too, Ikazuchi." A wry chuckle at Hiei's greeting is followed by a tall muscular form emerging into the light. Zephyr stares at a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to the wolf apparitions they had just left behind, with blonde brindle hair and eyes the same butter yellow as the middle Crescent-Blade brother, Takara.

The smile the man wears is wiped off his face at the sight of the form slumped against the human-girl's legs, daffodil eyes going blank in shock. "I'm...I'm seeing things. Hiei, what is that boy's name?"

"You should know damn well what his name is, King of Thieves, but since your memory seems as faulty as ever I'll refresh it. This is Obsidian Avalon. The fuda-wielder standing over him is the reincarnation of Ivory Avalon. Don't let your brain explode."

Zephyr squeaks as a thick finger is leveled at her, the butter-yellow eyes behind it grim and disbelieving. "You. We buried you a century ago." The youkai appears taken aback when she bridles back at him.

"Look, if you're going to start complaining about what the hell I look like or what happened before I was born, do it with someone who actually cares. I am confused, I am nervous, and you are dangerously close to getting a dose of my talismans." Zephyr bites off every word in cool anger, feeling that 'other' come to the fore once again to say what she would otherwise not have the courage to. "I don't know why you people insist on bringing up a death that no longer applies since I am here in the flesh right now."

The finger is dropped, a wry grin spreading over somewhat craggy features. "You're Ivory, all right. Girl had a tongue that could peel paint at forty yards and a temper to match when she wanted to." Another squeak, this one breathless as the youkai sweeps her into a rib-cracking hug. "Damn, but this is a time of come-backs! First Aislin-sama, then Yoko-sama, now the Avalon twins! Doesn't seem like anyone stays dead around here anymore!" Ikazuchi laughs when he glances over at Hiei with a sly smile. "Wanna lay bets on how long it's gonna be before Kuronue comes back?"

"He's already reincarnated in the body of a boy named Lucas Koumori, a mixed-blood of eighth bat, the rest ningen."

"And it's official, the dead just don't stay dead." With a huff of laughter Ikazuchi bends down to examine Obsidian, hand cradling the narrow chin while turning the sleeping renard's face this way and that. A quiet smile softens the lightning-wolf's entire body language into someone far less scary than Zephyr had first thought. "Looks like young 'Dian here's been put through the wringer more'n once, doesn't he?"

"Mm?" Heavy lashes flutter open. "'Zuchi?"

"Hey, you're awake. Welcome home, 'Dian." The fox beams sleepily as the Thief-King scoops him up in gentle arms before turning around. He looks back over his shoulder at the stone-faced kajihenge and the cinnamon-eyed fuda-user still where they stopped beyond the portal.

Rather, Hiei is still there. Zephyr is looking a bit rumpled and is a few feet from her original spot because of that enthusiastic hug. "Well? Come on, don't just stand there like a couple of statues. Gre'ich will have a good hot meal waiting and I'm sure everyone's going to want to get reacquainted with the twins."

Zephyr is following before she realizes it, Hiei having already flitted ahead once more. It's a short walk of only a few hundred yards before they step into a large clearing that funnels into a round cave-mouth. Several youkai—even a couple of humans, scarred but smiling—are scattered around the meadow doing various tasks; yet they drop whatever they're doing to snap to attention as their leader steps into view.

Then that formality is dropped at the sight of a familiar form cradled in the muscular arms with a half-familiar form trotting at his heels. "It's the Avalons!" rises in exultation from all throats, everyone rushing over to laugh, lightly slap shoulders, and exclaim over the changes wrought in their youngest members.

Suddenly the world is filled with cream-and-white fur, something heavy colliding with Zephyr's shoulders to tumble her onto her back in the thick grass. The scent of old blood and alfalfa fills her nose while something rough licks at her face, a grinding sound fills her ears. The weight is lifted with a laughing comment of, "Ease off, you great lump of fur! She's in a human body now so be gentle!"

Distance resolves the fur into a huge feline sitting happily a few feet away, with a tall man's fingers tangled in the long fur on the back of the neck, a striped/spotted tail swishing happily through the grass. Zephyr sits up while air rushes into her squashed lungs, staring into the wrapping-foil green eyes gazing back. Her hand reaches out, caresses one broad cheek; the grinding sound resumes, the huge cat's purr vibrating through the human girl's chest as loud as only a two-ton cat can be.

"I…remember you."

Laughter from those who hear the wondering murmur. "Of all the things in all the worlds, she just remembers Kizi!" the tall youkai laughs, slapping the beast on one muscled flank. An indignant 'whuff' of air accompanies an admonishing whack with the long tail. "Ouch!"

Oh, yes, Zephyr remembers this creature from her more pleasant Ivory-dreams. The feline—which looks much like a white tiger crossed with a snowleopard—is Kizi, the snow-hunter that Ivory's hero had brought back as a rowling cub for a pet. "You got really big, Kizi-chan."

A pleased rumble with a gentle head-butt to the girl's forehead, that remembered, familiar greeting. Hands lift Zephyr to her feet and pass her around for a dizzying series of hugs from the tight-knit group she can barely put names to.

She lets out a cry of dismay when the confusion sends her talismans sliding from her pocket, but no one really seems surprised that they're there. Instead, a number of the thieves help her scoop them up into an orderly pile again. Several just comment, "So you're still using those things, huh, Ivory-chan? Gotten better with them, I hope!"

"Hey," she protests at the friendly insult, "I'm pretty good with those, my mother says so!"

Ikazuchi winks at her before asking, "Who's your dam nowadays, kitling?"

"Kumiko Uotani." Silence, even from the youkai continuing to gather around them.

An aged, grizzled man bearing more scars than Zephyr can count limps up, his reddish-brindle eyebrows knitted together. "Say again, kit?"

"Kumiko Uotani is my mother and she taught me my magic."

A low whistle from the lightning-wolf still holding a zonked-out Obsidian. "Damn, girl, you never do anything by halves, do ya? Uotani's one of the bogey-men of the underworlds. Her skills with paper-magic are friggin' crazy—she taught you origami spells yet?"

"Just the crane messenger one. I specialize in the talismans."

"Just like you Avalons," chuckles a whip-cord-and-bone falcon youkai. "Even if you were to fall into a cesspit you'd still come up head-to-toe in muck with gold in each hand." That breaks the aura of awed silence and reinstates the joyful ruckus; even Hiei is dragged off into the Lair for one of the biggest parties Makai has ever seen.

——

"So what's the big commotion, Koenma? You usually don't haul my ass in here at three am on my usual sleep-night unless it's something really insane. Let me guess; another Sensui? A pack of them? The world coming to an end?"

Koenma gives the white-haired woman standing so boredly in front of him an icy stare. "Hiei has disappeared from our trackers."

"Yeah, so? It's not like he hasn't before."

"You don't understand, Moors. He's disappeared from our Ningenkai trackers."

"Meaning what, he violated parole and went to Makai?"

"As Botan would say, 'bingo'."

Aislin snorts, crossing her arms over her chest as she rests her weight on one booted foot. "Okay, so what do you want me to do about it? It's not like I'd be of much help finding the porcupine head; he's as bad as Kohaku when he doesn't want to be found. Not even using the Void would work unless he felt like talking to me." A gamine grin as a thought occurs to her. "You know, he could be off chasing Avalon. Hiei's honor code wouldn't allow him to break his sworn oath unless there's a damned good reason. Fulfilling another oath would be about right."

Those oversized mocha eyes narrow. "You're talking awfully calmly about Hiei hunting down one of your people, Moors."

"I'm pretty confident in my winsome kit's abilities, even half-dead and two-thirds starved like you've had him for the past century."

The binky nearly falls from nerveless lips before Koenma recovers. "We did not starve the boy! And he was allowed enough youki to do some pretty impressive exercises even with the shackles."

All humor is wiped from Aislin's face at that. "You're an idiot, toddler. Do you even know how much youki a kitsune needs to survive? And I checked the records on him, I know how much food he got at every meal. Yes, you fed him regularly, but for Inari's sake, child-prince, he ate nearly five times that amount every meal back at the Lair! And not once did you ever give him fresh raw meat! Kits need raw food to grow properly; they get nutrients from it that get destroyed when the food is cooked!" Her fists clench. "So don't tell me he wasn't half-dead or starved, Koenma, because I won't buy that crap for one damned second."

"But—"

"You didn't even let him bathe! I've seen pictures of him covered in grime and his hair looking like a rat's nest! You mistreated one of my people, someone who was damn near a son, and you dare try to deny it! Forget my help on this one, Koenma. Obsidian can give Hiei the runaround for all I care, my own parole terms or not." Whirling on her heel, the Winter Rose stalks out of the office with the fur trim on her clothing puffed out in contained anger.

"Brilliant, Koenma," the toddler-prince mutters disgustedly to himself, flopping back into his enormous chair. "One of these days you're going to push that woman too far and what happens next will be your own damn fault." A tired sigh. "I hate this job sometimes."

——

Aislin fumes all the way back to her room at Genkai's, not even noticing that she passes a startled Yukina on the way in until the koorime maiden politely clears her throat. Concern is clear in the eyes she shares with her brother Hiei when the pissed ex-thief turns. Knowing that snapping at Yukina is pointless and unnecessary, Aislin puts a stranglehold on her temper and takes a deep breath before asking with admirable calm, "Yes, Yukina-san?"

"Aislin-san, have you seen Obsidian-kun lately?" The koorime laces her fingers together in one of her nervous-habitual gestures. "Genkai-san said that he mentioned bringing Zephyr-chan to the kitchen for a late snack, but he never came. We've looked all over the compound; not even our new neighbors have seen him."

"New neighbors? Oh, the wolves." Aislin tugs at the end of her braid in one of her own habits. "No, Yukina-san, I haven't seen nor scented Obsidian since he took the wolf children hunting." She stiffens when she remembers a faint tingle of portal energy that had reached her not long before sundown from a tunnel she had thought she'd sealed. It had been one of the ones she'd shown the Avalon twins not long before they'd been captured or killed by Koenma's men.

"Aislin-san?" anxiously prods Yukina when her friend's eyes fill with realization and something brighter, her lips beginning to curve upwards.

"The utter brass of that kit. I'm going to swat him so hard his ears will be ringing for a week." A wry, self-admonishing smile warms her eyes as she looks over at Yukina. "He went portal-hopping even though he knew damn well he didn't have the strength for it. By now he's probably at the Lair passed out until Solstice. He probably took Zephyr with him, too, as well as Hiei."

"But wasn't Hiei-san supposed to stay in the Ningenkai?"

An affectionate pat on a kimono-clad shoulder as Aislin turns to walk back outside. "Yes, but since Hiei was supposed to be chasing my young pupil he's technically not breaking his terms of parole. I'm going to go see what that hare-brained fool thinks he's doing; let Kurama know if and when he comes looking for me, all right?"

The koorime smiles from relief. "All right, Aislin-san."

——

Zephyr curls up against the warm side of Kizi-chan in the wee hours of the next morning, wondering just how her life has managed to turn itself on its ear so quickly. And to think it all started with a cheerful smile given to her by a handsome new student with amethyst eyes. Part of her, that part she's coming to recognize as what is left of her last life's consciousness and memories, is quite comfortable and utterly relaxed in the surroundings of polished stone and fur-lined floors of the Lair.

While she, on the other hand, is starting to develop a mild case of claustrophobia. There's so many people in this cave system, well over three hundred if she didn't count too many people more than once or missed a large group—entirely possible given that some could be out on thieving missions. And while this place is huge, convoluted, and spacious, these people seem to prefer squishing themselves in as few caverns as possible at a time. They're as bad as a human city's downtown area on a holiday.

A sleepy mumble from the darkness off to her left softens the wary cinnamon eyes into a smile. Oh, well. Obsidian, while he may be stubborn, irritating, and confusing, has actually been worth all the trouble. She'd always wanted a brother for some reason, and though the black fox might be a demon and far older than she, his time locked away has kept him close to her own age mentality. He's really very sweet when he's not making her head spin, too.

And she can't dislike this place; the caves have been well-ventilated by several of the rock-shapers living among the thieves, public areas are kept as neat and clean as possible, and all of the youkai that knew her last life treat her as a member of their large, tightly-knit family. The corridors used regularly or even sometimes are brightly lit with 'faerie-lights' made of youki, the globes of soft energy she'd remembered from her dreams.

Besides, anyone who can party like this lot can't be all that bad. They'd had her dancing, singing, and laughing with them as though 'she' had never left, while several others—including the massive twelve-foot giant man who turned out to be the oft-spoken of Gre'ich—took Obsidian off somewhere for 'important matters of business'. Given the state he returned in, Zephyr suspects he was somehow woken, stuffed to the gills, and washed thoroughly.

Gre'ich amazes her. For all his size, the shadow-youkai looks more like a country lord with a shining plait of ebony hair dangling to his knees, dressed in a light cotton jacket and pants of Mandarin style. Zephyr has yet to see him wear shoes, and his grey eyes are always kind—except for when someone tried stealing a fingerful of icing off the cake he'd made for 'the return of his favorite bottomless pits'. Even then, the only punishment had been a light slap on the back of the offending hand and a superficial frown.

Someone who cooks like that man does is someone who definitely stays on Zephyr's list of VIP's to be friends with. She already learned several new recipes—and she found out that Gre'ich was the one who first taught her how to make her favorite sandwich.

Zephyr is knocked out of her reverie by the flap to the room she's sharing with Obsidian—their old room, as it turned out—being moved aside silently, the light from the hallway drifting in. Very light footsteps pad over the stone and are further muffled by the various fur rugs until they stop on the other side of Kizi. The big cat hasn't stirred, so it must be someone the snow-hunter knows and trusts.

A faint glow lights the darkness around her, Zephyr blinking up into the face of Aislin Moors, the student from Meiou who goes out with that Minamino prodigy, Shuichi. The turquoise eyes are expressionless but the coral-pink lips twitch at the corners.

"Now why, I wonder," comes the wry whisper of self-reprimand, "did I not really expect him to bring you?"

"What?" Zephyr sits up with a fur blanket wrapped around her shoulder as Aislin hops over Kizi with zero effort. "I don't understand. And what are you doing here?"

A flash of white teeth in that pixie-like face precedes Aislin's answer while she sits herself down a couple of feet away from the human girl. "What am I doing here? Youngling, I ruled here for almost five centuries. I should be asking you that question, except that I already know the answer."

She snickers softly when Zephyr's jaw drops, understanding dawning in those cinnamon eyes. "You're…you're a youkai, too?"

"Indeed. I am also the mentor of your past life and that stubborn kit over there." One petite hand waves in the direction of a lump of blankets, barely visible in the pale light of the energy-ball bobbing slightly above Aislin's head. "I understand that Obsidian brought back one of my statues while he was at it. It was quite a surprise to learn who stole it back, I might add."

"I had no say in the matter."

"I never said you did," is the amused reply. For some reason, this aspect of the white-haired woman's personality reminds Zephyr very strongly of the crimson-eyed male who had disappeared halfway through the party. "But I'd like to speak to the one who did."

The silver-haired teen says the most intelligent thing that pops up at that cryptic statement. "Huh?"

Her companion dissolves into silent laughter, hand clapped over her mouth while the slender shoulders shake. When she can breathe again, Aislin gasps/whispers, "You two really are alike, even now!" A cough and the merriment is squashed back into its metaphorical cupboard. "What I mean is, I have an ability that allows me to draw souls temporarily into a space that I create. I cannot use it for long on you; you are neither strong enough nor are you of the correct lineage to visit that space with impunity, but no lies may be spoken there. With the correct steps made, only the Truth, pure and unadulterated, can be spoken."

"It sounds like what my mother has told me about something called the Void."

Turquoise eyes blink in startlement. "Actually, that is indeed the place I was speaking of. Who, child, is your mother?"

"Kumiko Uotani."

"Ahhh. That explains much, then. Uotani-san is a woman of formidable abilities…or she was, before she dropped from sight almost twenty years ago. I have not personally met your mother but the stories I have heard do not sound exaggerated. Tell me, does she still practice fuda magic?"

Zephyr nods slowly, her mind spinning at the new revelations being dropped on her one after another. "Yes. She's the one who taught me my magic."

The jewel-like orbs take on an air of reverie, the long years they have seen shadowing their depths. "Uotani-san was renown through the Makai as a woman very much not to be trifled with because of those magics, practically unheard of in mortal-kin. Before or since, there has been no human to have attained the heights in paper-magic that she has climbed to. Verily, I am impressed."

"You're talking differently than you do at the inter-school events," Zephyr notes quietly from where she leans against Kizi. Aislin chuckles under her breath at that before she explains why.

"Youngling, I am over a thousand years old. Some speech patterns linger far beyond the lifespans of other things. The act I put on in the Ningenkai—and be sure, it is an act—is one I have carefully crafted for the role. A regular teenage girl simply does not use the term 'verily' in normal conversation. Nor do they often know the perfect formality their culture has created in a language."

The ice-fox sighs when her guest only looks down at her feet with a mask-like expression. One pale hand reaches beneath that delicate chin and tilts it up. "Zephyr Uotani, do not feel embarrassed or dismayed at the way times change. I have long accepted that the things I once knew as a common fact have become legends, myths, or have been forgotten entirely. As one so long-lived as I, one must, or fall into despair. Nor think you foolish for having not seen the play for what it is sooner. I fool a great many people on a regular basis, whether they be ungifted or powerful psychics."

"I was just thinking," the girl says in whisper as her chin is released, "that your lives must get very lonely."

The brilliant smile Zephyr is suddenly favored with is dazzling in the pure joy it reveals. "Oh, kit, so perceptive for one so young? Yes, our lives can become lonely or dull but only if we allow it! Trust me, there have been very few times in my life where I have been bored or truly lonely. Anyone who lives the life of a thief can tell you the same." Settling back onto the furs, Aislin studies the surprised girl for a moment. "So, young Zephyr, will you allow me speech with your other self? She and I have some catching up to do, and there are questions that need asking."

"It's not going to hurt, is it?"

Laughter. "No, it's not! It will simply be as though you walk in a very realistic dream, and only for a few minutes."

A deep breath before Zephyr gives the woman before her a firm nod. "Okay, then."

—

Ebony blackness spangled with thousands of soft-glowing stars, two forms standing as though upon a floor made of glass. Scarves of platinum dust drift around the smaller of the two, the taller glowing as softly as the full moon.

"Welcome to the Void, Ivory Zephyr Avalon." Around them, the nuances of the name swirls; apples, mint, the musk of clean feathers, the jingling of bells and the milky scent of youth. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

"Hello, Boss-sama!" chirps the reed-slender kitsune as she beams at her teacher. "It really has been a long time! Did my plan work? I can't remember."

"What plan, youngling?"

Pride colors the broad smile. "My plan to get everyone's attention! You know, when I swiped that pretty of yours the other night! I'll bet I surprised everyone!"

Understanding lightens the eyes colored like the heart of an iceberg. "Ah, that plan. Yes, I'd have to say that worked quite well. You nearly had Yoko ripping things apart, you upset Obsidian, and you have certainly been making no few of Koenma's nights sleepless." The scent of paper, ink, and baby powder added to by the indefinable scent of responsibility.

The smile vanishes when the implications sink in. "Oh. I guess I did something I wasn't supposed to, huh?"

"That, Ivory, is an understatement. What Game are you playing? What are the rules, the finish?"

Dismay. "I'm not playing a Game, Boss-sama! I'm just trying to fix things! We're the same soul, but it's like a split personality or something. I don't understand it. But I've been listening, and I've been picking things up, and I think what's going on is something like what happened to Yoko-sama. It's just that it's taken me this long to wake up; like there was a lock that dissolved when this body turned seventeen." A child's perspective on the name of the silver fox; the peppery scent/color of chuka berries, gentle winds, the scent of forests, confidence, and warmth.

"So what happens now, youngling? You have everyone chasing their tails except Obsidian." Fire, strength, birdsong and the scent of pine with the sparkling of diamonds.

"I'm not sure. But I'll have it worked out by the Solstice."

"I hope so, kitling. For all our sakes."

——

"Good morning, Yukina-san. Perchance, is Aisuhana here?"

"No, Kurama-san. She left last night for the Makai to look for Hiei-san and Obsidian-kun and wished for me to pass along that message."

The human-bodied fox's emerald eyes dim in concern. Obsidian shouldn't even have had the energy to walk to the nearest portal in the middle of the Forest, let alone open the thing without killing himself. How did he manage it? Hiei would not have helped because that would go against his honor code.

"Kurama-san?"

Startlement. "Oh, hai, Yukina-san?"

A knowing smile makes the familiar crimson eyes glow. "Say hello to everyone for me when you see them."

Kurama turns with a soft chuckle, looking back over his shoulder with a mock-frown. "You're letting your intelligence show again, Yukina-san," he chides her as he walks off. "One of these days you're going to let slip that you know exactly who your brother is."

Yukina just gives him a mischievous little smile as she goes back to watering her garden. "He has his reasons, Kurama-san. The fact that I can see him is enough. Have a pleasant trip."

"And you a pleasant day, Yukina-san."

————————————————————————————————————

Heh. Whoever first thought that just because she acts sweet means Yukina's a ditz, obviously hasn't thought everything through. She lived in Demon World, in one of the harshest areas in that world. And she would have gotten jumped the second she set foot off the Island of Koorime. That, and she's just more interesting this way!

Here's this chapter's and last chapter's definitions. Forgot last time, bad fox-girl.

Shishou: Master/teacher

Sensei: Teacher (can also be applied to professions like doctors, etc)

Blood-Thorns: A cousin to the plant Kurama used on Karasu (DEATH! HORRIBLE, PAINFUL DEATH!) in the Dark Tournament. Only without the pretty flowers, just lots of hollow-thorned briar canes.

Demonsbane: the one plant that is guaranteed deadly to anyone with even the slightest bit of youkai blood in them. As demonstrated in Spring's Fire, a hanyou (half-youkai) will take about twenty minutes to die from nine drops of the distilled poison. A full-blood takes ten. There is an antidote that combines Angelwing juice, powdered Sunleaf, and several other extracts.

Angelwing: Just so you know what it is. A small, white-leafed plant that has tiny silver flowers the general size and shape of star-jasmine flowers. Known for purification and healing properties, rumored to have been sprouted from an angel's ruined feathers.

Sunleaf: ditto. A vine that resembles ornamental ivy in appearance, but prefers full sunlight and dry soil. The leaves turn shades of real gold (not just yellow like regular leaves) a week into summer. Known for potency-enhancing properties.

Suishō: Crystal

Inazuma: Lightning

Nadeshiko: the flower 'pink'

Kazeuta: wingsong

Takumi: artisan

Takara: treasure

Suzume: sparrow

Senpai: elder

Koumori: Bat

Kizi: short for kizuishou, or citrine

Chuka: a plant with fruit like blueberries, but flavored and colored like cinnamon/paprika