Hiya! I was going to wait until I got done with Return of the Bat to write this (mostly to see if it got more reviews), but I was in the mood for it, so here it is. This is by far the longest chapter I have written, on any story, so I hope it's good. I just sat down and started typing, and a couple hours later, here's the result. Keep the length in mind as you read, because I may have made mistakes in it and not noticed as I was proofing it. I hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it.

I own nothing. Enjoy!

"Do you hear that?" Kuronue asked. His long ears were twitching, straining to hear some far-off noise.

Yoko's silver ears stood, pointing as sharply as their physical structure would allow, but still he heard nothing; not for the first few seconds anyway. The only noise he could detect was the sound of his creations snapping the bones of their last few morsels. The few men who had survived the slaughter had barely done so. They were clinging madly to the strings of life, trying to keep from losing their grasps, and falling into the ceaseless void of black known as death. They weren't capable of more than rapid breaths and a few sobs and moans of pain, muffled by the blood in their mouths and the dirt they were unable to lift their faces from.

Yoko was about to ask what Kuronue meant; what sound he had heard, but something else got his attention. Something metal; a scraping sound. It was hard to tell, with all the other noises, but it sounded as if someone was trying to pick a lock.

The cell door.

The other thieves must have been trying to escape the confines of that rolling jail the bounty hunters had been using to transport them in. Then there was another sound. Like wheels rolling against the dirt and crushing the dead leaves. He looked down at the cell, straining his keen eyes. There had been large rocks positioned on both sides of the wheels that were attached to portable-prison, to keep the cons from rolling away in the middle of the night. The rocks were beside it now. Someone had figured out how to move them from the inside. The men were heave-hoeing all their weight to the back of the cell, making it roll away from his 'final solutions' for the bounty hunters. There was one working on the lock at the front of the cell. Maybe they weren't completely lacking intelligence...

"Do you see what I see?" Yoko asked Kuronue, his lips turning up slightly at the corners to show his amusement.

"Yup. Don't believe it, but I see it."

"Maybe they aren't worthless."

"Whatever you say, fox. They got caught by those jackasses, so I'm sticking with my original opinion. We should get going. It won't be long until dawn."

"Let's wait, just for a few more minutes. I want to see what they do."

Kuronue let out a sigh. He was tired, but, whatever. He'd let the fox watch the end of his little game. He knew he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't.

The pods finished up with their last bite of bounty hunter, but it didn't look like they were full. One turned its attention to the rolling cell, which, to it, looked like a rolling buffet cart without the waiter. It snapped its jaws a couple of times, the equivalent of licking its lips, then started forcing its stem to stretch, trying to allow itself enough room to reach the snack tray. It didn't take long for the other hungry pods to notice, and they were all quick to catch on to the stretching routine. One managed to wrap a leaf around the corner bar of the cage, good enough to stop it from rolling, but not a good enough grip to pull it back.

"What are we gonna do? I don't wanna die like this! Death by bounty hunter is one thing! Death by dandelion is another!" a panicked thief exclaimed to his cell-mates.

"Would you shut up! I've almost got-" CLICK "There!" The thief who had been laboriously tending to the lock finally aligned the last of the pins and the tumblers. As soon as the door swung open, he dived out. A leaf shot to grab his leg but he jumped over it, half-flipping in the air and landing on his back, finishing the move in a roll. On his way back to his feet, he snatched a sword from a pile of bloody mess that used to be one of his captors. A pod snapped at him, nearly catching his hand, but the thief was swift. He hit his feet and swung the sword around, then gave quick slices; the first cut the pod in half, and the second separated pod from stem entirely.

The other plants were angered, and all lunged at the black-haired bandit, but it did little good. His skill with a sword outclassed their limited abilities by a country mile. It was only seconds before he had mowed the entire lawn of the camp site.

Kuronue blinked. That's all he could do. "Nobody's ever killed that many of those mean-green-mother-"

"First time for everything. That one may have some worth. Let's talk to him; find out if he was one of the guild's men."

The fox and the bat started bounding through the tree-tops, descending from their lookout on the cliff. When they were almost there, they paused to watch a curious scene.

"That was brilliant! Man, you were grea- Ack-"

One of the thieves had begun to congratulate the apparent leader of the escape, but was cut short when said leader grabbed him by the throat.

"Where is your crest? You better be a guild member," the leader said.

"I- I- I-" the ensnared thief stuttered.

One of the others came to the leaders side and spoke, apparently trying to calm him. "Yomi, let him go. We've all had a long night, let's just let this be and get going."

"Yeah!" a fat thief in the back of the herd called. "Jiri's my partner! You got somethin' to say to him, then you got somethin' to say to me!"

"Fine," Yomi said, still tightly gripping Jiri's neck. "I'll say this to both of you. You're both cowards! And if I don't see a guild crest on your hands, you're both dead men! Cowards who would sit back and watch another man risk his neck and never bother to help, then pat him on his back when the danger has passed, don't deserve to draw breath!"

Yoko and Kuronue smirked in the trees above. Both were enjoying this show. They weren't particularly fond of two-faced men either. This Yomi had led the charge while the two fat thieves sat in the back of the cell. They'd wanted their freedom, but they hadn't been willing to contribute. They would've sat back and let every other man there die if there had been a need. They had most likely been planning to do so, then run for safety when the pods were busy devouring the others; probably piddling their pants on the way.

They grinned even wider when the two tubs-O-guts thieves failed to show crests. The others tried to talk this Yomi character out of doing them harm, but no such luck. He decapitated them both, then licked a string of the fresh blood off his sword. The boys thought that strange, since those plants had been poisonous, but upon closer inspection, they saw that there wasn't a drop of the liquid from those plants on the blade. He had sliced through them so quickly that they hadn't left a trace.

"Very impressive," the fox said aloud from the trees, startling everyone, including Kuronue. He hopped down from his perch and approached the now-free men.

"I thought you left," Yomi stated bluntly. Though he was trying to appear nonchalant, there was a hint of defiance in his eyes. Yoko could read the signs of a rebel a mile away.

"Now, now. Did you think we would go through all that trouble to plan the show and not stick around to see the happy ending?" he asked. Kuronue joined him on the ground now, though he stayed slightly behind Yoko. Strategic positioning, though the others wouldn't know that.

These men, at least some of them were guild members, and weren't supposed to do harm to other members, but they outnumbered the duo, and it was pretty easy to get away with murder if you had enough people to tell the same story when they were asked about it. This Yomi had been smart enough to pick a lock that should have been impossible to pick and to instruct the men to distance the cell from the plants, so that he could have room to attack when the door was opened. Surely he was smart enough to say that the team of Yoko and Kuronue attacked the Vigilantes and were killed in the battle, and that he and his men managed to escape during the ruckus.

"I was thinking you'd got away from us before we could demand that you return what's ours," Yomi said.

"What's yours?" Yoko asked, a little amusement showing through.

"Guild members aren't allowed to steal from other members. You stole our treasure. Whether or not any of these men have the spine to ask for theirs, I DO want mine!"

The other thieves shrank back. They were terrified of Yoko and Kuronue, and not about to demand that they do anything.

"We didn't steal anything from you," Yoko said.

"We watched you load up every shilling in those plants of yours and send them flying off to God knows where. I lost my partner raiding that castle! I want the spoils!"

"Then you should have held onto them tighter," Yoko answered.

"What? How dare you! There is honor amongst thieves! Or do you have none?"

"First, if you ever question my honor again, you will die, and let me assure you, there are ways of killing you without breaking the code of the guild or my own personal code, though you would probably beg me to break both before the process was finished. All of the ways of which I speak are rather slow, and I imagine they are excruciating. I can't speak from experience, but the screams of those I watched suffer through them indicated that Hell would be more merciful. Second, I didn't steal a thing from you, I stole from the hunters. If you valued your treasure so dearly you should have kept a tighter hold on it. Let that be a lesson to you."

Yomi said nothing, but it was clear from his expression that he wasn't enjoying this little chat with the fox. The others had moved back as far as they could without gaining Kuronue's attention. When they noticed him watching them, they decided to stay put and silently pray to disappear.

After a little more bickering about the rules, Yomi admitted that Yoko was right. He wasn't happy admitting to it, but he did. Kuronue sensed that Yomi had known it all along, but his pride had forced him to bite back the knowledge that he was in the wrong. He may have been an excellent thief, judging from the castle he said he'd robbed, and the way he handled that escape indicated great thinking capacity, but all that was overshadowed by the immature ways of a young man. If he learned to swallow that pride and cool his temper, he might one day become a good enough thief to compete almost on their level. Key word being: Almost.

"Let's see your crest," Kuronue said, speaking for the first time in nearly a half-hour.

Yomi raised his hand and the back began to glow, soon revealing the crest. The other members hands now showed theirs as well. When one man did it, all the other members around did, too. Dangerous if one of them ever turned on the rest or made a deal with the law, but damned if they could get that through the guild master's thick skull...

His crest showed that his rank was well above what they were expecting. They knew he'd earned his right to more than a basic pass, but he was only a few ranks short of them. He may not have been on their level yet, but his days of drinking rot-gut whiskey and flat beer in The Cellar, and sleeping on a lumpy mattress filled with straw were long-over. He was now entitled to some of the guild's finest whiskey, women, and beds to put 'em in.

After a little more talking, everyone agreed that it was time to head for the guild, with the exception of a couple men who were without crests. Kuronue's scythes took care of them. No sense leaving more witnesses than they needed; especially not those who had overheard information concerning the only real safe-house that the criminals of the Demon World had to fall back on. You never know when a man will get desperate to save his own hide, and that had been demonstrated well tonight.

After a couple nights under the stars, the whole gang was back to the gates of the guild. Most went their own ways after entering them. Not that it mattered. Yoko and Kuronue hadn't even bothered to learn most of their names. The ones they had learned would be forgotten by morning, with the possible exception of one. Yomi. The others were heading for the barber, or the merchants, or the infirmary. Some were on their way down to The Cellar. But Yomi was headed to the same place as Yoko and Kuronue.

The Loft.

When they arrived, the usual scene: Women flocked to them, the waitress brought over a big pitcher of the house's finest brew, and the barkeep was waving a hand to tell Kuronue to get over here and fill him in. The only new thing was that a couple of the girls had headed to a corner with Yomi. One of them was actually pretty cute in Kuro's book, but he'd have no trouble finding a suitable replacement, and as for the fox, he wouldn't care in a few hours.

Just as Kuronue finished telling the tale, and the gang of thieves finished the final chorus of "For they're two jolly good fellows!", the door opened again, and in walked Ko. There went a few more girls...

He parked his red-tailed rear on a stool beside Kuronue, and got the repeat of the story from the barkeeper, though it was a lot more interesting when it was retold by the big man.

"I don't think we should take full credit for this," Yoko said. "Yomi was there as well, and he was the one to free the other thieves from their cell." Yomi was all aglow at hearing himself being praised by The Great and Mighty Yoko, but he wouldn't have been so thrilled if he knew that Yoko was outfoxing him. Yoko was more concerned with his beer and dinner than he was answering questions for the girl serving it. He was sending the attention elsewhere so he could eat and drink in peace...

As Yomi answered questions, Ko and Kuronue compared adventure stories at the bar, and Ko got a good laugh at the poor jackass who didn't know he was taking the heat off the other fox.

"What's that?" Kuronue asked Ko, seeing the little flask he pulled from his tunic.

"South-side's finest homemade bourbon," he said, and he took a big swig. "Stuff could put a sailor on his ass in three shots."

"I've heard tell o' that stuff," the barkeeper said, shaking his head. "Not many men brave enoughta take a flaskfulla that. What's that name they got fer it down south?"

"Don't know what they named it, but my people always knew it as firewater," Ko laughed, his voice taking on a hoarse quality. "Sets your throat on fire quicker than pure grain."

"Share, fox," Kuronue said. He grinned and flipped a coin Ko's way.

"Your funeral," he said, filling the empty shot glass in front of Kuronue. After that, there were a few more refills, and the rest of the night was kind of a blur for the bat. Little did he know, even if he wouldn't remember it tomorrow, he would be hearing about it for years to come...

The night finished up at the bar, and Yoko left with his 'picks' for the night, as did Ko and Yomi. Kuronue had a few girls laughing at the bar, and he said he'd be up later on. Yoko was near-sure that those girls would be packing him to bed.

A few hours later, after things had heated up, cooled off, then heated up again, in the fox's room, he heard a commotion out in the hall. Thump, crash, bang, thump again, giggle, boom, laugh, kerthump...

"What in the blue-blazes is going on out there?" Yoko said, clenching his teeth. He did NOT like being interrupted. Not at this hour anyway. 'Everyone in the guild should be asleep or passed out by now!'

He jumped out of bed and pulled his pants on as the girls draped the sheets over themselves. He ran to the door that led out to the hall, and when he looked out, his anger faded, or disappeared.

There was Kuronue, a girl under each arm, trying to keep him from falling back down the stairs. A third was walking in front of the gang to make sure there was nothing, and no one, in the hall that they could trip over.

That wasn't the part that got to the fox.

Kuronue was wearing his old, brown boots; his pendant was around his neck, as always; his hat was still on his head and a stupid grin on his face; but that was about it. The only other article of clothing on him was the small strip of cloth that held his ponytail together.

"Woohoo! I toldya I'd make it to the toppa them steps!" he shouted. He started laughing, then noticed Yoko standing in the door, surprise still the only thing on his face. "Lookie here, Yoko! I got three of the purdiest girls in the guild to warm me up tonight!"

"Oh, no, mister!" the girl in front said. "I'm just helping you to bed! You've had too much fun for one night!"

"I ain't never had too much fun!" he said. She started to back away from him, giggling, then his foot reached the second floor landing. He was back on solid ground! He took off after her in a dead run; a staggering one, but it was still a run. Then he turned on the other girls, and they started giggling and running. By this time the sight was nearly more than Yoko could take. He tried to keep stone-cold around the guild, and save his laughing and cutting up with his friend for outside these walls, but this time he had to make an exception. He was snickering already.

"Whath so damn funny?" Kuronue slurred out. "I don't like people laughin when I'm down to my skins here!" he said, then resumed to chasing the girls around from one end of the hall to the other. Yoko's girls had come to peek out the door, and as hard as he was trying to keep them from seeing the steely, heartless spirit fox laughing, he was still snickering.

"What in the name of all that is holy is going on out th-" Yomi stopped and his chin dropped.

"Hey, Yomi! How's it hangin'?" Kuronue laughed.

"Not like THAT!" he said, then started to close his door, but his girls had gathered around to see the cause of the outburst, too. They were laughing and blocking Yomi's way back in. All he could do was shield his eyes with his hand and blush a shade of red that Yoko wasn't sure he'd ever seen a man's cheeks turn.

"What the fu- Oh, Lord," Ko said, opening his door on the other side of the hall. He covered his eyes and Yoko could see his smile spread to cover the bottom half of his face.

"What's going on, Ko, baby? OH MY GOD!" the girl beside him said.

"Evenin' Ma'am," Kuro said, stopping to stand and face her for a minute when he did. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

"Um... Evenin'," she said back, still in shock. That was it for Ko; he hit his ass in the doorway, laughing so hard he couldn't breathe, still covering his eyes with that hand. It was only a matter of seconds before Yoko was doing the same thing right across the hall from him. Yomi was still blushing that maroon-ish shade, which made the foxes bellow out their laughter even harder. Yoko felt tears flowing down his cheeks, but he still couldn't stop. A glance across the hall – he was afraid to glance to the side, knowing what he might be eye-level with – and he could see that Ko's cheeks were glistening with the same moisture as his.

Just when he thought he would recover, and maybe get the luxury of inhaling again, Kuronue grabbed the girl beside Ko by the wrist and pulled her into the hall for a little do-si-doing, laughing the whole time. The woman looked like she didn't know whether to run or scream or all of the above.

Ko laid back on the floor and started rocking from side to side as he chuckled. He could say in the morning that he had literally been rolling on the floor laughing, but that wasn't on his mind at this point. Yoko gave up. They'd all seen him laughing; losing his steely poker face. He might as well have a good time. Ko was back up in a minute, and started stomping and clapping in rhythm as Kuro twirled the girls around the hall. Yoko caught his breath – or at least enough to function with – and joined in with Ko. Kuronue wouldn't live this one down and both foxes would make sure of it.

By this time, some of the other doors had opened. Some stood there laughing, some stood and blushed like Yomi, some joined in with the clap-stomp band, and some closed their doors and decided that it was time to give up the bottle after seeing first-hand the evils of the drink. Before it was over, they heard Yomi asking the Heavens above what he'd done to deserve this. "You joined the guild, genius!" Ko had responded, still on the floor and laughing. That's where both foxes and a few others stayed until nearly dawn, when Kuro gave up the fight with gravity and fell in the middle of the hall.

Yoko and Ko laughed for a few more minutes, nearly stopped, looked at each other, shook their heads, and started laughing again. They finally stood up, both having to grab their doorknobs and pull up thanks to their aching ribs, and closed their doors. They each knew what the other was thinking. 'If it's up to me to pack him to his room like that, he'll still be layin' there when he wakes up...'

After Yoko finally calmed down, he and the girls laid down together to get some much needed sleep. They were all exhausted, either from the laughing, or the hours of oxygen deprivation that came as a result of it.

Not long after his head hit the pillow, Yoko was standing in an old scene. He was younger; only a boy, not even 10-years-old. He was running from the town he'd been living outside of, trying to make it back to the den he'd claimed. There were men after him.

"Catch that little thief!"

"I want that brat's hands mounted and bronzed!"

"He went that way!"

He could hear them gaining on him. It didn't seem right that a child should have to go through all this for food. By the time he got away from these men, he was going to run off more weight than this single loaf of bread could put back on him.

He panted for breath as the briers and low limbs of the forest scratched his face. He couldn't slow down to avoid them. If he did he would be caught. He thought he was putting some distance between himself and the men chasing him, but he wasn't going to stop to find out. He did spare a glance back over his shoulder though, just to see if they were still on his heels. He didn't see them, and then-

BOOM!

"OW!" he cried, then clamped his hands over his mouth. 'What are you thinking stupid! They'll hear you!' He couldn't believe he had ran into a tree! He thought he knew this forest better than that! But then he heard the 'tree' groan.

"Ooowwww..."

His eyes widened. 'Trees don't talk!' He turned his head slowly, afraid of what he might see.

"What's the big idea?" a boy asked him. A boy about his age!

"Phew," the little fox said, wiping his brow with relief. "Who're you?"

"I think I saw him going this way!" a man called from behind the other boy.

"C'mon, gents! That fox went this way!" another called from behind Yoko.

"They're after me!" both little boys said at the same time, then both sets of eyes widened.

"Whaddaya mean they're after you?" the little winged boy asked Yoko. "They're after me!"

They heard the sound of footsteps off in the distance.

"C'mon!" the little fox said, grabbing the other boy by the wrist and hauling him to his feet. They ran until they both thought their hearts were going to burst, but the men were persistent. Yoko couldn't go home to his den with them on his heels. He'd never be safe there again if they knew where it was.

He led the other boy through endless zigzags around the forest, but the men kept coming. Finally, Yoko had an idea.

"We need to get behind 'em! We gotta double-back! That's the only way!" but the grass wasn't tall enough here. Yoko was used to leading his footprints in one direction, then climbing up on a rock or a low-lying branch to go back the way he came. He'd wait in the tall grass or the bushes until his pursuers were past him, following the prints, then he'd run to safety before they knew they'd already passed him. He didn't have the stream to wade through, either. That was on the other side of the forest.

"I got it!" the boy said. He jumped as high as he could, then flapped his little wings, and just managed to grab a branch high-above. He bent his knees over the branch, and hung upside down, reaching out a hand for the little fox. "C'mon! Hurry!" he said in a loud whisper.

The fox had to jump a few times, but he caught the boy's hand just in time to be pulled into the safety of the leaves. The men came, searched the area, then spread out. Yoko sniffed at the air a little while later to see if they were far enough away to relax yet. The little boy snickered at the way his nose twitched, but put a clamp on it when the little fox shot him a glare. When his nose told him that the coast was clear, he and the boy began to talk.

"Who are you?" Yoko asked.

"My name's Kuronue. What's yours?"

"I'm Yoko."

"Nice ta meetcha," Kuronue said, extending a hand which Yoko accepted and shook.

"You, too. So why were they after you?"

"This," Kuronue said, and showed him a little brown bag tied in butcher's twine. He unraveled the knot and showed the fox a few slices of meat that he'd commandeered from the lady coming out of the butcher's shop. "Why was they after you?"

"This," Yoko said, pulling a single loaf of bread out of a small bag he had thrown around his back.

"Well if that don't beat all," Kuronue said, smiling wide.

"Huh?"

"You got the bread, and I got the fillers. We can make sammiches! ...if you're willin' to share..." Kuronue looked hopefully to the fox.

"Course! That'll be the best dinner I've had since... Well, I don't exactly know when, but it's been a long time!"

"Yes!" Kuronue exclaimed toward the sky. "I even got this to wash it down with," he said, pulling a bottle out of a little bag he'd been carrying on his own back. "Apple cider. I don't fancy it much, but iss better'n nothin'."

"I LOVE apple cider!" the little fox said. "I thought we'd be stuck drinkin' this." He pulled a bottle from his bag. "Ginger ale. Uck!" he said, sticking out his tongue with disgust.

"Ginger ale? Really? I can't get enough of that stuff!"

"I guess we'll trade then," the little fox said, holding out his bottle to the bat.

"Yeah," Kuronue said, taking the bottle from his hand and placing his own in the fox's other.

"This is kinda funny," the fox said as they set to slicing up the bread with a knife that Kuronue promised had never cut anything but food.

"What?"

"Just that you got what I like, and I swiped what you like, and 'tween the two of us we had the stuff for sandwiches..." The little fox appeared thoughtful for a few minutes. Wasn't this almost like that thing the grown-ups called 'fate'?

The two laughed and chatted over dinner, though the little fox was a lot more careful about talking with his mouth full. They couldn't believe it. The two little orphans were practically neighbors! Kuronue had been living in a cave that was in plain sight of Yoko's den. They'd both been stealing their food, but there were two towns in the area. The days that Yoko had ransacked one, Kuronue had been in the other. That must have been how they'd missed each other.

Kuronue's mother had died a little while back, and none of the rest of his people 'fancied' him much. He'd had to come out here and find a way to live on his own. He showed the little red pendant that she'd given him. He said he'd never taken it off.

Yoko told Kuronue about his own mother, who he didn't remember well. She was a red fox, and so was the fox she had claimed was his father. Claimed until he was born silver, anyway. There were four kits, but he was the only one to survive. Vixens sometimes stay around to help their mothers raise the next litter. They're called helper vixens. His sister, from his mother's last litter had stayed around to help raise the next, and when she'd seen what was going to happen, she'd taken Yoko far away to save him from her father. She'd left him with a group of silver foxes, and she'd probably been killed for saving him, along with his mother and three brothers.

It wasn't long before the silver foxes turned him out, saying that sometimes he was too smart for his own good. Yoko personally thought that their leader was afraid of him. Not afraid of him now, but afraid of what he might grow up to be. Kuronue said that was about what happened with his own kind. He caught on to things quicker than the others, and he was getting strong faster than he should have been. He could see and hear and smell things better, too.

By the time the talk was over, they were almost scared at how much alike they were. And their meeting the way they had hadn't helped it any. They determined that there was something else they had in common, but that was about to change. They had both been lonely; cast out from the world, even their own people, with no one to turn to. But those days were officially over.

The newest thing that they had in common, was that they had found someone to latch onto. They had each gained a new family today. They wouldn't cry themselves to sleep anymore; they'd spend their nights fighting sleep to laugh at a few more of the other's jokes. They wouldn't go hungry anymore; they each had someone to help them get the food they needed. They wouldn't wonder why no one cared about them anymore; they each had someone who would always care. They wouldn't sit in a cold cave or den while it stormed outside, scared of the sound of the thunder and the flash of the lightning; they would rejoice in the sound of the rain, knowing it meant a chance to go out and wrestle in the mud. There were a million things that changed for them that day, but the most important one was that they would never be lonely again, because they weren't alone anymore.

After the talks of likes and dislikes were over, and they had really seen how much they were like each other, Kuro said, "Ya know, it's kinda like we're brothers."

A few weeks later, he repeated those words, but the next time, Yoko didn't respond with the child's laughter as he had that day. The next time he would say: "Nope. We're closer than brothers. Brothers are stuck with each other cuz they have the same mom. We're together cuz we wanna be."

The girls crawled out of Yoko's bed and got dressed, careful not to disturb him. They also thought it best not to tell that such a ruthless man had such a sweet smile on his face when he slept. They left, each exchanging a few 'that was so cute' giggles on the other side of the door, then had to stifle laughter when they saw the bat demon laying in the hallway, still wearing not much more than a stupid grin. They tiptoed over him and went downstairs.

Yoko laid in the bed for a few minutes when he woke up. He was still thinking about the dream. The day he met his 'brother'. The way they each had the things the other needed. They were still like that in a way. Yoko was a child genius, too smart for even his own kind. He had a little courage, but not nearly as much as he did now. Kuronue had been bright for his age, but mostly, he was one big ball of guts. Nothing scared him. Putting Yoko's wisdom with Kuronue courage had been a lot like combining an open flame with an open gas valve.

When the two got together, it was kinda like that day; when they shared what they had and both came out on top. Kuronue taught Yoko to fear nothing, and Yoko taught Kuronue all about 'smarts' as he used to say. They had learned everything else together, and shared the knowledge and skills they had with each other. Between the two of them, there was nothing they couldn't do.

He smiled the biggest smile he had in years, except for last night of course, and tried to sit up. His first attempt left him falling right back down to his pillow and bringing both hands to his ribs. He'd had them broke and they hadn't ached as bad as they did from the laughing last night. The only time he remembered them being this sore was when Kuronue had gotten a hold of a bad batch of ginger ale and spent three days with the hiccups. He tried again, and made it up, but as soon as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, he leaned in over his knees and laughed some more, despite how bad his ribs begged him not to.

He finally dressed and made it to the hall, and clapped a hand to his forehead as soon as he saw what was there. About that time Ko's door swung open, and he just looked at Yoko, then to the floor, then back to Yoko. He shook his head, and started laughing again. This laugh was much milder than it had been last night, and Yoko heard him moan in pain as he did it. At least he wasn't the only one with aching ribs this morning.

Ko stepped over Kuronue and walked down the stairs and Yoko knew he heard him say, "Never again..."

Yomi's door swung open, and Yoko heard a faint groan when he saw what was on the path leading to the stairs. "I thought I'd seen it all..." he muttered as he briskly tromped down the hall and hopped the body laying in it. His face was already nearly the color of the rose in the fox's hair.

Yoko snickered a little, knowing the others couldn't hear him, and stepped back into his room and into the small bathroom. He snatched a towel off the rack, and dropped it on his crazy friend's midsection, hoping it would fall where it was intended to. There was no way he was taking an extended amount of time to aim it, nor would he adjust it if it didn't land on the designated area. He then headed over to The Loft, already knowing breakfast was out of the question. There was no way he could eat with that image in his head, and he had an idea that Ko had been planning to go the same way. If he was there, he'd be cracking jokes about this one and the red fox would likely cause the silver one to choke on an egg from taking a bite just as he reached the punchline.

He was right about Ko. He found him exactly where he thought he would. On a stool in The Loft, which was mostly empty this time of day. Only a few men, up to get a breakfast in before they started their long trips to who knows where.

As soon as Yoko sat at the bar, Ko looked at him. He looked back, tried to force a poker face and an attitude filled "What?" but it didn't work. They locked eyes for a second, and then both were sputtering, then guffawing again. It went that way for a long time; every time they looked in the other's direction they were at it. Finally they managed to calm down and hold a conversation, but their eyes seemed to agree on something. Kuronue would never live this one down. They would never forget last night. Though parts of it may fade – and they hoped those were the parts that should have been concealed – they would always remember it. And Kuronue was going to remember it, too. Even if he didn't remember it for himself, they were going to make sure and remind him as often as they could...

It wasn't long until he came down. He was finally clothed, and that drunken grin had hit the road. He looked like a man who had parted with the likes of the living years ago and someone had forgotten to tell him.

"Mornin', sunshine," Ko said, grinning wide.

"Ughhnnnunnn," was all Kuronue could manage, then he added, "Uuunn... beer... and hairathedog..." Ko pulled out that flask again, and Kuronue remembered how to talk. "Get that devil-drink away from me!"

Both foxes were laughing again, holding their ribs all the while. Yomi came in and sat at a table in the corner, still blushing wildly.

"You remember last night?" Ko asked.

"I remember that damned flask," Kuronue said, rubbing his temples.

"Where did you wake up, Kuro?" Yoko asked, smiling wide.

"I don't wanna know," the bat said, getting the foxes going again.

They relayed the whole story to him. The bat laughed with them, as Yoko had expected him to do. There was a reason nothing scared him; he was buck-wild. He never blushed once through the whole story, though Yoko and Ko did a time or two while telling it.

Kuronue knew he'd never hear the end of this.

They left the guild after the hangovers subsided to the level of a minor annoyance instead of the throbbing they'd been. Yoko's had felt like a freight train was in his head, and he was sure that Kuronue must have had the railway station in his. But, that was the great thing about their occupation. Wild nights were practically expected of men in their line of work.

"Well, you've run amok, scared a few girls, imbibed more than is healthy, quite possibly given Yomi a complex and flashed your 'family jewels' all over a den of thieves, in addition to being hailed as one of their heroes for taking out the most feared group of bounty hunters this side of reality has to offer. Anything to say for yourself?" Yoko teased as they walked along the south-bound trail.

Kuronue grinned the best he could and said, "I love bein' a bad guy."

Pleeeease give this one a review! It might be my favorite so far! And for the record, this is not where Yoko and Yomi teamed up. This is just where they met. I'm planning a Yomi-centered fic later, when I get through with the million others on my plate... REVIEW! I GAVE YOU CHIBI BANDITS AND NAKED BAT DEMONS! AND TWICE THE FOXES! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? LOL