Chapter Three : Identities Revealed

"What are you doing here?" Yukina asked Sora, her soft voice filled with a slight fear.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Sora said, a furious panic beginning to fill her heart. Her life seemed to be nothing but one giant 'coincidence'. She was beginning to regret ever getting mixed up with Keiko Yukimura in the first place.

"Wait..." Kuwabara said, looking back and forth between the two of them curiously, "Do you two know each other?"

"Old acquaintances," Yukina said, her voice harsher than usual with age and stress, "We knew each other when we were children."

"When you were kids...?" Kuwabara said, trying to piece things together, "But Sora's not a demon..."

Sora moved forward quickly, and grabbed Yukina firmly by the arm, "We need to talk."

"You're not going to bring me back!" Yukina said in a harsh tone. "I will not allow it."

"I have no intention of it," Sora said in a quiet undertone, "But if you keep talking the way you've been talking, you are going to give me away!"

"Give you away?" Yukina asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Not here!" Sora hissed, eying Kuwabara warily.

Yukina hesitated, and then nodded. "Kazuma!" she said sweetly to Kuwabara, using his first name playfully, "Could you go get us some water? I'm absolutely parched!"

Kuwabara went giddy at being addressed by Yukina, and nodded happily, "Sure Yukina!" and quickly left the room.

Yukina watched him go, and shook her head sadly, but there was a smile on her face and a blush in her cheeks. "His head may not be squarely on his shoulders, but his heart is in the right place..." she told Sora, before grabbing her arm and pulling her out the door and into the forest that surrounded Genkai's home.

When they were a safe distance away from the noise of the party, Yukina turned to Sora. Both girls were silent for a moment, and then Yukina spoke carefully. "Give you away?"

Sora hesitated, and then sighed. "I haven't told them I am a demon."

The surprise was evident on Yukina's face, even in the dim moonlight, "You haven't? But how have you kept a secret all this time? I would have thought Yusuke –"

"I've learned how to mask my energy," Sora explained carefully, "Really well. Only someone who was trying to sense it would be able to...and even then, they'd have to be really in practice. No one I spend time with has the skills."

"Not to question your skills," Yukina said tentatively, "But you are underestimating Yusuke's abilities. You should see some of the stuff he's done."

"I thought so too at first," Sora said, "What with his reputation as spirit detective, I thought for sure that he would see through me right away...but apparently, he is either out of practice, or not looking for it."

"Wow..." Yukina said, "So our meeting there was purely by chance..."

"Yes..." Sora said, and then she smiled, "But I am glad to see you again Yukina. It's been years since we last saw each other."

"I'm sorry for running away so suddenly..." Yukina said softly, "You were my best friend back home, and I should have told you. But when I went to say goodbye, you were not there...out on one of your illegal adventures through demon world, no doubt...and I wanted to wait until you got back...but I just couldn't stand to be there any longer."

"I understand..." Sora said softly, "And it was a bit of a shock to wake up and find you gone. But it meant that I could confess truthfully to the ice elders that I had had no idea that you were going to run away. I did not get punished for it."

"That is good to hear..." Yukina said softly, smiling.

"I ran away not long after you did," Sora admitted. "I gave birth to a son."

"A son!" Yukina said happily, but then her face paled, "No..." she whispered. "They didn't..."

"I was too young to have given birth by immaculate means..." Sora said bitterly, "And the fact that my baby was a boy simply proved it. Only females can live in the ice world," Sora lowered her eyes, and attempted to blink back tears. "The elders left him for dead."

"Oh Sora..." Yukina whispered, putting her arms around the girl. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's all right..." Sora muttered, "You do not need another dead baby boy on your conscious."

"My brother is still alive," Yukina said softly.

"I know you want to believe that," Sora said, "And you may be right. You are his sister; if you believe him to be living, then you are the one who knows best."

There was silence for a moment, and then Yukina spoke softly, "I went back once, to our so called home."

Sora did not reply, she just listened.

"I'm not sure what brought me back; I think it was the combination of not being able to find my brother, and not really feeling like I could survive on my own," her face reddened slowly with obvious anger, "The ice elders...they treated me like garbage, letting me believe that I couldn't live without their guidance, and that was why I had returned. What a load of rubbish. I vowed then and there that I would not return when I worked up the courage to leave again."

"So when I came into the room with Kuwabara..." Sora began.

Yukina nodded, and smiled a sort of twisted smile, "When you came into the room with Kazuma, I thought you had come to take me back."

Sora laughed, "I am a run away myself; what could I possibly gain by taking you back?"

Yukina laughed, "Oh Sora, how can I ever make it you?"

Sora stopped laughing, and turned serious. She paused for a moment, choosing her words, and then spoke, "Please...don't tell anyone my true identity just yet. I'm not ready for them to know I'm an ice maiden yet."

Yukina stopped laughing then, and looked at Sora with hesitation in her eyes, "They have been kind to me, you know," she said, after a moment's pause, "They do not discriminate against demons. They have all had encounters with demons. Why, Kurama-"

"I know who Kurama is," Sora spat suddenly, "I am well aware of his identity as Yoko, thank you very much."

Yukina faltered, and gazed at her carefully. Her eyes widened, and then she spoke, "Oh how horrible of me to have forgotten! Of course you would know who Kurama was!"

Some of the anger that had suddenly flared up slipped out of Sora slowly, "No...it's all right Yukina. I am sorry for snapping at you like that. Yoko is just a...touchy spot with me."

"And no wonder!" Yukina said. She paused, and asked curiously, "Was he-"

"I know what you are going to ask," Sora said bitterly, "And I am not yet ready to answer."

Yukina faltered, but then smiled weakly, "Fair enough," she said, and then began moving past Sora, in the direction of Genkai's house. "I better start getting back, before Kazuma gets too worried..." she paused, "Are you going to come now, or are you going to wait out here for some time?"

"I will just wait out here for a few minutes..." Sora said softly, "To collect my thoughts."

Yukina nodded, and proceeded gracefully back in the direction of Genkai's house, leaving Sora to stand and listen to the silence of the forest.