A/N: Ummm… Okay, I'm not even gonna try to make excuses this time. If you haven't already heard, I had taken a… erm… "vacation"… of sorts… from FFN (and, like, everything else that was fun…), so yeah. The important part is, I'm updating now, so please enjoy! And send a thank you to Animay Onia for encouraging me to keep on updating! Please read and review.

28. Back to Normal and Yukina's Departure

The next morning, a different person woke up in Suichi's bed. It was no longer a poorly-disguised fox demon asleep under the covers, but a beautiful, red-haired young man: the real Suichi.

He rolled over under the covers and opened a tired, leaf-green eye. He noticed that his alarm clock was missing… Oh no! he thought. I hope I didn't oversleep!

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He noticed that he was wearing his school uniform… but there was something different about it… He stood up, and the size extra-large pants slid right down his waist. Okay… that's weird… he thought, pulling them off and standing in the dark room in his boxers. He grabbed his watch from his desk and squinted in the dark to read the time. It was 5:45 in the morning. He groaned. He didn't have to get up for another forty-five minutes! "Oh well," he said to himself. "I might as well try doing the homework that I'm sure Youko didn't do…"

But he found a pleasant surprise when he opened his bookbag and pulled out his textbooks. Opening his science book, he saw a loose leaf sheet of paper with the answers to that day's assignment written on it. Kurama smiled; the lesson they were studying was plants, so of course, Youko knew all of the right answers.

"Actually, I stole the teacher's manual when he wasn't looking," a voice inside Kurama's head that sounded an awful lot like Youko said.

Kurama frowned. Then sighed. At least Youko had gotten the assignment done… even if he did cheat…

He snapped his bookbag shut and fell back on his bed, trying to get a little bit of sleep in before 6:30. But thoughts and memories kept running through his head… He remembered yesterday… while he was still in Youko form… his stalker friend had approached him in the school's hallway…

"You're not Suichi," she had said to Youko. "Why are you Youko Kurama? When is Suichi going to be back?"

She had known who Youko was… which meant that she had to have been at the Dark Tournament… either that, or she had been a demon in the Makai… That narrowed his search a little bit, but there were still plenty of girls at Dark Tournament… He figured it wasn't any of his immediate friends, like Keiko or Botan or Yukina… It could be that Koto girl… or Juri… the announcers… he thought. But what about the option that it could be somebody from the Makai? That could be anybody! After all, Suichi had originally been a demon in the Makai, and he had kept it a secret from most of the school; perhaps another girl was doing the same…?

Then he remembered what the girl had said after she had interrogated Youko: "I just hope that he's back soon. I miss him…"

She missed him… Kurama blushed. He hoped that she would be happy knowing that he was back...

"You're back!" the girl cried, running down the hallway to give Kurama a hug. Kurama met his stalker with a giant smile on his face and hugged her back. "I missed you so much!" she said, squeezing him tighter.

"Me too," Kurama said, breaking away from their hug. "And… thanks for the Sailor Moon shirt…" he said, unzipping his light jacket and revealing the red T-shirt with the Sailor Moon characters and the words "Girl Power!" on it.

The two of them laughed. "I knew that was some silly lie that Luna had made up," the girl said, "but I wanted to get it anyway, just to see the look on her face when I got it."

"Well… thanks for caring," Kurama said seriously. He grabbed her hand and caressed her soft skin lovingly. "Do you want to go to the park and grab some ice cream?" he asked.

The girl looked down for a minute. "The park…?" she asked. She didn't want to be seen in her disguise in a public place. "Well…"

"I mean that little field area by that old warehouse that nobody uses anymore," Kurama said. "We can raid the teacher's lounge for some ice cream. I get special access to their vending machines for being one of the top students."

The girl nodded. "Okay."

The two of them sat on a large slab of concrete, their backs to the old, abandoned warehouse, licking the ice cream off of the cones dipped in chocolate. Kurama smiled as the girl had shoved her facemask down to let her tongue lick off the tasty treat. He still couldn't tell who she was, even with half her face showing. But whoever she was, she was very beautiful…

Once the sun went down, Kurama's stalker said she had to go. With a parting kiss good-bye, she walked down the opposite road and disappeared. As Kurama was about to set off for home himself, he saw a familiar shadow walking down the sidewalk, dragging something. As the shadow came closer, he realized that it was Yukina.

Yukina was dragging a large, white leather suitcase and had a distant, sad look in her eyes. She looked more depressed than usual…

"Yukina!" Kurama said, running over to her.

Yukina turned in her tracks to look at him, her scarlet eyes staring into his, the expression of sorrow and sadness much deeper. Kurama stood up and walked over to her, touching her chin and lifting her head up. "What's the matter?" he asked, concerned. "What are you doing with that big suitcase?"

Yukina turned away, jerking her head out of Kurama's hand. "I'm leaving," she said.

"Leaving?"

"I'm going back to Koorime Island," she said sadly. "I can't stay here anymore… it hurts too much…"

"What do you mean…?"

"I came here and accomplished what I wanted to do," Yukina said, staring at the ground. "I found my brother, and I found true love… Unfortunately, they were the same person…"

"What?" Kurama asked, confused. "You… Hiei… he told you?"

"Yes," she said. She set her suitcase down on the sidewalk and shoved her face into Kurama's chest. "I loved him!" she sobbed, tear gems rolling off her face and onto the ground. "I loved him… but… he… he was him…"

"You loved Hiei, didn't you?" Kurama asked, grabbing Yukina's shoulders and wiping her tears away with his hands. "You loved him, but he was your brother."

"Yes." Yukina nodded. "And now I must go… I have to go back…"

"Why can't you stay?" Kurama asked. "Nobody's making you go back!"

"I am," Yukina said. "I don't want to stay here. I don't want to face Hiei anymore… I don't ever want to see him again! I'm sorry…" she picked her suitcase up off the ground and continued dragging it.

"Let me carry that," Kurama said, taking the suitcase and carrying it. "Thank you," Yukina said. "I just need to get into this warehouse and take the portal back…"

Inside the warehouse, the two of them saw a portal already materialized. Yukina grabbed her suitcase from Kurama, and, with tears in her eyes, she said, "Tell the others that I left. And tell them… tell them I'm sorry. Good-bye, Kurama." She stepped through the portal and disappeared.

NEXT TIME: MYSTERIOUS RESCUER AND BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. But… haha, I crack myself up EVERY TIME with this line: "I found my brother, and I found true love… Unfortunately, they were the same person…" –haha. I love that. Okay, enough self-love. Please review!

--crazykitsune17--