A/N: 'nother "chapter," as it were. Continues right where the last one left off.

Symbols Guide:

* : Written by CM; She writes primarily for Akari and Hiei

3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes primarily for Shikiyoku and Kurama

~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.

As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.

Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.

(Words in italics and within parenthesis is dialogue between Hiei and Shikiyoku via the bond between them after Hiei became Shikiyoku's Consort. As soon as the 'thought' occurs, it can pass between them, and does not actually have to be formed into exact words-feelings and sensations can pass through as well-in order to be picked up and the meaning translated immediately by the other. For the sake of the coherence by the reader, words and sentences are used as normal. It cannot be picked up by telepathy.)

"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."

The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).

The Nabu Exception also applies to anyone when they are in an animal form, if the dialogue is in italics and quotations, unless stated otherwise.

Hiei's amusement became clear across his features in the form of a smile that crinkled his eyes at the edges. He leaned his side against the back of the couch as he listened to her talk, amused that her line of thinking had been very similar to his own.

He hadn't ever considered learning until now. He'd never needed to, since he'd primarily dealt with spoken contracts with other demons. Or stealing. Or killing for what he wanted.

But… with a guild came new opportunities to learn, especially if he wanted to do it in a way where the group wouldn't get so much flak from other guilds.

He hadn't cared too much about that until recently either.

"Luckily for you, I don't plan on being so difficult a student," he teased, a spark in his gaze. "I never needed it either. Though I'm sure you know that already."

~!**!~

Kiyoko turned up to consider Kurama as he mentioned this 'Hiei', who she'd never heard of before. And her head turned slightly at the mention of 'the infection'. It was such a specific wording that she almost asked what he meant by it.

"Grump did? I hope he's feeling better. Being sick is no fun." Kiyoko turned to look at Nabu, who met her gaze with a wag of his tail. "Grump is what I call Hiei - I forgot his actual name until just now, actually - because he's always so quiet and grumpy."

"Nabu…"

"I know, I shouldn't judge people, but he was really grumpy. It's been a long time since I've seen him though."

Kiyoko let out a little sigh and turned back up to Kurama. "Is the infection so bad that he'd have died? That's… quite severe." *

Kurama blinked a couple of times as he realized, no, that phrase wouldn't mean nearly as much to the dog next to him as it might to, say, Akari.

He nodded, "Yes. It's quite terrible. Many, many demons have fallen ill and never recovered. He's one of...three, to my knowledge, who managed to get better. And that's out of countless others to whom fate was not so kind. Kit being one of them."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku smiled at him and almost reached over to hold his hand.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why I assumed that you did know how to read. If I'd thought about it for one instant, it makes complete sense that you didn't." She shrugged, "I'd like to think I took it better than Kit, though. And I'd also like to think I'm not forcing you into it either." 3

Hiei shook his head, though his eyes caught sight of the slight movement of Shikiyoku's muscles in her arm and hand and he considered it for a moment before he reached out and took hold of that hand.

"If I didn't want to do something, I wouldn't do it." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "And… if I want to have a true guild, with a guild hall, I can only benefit by also using the skill of reading and writing to help Akihiko get set up for all of the paperwork he'll want to take on." The bond told her of his amusement about that, and a bit of fondness for his second in command. "I'm sure there's paperwork issues he has that he never brings up."

~!**!~

Kiyoko made a small sound. "That's terrible."

Nabu nudged her. "But there's people who can survive it."

"I'm sure it's very special circumstances, if so few have recovered, Nabu."

The pair turned, in sync, up to Kurama.

For the first time in a while, Raion shuffled and spoke up. "No one really knows what causes it."

"Which is what makes it so dangerous," Kiyoko finished for him. Raion only nodded. She took a long look around the meadow, looking at each person who'd come to the area for relaxation and fun. She didn't like the game her imagination was playing, so she instead watched the smiles and laughter as people did their own things under the warmth of the sun.

Nabu turned to Kurama. "Are they going to be here today too? Grump and Sparkles?" *

Kurama opened his mouth as if he had an answer and then paused and realized he'd only half-heartedly considered the option.

"You know, I hadn't asked them if they wanted to come." He admitted. 3

~!**!~

If I didn't want to do something, I wouldn't do it.

Shikiyoku frowned a little at his hand, which had somehow ended up holding hers and she couldn't really remember it happening.

She remembered she wanted it to happen. She'd almost done it. But she was pretty sure she didn't.

"I suppose." She replied absently, still watching their hands and moving her thumb back and forth over Hiei's skin. 3

Hiei raised a brow at the off-hand reply he received, and his eyes dropped to watch the thumb she stroked over the back of his hand. He watched the circles she traced there before he looked up at her facial expression again, noticing a sort of confusion between her brows.

He blinked.

He wasn't sure if she was confused by when it had happened, or if she simply wasn't sure who'd initiated the contact.

Either way, he found the expression funny, and he wondered if there were other things he did that made her make that expression. In any case, he'd never noticed it before now.

~!**!~

Raion stared at Nabu for a few moments, taking note of his calling Hiei "Grump" and deciding he'd most definitely use it sometime in the future himself. He watched the little dog as Nabu turned and got Kiyoko's attention, saying something about her 'meeting Grump for the first time' and 'he isn't as bad as he likes to think'.

Raion snorted, but turned to Kurama after a moment.

"When you mentioned your mother being the reason you stay on the First Level… what did you mean by that? The 'mother' part, specifically." He'd been curious for a while about a few things, but hadn't had the chance or even the courage to speak up about it until this very moment. *

"When I ended up in the old Human World, I acquired a human mother, did you know that?" Kurama glanced over at him. "I was so weak that I was barely anything resembling an apparition, a spirit. It was all I could do to inhabit a child, and an unborn one at that."

Without ceremony, the kitsune form of Kurama wavered and shifted and in the next moment, the red-haired human was kneeling next to Raion. His clothing was much more casual than his typical suit, but no less fine and he slowly started to roll up first one sleeve and then the other.

"I was a cruel child. Angry at what I'd been forced to become, impatient to regain what had once been mine, and in the midst of it all somewhat anxious to discover what had happened to my dear Shikiyoku, though my memories at first were hazy and there was only this...drive to rejoin with someone that I no longer knew."

"I do not deserve the woman who is my mother." He said quietly. "Where I was cruel, she was kind. Where I was impertinent, she was soft-spoken. And when an accidental injury caused by my own tantrum would have been nothing more than a moment's inconvenience for myself-" He had his forearms turned upwards to show the faintest white scars criss-crossing them. "-she wears scars like these that at the time I thought nearly killed her." He chuckled a little, "She was more resilient than I gave her credit, but that moment changed me. Who else would seemingly sacrifice themselves for someone that did them no favors?"

~!**!~

"Oh! I should get the laundry." Shikiyoku shook her head at herself for having forgotten as she started to stand and let go of his hand. "I'll be right back." 3

Hiei almost protested, but then he remembered that he'd told her that she could go back to what she was doing after she'd eaten. So, he squeezed her hand once before he let her go. He watched her as she left the room, his arm leaning against the back of the couch lazily.

(Any other skills you picked up begrudgingly?) He asked her with a teasing warmth in the bond.

~!**!~

Raion shook his head at Kurama's first question, and while he thought it made more sense that he had a human mother on the first, he also thought it made even less sense than before. He remembered the stories of the Spirit Defense Force and their hunt for Youko Kurama, the infamous thief. He remembered hearing stories of the fox's demise, only to later hear word that the fox had been seen in a tournament of sorts.

He'd never watched those tournaments, but he'd heard enough down the line to get the gist of the events.

So the story Kurama told of his human mother, when added to the new human look he sported, earned a little flicker of understanding in his gaze before it turned back into confusion.

He himself wouldn't have reacted the same to an injury of a human, no matter how severe.

He didn't voice that thought as the fox talked, though, and instead he nodded.. *

"There's only been one other up to that moment who'd had the audacity to treat me so kindly when I had done nothing to deserve it..." Kurama continued quietly, still staring down at the scars on his arms. In a moment of penance, having replicated what his mother had endured for him. "...when at first I'd treated her as anything butworthy of even being in the same room as I. When I'd shown up injured and she took it literally upon herself so that I would not have to endure it. And so many other things besides."

"Shikiyoku." He finally said, reaching down and returning his sleeves back to their former places.

"I do not expect you to understand. Not yet, anyway. Humans will...make you see it sooner once you've come to know her. For all their hatred, all their shortcomings...they know what it is to love unlike anything any demon in their right mind can comprehend. And that's why I stay on the First." He smiled and shifted forms again, his lips turning more devilish as his now golden eyes looked Raion up and down somewhat dangerously, if alluringly so, and one of his tall ears flicked once, "Because I'm absolutely out of my mind."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku gave him a quick smile as she darted out of the room and ducked in to quickly shift the laundry around down the hall.

(I wish I could say dancing.) The immediate admission was accompanied with a sort of chagrin, a self-awareness. (But my first Champion had me wrapped around his little finger. I would do anything he wanted me to.)

She thought about it for a moment.

(Cooking?) The thought was accompanied by something akin to laughter. (Medicine.) She answered more assuredly, adding with fondness: (Nothing more boring than hearing Kitoushi going on and on about his latest discovery.)

(Almost anything survival related. Frustrated Kurama to no end in my early bandit days. He'd try and drop me off in the middle of nowhere to fend for myself only to storm back in and interrupt me when I'd coerced something else to do it for me.) 3

Hiei nodded as if Shikiyoku could see it, remembering the details of her first Champion as if the Bond had shared them with him only yesterday. He had no remark on that, and he didn't think she'd enjoy the topic anyway.

The bond warmed with a small smile as she continued on, and he busied himself with pushing from the couch and gathering his empty plate, glass, and adding it to the tray on the bedside table. He stacked the dishes so they'd be easy to take downstairs, and after a moment of checking himself, he gathered the tray up and turned to make his way to the bar, all the while listening and giving Shikiyoku little responses like hums and smiles.

At the last, a little chuckle floated across the bond as he imagined Kurama entering a meadow filled with half-dead demons and a single, still-healthy demon who had been coerced into doing Shikiyoku's dirty work for her.

(I imagine the fox had a hell of a time with that.)

She couldn't see it, but as he took the stairs down, a grin fought and won over his expression.

~!**!~

Raion listened to Kurama's tale with an interest that spoke of his need to understand, and yet his inability to do so. He knew what Kurama meant of Shikiyoku's selflessness and her giving nature, and he could easily imagine the woman taking on injuries of any one person without a doubt. She'd already proven that by helping the guild bandage themselves when they come into the bar a tired and bloody mess, time and time again.

And yet for all that, he didn't understand the want to stay and discover the depths of that from the humans. He didn't understand wanting to put so much time, energy, and emotion into a being so fragile and fleeting with only the promise of the pain once those short lives were over.

"You're right," he said after a moment, his tail curling and uncurling. "I don't understand." He shrugged. He definitely agreed that Kurama, the greatest thief in history, was out of his mind to devote himself to the humans so wholly.

He thought the same of Ikigai and his human girlfriend.

But…

"If that's what you enjoy, I see no reason not to go a little crazy."

"Even Akari's changed since I first met her," Nabu said after a beat. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was a human too."

Kiyoko watched the people conversing around her quietly, taking in all of that information without missing a single detail. "Demons are not usually so kind?"

Nabu barked out a laugh. "Aka tried to ignore me when we first met, hoping I 'd leave, but that's nice compared to someone like Gru- Hiei." The Shiba turned to Kurama again. "If he's changed, I'll have to think of a new name for him."

"Nabu… He has a name. 'Grump' isn't very nice, and-"

"You'd understand if you knew him…" *

"Demons are self-serving." Kurama provided for Kiyoko as he started to rise and brush off his white pants as if they'd gotten any sort of dirt on them. "And while humans have such tendencies and worse, we are not born with the ability to love as they are. It is something we can come to learn, given time and the proper circumstances." He smiled and stretched. "The same can be said for animals."

"Now, I expect you to be well-versed in the art of 'tag' by the time I return, Raion. I think I will go and see if our two favorite demons are feeling up for an outing today. I think if nothing else, the fresh air will do the pair of them good."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku chuckled.

(I think you would have found yourself just as frustrated had you been in his shoes. You're not the only one around here with a stubborn streak. Truthfully, I think I enjoyed being a frustration perhaps more so than I begrudged them the skills they wished to pass on. They made such delightful faces when I continued to thwart their supposed desires.)3

Hiei stepped into the bar after successfully descending the stairs, and just as he turned to move behind the bar stations, the head bartender met him with a stern look and swept the tray away.

"Go. Rest."

Hiei let his appreciation for the bartender's worry show for a brief second even as he gestured to the half-empty water pitcher and the two glasses, asking for a refill.

(That sounds like a grand time,) he responded to Shiki with the impression of a smirk following. He took the tray of water pitcher and two glasses from the bartender with a nod of thanks and, amused at the demon's waving him away, turned to 'follow orders' and return to his room.

(I have no doubt about your ability to learn combat skills, but I appreciate the ability to keep your own hands clean of it.) For a while, he'd tried learning to do the same, but found he enjoyed being the bringer of death himself more than anything else. (It's an art all its own. One I never had the patience to master.)

~!**!~

Raion raised a brow. "Tag?"

Nabu was up and on his feet instantly, already running circles around the lion's feet and barking all the rules up at him even as Kurama took his leave. Golden eyes followed the fox for a moment before Nabu's running around him began to stir up dust, and he finally turned down to the little canine.

"-and when the person who's 'it' touches you, you become 'it' and have to chase everyone else until you 'tag' someone and they become 'it'! It's fun, and it's easy, and we get to run as much as we want and bark as much as we want, and-"

He turned to Kiyoko. "Is he always this way?"

"Always." The fluffier dog turned to make her way back towards the others, her tail swaying slightly. "It's endearing."

"If that's what you want to call it..." *

Kurama loped back over closer to the others and gave them a wave as he turned and headed back the way he came.

"I'll be right back!" He called. "I'm going to see if Hiei wants to join us!"

~!**!~

(I'm certain that's not what either of them would have called it.)

Shikiyoku hesitated as she finished loading things into the dryer and turned to leave.

(I...wouldn't say I kept my hands clean of it, exactly. But...) She sighed. (In any case, I certainly hadn't killed anyone by my own hand until Kyonshi. The Crusnik.) 3

Hiei nodded, but his only response was a general hum of thoughtfulness across the bond. He took each step with care on his way back up to his room, and he found that he had more energy and balance than he'd assumed he would have.

By the time he had the pitcher and glasses on the coffee table, he was pretty sure that he'd recovered enough to do small things throughout the day. Things to keep himself and Shikiyoku entertained: like reading and writing, and even the occasional trip downstairs to be in the company of the guild, if they so desired.

He sat on the couch again and turned to watch the door, looking for Shikiyoku's entrance or passing by.

(Of all the things you know, what did you pursue simply for your own interest in it?)

~!**!~

Akari lay on her back in the grass, her magazines to the side and momentarily forgotten as she appreciated the sky above and the scents all around her. Tarou had moved off to join the rest of his guild at some point, leaving her to the peace and him to his fun, but only after making a comment about 'coming back to her soon'.

He'd earned a laugh and a wave of her hand.

She turned her head as Kurama came closer, catching him passing by her with a wave of his hand and a promise to return. She waved her hand in the air above her. "See you soon!"

Her hand fell to her stomach again, and it wasn't until Kurama was gone through the portal that she realized she could have offered to drop him into the bar via a shadow. She dismissed the thought.

"Yeah! He was the worst! Rude, possessive, jealous… If it's negative, then it's in the dictionary next to a picture of Grump."

Raion snorted and Akari sat up on her elbows to watch him shake his head down at Nabu. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"I mean it! I have stories about Hiei that you wouldn't believe!"

Akari shook her head at her friend as Raion came to a stop, a slow grin fighting across his features. "Stories, you say?"

Raitoningu and Tsundora seemed to just appear next to Raion. "About the Boss?"

"Pft! Sit down. This'll take a while!"

"Hey!" Raion called to Chisai and Tarou, who were talking about this or that out in the middle of the meadow. "Get your asses over here! It's story time!"

"If I'm not the one telling the story, it isn't any good!" Tarou yelled back.

"It's about Hiei!"

Silence fell over the meadow.

Akari blinked, and suddenly everyone was seated around Nabu, who had taken up residence next to her. Kiyoko sighed and laid with her head on Akari's lap, her eyes closing in resignation as the first story began. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku stopped in Hiei's doorway and leaned against the frame, looking thoughtful.

"I- I don't know. I can't really think of anything in particular. I suppose the bar. That's the only thing that comes to mind anyway." 3

Hiei leaned an arm against the back of the couch so he could turn to watch her comfortably. He considered her answer for a long moment before he gave a nod to himself, accepting the answer.

He definitely enjoyed the bar.

"Now that I think about it," he began as he turned a little so he could cross his legs, "we haven't worked together behind the bar in a long while." He wasn't really sure the last time they worked together, especially with both at their own bar stations. Usually if they worked together, she was out on the floor and he was bartending. *

Shiki smiled, "You're much faster at making drinks than I am, but I'm better at making small talk than you are." She tilted her head, "So most of the time you're bartending and I'm filling in out on the floor. I try and give some of them time off when I'm here and I can usually do the work of two or three of them with the same efficiency."

She frowned for a moment, "I think most things I learned because I had to. Because it was expected of me at the time or relevant to my survival. The bar is...probably? the first one I sought purely for my own amusement, and not tainted by requirements or expectations. Or if it's not, I can't think of anything else at the moment that comes anywhere close." 3

Hiei nodded at Shikiyoku as she talked so she knew he was listening, but also in a sort of agreement to what she was telling him. He enjoyed the bar just as much as she did, especially when the guild took up residence and he took the opportunity to sit with them - as rarely as he did.

"You should do things for your own amusement more often," he told her as a small smile lit his features. "I've enjoyed seeing what you come up with."

And he enjoyed hearing about it from her even more so, which was something he didn't often have the joy of getting out of her. *

Shikiyoku stood up from where she leaned on the door frame and started to move closer, an eyebrow raising at him along the way.

"I do plenty of things for my own amusement." She purred, lips lifting on the one side of her mouth in a sidelong smile, "Most things, in fact. Always have." 3

Hiei opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He stared at her for a long moment, a brow raising ever so slowly in recognition of what she was doing and how it too was for her own amusement.

He closed his mouth and almost tried to respond a second time, but instead he narrowed his eyes at her a little.

(I see what you're doing...) The bond took his thoughts and slid them ever so subtly to Shikiyoku. (...and I don't dislike it...)

...Yet I can't figure out what exactly about it I do like...*

Her eyes gleamed as the bond spoke to her, her approach unchanging-(And what exactly am I doing, Hiei?)-until she finally came close enough to be within reach.

The response was as if in passing, as if she did not expect him to have an answer.

"But you didn't ask me what things I did for my own amusement." She said, tilting her head slightly. "Though the bar is certainly something that falls into both categories." 3

Again, he found himself liking something about what she was doing, and was unable to put his finger on it. So he only watched as she moved closer, his eyes glued to her expression, the gleam in her eyes and the half smile that teased the edges of her lips.

He raised a brow in curiosity about what else she considered to be for her own amusement, other than this conversation, though he hesitated in asking. He watched her for a long, long moment, calculative, curious, cautious.

"What else would fall under that category for you?" He finally asked, giving her a look up and down as if he could figure it out without her asking.*

She leaned into the arm of the couch with a hip, hovering over him and still staring with that same smile as she got closer.

"Pretending I didn't know how to read for ninety-nine years. Acting uninterested in medicine when I found the subject quite fascinating. Cooking so terribly on purpose so they would never ask me to do it again. Coercing other demons into creating a campsite for me instead of doing it on my own. ..."

She moved a little closer and murmured, "Things of that sort." 3

Hiei almost leaned away, but he stayed where he was, staring at Shiki as he considered the reason behind why he almost wanted to create a bit of distance. He thought about the previous times where he'd done just that: on the Ninth when she'd stood over him while in pain form, in the hotel when she'd stood taller than him in her heels, and just recently when she'd marched into the bar to request his guild for work.

He studied her expression, aware that at any moment if she did something... 'more', he might lean just a bit away. But at present, he almost could have leaned closer, if only he knew why he would do as such.

Normally it might have been to kiss her. But here, he found himself feeling more analytical, and he definitely was enjoying the feeling of whatever it was that was going on.

But he couldn't quite form a response. He could only manage to stare at her, his brow raised in interest. *

"What about you, Hiei?" She asked, satisfied at present to remain as she was, letting the rising desire she had to kiss him continue to simmer for the moment, though it was just about the only thing passing over her thoughts. "Has there ever been anything you've pursued simply for your own interest in it?" 3

You.

Uh...

I am in danger.

He blinked up at her a few times as he scrambled for a response other than his first one, unsure how she'd react if he said that one before any others. The bond seemed to churn with his thoughts, never settling on anything concrete and only vaguely telling her of his floundering for an answer to her question.

"Yukina." He hadn't been able to think of much else other than his time searching for his sister and the land of ice where he'd been thrown from. Sure, he'd hunted demons for sport using their greed, but that had been more about amusement, not interest.

After a brief pause, his expression shifted and he met her gaze evenly. In all the world, the only thing or person who had truly been of interest to him had been her. Yes, Youko Kurama had been someone he looked for out of interest for nefarious purposes, but he filed that under amusement too. *

Truthfully, Shikiyoku thought she sensed a pause in his response, one that made his answer sound more like You with a quickly added -kina as if to hide it than his sister's name outright and her expression flickered with amusement at the prospect.

"Is that so?" She nearly reached out to brush her fingers along the side of his face, but instead relented her presence just a touch so that she was only standing over him as she let her weight fully lean into the couch, no longer intent on coming closer.

He admitted as much in recent, if earlier, conversation when speaking of how he had come to sit next to her. If not initially out of interest, or maybe curiosity was a better word, then she couldn't fathom why.

"And was that for the sake of amusement as well?" 3

Hiei nodded, thinking she might have known his initial response instead of the one he gave her, but knowing that the answer was the same for both. "I wondered at the time if it would change a few things in my life, and the thought itself had been amusing, but I never would have been able to guess just how much would change from that encounter."

He didn't specify which one. If anything, he meant both of them.

He shifted on the couch a little and a smile settled over his features. Not for the first time, he thought about leaning forward and up to kiss her, but he contented himself with watching her for the moment.

"No, for amusement, I have that sword from the Ninth." He thought about the bejeweled hilt of the blade, and realized that he could use it in place of his katana until it was properly fixed.

I'll need to call on Gai for that, I think. *

Shikiyoku's expression softened and she found herself, not for the first time, wanting to kiss him.

You love her, don't you?

I think you have for a long while.

She remembered his resignation the day he found out Kuwabara had proposed and Yukina accepted.

"You care a lot for her, whether you'd admit it or not. But it shows." She grinned, "Not many demons would willingly subject themselves to the power loss a Jagan bestows just for the sake of finding something so menial as their sister." 3

Hiei blinked back to the present and up at Shikiyoku, subconsciously shifting closer to her end of the couch. "First," he said as he leaned into the armrest, "care is too light a word. I've learned that the word you're looking for is love." His eyes twinkled at her. "Second, I hardly consider her to be menial.

"...which reminds me, I haven't started on her hair piece yet." He looked around the room as if he might find ideas there, but his gaze ultimately found Shikiyoku again. "When do you plan to visit her next?" *

"Oh, is it?" Shikiyoku teased playfully. "Well, if we're going to be particular about it, then I think the word you were looking for earlier was 'you' anyway." She nearly winked at him and stopped herself.

Flirting with Hiei? That's a new development. Isn't it?

She put a finger up to her chin thoughtfully, "Though, now that I think about it, I believe I've gotten a similar response from you before."

She remembered distinctly the moment when she had him backed up against the door at Toriko's house, and all the desire she'd managed to pull from his lips was something about how his sister liked birds or some such nonsense.

"Soon, probably." She dropped the hand and shrugged as he asked. "I'll need to take measurements for the bridesmaids soon if I want to have a chance to finish their dresses before the ceremony. But I don't intend for there to be nearly as much beadwork involved, so it shouldn't take terribly long-" She blinked and gave him an apologetic look as she realized she was rambling and stopped.

(Sorry. We could go anytime you like, really.) 3

Hiei blinked up at Shiki as if he had no idea what she meant, though the twitch in his smile belied his innocence. You're not wrong, he thought. And at her mention of having gotten a response like that before, he raised a brow in curiosity, not remembering another time where he'd covered himself as he had today.

Especially not recently.

His lips lifted in an interested smile as Shikiyoku went on to explain what her next visit with Yukina will bring, not really understanding things like 'bridesmaids', but seeing that she enjoyed the work involved in it.

So when she stopped, he cocked a brow at her. "No need to stop on my account. I hardly hear about your doings outside of the bar." His eyes twinkled at her. "It's no fun if I'm the only one sharing stories." *

She huffed, hardly believing he might find it interesting.

"Yes, well, I'm sure that I'd much rather hear stories of your fame and glory than you'd like to hear about how I had to send Botan out to retrieve more needles when Yukina kept breaking them because I was too busy consoling her to do it myself. And then had to send her out a second time because she'd returned with the wrong size."

Shikiyoku looked at him and raised her eyebrows as if waiting for confirmation on her thoughts as to his actual interest. 3

Hiei blinked.

"There's different sizes of needles?" In the rare times he'd repaired his own clothes, he'd only used the finest thread possible, which meant very small needles. And lots of jagged lines, and, eventually, new clothes altogether when he gave up. *

One of her eyebrows remained raised and she fought a grin, "You know, that's exactly what she asked me at the time. It was my own fault in not specifying, but to be fair I was a trifle distracted reassuring Yukina that no, none of those five had been a favorite needle of mine and something about 'if you don't stop crying, I'm going to have to ask someone to forge these tears into beads so we can use them.'" 3

Hiei could only imagine a dress bedazzled in tear gems, and the work that would be put in to create such an ensemble. He wasn't even sure how heavy that would end up being.

Though it did give him an idea for the hairpiece he was to make for Yukina.

"Next time you go, I'll accompany you. To take Yukina her gift and watch you work." He reached out to take one of her hands. "I enjoy hearing about your day-to-day goings on." *

She made something of a face at his last statement, "I can hardly believe there's any joy to be found in hearing me ramble on about nothing. Great stories are not made at home. They are made by demons like you, in the battles you've fought and won and the troubles you encountered along the way. No one wants to hear about how I made three vodka sodas instead of five today." She nearly rolled her eyes about it. 3

Hiei tugged on her hand to bring her closer, his eyes twinkling at her as she went on her little rant about how uninteresting she found herself to be. "You could always come with me if you're bored," he told her after a moment. "Though I certainly enjoy hearing about the more mundane side of life. Especially from someone with so many skills as you."

He smiled at her almost mischievously. Not that you believe me.

"I find you far more interesting than some battle. That's just work." *

Go with him? Now that was a novel idea, but she wasn't quite certain he meant it.

"'Work,' he says." This time she did roll her eyes. "It's 'just work.'" She obliged his tugging and stood up from where she had been leaning. "I can't speak of how interesting you might find me, but I can speak to how stories of glory and honor are endlessly more desirable." 3

Hiei's expression broke into a grin. "They definitely draw a crowd, if that's what you want." He didn't enjoy the stories and the crowds as much as others, or the trouble that came with 'glory' and 'honor'. ...Not that he couldn't do away with such trouble with a single swipe of his blade, of course.

After a beat, he moved to stand over her, his gaze holding hers.

"But, should you ever get bored of your usual day-to-day, the offer to join me and the guild is there. I'm sure they'd enjoy your company just as much as I would." *

"There's absolutely no point in telling a story if it doesn't draw a crowd." Shikiyoku informed him factually, a smile tugging at her lips as if she was aware of just how little she wished to "draw a crowd" nowadays.

Her eyes followed his movements as she spoke, but she seemed completely unaware of the effect he was having on her: her hair rustling ever-so-slightly as it started to perfume the air with her energy coupled with bits of it just starting to shine like pieces of golden glitter in her eyes.

There was that offer again, though. And she still wasn't sure if he meant it. The last time they'd discussed it, she dissuaded him with commentary on how of little use she'd be, and more distraction than help besides.

Privately, she felt she'd be intruding. Not to mention the fact that, frankly, arranging for her absence from the First would likely involve Kurama at this juncture and she wasn't positive owing him a favor would be worth it, as tempting as a trip with the guild might be.

Outwardly, she only raised her eyebrows at his offer, as if he didn't realize the implications of what exactly he was asking, and how it might be out of his league to do so.

"My joining a random job on something so flimsy as a bored whim would likely be more trouble than it's worth for everyone involved." She murmured slyly up at him, the energy in her eyes whirling faster for a breath as she went on, "...However-" She allowed as the energy slowed back down to a building glimmer, "-if there is ever for some outlandish reason that you find yourself in a position where you need to hire me..." She specified with a small, particular smile, "...I'll warn you now that you might find yourself somewhat surprised. You're likely better off finding a way to do it yourself. My prices are not cheap. In fact, they might even be too rich for your blood, Gouka."

There was a slight, deliberate pause before she enunciated his title with a certain clarity that in another moment to someone else might have been a specific sort of teasing. 3

Hiei continued to shift until he was close enough to almost be standing against her, his eyes watching the golden swirls that gathered in hers and maybe, perhaps a little, letting it entice him enough that a certain smile tugged at his lips and he drew his hands up to cup either side of her face.

"I'll bear that in mind should I think I need your... services."

His eyes sparked at her and for a brief moment his thumb brushed against her cheek.

(I'll learn those other things from you someday.)

After a brief pause that was only long enough for him to stare into those golden swirling depths again, he finally let himself lean forward with every intent to give her the kiss she hadn't taken from him earlier. *

She genuinely didn't seem to notice the effect he was having on her, only smiling up at him with that same smug sort of expression as her energy absently worked to draw him closer, encircling him with only the faintest golden visibility wafting with the occasional sparkle to give away its vaporous presence in the room.

While within the bond it was perfectly clear his intention was for her to teach him things like reading and writing, mundane tasks, not for the first time Shikiyoku found herself thinking-

...the things I could teach you, flameboy...

-even as he leaned over her with what she recognized to be clear intentions despite the fact she still felt no desire from him to complete the gesture he started.

As she kissed him back, the brief thoughts of whether he did these things because he wanted to or simply because he knew she wished he would stirred somewhere inside her mind before being silenced and lost in the sensation of his lips moving against her own.

With a gentle insistence, her fingers found his sides and clutched at his shirt to give a small tug, wordlessly wanting them to come closer together just as the door to the small apartment swung inward all at once.

Within the first step across the threshold, the silver-haired fox stared at the two of them and the moment he unintentionally burst in on and if he had done it on purpose he might have been more amused. A single flick of an ear and pass of his tail silently through the air behind him revealed both his actual chagrin at his intrusion as well as his apology at having done so.

The moment already ruined, the tiniest of grins reflected his feelings on the matter as his eyes flickered between the two looking at him.

"Sorry." He raised an eyebrow in Hiei's direction. 3

Hiei smiled into the kiss at Shikiyoku's tugging him closer, and he obliged with that extra half-step forward. His hands held her face with a gentleness that he wasn't quite sure he'd ever had before now, but the thought was gone in the next moment.

He wasn't immediately aware of the new presence in the room, other than the inkling in the back of his mind that movement had happened somewhere near the door. It was the door coming to a stop that pulled him from his happy moment, and he pulled back from Shiki just as he registered a single-word apology from the intruder.

He rolled his eyes first up to the ceiling and he almost took a deep breath of agitation. Instead, he blinked once and let his head continue rolling until he was looking at Kurama, his body still where he'd stepped up against Shikiyoku the moment before, though his hands had subconsciously fallen to her waist.

"You have the worst timing."

The moment was over. Kurama knew it and Hiei knew it. And if it weren't for the genuine look of 'oops' on the other's face, the fire demon might have thought he'd waited for this precise moment before opening that door.

Though perhaps the most unsettling part of it all was that Hiei hadn't sensed him coming at all, if only because his mind had been on other things. *

Kurama's entrance genuinely startled Shikiyoku, the sound of the door making her all but jump and break away from Hiei almost immediately, blinking owlishly at the intruder for several seconds as she felt from the bond more than anything the charge of telepathic conversation in the air.

"If it had been on purpose, it would have been exquisite."

Shikiyoku's energy was also abruptly absent from the air and she didn't quite understand why she felt her neck flush at being caught by Kurama of all things.

"I apologize. I did not knock because I fully expected you both to be asleep and only intended to check." A smile danced across his pointed features as his tail made another pass behind him. He may have been apologetic, but his resulting amusement at the circumstances and Hiei's reaction he made no real attempt to hide, yellow eyes gleaming at the pair of them.

"I am certain the guild would appreciate a chance to see the both of you, and I am here to take you to them. Assuming you're up for an outing...?" He looked to Hiei for an answer as to his physical state. 3

Hiei eyed Kurama and the smile he wore, and he realized that Kurama was right. Had he truly intended to interrupt, it likely would have been much more noticeable than it had been to him. And much more grand, if only to amuse himself.

He narrowed his eyes only slightly, and only for a moment, before his expression became calm and neutral again.

"I'm sure it would have been."

Outwardly, he only nodded. "I haven't been awake very long." He almost turned to kiss Shiki again, because dammit I wanted that, but he instead turned to face Kurama. His arms fell to his sides and he regarded the picnic basket the fox held in one of his hands. "Where's this outing taking place?"

He glanced briefly at Shikiyoku. (Would you be up for it?) *

"It already was, and I wasn't even trying. I am sorry though."

Rivalry aside, Kurama knew perhaps better than anyone that if the kinship he had with Shikiyoku as her Champion was like that of the Consort, if maybe even more so, moments between them that reaffirmed their connection were important.

Especially after a harrowing event like the threat of Hiei turning.

While at first Shikiyoku thought she suspected the location of the outing before Hiei even had a chance to ask, any commentary she might have had suddenly whooshed out of her head as a wave of desire entered her other senses and left her blinking first at Kurama, who only raised an eyebrow at her, and then up at Hiei, who left her speechless.

"Not far." Kurama said noncommittally, "You've a ride if you're willing, and it might save you an intrusion later by one or more persons of your guild who would be less accommodating than I." His eyes flashed. 3

Hiei raised a brow at Shikiyoku's lack of answer and he watched her blink up at him before he gave her a small smile and turned up to Kurama. He nodded immediately at the mention of the guild. "Tarou and Raion would be insufferable..."

"...when compared to your entrance."

"I can't say I have much energy to be moving around with," he glanced down at Shiki again, "but there's a few things around here that would keep me busy if I did end up antsy."

He turned up to Kurama again. "I believe it would benefit us both to get out into the fresh air." *

Finally, Shikiyoku nodded at the mention of fresh air.

She hadn't left the apartments in at least two weeks, or the bar as a whole for even longer.

"It'd be nice, Kurama. Thank you." She gave him a grateful smile, even as her gaze flickered absently over to Hiei as if she wasn't quite sure of something. "And I'm sure seeing their boss up and around would put the guild more at ease."

Kurama made a noise of agreement and stepped back out of the doorway so they would have room to pass by him and move down the stairs. 3

With Shikiyoku's acceptance of Kurama's offer, Hiei nodded to himself and turned to move towards his bookshelf. He scanned the bookends and eyed the different symbols as if that would help him decide what he'd start learning from, and after a few moments he plucked a book with familiar writing on its spine and turned to Shikiyoku.

(If I can't be up and around, we could do some reading today too. If you're up for it.) *

(Of course. Anything you like.)

She reached up and left a brief peck of her lips on his cheek as she turned to head out the door.

A few of the patrons and workers alike rushed up to Hiei once the three of them entered the bar, and Kurama stood next to him almost as if he were keeping them from completely overtaking Hiei, though he allowed them their moment of expressing their pleasure at seeing the hybrid on his own two feet.

As they did so, Shikiyoku flit about and grabbed a handful of items in case Hiei did actually feel up to learning a few things, and she suddenly wiggled her way between Kurama and Hiei in the small crowd, smiling up at both of them as she plucked the basket from Kurama's arm to hang over her own, slipping the things she gathered into the top of it, and then wrapped her free arm around Hiei's to pull him forward and out the door.

Kurama made certain the well-wishers had dispersed by the time all three of them were standing on the sidewalk and he let out a small huff of achievement once they were alone, hands on his hips.

"Ready to go?"

Without particularly waiting for an answer, he backed up a step or two from them and several things happened at once.

His mischievous grin gave him away, however, and Shikiyoku let out a laugh, unwrapping her arm from Hiei's and giving him a quick, gentle shove until he stood in front of her as Kurama's form morphed and in one elegant movement he had ducked beneath the two of them.

Shiki's free arm wrapped around Hiei's waist to hold him to her as the silver fox-having suddenly wriggled his way beneath them even as his size fluxed-darted forward, his body continuing to lengthen until his shoulders were higher than some of the smaller buildings along the city's streets.

Setting an easy lope, he only glanced back at them perched along his back once with a single yellow eye swirling with unspoken amusement as he turned his angular snout back to the front. 3

Hiei hadn't been expecting the people in the bar to approach him at all, especially not in the numbers that they did. For a brief moment they all talked at him over each other, expressing their well wishes and their relief at his being up and around. Perhaps for the first time in many months, he found himself smiling at them all, albeit awkwardly and in appreciation.

In that moment, he was grateful for the fox at his side, whose presence kept the others from getting too close and overwhelming him as they conversed.

He answered a question here and there, and expressed his desire to work behind the bar sometime soon, but the moment Shikiyoku was at his side and looping her arm through his, a tension he han't realized he'd been carrying melted away and he let her lead the way out of the bar.

He silently thanked her, because he wasn't sure he'd have been able to get away as quickly as she had achieved. He cast Kurama a look for the same reason.

Once outside and only with the two he was traveling with, he glanced around in search of their 'ride'. He half expected some plant-based vehicle. He could very easily imagine a carriage like those he'd seen on the Ninth once or twice, or perhaps a vehicle more closely related to the ones here on the First and like the one he was making plans for elsewhere.

Everything happened within the blink of an eye, and before Hiei could even register the nudge from Shikiyoku or the change of Kurama's form, he found himself sitting amidst white fur with Shikiyoku behind him and her arms around his waist. Instinctively his hands took hold of the fur around him to keep himself balanced, and for a brief moment he was unnerved by the movements around him.

It was so very different than if he were running on his own two feet.

Sure, the world moved a pace not too different from his own, but the way it moved had him watching every tree that passed by, both in slight awe and some sort of unsettledness.

It didn't take long for that unsettled feeling in his stomach to dissipate, though, and he relaxed a little and continued to watch the world go by.

(This is by far the strangest way I've traveled.) *

It appeared as if no one noticed the streak of silver fur and multiple tails galloping down the road except for the odd child whose parent was too busy to look at the fox nimbly weaving his way through traffic or leaping over it entirely.

(You should feel honored.) The statement was accompanied with the sensation of a wink, the arm helping to holding him place as the kitsune moved beneath them giving him a gentle squeeze. She would have spoken aloud, but the occasionally sensation of wind rushing in their ears when he made a leap or turn would have required any conversation to be practically at a shout. (He doesn't let just anybody ride him.)

The ribs beneath their legs chuckled a little as if Kurama could feel when Hiei had finally relaxed.

"You could grasp at more of my fur, if it would make you feel better. I doubt I'd even feel your tug at this size." He briefly glanced back at the pair. "But I've yet to drop anyone and I don't intend to start now."

He faced forward again.

"It's not much farther at this rate." 3

Hiei wasn't sure what was more fascinating:

Watching the people who were oblivious to the fox, or being on top of the very fox that streaked through the city and towards the less populated areas of this level. He noted the one child that had seen them with a sort of fascination, having never thought of the general demon populace among humans in such a way before, but the fascination turned to Kurama soon after.

He didn't think he'd ever actually seen the fox demon in his animal form.

"Do you often travel like this?"

Internally, he nodded at Shikiyoku's remarks. He didn't miss the implication that she was one of the few who'd been in this position more than a few times, and he wondered if they often traveled in this way when he was her Champion.

(It's interesting,) he told her distractedly as he continued to watch the world go by. (His stride almost makes it seem like he's running as fast as I do.) *

One of Kurama's ears flicked to indicated he'd heard the question.

"No." He admitted. "There's rarely call for it. The form at this size is unwieldy in the best of situations-" Human World was certainly not built for beings of "monstrous" size. "-and tires me out besides, as I spend so little time in it to begin with. I'm rusty. But not above using it when the need arises, such as a weakened friend."

(Maybe.) Shikiyoku replied, absently watching the scenery shift as they reached the outskirts of the city and passed over Akari's shop in one fluid leap. (A single stride of his would constitute many of your own.)

He grew smaller underneath them as they approached the park until when he dove into the grove of trees towards the center he was easily ducking and weaving underneath their branches. He let out a single rippling bark as they approached the center.

"You should probably duck."

The largest tree still several yards away tore open with a loud crack of energy and Kurama darted into the resulting hole in the trunk, only now starting to slow once it closed up behind his tails, continuing to trot at about the size of a horse until he reached the edge of the meadow and dropped obligingly to his belly to let them crawl off, in the next moment standing on his own two feet without so much as a shimmer of energy and checking to make sure Hiei was still okay.

He frowned as he placed the back of his hand to Hiei's forehead.

"If you feel the fever returning, let me know and I can give you something. It took me several days to truly shake the last of it." He tail swayed once behind him in concern. 3

Hiei ducked when he was told to, his eyes snapping to the tree that tore open audibly some paces away. He watched as the gap in the trunk widened, his earlier fascination returning anew as the fox continued through that gap and stepped onto the edge of a place that was just familiar enough to have him looking to Shikiyoku.

He stepped onto the grass, releasing the hold he'd had on Kurama's fur during the travels and sliding his hands into his pockets. (This is where Kitoushi, Taka, and Douji are buried, isn't it?)

Kurama's hand to Hiei's forehead made him blink back to the present and he glanced up at the kitsune, unbothered by the contact and realizing the other was still in health-check mode.

"I'll keep you updated on any health changes," he obliged. For himself and for Shikiyoku. "This is your work, I assume." He nodded his head towards the very edge of the meadow that he'd only visited twice before, though for very different reasons than today. *

The bit of melancholy that washed between them at Hiei's question was tempered with a mix of satisfaction that their place of rest was one so beautiful.

(I erected haka here for them, yes.) Her eyes briefly lifted in the direction the memorials lay. (Kit's is the only body I had, though.) She smiled with that same melancholic contentment. (He's resting among the grass where we left him.)

Kurama nodded as he dropped his hand and turned to look at the wide open space, "A sanctuary I'd all but completed when the Hunters came after us."

Everything in the area seemed to exude his energy in spades. He'd spent many years funneling power into it and the surrounding forest's enchantment. Even now as they stood there he continued to reinforce the spells, silently feeding energy into the ground at his feet.

"The plant-travel bit is a new development." His smile turned self-aware. "And an unperfected one at that. Between that and the larger form, I'm all tapped out on higher level spells for the next little while, so we're stuck here for now until I've recovered, barring other offers."

In one smooth motion, he'd bent over Shikiyoku and caught her chin in his fingers, distracting her with a quick, affectionate kiss as he tipped her face up so he could sweep the basket from her grasp without her protest, simultaneously replacing it in a bit of sleight-of-hand with a neatly wrapped bento sort of container he swiped from somewhere inside as he stood back up.

"I can distract the others and you can try sneaking over there now if you like, dear." He told her. "They've been cleaned, but I thought you might enjoy leaving them a little something. I'm sure they'd appreciate your visit. Or you could let them all accost you first." He looked at the both of them and nodded. "I think they're just beyond this little hill here; I told them they'd better have this 'tag' thing down pat by the time I returned." He smiled a little as an ear flicked in their direction and he could hear snippets of the conversation. "So I'll be interested as to their reaction when they realize I'm here and they haven't done as I asked."

The thought appeared to amuse him more than it probably had any right to do.

Shikiyoku rested a hand lightly on Hiei's arm and looked up at him with her own smile. (Which would you rather do, fire prince?) 3

He'd forgotten the word 'Haka', but as soon as Shikiyoku said it, he was reminded of the ritual of cleaning and adding the beverages she'd poured for the trio last time they'd visited, and the picnic he and Shikiyoku had enjoyed in memory of the three.

His gaze had followed hers in the direction of the Haka, but he turned back to her just in time to witness Kurama's kiss and snatching of the basket. For a brief moment, he'd forgotten the rivalry that had intertwined the friendship between them, and in this moment he was reminded of that.

He wouldn't forget again.

Shikiyoku's question was met with the softest of smiles. "Let's go visit them while I have the energy to go that far." (So you can get that time too before we're surrounded by the guild.)

He turned to Kurama again. "The guild's waited this long. What's a little longer?" *

Kurama gave him a nod and his expression took on a no-nonsense sort of air.

"I'll distract them as long as I can. But if they spot you, it's out of my hands." He added with a grin. If they're telling stories on you, I might have a couple that will keep their attention. He gave Shikiyoku a more serious look, "You take care of him, hear?"

Shikiyoku reached over to take one of Hiei's hands and returned Hiei's smile, "As best I can."

"Mm. That's why I'm around. To do it better when you can't." He gave them a solemn wink and moved towards the center of the meadow where the others were spread out among the heather. 3

"We'll be sure to be stealthy as possible while you're distracting them," he reaffirmed. "They can ambush us when we're done."

Hiei let his gaze turn to and linger on Shikiyoku as she took hold of his hand, for a moment forgetting the rest of the world and the conversation he'd been part of. He took in her smiling expression as if he hadn't seen it in eons, and committed it to memory as if he'd never see it again.

He only looked up at Kurama when he realized the other was moving away. He realized at that moment that he hadn't thanked the other for bringing them out of the bar and into the fresh air and warm sun, and he took a moment to reach out telepathically.

"Thank you."

He waited for a few moments, until he was sure Kurama had joined with the others, and then he turned to Shikiyoku again. "Are you ready, my beloved, for the stealthiest mission we've had until now?" His eyes twinkled at her and a smile danced across his expression.

~!**!~

In the duration of time that Kurama was gone, Nabu went through story after story of 'Grump' and why he'd been nicknamed as such, providing ample evidence to the fire demon's personality and why the nickname fit so well. All the while, Akari made sure to listen and repeat what Nabu said for those who could not understand him, though she had quite a bit more fun watching the reactions of those around her soak in the information.

Her more mischievous puppy-like heart delighted in their reactions in a way that she couldn't remember happening in any recent years.

Eventually, Kiyoko had curled up into Akari's lap and dozed off, snoring softly and her tail twitching every so often when whatever she was dreaming of really bothered her. Akari made sure to pet her calmingly in those moments, to soothe whatever dreams she was having.

Nabu talked. And Talked. And talked. It felt like hours went by before Kurama was seen re-entering the meadow again, and only then did the Shiba Inu take a breath.

"And I'm sure Flowers has many more stories! He's known Grump longer than all of us! Right, Akari?"

Akari nodded her head. "He knew Hiei before even Urameshi became an infamous figure. I'm pretty certain Kurama was the first person Hiei ever actually allied himself with, and most definitely his first 'friend', even before he knew what the word meant."

Nabu huffed a few times in Kurama's direction as he approached. "You missed the stories!"

"He just finished telling one about Kit clawing his cloak and making him squeeze a water bottle into his own face."

"AFTER Grump made him run face-first into the wall, of course!"

Akari's eyes sparkled a little at Kurama. "He's been waiting for you to get back and tell the better stories."

"By better, you mean more proof of him being…. 'Grump'." Akihiko shook his head to himself. "What a little shit." *

"Any time, Hiei." And he meant it.

"I haven't the faintest notion as to what you're referring." Kurama said as he approached, though he didn't let an ounce of feeling bleed through his expression as he set down the basket and reached into it, gesturing for the all to scoot back so he could flip a blanket out over the grass. "Hiei's been nothing but a saint his entire life."

"Now I know you're lying." Tarou commented.

The ones at the outer edges grabbed for the blanket and smoothed it down, some of them sitting on it and others preferring the heather, but resituating at the edge of it.

Kurama made no hesitation to kneel on it and begin setting things out, "I may, however, have a story or two for you that you likely haven't heard."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku chuckled and shook her head at him.

"You're ridiculous. I guess that means you're feeling better, though. I'm glad." 3

Hiei nodded. "I definitely still have a ways to go before I'm at my best, but I'm better than I was." He waited a few more seconds before he turned and began to lead her towards the Haka, silent and half wondering if he would be able to pick her up and run fast enough to not be seen, and yet not having the confidence in himself to try that just yet.

As they crossed the meadow, he noticed everyone moving around in their little grouping, their heads down at the blanket and basket Kurama was moving around.

(This was a great idea on his part.)

Hiei took a long look around his surroundings, taking in what he could of its expansive grass and flowers and even the ring of trees that he almost couldn't see on the farthest edges of the clearing.

They reached the Haka and Hiei nudged Shikiyoku forward gently.

She knew them better than he. It was only right that she did the honors.

~!**!~

Akari gave a smile at Kurama's telling of Hiei's Saint status as she shuffled back to give him room for the blanket. Kiyoko stirred and turned to look up at her, earning an apologetic pat on the head. "Sorry, Kiyo. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine."

The fluffy canine uncurled herself and moved to stretch, yawning and shaking herself out before she took a look around the area. When her eyes landed on Kurama, Akari found herself unsurprised that Kiyoko padded without hesitation in his direction.

"I'm sure you have plenty of stories that I haven't even heard. And that was supposed to be my job for a few years." She smiled at the kitsune. *

"Perhaps." Kurama allowed with a small smile as he continued to pull things out of the basket in the sort of fashion that seemed to indicate improbability at it being any sort of normal basket.

Not only was there enough food in it for those present, but he also set out a dish in Kiyoko's direction as she moved for him, giving her a smile and doing something similar for Nabu.

"The one you'd likely be interested in the most involves our favorite demonic saint being bested by a lousy human."

~!**!~

(Sometimes he has good ones. I try to limit the amount of time I spend telling him as much though.)

Shikiyoku squeezed his hand once he nudged her and then let it go to step forward.

Kurama had, of course, packed the little container with the food, or drink in Taka's case, that he knew to have been the three's favorite and as Shikiyoku quietly knelt in front of them and unwrapped the parcel, she smiled at the small kindness the fox had afforded her.

Unlike other days, where sometimes the two of them took only as calculated steps as ever, she had felt no pending sense of debt to the kitsune for his actions, whereas in other situations acts such as these would be accompanied by the understanding that he would ask for his recompense at a later date, she got no such feelings from him this time, only a genuine desire for both her and Hiei to regain their strength together.

She let out a sad little sigh as she placed the offerings on the haka and then sat back. "The one bad thing about Koenma taking over is that it seems no one is allowed to visit anymore." 3

(A wise choice.) He smiled at Shikiyoku as she stepped away, his hands finding his pockets as if to preserve the warmth from her hand in his. He watched her place the items where they belonged, and for a brief moment he felt a bit of sadness at the loss she'd seen since he'd known her.

Her words about 'visits' made his solemness almost great enough to traverse the bond, but he kept it to himself so as to not add to her own.

"Wouldn't you miss them more if you visited with them in moments like this?" he asked, wondering if the moments of happiness at getting to see them again would ever truly outweigh the sadness of the loss.

He didn't have a true frame of reference for the depth of her emotions on the losses here. Sure, he'd interacted with Kitoushi, and he'd enjoyed those interactions, but he hadn't felt particularly close to the black cat.

~!**!~

"Hiei, beat by a human?" Tarou repeated. "Seriously?"

"My bet is Urameshi," Akihiko piped. "Those tournaments were no small feat. Especially for a human."

Kiyoko sat next to Kurama and began to daintily eat from her plate, a delicate and stark contrast to Nabu's excited bark as he scarfed his own meal down. Akari smiled at the pair as she reached for an apple that sat in the middle of a plate of fruit. "We'd be honored to hear any story you'd deem us worthy enough to hear." She took a bite from the crisp red apple. *

Kurama let his gaze dart between listeners as they spoke, eyes glittering with good-humor but giving no indication as to truth either way.

"Is that so, pup?" Kurama turned his keen yellow stare in her direction, raising an eyebrow and fighting a smile as he leaned just a touch in her direction. "I could tell a couple of you if you'd rather." He let his grin overtake his features.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku considered it for a moment, her smile a little sad this time. And instead of answering him directly, she asked:

"If you and I were to be separated forever, wouldn't you want to have a chance at a conversation every once in a while?"

"It used to be the losses were never felt this keenly. The dead were never this far away. They used to watch over us, and guide us. Or pester us. But ever since Koenma-" She stopped and swallowed and wiped at her eyes. 3

Hiei stepped up to her side and rested a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. He knew that if they'd ended up separated, he'd want nothing more than to be reunited. He'd lived through that twice already. But… he wasn't sure what he'd after a more permanent separation. He could think about it all day and all night, and for years on end, and never know until he experienced it.

The humans had a very accurate saying that applied to most things he had no knowledge of:

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

While the literal meaning meant nothing to Hiei, the figurative use of it in most other aspects of life was more relatable to him. He could plan for an eventual loss of SHikiyoku, or his own inevitable demise all day long, but those plans would amount to nothing when the time came and he experienced it for himself.

He crouched down beside her and let his eyes rest on the various food and drink in front of the haka, and the hand that had been on her shoulder slit to her back, where he pat a couple of times before he pulled her into a sidelong hug.

~!**!~

Akari swallowed. "You are more than welcome to tell stories about me." She lowered the apple just enough to reveal her crooked smile. "As far as problem children go, you'd have quite a few stories in your arsenal about me in that department."

"Really?" Nabu looked up at Kurama. "More than I do?"

"Probably."

For a moment, she recalled hanging upside down from vines after being dragged out of bed for missing an early meetup time.

She took another bite from her apple, her gaze steady on Kurama. "But the others," she said around her bite, "would probably much more enjoy ones about someone they're close to."

"Any stories are fun to hear!" Tarou chimed *

"Hm." Kurama looked away, but appeared thoughtful, tapping his chin with a finger. "I do have a couple of good stories involving incidents with whips, but frankly mirrors are truly the bane of Hiei's existence."

He started telling the story of Hiei's first, and only, faceoff with Yusuke, and how in the end the lucky fool had managed to best the demon who'd thought so highly of himself, while sneaking in a nonchalant reference to how his childishness and emotional immaturity had also plagued Shikiyoku on more than one occasion.

Chisai frowned, not particularly noticing what Kurama had done, but shaking his head at Hiei's treatment of Mother.

Raion's eyes were narrowed, feeling somewhat protective of her when from where he stood she'd done nothing to deserve Hiei's treatment of her.

When Tarou let go an expletive and said something along the lines of teaching that little punk a lesson if he were here, Kurama indicated the haka and the pair seated in front of it as he calmly finished the tea he had been brewing by hand.

"Tea?" He offered a cup and saucer to Akari.

Raiton and Tsun exchanged a glance as everyone whipped around to see the pair kneeling in front of the haka and for just a moment all thoughts of Hiei's 'payback' left them as several of them scrambled up from their spots.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku sniffed and wiped at her face again as she leaned into Hiei.

"I think it'll always hurt like this. But it's always better when you're here." She nudged him a little with her head and let out a breath 3

Hiei turned his head to press a comforting kiss to Shikiyoku's head. (Just tell me how I can help, and I'll do it.)

He pulled away just enough to nudge her head with his nose, and was about to place another kiss amidst her hair when the sound of shoes on grass startled him. He leaned away from her and turned to watch who he assumed to be the guild running his direction, and while he was not wrong, there were perhaps a few expressions that weren't quite what he was expecting.

And before he could so much as raise an eyebrow questioningly at them, the air was knocked from his lungs and he was trapped between a pile of bodies and the grass below.

"Hiei, you jackass, treatin' mom like she's some-"

Hiei wheezed out a breath and missed the last of Tarou's sentence even as the brute stood over the pile with his arms crossed and his expression a mix of emotions.

"I've got these, Hiko," Chisai called as he moved off somewhere beyond Hiei, picking up the bento boxes that had somehow ended up on the ground instead of in Shikiyoku's hands.

(Shiki, help…)

Even in the bond, there was the impression of a wheeze for breath.

Someone ruffled his hair.

"Ge' offa' me-" he huffed. "I can' breathe you idiots."

"And he's well enough to talk back! That's the best news all week!"

~!**!~

Akari listened to the tale with a mischievous smile donning her features, though she did her best to hide it with the apple she crunched on as Kurama's tale went on. She hadn't ever heard of how Hiei and Kurama had come to meet Yusuke before, though Sensui had definitely had his theories.

None of those came even close to the true story. And as it came to an end, she lowered her finished apple to her lap and leaned back a little to look up at the sky. "That was definitely worth hearing," she told Kurama as the group scrambled to their feet and took off in the direction she'd sensed Hiei long ago.

She looked back to Kurama as he offered her a cup of tea, and she sat upright again. "Yes, please." She took the cup and saucer carefully and lifted it to her nose to enjoy the aroma. "Smells wonderful." She took a sip of its hot contents, and her eyes finally lifted to see the canine brothers and Raion had tackled Hiei, while Tarou stood over the pile and Akihiko carried Shikiyoku on his shoulder back in the direction of the blanket and food, Chisai trailing not too far behind him.

Her eyes trailed to Kurama and she watched him for a long moment, suddenly reminded of the ring she'd seen Shikiyoku wearing not that long ago and immediately wondering if her earlier commentary had perhaps been a little too flirtatious.

"The tea is lovely, thank you." *

"Not as lovely as the company." He replied with a sort of frank simplicity in his gaze.

He appeared to want to say something else, but at the continued sounds of the scuffle across the way, started to unfold himself from his seated position.

"Ah- If you'll excuse me. I just managed to help him recover. I would prefer they not squeeze all the life out of my star patient." He gently set aside his tea and saucer and stood to move their direction, shaking his head a little at the pair who marched towards the blanket with Shiki in tow.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku was letting out another more steady breath as she relaxed further against her Consort and then the next thing she knew, he was being all but attacked and instead of managing to react to it when she thought it might be a bit much for someone who was still unwell, she was hoisted up over someone's shoulder and being carried away.

(I...I can't!) The distinct sensation of being carried away flowed over to him.

With wide eyes, she pushed herself up against Akihiko's chest where she'd be thrown over his shoulder, bouncing a little with each step he took as he had an arm wrapped up around her to hold in her place against him.

"What- What are you doing?" 3

Hiei pushed one of the bodies on him until it rolled away, unsure at this point what arm belonged with which torso or even which way was up. "Get off!" He took a deep breath as the one person's body weight allowed him room to breathe, and his arms fell flat on the grass for a split second.

"Glad to see you're up and around, Boss."

"I'd be up and around if it weren't for you-" more ruffling of his hair caught him off guard. "You have three seconds before I fry your asses."

"Awh, so cute! He probably doesn't even have energy yet," Tarou leaned forward with his hands on his knees. "Can't even sense yah, you know."

Hiei grinned up at him. "Usually that means you're outclassed, Tarou."

The taller demon grinned and opened his mouth to retort just as the air around them began to warm up, and just like that the weight lifted from his person and he was gasping for air.

(I'm fine. I'm okay.) He wasn't sure if he was telling Shikiyoku or himself more. (I'll catch up in a minute.)

"I'm impressed. You not only recovered, but you have energy!"

Hiei shot a look up at Tarou. "Yes, yes. It's all the work of Kurama. Now-"

Raitoningu's face leaned into Hiei's line of sight. "Here." He eyed the outstretched hand and offer to get up. "We're glad to see you out and about, Boss."

~!**!~

Akihiko glanced over his shoulder to spy the group tangled on the ground, but he turned forward quickly enough. "Getting you out of harm's way," he replied nonchalantly.

"Sorry to interrupt your moment, Mommy, but we couldn't stand it."

~!**!~

Akari only sipped at her beverage at Kurama's remark, telling herself to take it at face value and nothing more because he was engaged and-

He stood to rescue Hiei from the onslaught of the guild and she only smiled at him. "Of course. Can't have him flat as a pancake now, can we?"

She realized that that had been the first moment since their separation at Yomi's that she'd seen him without anyone else to direct his attention to.

She blinked back to the present in time for Akihiko to set Shikiyoku on her feet - though he definitely kept a hold on one of her wrists - and he sat on the blanket and reached for a couple of treats that he offered to her.

Akari smiled. "Hey, Shikiyoku. It's good to see you." She sipped her tea. *

Shikiyoku found herself miffed when a silent plea in Kurama's direction had been ignored when the kitsune strolled casually by, though she was certain he meant to make sure the others didn't accidentally kill Hiei.

"Chisai, what are you talking about?"

When set down, she immediately got jerked back into place by Akihiko when she turned around to follow after Kurama and she blinked at Hiei's second-in-command like she couldn't believe it.

"H-Hiko." She gave another experimental tug, but quickly discovered he wasn't likely to let her go without significant effort, her gaze shifting between his bored expression and the pile of bodies in the distance, only mollified a little when Hiei reassured her. "Why are you-" She made a noise of consternation when he seemed unappeasable and only offered her some food.

She blinked at Akari as if she only just realized the other was there.

"M-Ms. Hanase. Hi." Another blink. "It's, uh, good to see you too."

Akihiko started to gently pull Shikiyoku down and once she realized her trajectory, she frowned at the blanket and tried to move it so she could sit on the heather instead, glancing back every other moment for Hiei.

"Hiko, why won't you let me go?" She all but whined, though appearing to have resolved herself to staying, "What's going on?"

~!**!~

"If he has so much as a grass stain on him, I'm holding all of you personally responsible," Kurama informed them from where he'd come to a stop several feet away, crossing his arms over his chest. While his voice did not sound amused, he all but grinned shook his head at them as the wolf demon with the scar on his face helped Hiei get to his feet.

"I just managed to return him to the land of the living." He added. "Don't go ruining all of my hard work. Your mother would have my hide." 3

Hiei took the outstretched hand and Raiton pulled him to his feet.

"Don't worry, we won't let him die," Tarou said as he stepped forward. "At least not until all of us have welcomed him back." The brute of a demon hooked his arm around Hiei's neck and pulled him up against his side, his other hand in a closed fist rubbing against his head in a way that reminded Hiei of Kuwabara and Yusuke.

The fire demon struggled to get out of it. "Tarou- Don't make me-"

Tarou released Hiei before he even attempted to tug on his own energy. "I'm satisfied, Boss."

Hiei straightened his shirt and frowned up at the other. "You're lucky my sword's broken."

"Is it?" He blinked at Hiei. "I have another one if you need it later."

He shook his head and turned to Tsundora. "Anything you need to get out of your system while I'm standing here?"

The other only raised an eyebrow.

"Then I'd like to go check on Shiki."

"Akihiko's got 'er," Tarou said after a moment. "Though he's definitely not happy with you."

~!**!~

Akari smiled into her teacup and turned away from Akihiko and Shikiyoku, deciding to wait until their moment was over before saying anything more. She sipped on her tea and smiled at Nabu as he sat in front of her.

"Is it good?"

She only nodded, distracted by Akihiko's response to Shikiyoku.

"He'll live. He deserves all of that and more. He'll be here shortly, I'm sure." *

Akihiko's feelings left Shikiyoku taken aback and she peered over at him.

"Hiko, what are you talking about?" She looked over questioningly at Chisai as if maybe he'd answer her as he came to sit nearby, replacing the things Shikiyoku had dropped by the haka into the basket.

She even looked over at Akari, "What's going on?"

~!**!~

Kurama stood listening for a moment, genuinely surprised to find that it was Hiei's second who was apparently most bothered by Hiei and Shikiyoku's past.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Shikiyoku being held captive.

Didn't he used to have a mate? Maybe that's it. 3

Hiei raised a brow at Tarou. "Akihiko?"

Tarou nodded. "Not. Happy."

He didn't understand. "Why is that?"

"Uhhh. You should go ask 'im and see." Hiei narrowed his eyes at Tarou, who shuffled his feet. "I mean, you were pretty awful to her, and there really was no reason for it."

Hiei waited for more of an explanation, and when he got none, he turned on his heel and took two steps towards to little picnic area. He paused and blinked a few times as the world seemed to move around him, and when it passed he took another step.

"Nuh-uh." Tarou was suddenly at his side and he lifted Hiei from the ground and under his arm. "I saw that. Nope. We're goin' to sit now."

"That's where I was going, you-"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and enjoy the ride, Boss."

~!**!~

Akari took another thoughtful sip as she regarded Akihiko and Shikiyoku, and after a brief hesitation therein she swallowed her drink, she gave an apologetic smile.

"There were a few stories passed around about Saint Hiei and his rise to fame."

"More like infamy," Nabu corrected. "Still looks like a grump to me."

Akari finished off her tea just as she noticed Tarou heading this way with the subject in question under his arm. *

"Is that all?" Her earlier confusion was replaced with a momentary flash of ire as she shook the wrist Akihiko held and frowned at him as the flash faded.

She saw Nabu say something, but wasn't paying close enough attention to pick up anything and after a few seconds of silence from the others she continued. "You got told some stories you think are true, so you harass him? I can assure you I've done things ten times worse than he could ever dream of doing." She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation with them all, only vaguely aware they were likely close enough to hear her at this point, but Hiko's grasp on her unrelenting.

She shot Kurama a glare when he took his seat again, but he only shrugged at her.

I had little to nothing to do with this.

Why don't I believe you? 3

As Kurama sat on the blanket, Akari wordlessly held her cup up a little higher, asking if he'd be so kind as to pour her some more tea. She hadn't wanted to reach across the way and pluck his belongings from the blanket, especially after he'd been so kind as to make her the first drink. The set looked so well-loved and used, so precious in time and memories, that she didn't dare touch it.

...He'd likely make it better than she would anyway.

Tarou set Hiei down on his feet before he took his own seat next to Akari, and he reached across her for a little sandwich.

"To be fair," Raion began, "We haven't heard stories about you, Mum." Tarou tossed him a sandwich from across the way. "We only get stories about Hiei because you don't like talking about yourself."

Hiei moved to stand next to Shiki, and he met the stare aimed at him from Akihiko. "It's all in the past, Aki."

"Of course it is." He raised a brow at Hiei as if to hint at an 'or else', and he finally released Shikiyoku's wrist. "We were just concerned, is all." *

Kurama smiled silently at Akari as he knelt down and bent forward to busy himself with the implements at hand and prepare her another cup, reaching to take her own so he could fill it.

Grinding up fresh the blend of leaves he'd made into a powder, eventually he poured it and the hot water from the teapot together in a separate cup to whisk it until smooth before gently moving it into Akari's cup and passing it with the saucer back.

"You're right, kitty-cat. I don't really care to talk about myself. There's not much to tell that's worth listening to." Shikiyoku replied, planting a playful punch into Akihiko's shoulder once he released her and grinning at him. "Jerk. Like you've never done terrible things. Hiei's too young to be truly awful yet." 3

Akari mouthed 'thank you' at Kurama as he passed her cup back, her smile genuine as she sat back again and leaned away from the arm that Tarou threw into the air next to her in his disbelief.

"Woman! In this family, we tell stories because it's fun to know about each other's skills and experiences that created those skills!"

Raion's tail twitched in agitation. "You're the only one who thinks you're not interesting, and you're robbing us of the experience to get to know your interests and you."

Akihiko motioned to get Akari's attention and she passed him one of the sandwiches in front of her. "There's no way you stay in that bar for days or weeks at a time while Hiei is gone."

"And I'm willing to bet Kurama here, as much as he'd love to have your company like the rest of us, wouldn't be happy if you worked with him that entire time too. No sleep, no time for yourself." Tarou glanced at Kurama and opened his mouth as if to say more, but changed his mind and instead took a bite of his sandwich.

"The thing is, Shikiyoku," Raiton picked up, "we don't really know anything about you except for what happens around the bar."

"And while building Akari's shop," Chisai added.

"We're not blaming anybody for anything," Akihiko suddenly piped, giving a meaningful look around the group. "We simply want to genuinely know you as much as we do Hiei, and you're much harder to read than he is."

Hiei said nothing as he sat between Shikiyoku and Kurama. *

Tsundora leveled a gaze across the way at Hiei, but said nothing aloud.

"Another moment and I would have sat next to her." He huffed his direction, but let his cool gaze rest back on Shikiyoku, watching her closely.

"Absolutely ridiculous. There is absolutely nothing more to me than meets the eye and even less that's worth telling." Shikiyoku replied somewhat loftily, finally regaining a sense of herself and nodding thanks to Kurama as he passed her a cup of tea as well. When she brought it up to her nose and got a whiff of it, she shot him a disapproving glance that he did not meet but instead fought against a grin that played over his features as he bent over his set a third time.

She privately found it nothing short of snort-inducing laughter that they found her of all people harder to read than Hiei.

"Perhaps I have simply lived long enough that I no longer think quite so highly of myself as the rest of you think of yourselves. You all certainly have more than enough stories to share of your own exploits. And those are the only ones that matter anyway. History is not made at home, or even in a bar. Stories are made in fierce battle and hard-earned conquests. And what would you have me say, hm? That I've stood as equals among Kings and royalty? Stolen goods from the high and mighty? Hmph. Unlikely." She took a long sip from her tea and appeared dismissive of the lot of them. 3

"YES!" Tarou boomed as he leaned forward, "That's exactly what we want! You've known this one-" he jabbed his thumb in Kurama's direction, "-for a long time, according to him, and he hasn't been in Human World long."

"-Meaning you worked together as thieves," Raion picked up with a toothy grin. "And I'm willing to bet none of us have ever worked with Bandits, other than Hiei."

Akihiko raised his brows. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I worked with a few for most of my life. Sometimes hunting them, sometimes running alongside them."

"Okay, yeah, you're right," Raion conceded, "but we know those stories. They're great, and they're fun, but they're nothing compared to running around with the infamous fox thief."

Hiei might have intervened, if not for the fact that he'd been facing the same argument himself for some time. Instead, he only watched the guild as they continued their assault, wondering whose will would be the strongest. *

Shikiyoku only watched them over the edge of her tea cup as she continued holding it up to her lips and took sips of it every once in a while.

She sighed and lowered the cup just a hair as if she might concede, "I'm sure you'd rather hear those sorts of stories from someone who actually knows their way around a battlefield, and I'm no fighter as you're well aware. Maybe the fox will indulge you if you ask kindly enough, but I find no satisfaction in sharing tales that are my own. I would be more than happy to tell you of how others braved the traps set and outsmarted the catacombs of those who wished to protect their sacred treasures, but the truth is I do little in such matters as to render my part moot."

"Now that's certainly not true." Kurama murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear. 3

"Such an unkind way to think of yourself, Shikiyoku," Akari piped without thinking, and she blinked at herself. She didn't truly know these people. Even the two she had once known were not the same people. She gave a little smile to herself anyway and lifted her tea to her lips as Tarou picked up the conversation where she dropped it.

"Everyone on the field has a part. Nonfighters included."

Akihiko nodded. "Henka was not a fighter, and she pulled off heists that many bandit groups could not because she came at it from a non-fighter's point of view."

"Henka?"

Akihiko shook his head at Raiton.

"And a story doesn't have to have any sort of grandeur to be a good story," Chisai told her. "And your measure of 'interesting' is not the same as mine. Or Hiei's. Or Akihiko's." He gave her a smile. "Just because you don't find it interesting, that doesn't mean that we won't." *

Shikiyoku met Akari's gaze for a moment as if perhaps the dog demon had struck a chord closer to the truth than the rest and she dropped her gaze back to her tea as the others continued.

How long have I gone thinking my stories aren't worth telling?

She took a breath and finally said, "If...if you want a story, I will tell you one. But I make no promises that it will have anything to do with me. Those stories are much more difficult for me to tell."

She struggled for a moment wondering why and when she came across the notion that it had to do with her First Champion, she quickly shoved the thought away and looked up at the rest of them to give a small, secretive smile. 3

Akari met Shikiyoku's gaze evenly, and the smile she gave the other was meant to hide the surprise she felt from the other's reaction. She hadn't meant to actually speak up, and she definitely hadn't expected Shikiyoku to actually take something from it.

As the other continued, she nodded. She saw herself briefly in the other, and again, she found words tumbling from her mouth. "Whoever told you you're not worth listening to was wrong."

"And any story you tell us will be a delight to hear," Akihiko added.

"So tell whatever you're comfortable with telling," Hiei nudged her shoulder with his, his eyes sparkling at her. *

Shikiyoku glanced between the three of them, smiling a little at Hiei.

"Storytelling was my job, once. Believe it or not. Stories about me are not important. But there are many important stories that deserve to be told."

Kurama said nothing, but smiled himself a little as he recognized her acquiescence. She fell into the same lilt she always had when she started one and he quickly recognized this to be one that had always been easy to listen to.

The words started spilling out a little slowly at first. She hadn't genuinely told a story for at least a decade, if not two. But the art hadn't been completely lost to her, just rusty and in need of some polish.

The tale she spun talked of the original demon, the one that fell from the heavens and through each level to create old Demon World until he hit the bottom, the Ninth, and stopped, how he had contained within him the power of all the elements, and how each one had been stripped away from him in the blast until only fire remained.

She spoke of how he had still been too powerful even for that final level to contain, and had to separate a portion of himself away so that he did not destroy the home he had created, for he had drawn his demonic brethren with him in his fall and they too would perish under his strength.

He separated from within himself the darkness flame, and from it formed his mate, a beautiful and powerful she-demon with long, flowing purple hair and skin as black as the element from which she came. And it was from her forming that the first Darkness, the first Night, descended upon the Demon World, for her power was so great that it blackened the sky. And so came to be the cycles of day and night, even though there was no sun in Demon World; when the original demon's power was at its peak, there was day, and when his mate's power was at its peak, there was night. And as their power cycled together, the days and nights grew shorter or longer according to who was in what portion of their cycle.

"Some of the tribes below still celebrate her and the Feast of Darkness, the longest night of the cycle, when the first mate's power was at its strongest. And likewise, there are those who similarly keep the Feast of Light, in recognition of the time of the All-Father's waxing strength and the longest day of the cycle." Shikiyoku smiled at the remembrance: "The tribes certainly know how to throw a party." 3

Hiei reclined back with his palms in the grass and his ankles crossed. He settled into the story that she'd told him once before, glad to hear it again. It was easy to fall into, to become immersed in as she wove the story and brought it to life in a way only she could.

He watched her at first, his eyes following her every move and the gestures she made. He watched the gleam in her eye and the smile that formed as she grew more comfortable in her telling. And when she gestured at some point to the sky, Hiei's eyes traveled along her arm to the sky, and then back down to Tsundora across from him.

He smiled at the rapt attention he saw there, how Tsundora and Raitoningu moved in tandem with different snacks slowly being lifted to their mouths as they listened and watched, unblinking and almost unmoving.

Amused with the expressions, his eyes slid to the next person over. Raion sat with his legs crossed and his hands on his ankles, leaning forward and his ears standing at attention. His gaze broke from Shikiyoku long enough to see Hiei smiling at him - which he raised a brow at - before he turned back to Shiki, unphased.

Chisai didn't even blink. He sat as still as a statue, hardly breathing as the story wore on. He didn't seem to notice Hiei's stare or Tarou's poke in his side. He simply sat, unmoving, completely absorbed and unaware of anything but Shikiyoku.

Tarou grinned ear-to-ear almost triumphantly, as if he'd expected this. He too was looking around the group, obviously listening to the story but also enjoying the effect Shikiyoku had on the group. He winked at Hiei.

Akari sipped her tea as she listened, only glancing away when Tarou leaned across her for another sandwich. She smacked his hand away with a look, then passed one to him. She mouthed something about 'manners' before turning back to Shikiyoku.

Akihiko, similarly to Raion, listened to the story with every ounce of his being, absorbed in the tale and its sequence of events. His hands clasped together in his lap, the second-in-command suddenly looked much younger. He leaned forward and hunched his shoulders a little, as if all of the worries he'd been carrying were gone for the moment, where he thought no one was looking. Or maybe he wasn't even aware of it.

Finally, Hiei's eyes came to Shikiyoku again, and he stared at her with equal parts amusement and adoration.

Akari reached for a vine of grapes as the story came to an end, a soft smile of satisfaction on her face. When she looked up again, she was surprised to see Hiei lean over and not only place his dragon-tattooed arm over her shoulders, but he also pulled her closer and kissed her cheek. She balked and her eyes shot to Kurama for a moment, confused.

"And I thought I knew how to tell a story." Tarou grinned across the way at her and lifted a flask he'd pulled from somewhere unknown in her direction. "Good shit, Mom."

"If you even came close to telling a story as great as that, I'd eat my shoe," Raion sneered at Tarou.

Chisai suddenly came to life, letting out a breath that he'd been holding the entire duration of the story. "That was wonderful, Mommy." *

Settling back again out of story-teller mode, Shikiyoku smiled at their faces as they rejoined her back in Kurama's meadow, pulling away from the images of the time after the Sundering back to present day.

And for the first time in a long time, she remembered the satisfaction, of why storytelling had always been such a pleasing artform, second only to dancing. To be able to carry those around her away from their problems, away from themselves.

Away from their situations.

It did the same for her, and had been such a wonderful escape all those years ago, buying the equivalent of tribal food and lodging besides.

She squeezed her one eye shut when Hiei pulled her towards him, still smiling even as he kissed her cheek. She gave him a brief look out of the corner of her eye when he pulled away.

(What was that for?)

She smiled wider at Tarou, recalling his 'story' of Hiei and her saving the world and how she'd told him she was much better than him at such things at the time.

"Story-telling is an art, big guy." She turned her nose into the air, "One in which you still have much to learn."

Her eyes darted over towards Chisai, finally seeing him rejoin them and smiling at him, giving a nod.

"Thank you, Chisai. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Story-telling isn't half so fun if you're only talking to yourself, so you did your part well as audience." 3

Hiei shifted and crossed his legs together criss-cross in front of himself, and he reached for a couple of strawberries on a platter. He passed one to Shikiyoku.

(Just because.) He smiled at her. (I enjoyed listening to your story again.)

"I don't think he could be such a talented storyteller if he even had a millenia to practice," Akihiko jabbed with sparkling eyes at the larger demon. "Too excited about telling the grand moments."

"Like you could do any better, mister!"

"I'm willing to bet I can. Better than you is an easy feat, my friend."

Tarou made a face, but after a moment he blinked and turned to Akari. "Wait, wasn't that the story you were telling me?"

Akari blinked up at him and her brows knit together. "What story? I'm pretty sure I've told no stories."

"The one back at the bar. About that one dude." He held his hand up over his head. "This much taller than me." His hands lowered and he placed them a certain distance away from each other in front of his own shoulders. "Super broad. Pretty sure Raion mentioned he was a lion."

"The biggest damn lion I've ever seen," Raion remarked with a shudder. "I want no part of that."

Akari blinked a couple of times before the memory dawned on her. Almost instantly she felt heat rise from her neck to her cheeks and she shook her head. "N- no. I'm pretty sure I was wrong about that one."

"Huh. You were pretty adamant at the time. Said he looked like Father, or whatever."

Hiei raised his brows. "I assume you mean Kainegisu."

Akari gave him a look. Not helping. "I mean, yeah, I said that, but that doesn't mean I was right." She lifted her cup as if to drink, and was sorely disappointed to find it empty when she needed the excuse most. She lowered it to her lap again and kept her eyes on its empty depths. "Plus, that story is a different time. Pretty sure it's long after the one Shikiyoku just told." *

Shikiyoku had returned silently to her tea when her turn had ended, giving Kurama another look of disapproval as to his muddying his mini-tea ceremony by using his own blend.

She immediately caught wind of Tarou's conversation with Akari, knowing Negi was the only being in the whole Nine Levels that would likely fit that description.

While in her human form she lacked the pointed ears, she distinctly got the sensation that they would be twitching at the ends in this moment, which only meant one thing.

Story information. Something that could connect dots and make her stories better by knowing, or possibly turn into its own story.

She blinked at Akari as the red-head began quickly backpedaling under the scrutiny of the others and shot Kurama a glance.

He shrugged.

She'd never really gotten much out of Yusuke about their time in the past. Kurama remembered very little of it himself. And Kuwabara had been gone and too overwhelming to consider asking at the time anyway.

"I mean, I'm really quite certain Negi-uh, Kainegisu has ties back to the All-Father." Shikiyoku admitted. "Technically all fire demons could trace their lineage to the All-Father since to my knowledge he was the only one to master it before he fell.

"I had forgotten you also were returned to the past, Akari." She gave the other a kind smile. "If what little I've gathered from the others is true, then you're actually incorrect in assuming it's long after. You were there before the Sundering. Before the story I know took place." 3

Hiei blinked and turned to look at Shikiyoku. "Kain's a fire demon?" he repeated. In the next second, his smile grew just a fraction. "I knew it was strange to find two people I liked in one day."

"I mean, yeah, I was there, but-" Akari stared determinedly at her cup, half wondering if they'd let her drop through a shadow and get away before the spotlight grew any brighter.

She made the mistake of looking up at Shikiyoku, whose eyes twinkled and whose lips smiled encouragingly. Don't encourage me to tell this story, because it won't be told well!

"I didn't know it preceded yours. That… actually makes sense." She remembered the pack of wolves, and their tale about the edge of the world and its dangers. The things she'd learned among them about her own power, and about general pack dynamic that she never truly learned about in her family's own pack.

For a moment, she remained in the silence of her own head even as Tarou prodded her in the side. "Gonna tell us that story now? I don't think Shikiyoku's going to let you stay quiet."

"It's… I don't know how to tell it without giving all of it. How I got there, where I was and how I got to the place where I was tossed back to this time, and…" She frowned at the group staring at her. "It most definitely won't be told well. At all." *

Shikiyoku nodded to Hiei, "He was also blessed with a mixed heritage like yourself. Though, earth and fire tend to be a less volatile mix than, say, fire and water might be."

"Or fire and ice?"

Raiton smacked Tsundora, who gave him a look though the pair of them had an understood sort of amusement on their faces.

Shikiyoku only shook her head at them, though she smiled.

She had picked up on Akari's reluctance, though she hadn't really meant to ask her for a story directly.

"Tell me about the All-Father, then." Shikiyoku requested. "You met him? What was he like?" 3

Akari made a face that was a mixture of confusion and resignation. "How in the Nine Levels do I even begin to explain a being so powerful and-" She took a deep, calming breath and centered herself. "I can't promise the accuracy. But I can tell you what I remember."

"Well, shit, Akari. Don't be confident in your own memory or anything," Tarou grinned at her.

"I-" She frowned at him. "I was very complacent then. Didn't care about coming back. Thought I had no reason to." She waved a hand. "That's not the point.

"Anway." She took a look around each person around the blanket, meeting their gaze steadily as she worked out where to begin, how to even talk about a being that she couldn't even see the color of his hair when he'd been standing in front of her. "He went by a few names. I remember Mother - the wise woman of the wolf pack I stayed with for a while - called him Father-Of-All. And then later he was referred to as All-Father. Or, like you said Tarou, Father.

"He also, apparently, had many forms. He was a flea the first time I saw him. He came to the Alpha Ookami and Pack-Mother when Yusuke and Kuwabara found me. And he told the story of Chaos and Order, and how from that, Kami were born, and-" She paused mid-tangent. "In short, he explained how Sekaiju - their world - came to be, and how their world was to be disrupted, destroyed, by the ritual that was to send us," she nodded her head across the way at Kurama, "back here. To our rightful time.

"When we were on the sacred grounds - the Center of Everything - he had a different form." Akari went on to explain All-Father and his ability to draw people in with his power, power so immense that she couldn't even comprehend the color of his hair or any real important detail about him. She explained how the Elements stepped forward, and then, without thinking, she went on to talk about the ceremony itself. From the souls needed to be sacrificed to send her and the others back, to the woman who danced the ritual and the little girl that had cried when she left her side, all the way up until she woke up in the grass, staring up at leaves and the sky that was so familiar and unfamiliar to her at the time.

Akari grew quiet and a self-conscious smile lifted a corner of her lips, and she finally looked up from the cloth on the ground and to Shikiyoku. "...He's very hard to describe."

Hiei, who had been silently taking in all of the information as it came to him, turned to glance at Shikiyoku. For himself, the more interesting parts were about the woman and her dance, and the way Akari described it had him very much remembering the Northern Tribe and the dances she'd done for them. *

Shikiyoku sat absorbing all the information Akari began passing along, finding her memory to be much more helpful than either Kurama's or even Yusuke's.

She ended up smiling at the other when Akari suddenly seemed to realize she'd ended up all but telling a story herself, but dropped the smile when Akari looked over at her in a very understanding show of accepting just how difficult it was to describe what had been asked.

"Very hard to describe." She agreed, appearing serious, if eyes twinkling. "But frankly you did quite well." Shikiyoku added as she lifted her tea to her lips again. "I appreciate it. I have much more to go on now than before and it-"

It took several seconds, but not only did Shikiyoku suddenly realize the guild had her under severe scrutiny, but so too did Kurama, seven pairs of eyes fixed on her in a way she could only lift an eyebrow at, feeling nothing particularly from any of them.

She cast a peripheral glance in Hiei's direction, unsure what exactly had everyone staring at her.

(Not you too.) 3

Akari nodded to Shikiyoku, but didn't reply as the other went quiet and looked around at the others. Not understanding why they were all staring but grateful that it was not her that was being stared at, Akari turned back to her grapes, glad to be forgotten for the moment.

Hiei raised a brow. (Well, the description of the dance and the dancer does ring a few bells.) His eyes sparkled at her. (Shimmering strands of energy that moved with the dancer who had dark skin and light hair?)

Hiei popped a strawberry in his mouth, but continued to stare with that same smile. *

Shiki's initial expression at Hiei was one of confusion and her response in the bond of 'what are you talking about?' was immediately followed by the growing need to return the stares of those around her.

Kurama broke his examination of her first, returning his attention to the food he'd quietly acquired for himself seeing that most everyone else had gotten some by now.

"You know, Mother," Tsundora said cooly, "Akari's description is eerily similar to the details of the one Tarou and Raion gave us of the form you took before getting the Crusnik to chase you down the levels."

Shikiyoku huffed, "Pfft, is that what this is about? You're all ridiculous. There is no way any of that has anything to do with me." 3

Hiei's brows disappeared under his bangs. (I mean, the energy did wrap around some of the people. Reminds me of the dances you did on the Ninth. Like the Northern tribe.)

Akari, still listening to the conversation despite her apparent desire to be forgotten, lifted her gaze and looked at Shikiyoku contemplatively before shaking her head. "No, Shikiyoku doesn't look like the queen. The queen was tall. As in, Youko Kurama tall. And, like I said earlier, dark skin and light hair. Not the other way around."

"No, no, she has another form," Tarou told her without looking away from Shikiyoku.

"And it's ho-" Chisai smacked Raion in the chest and gave him a look. *

Kurama looked up at Akari and blinked when she said his name, as if to say 'But I'm right here?'

Shikiyoku all but rolled her eyes at all of them except Akari and passed her tea over to Kurama, whose hands had just become free, and started to stand, wiping off her pants.

"Look, if it will get you lot to stop making assumptions about her story, here."

Without any other forewarning, Shikiyoku's human form shimmered and rose until she stood above them, looking somewhat bored as the shimmer of her energy settled around her body and mostly hid it from view as the sparkles seemed almost to drip off of her, amorphous mist already starting to leak naturally in the air around her like a visible aura for those who could see it.

"Is this what they looked like?" One hand on her hip, Shikiyoku gestured with the other, now toffee-colored, hand down her appearance in a rather dismissive fashion. 3

Akari frowned at Kurama, realizing that she might have been a bit rude. "Sorry, it was easier to say that than just…" she waved nebulously in his direction, "gesturing at you and saying 'that tall'." Her frown deepened. "Though both are rude. I'm sorry."

She turned to Shikiyoku and Hiei, blinking a little as Hiei gave Shiki a questioning look as she stood.

In one moment, Shikiyoku was standing just as Akari had known her: Black hair, pale skin, and green eyes. In the next, that form seemed to expand upward, and a change coalesced over her form until golden energy fell away and left a tall woman with dark skin and white hair standing where Shikiyoku had stood.

Akari reeled back. For a moment, she felt as if she was standing on the sacred grounds again, waiting for the beginning of a ritual she knew so little about, and yet had been so enamored by.

"Uh-" She blinked, "I mean-" Stop stuttering! "-Yeah, actually. Though, I didn't really see the color of the energy or her eyes?" This is eerie.

Hiei, for his part, found himself blinking up at Shikiyoku owlishly. His brain worked over the last time he'd seen her change forms, and he was pretty certain that she'd had ashen skin and scars all over.

"You-" He didn't know what he was going to say, but whatever it was died on his tongue and was replaced with almost slack-jawed awe.

"That's hot," Raion whispered.

Yeah it is, Hiei thought to himself, unable to stop staring. *

Shikiyoku had taken to, for lack of a better word, preening herself just a little, turning her arm back and forth and knowing that the pearlescent gleam others saw would as always beckon to be touched before shaking her head just a little so her long white hair would fall straight down her back as it ought.

She stopped mid-preen, however, when Akari answered yes, blinking down at the other and abruptly trying to process that yes did not mean no and everything that entailed, her pointed ears twitching a little as she caught Raion's whisper.

Next to her, she heard a sigh and noticed that at some point Kurama had also risen with her, her tea still in his hands.

"Would you please put that away before I do something in front of the children we'll both regret?" He requested softly, mildly, one of his silver eyebrows arched her direction as he freely looked her up and down.

Regret would have little to do with it.

I know. But too much longer like that and you won't be able to stop me.

A smile fought with the confusion she still felt at Akari's admission dancing over her face and she took her tea back from him and her form began shimmering as she started to kneel back down onto the heather. Kurama mirrored her and let out a small sigh as his own tension in the moment released when her wafting energy left the air and her dark-haired human form took its place.

Trying not to think about Akari's confirmation, as Shikiyoku finally came to rest back on her heels, she did a quick check to confirm that she had managed to keep her clothing intact, something she envied Kurama for having a knack at doing almost instinctively.

She rarely thought of it, if ever.

Not that it was usually such a problem. 3

Hiei, thoughts racing, didn't even so much as blink up at Shikiyoku in her 'true' form. His eyes took in every inch of her, from the very top of her head to the grass she stood on. The bond warmed between them, telling Shikiyoku of something or another that he didn't directly take note of.

That warmth turned to happiness for her as she lowered herself to sit, and, though he hadn't noticed he'd leaned forward at the time of her change, he leaned a little away to allow her space to rejoin the sitting group. Only then did he notice Kurama moving too, back to his place where he had been sitting.

Akari watched the exchange with interest, catching the moment Kurama stood and internally nodding to herself. Of course. A little smile twitched at her lips and she hid it behind her cup as she mimed taking a sip from her non-replenished tea. Naturally, her eyes lowered to Hiei as he leaned forward, and if she'd actually had any tea to drink, she might have choked on it at the sight of the red face and wide eyes on the fire demon.

"I'm glad you have your demon form back, Shiki," she heard Hiei say as the trio got comfortable again. Fascinated, her eyes darted from Hiei to Shikiyoku, then from Shikiyoku to Kurama. The others around her made comments she didn't hear for her own fascination, but when she glanced around the group, her eyes met Akihiko's.

She raised a brow at him. Is that normal?

He glanced at Kurama, Hiei, and Shikiyoku, then turned back to Akari with a one-shoulder shrug and a half-nod.

Akari's mouth opened and she gave a little 'huh'. Interesting. *

While Akihiko himself hadn't bothered looking up at the time, he certainly remembered Raion and Tarou's ravings later as to the form Shikiyoku assumed before them, and they'd all seen her when they chased after her gunning for Hiei just before the whole 'turning' debacle they were now relaxing from.

He let out a little sigh as he looked at her, amber eyes all but glowing with the energy he couldn't specifically see dripping off of her, but knew to be distorting the air around her figure in a way that didn't exactly allow one to view her suddenly bare form to completion, leaving enough to the imagination to drive a man wild if he let it.

Frankly...all she did for him was set the usual dull ache to his core to a nearly palatable, opposite sensation than usual, equal parts filled with the staunch, loving loyalty he had for his mate and knowing this demon before him could help heal him of her loss, if he asked.

He blinked at the realization, unsure what it meant, thinking back to another woman their guild had a run-in with down at the Last Stand who had taken a shine to Hiei-whom he'd seen Hiei kiss of all things-that had brought nothing to mind but all of the painful memories of loss and longing and how Shikiyoku here before him, when he had a moment to reflect, only reminded him of all the good things. Things he missed, yes, but the memories did not so much as hurt as they did lighten the edges of his eyes like he might smile in the next instant.

Kurama standing? He definitely expected.

Hiei gazing up at her with a look he had heretofore never seen the boss wear?

Akihiko took another sip of his tea as he watched.

...not quite as expected, but not surprising, either. He seemed incapable of expressing his emotions in any real sense that Akihiko could tell, as his next sentence indicated, though Akihiko's ears certainly perked up when he heard what he thought to be an implication of the little hybrid having never seen that form.

He caught Akari's questioning expression sent his way, her eyes darting between the trio across from him and then back to him.

Is that normal? She seemed to ask.

Akihiko had his teacup in front of his mouth and it strategically hid the smirk pulling at the edges of his lips.

Kurama knowing exactly what he's doing and Hiei pining for a woman that doesn't seem to notice him like that?

He gave a little shrug and a small nod, taking another sip of his tea.

Absolutely.

For her part, Shikiyoku let out a little breath, still unable to comprehend the implications of Akari's story and, quite frankly, uncertain if she even wanted to. She dismissed the thoughts for later. ...if she chose to even consider them later.

I'm glad you have your demon form back, Shiki.

The phrase bounced around in her head as she regarded Hiei with a growing sense of confusion starting to cloud her features.

She opened her mouth to say something to him and closed it again, frowning. 3

"So that's what you meant when you described her," Tsundora commented as he reached across and tapped Tarou on the arm to get his attention. "You weren't kidding about how different it is."

"No, no, no. She has two forms that look similar!" Tarou crossed his legs and planted his palms on his knees as he leaned forward. "That one," he grinned and nodded his head in Shikiyoku's direction, referring to the form she'd just showed, "is the pure form. No battle scars, no evidence of ever being in a fight, and-" He took a deep breath. "Man, it's-"

Raion butted into the conversation, sticking his head between them, "It's hot as hell!"

"Yeah. I mean, I'd do-"

"The point, Tarou?" Akihiko gave the brute a look.

"Yeah, well, while this form's hot, the other one is hot. She's got these wicked scars all over, and she looks dangerous. Deadly. I'd die a happy man to-"

Chisai, knowing the path Tarou was on, piped up over the conversation with a smile at Shikiyoku. "You haven't always had access to that form? Since Hiei called it your 'true' form, then how you look now isn't really how you looked before?"

Hiei, whose eyes had cut from the last vestiges of the glimmering gold that hung in the air to Tarou, nodded in Chisai's direction.

Akari set her empty cup down in front of her, "I honestly didn't know that either. I've only seen the 'Toriko' form until now."

"Toriko?" Chisai echoed and his curiosity tripled. "What does that mean?" *

"Hiei, I-" Shikiyoku blinked at him and tilted her head, her tea cup down in her lap again, "...I didn't know you didn't know. I would have-"

She got distracted, then, by the conversation going on around the gathered demons and her and Kurama exchanged a knowing look, the both of them fighting some sort of smile or another and Kurama nearly letting out a small chuckle.

"Human form." Shikiyoku clarified. "Is usually the preferred nomenclature, I believe. At least for sake of ease. If a demon has an alternate form like the ability to turn into a four-legged beast, their bipedal form is typically referred to as their 'human form,' if memory serves. Though I'm not really sure why." She looked over at Kurama, "Considering this one technically has a human form and then a human form."

The smile from earlier danced briefly over her features until she returned to the rest of them and shrugged.

"He's an exception to the rule, as am I at this juncture, I suppose." She glanced at Kurama again, uncertain if he wanted the tale of his escape from the Spirit Hunters common knowledge and when she got no indication from him either way, continued, "Spirit World had a warrant out for my arrest for various crimes they decided I had committed, and when their Hunters caught up to me, I managed to slip into Human World and used the last of my power to hide myself away like this." She made a small gesture to indicate her current appearance. "I'd never attempted a ritual of the illusory kind before quite like that one and it worked, uh, a little more permanently than I intended. I was pressed for time, if I recall. The result was something of a schism in personality, and that schism decided her name was Inyoku, Toriko, a "persona," as it were, that I still use today when moving among the natives. It's how Akari and I first met."

Akihiko nodded, "It's the name on the door to her office at Minamino Corporation." 3

Those who had been conversing slowly quieted down as Shikiyoku began speaking, their attention diverted to the new information that not a single one of them had earned out of her yet. Glad to hear the story straight from the source, the guild leaned forward in unison, eagerly listening to the short tale of Shikiyoku's human form.

Akari and Hiei nodded here and there, and the smile that came across Akari's face at the mention of their first meeting wavered between amusement and embarrassment.

"Do you know how confused I was when a being I thought was human called me a worm?"

Hiei nodded in agreement, though he didn't contribute his thoughts on the matter. The memory of 'Toriko' pinning him to the door was one he didn't feel like sharing. She could have killed him then if she'd felt so inclined, and he wouldn't have been able to stop her. Really, thinking back, he realized that he likely wouldn't have minded, what with that energy of hers doing as it does. *

Shikiyoku gave her a self-conscious sort of smile, "I suppose I should make some sort of apology to you about that, but at the time you were just getting in my way, cupcake, and I hate that." The smile grew a little.

"So..." Chisai frowned, "You were stuck like that?" He nodded at her current appearance.

Shikioyku nodded, "It's...all a little bit of a blur, really. I don't remember much about the first, oh, fifteen years or so I spent like that?" She appeared uncertain and turned to Kurama, "Was it fifteen?"

"I believe so." Came his mild reply. "Or thereabouts. We didn't run into one another again until approximately that time. Before the whole mirror debacle, but after Hiei and I had met."

She nodded again, "It sounded right." 3

Akari shook her head hard enough that her hair flowed around her shoulders. "No, no. Don't apologize. It's funny now." She met Shikiyoku's gaze and her smile widened. "After all, it's what I was known for, is being in the way."

"That's strong illusion work if it can hide your energy so well," Tarou commented mildly.

"She used enchanted items to keep her energy under control," Hiei piped up. "Still does from time to time." He glanced at Shiki as if looking for her to confirm this, but moved on before she could. "It doesn't give her a human presence, it just dulls her energy enough to keep other demons from noticing her. There were a few times that it would have helped on the Ninth." He frowned a little and gave her an almost sheepish look. "Though we wouldn't have been in that trouble if I would have listened in the first place."

Akari raised a brow. "Hiei, not listen to advice? I wouldn't have dreamed of it."

He shot a glare in her direction, and she met it with an innocent smile. *

"I wouldn't know." Shikiyoku replied, tilting her head a bit, "I did not become well-acquainted with you at that time."

"Ace is known for greatly underestimating how truly useful she was at that time." Kurama gave Akari a little smile. "And still is."

Shikiyoku appeared to disagree somewhat with Tarou's assertion, but Hiei spoke up before she could pull together what she meant to say, giving a small huff of a chuckle at the direction the conversation turned.

"The...illusion, as you put it," She told Tarou, trying to figure out how to say it, "Is something somewhat inherent in my energy. The ability to make you see what you want to see, or, sometimes, what I want you to see." She flickered her gaze away from him for a moment, remembering his reaction to the peek he'd gotten beyond the veil of her spell when she lost her hold on it returning to the bar once Akari's shop was done. "However, its usual function is typically a means of enticement, to grab your attention and hold it, mostly by enhancing my features. I had very little practice in actually changing my appearance in any sort of capacity, how anyone might view me insofar as a different hair or eye color or even use it to go unnoticed. That inexperience resulted in the attempt going haywire and producing something entirely out of my direct control, on top of using up the last of my strength and sending me into a deep hibernation to recover.

"Hiding my energy is a different matter entirely. It doesn't like being hidden." She commented with some chagrin, "As you might have noticed. And it's rather uncomfortable for me to boot. This form already hampers its freedom somewhat due to its foreignness, and restricts my access to what I have, and on top of that I employed other artifacts, as Hiei mentioned, that would further serve to suppress it. The downside to their employ, their rudimentary level enchantment of my inexperienced hand, meant they also suppressed me, as Hiei can attest. The glasses you see me wear from time to time are a much more refined version of the original attempts, though keeping my hair under wraps is usually enough to keep me out of trouble in my day to day life anymore." 3

Akari fought a laugh, but the smile she gave Kurama was a knowing one. Though, she was glad no one asked her what he meant by Ace, since she didn't truly feel like telling another 'story'. It seems some things never change, she thought, remembering more than one occasion where he'd said similar in the past.

Hiei, as Shikiyoku wrapped up her explanation, eyed her up and down. "As little practice as you had in it, the fact that it lasted so long as it did points to your general skills." He watched her for a moment, again recalling the first time he'd had a run-in with the demon now sitting next to him. You're doing it again.

He opened his mouth to say more, but Nabu's head shot up next to Akari and his bark gave the fire demon pause.

"She's always been Sparkles to me!"

Akari pat his head. "I don't know if it's ever been mentioned to you, Shikiyoku, but Nabu has referred to you as 'sparkles' since he first saw you. I assume it's your energy he's referring to, honestly."

"Akari, I'm bored."

She pat him again. "Well, there's plenty of space to run and play."

"But Kiyoko's sleeping…"

"Well, I was trying to," the white dog huffed at him without opening her eyes.

"Play with me!"

"I'm tired, Nabu."

Nabu bopped her on the head with his paw before he turned to Kurama. "I know! We could play tag! We haven't played yet! And no one's eating anymore!" *

Shikiyoku huffed at Hiei's assertion.

"If by 'general skills' you mean 'forced so much energy into a ritual I was foolheartedly making up as I went along so that the backdraft of the result sent me into a coma for fifteen years,' then I guess you're correct." Another smile played across her lips.

However, she laughed at Akari's commentary once Nabu barked out something or another.

"I...I think I remember having been told that at some point. Flowers is pretty apt, so naturally Sparkles is likewise."

"Tag wouldn't be a terrible idea." Tsundora nodded at the animal, having understood his complaints.

At the mention of tag, Tarou stood up, "Ah, I'm gettin' all antsy sittin' around doing nothing' anyway. Whaddya say, dog? How doya pick who's...what did yah call it earlier...'it?'" 3

Nabu's tail began to swish wildly in the air, the curled end of it sweeping his back excitedly. He spun to face the first one to address him, glad that someone agreed with his idea, then spun to the larger one next, his tail wagging ever faster. "Kiyoko and I usually take turns starting who's 'it', but I've never played with a group before!"

Akari gave a smile at the dog. "Well, you could be it. Or there's the rock-paper-sciccors method, which means you won't start out as 'it' no matter what."

Nabu seemed to think about this for a moment as he stared up at the person who had stood up. Finally, after coming to some sort of decision, he stalked forward and pawed at Tarou's pants leg. "Tag, you're 'it'."

And he took off.

Akari, who remained seated and took to gently stroking Kiyoko's back, lifted her gaze up to the demon beside her. "He's declared you 'it'. The objective is to 'tag' someone else and then run. Have fun."

Hiei, choosing not to respond to Shiki's response, leaned into her with his shoulder. "While they're playing, I brought this." He held up the book he'd brought. "If your offer still stands." *

Tarou just stood grinning down at the little dog, completely unable to understand what he was saying, but having a bit of an idea as to what was about to happen.

Especially once the dog took off.

The other guild members scrambled back away from him, or at least the ones who could understand the creature, getting to their feet and crouched awaiting his next move even as Nabu made tracks in the distance.

"Oh, is that how it works?" He said, running a finger back and forth under his nose and looking down cheekily at Akari. "Seems easy enough."

The instant he made a move, the others were gone from the immediate vicinity, but Tarou had only shifted quickly down until he could stick his face in Akari's.

"Tag. You're IT." He gently bopped her head and took off laughing before she could get a word in edgewise.

Shiki, herself assuming Hiei had no business playing this particular game at present, turned to see what Hiei had offered, blinking down at the title.

'With All My Love.'

Shikiyoku kissed his cheek and took it from him to flip it over to the back.

"If you like. I, uh, I'm not sure if you're going to enjoy this one, though." 3

Akari watched the group with amusement in her eyes as the ones who could understand Nabu stood all at once, ready to bolt the second Tarou moved. Her hand not petting Kiyoko moved for one of the magazines she'd brought, curious to see what Ryouta had shoved into her hands. She glanced at the cover.

She set the business magazine down and looked up, hearing demons take off in different directions and seeing the others that hadn't originally moved tensing to run, and was surprised to see Tarou's face suddenly in front of her own.

Before she could say something about not playing, having guessed his intentions, he'd tapped her on the top of her head and was gone, moving faster than she'd honestly thought he could for his size.

She sighed as Kiyoko slid from her lap. "You've been tagged, so you're it, Akari." The little white ball of fluff moved to lay next to Shikiyoku, on the opposite side of Hiei, and her brown eyes stared at Akari for a moment before she closed them. "Better get going, or you'll never catch them."

Despite originally not wanting to play, Akari fought a smile as she got to her feet. "Alright then." Even Kurama is gone. She eyed the movement in the middle of the meadow for a moment before deciding, with a wicked grin, to drop through a shadow and appear in the center of the field. "It's too bad we didn't set any rules first," she commented as she tapped someone running by before she dropped into a shadow again. She reappeared a few yards away from Raion, grinning as her feet hit the grass and she took off running.

Hiei, not interested in even watching the game, gave a shrug to Shikiyoku. "I chose it because of this." He ran his finger under the title. "I don't know what it says," he admitted as she kissed his cheek, "but it reminds me of the note you left with my cloak when we were separated that first time." His finger traced the symbols on the cover. "I've been meaning to ask what it said for a long time, but it just hasn't come up until now." *

Shikiyoku blinked down at the title a couple of times as she thought back to what Hiei was talking about and she let out a low, breathy laugh.

"It says-" She blushed a little, moving her own finger beneath each symbol, each word, "It says, 'With All My Love.'"

~!**!~

"Ack!" Chisai exclaimed when Akari was suddenly in his direct path, appearing out of nowhere and tapping him to pass the baton.

He quickly gauged the rest of them in their spread out formation and darted for the largest grouping of them. 3

Hiei's finger followed after Shikiyoku's, trailing along the symbols just as hers did so that he would remember their shape and their meaning. His expression softened a little, and the happiness at finally solving that puzzle settled across his core, along with the knowledge that she'd sent her love with him long before he knew what it even meant.

Feeling a little tired from sitting up on his own without support, unlike the last few days, he shuffled around a bit until he sat behind Shikiyoku and draped his arms over her shoulders. "Let me know if I get heavy," he told her as he stretched his legs out on either side of her, careful not to kick the dog that had joined them at some point, and he kissed Shikiyoku on her cheek.

~!**!~

Akari passed by Tarou and shot him a grin. "You're lucky I'm so forgiving!"

"I'm sure if you hadn't already forgiven me, I could think of ways to win it by the end of the game anyway," he called back to her as he continued on his way, winking before he turned back to watch where he was going.

As Chisai neared Raitoningu, his hand outstretched, the wolf ducked and, with a grin to his friend, continued his path downwards until he was on all fours and in his animal form. He sped away, leaving Chisai to chase after Akihiko, who'd been the closest to the one who'd been tagged. *

Akihiko watched Raiton dash off on all fours.

"Someone's feeling cheeky." He noted, "Anyone feel like putting a damper on everyone's energy? No?" He sighed.

~!**!~

Hiei's closeness had yet to fail to stir Shikiyoku's energy and his newest embrace of her was no different, his kiss sending a bloom of shimmers over her cheek that even when it completely disappeared left her still a little pink.

She opened the book at random at first, searching for the kanji she meant to explain and beginning to instruct Hiei on the simplest of them that she could find. 3

Hiei wondered if he should have brought a pen and paper, so he could learn to write the symbols that Shikiyoku was being kind enough to teach him. For the time being, though, he rested his chin on her shoulder and followed along with her teachings. He dropped one arm to circle her waist so that his finger could follow hers on the small scripts, and a gratefulness flowed over the bond to her.

~!**!~

Before long, Akari noticed more than just Nabu running on four legs around the meadow, their shadows all changing shape one by one and telling her how many were quadrupedal and which ones would be easier and faster to transport through.

She didn't know how long it was before the next person claimed as 'it' came after her, but she delighted in the surprised expression she saw on Tsundora's canine features when she reappeared a good distance away.

For the first time since her return from the past, from Sekaiju, a small part of her missed her own canine form. She'd had enough time to taste that life again, before it had been taken from her once more. She still didn't understand how it worked, but that didn't matter now, in the game of Tag.

What mattered was when Akihiko was tagged it, and he seemed able to meet her wherever she wanted to pop up from the shadows. "How the hell?"

He shrugged at her as she dropped into another shadow, and when she reappeared, his hand was already outstretched. "My secret. You showed your hand too early."

Halfway down into that same shadow she'd just popped into again, she felt his hand tap her head, and she decided that Kurama hadn't been targeted enough yet. *

The instant Kurama felt Akari's energy flux again this time as her physical form disappeared from sight, one of the tall ears of his animal form twitched and he darted across the field for the edge of the forest, a soft glow emanating from his fur to prevent her directly using his own shadow to travel long enough for him to make it to the trees.

The moment he crossed the forest edge, however, the glow disappeared and he stopped and looked back out over the field, eyes and ears tuned to whichever of the shadows near him she actually popped out of as opposed to the one she meant to.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku's head tilted a little as she paused and considered his finger tracing the marks on the page.

"Did you want to try writing too, Hiei? I tucked a few things away into Kurama's picnic basket before we left that we could use. You're pretty dexterous. I can't imagine it would really take you all that long to pick up." 3

Hiei's finger paused when Shikiyoku did, hovering over the last symbol she'd taught him. He tilted his head closer to hers in response to her question, not surprised that she had read his wanting to write the symbols.

He hadn't seen her pack stuff into the picnic basket, though, so he only hugged her with the arm around her shoulders briefly.

"I think it would be beneficial," he responded. "It will be interesting to learn both simultaneously."

~!**!~

Akari wasn't surprised when the shadow she'd wanted to use disappeared from her awareness, both taking her preferred escape route and leaving her blind to Kurama's whereabouts. She thought about his possible tactics as she rose from the realm of shadows using Tsundora's shadow, causing the demon to tuck tail and run faster.

She glanced around herself briefly, deciding that Kurama's form not being in immediate sight meant he took to the grass around the edges of the meadow. So, she dropped back into her own shadow and decided to try something new.

Internally, she toyed with the power she hadn't used in far too long. The illusory power struggled against her a little from disuse, but after a few seconds of toying with it, she deployed it in the direction of a random shadow, if only to activate her energy in that direction before she popped up elsewhere and tagged Nabu instead.

"No fair! You came from that shadow!"

"Mhm," she hummed as she dropped back down.

"Cheaters!" his voice echoed in the darkness and followed her back up to the surface. *

"Well, you didn't exactly say we had to play fair!" Raion retorted as he darted by and stuck his tongue out at the little dog, "You ought to know better than to challenge a demon without setting some ground rules first!" He continued as he got farther away.

Kurama sat down in at the edge of the meadow and made his energy dormant in the tree a few feet away from him pulse again as if he'd been hiding it and only just now came back on the radar, but otherwise watched with a keen gaze the going-ons, his tail swishing once behind him.

~!**!~

"It might help you learn it faster." Shikiyoku asserted when he agreed, starting to crawl out from under him towards the picnic basket sitting not too far away.

Pulling out two thin, square objects from the basket, she settled back down with him and put one into his hand, tapping a button at the bottom of it to bring up the blank, white screen approximately the standard size of paper.

"I figured you had little need for the ink and parchment of the calligraphy style, so this should work just fine."

She handed him a writing implement and showed him how to hold it, and then how if he touched the tip of it to the screen he could draw lines across it, and clear the screen by touching the button at the bottom she had tapped earlier.

Using the tablet she brought for herself, she showed him, then, the first few kanji, what direction to make the strokes, her hand guiding his own when he needed it at first, explaining the meanings of them as they went along. 3

Hiei leaned away so Shikiyoku could reach the basket, sitting up just long enough that she could get what she wanted. He watched her pull out a device he had never seen before, and when she was sitting in her original position again, he leaned forward and wrapped both of his arms around her waist.

He followed her instructions curiously, testing the weight of the electronic pen she handed him as she adjusted his hold on it. It was odd to hold it the way she showed him how, but the balance itself wasn't bad. He touched the tip of the thing to the electronic slab she held, careful not to put a lot of pressure onto the fragile-looking device, and he followed her directions to create the same shapes he had seen on the page of the book he had chosen.

He found himself being more patient than he thought he would be. He didn't mind erasing as often as he did, and when he dropped the writing utensil once or twice, he even chuckled.

~!**!~

Akari continued to toss her energy in different directions before hopping up in a different place, finding that the more she did so the more often she saw someone react. She stayed a good distance from Nabu, who had yet to catch up to and tag someone, while simultaneously keeping a lookout for the white fox whose energy she could sense.

As she dropped into another shadow, she glanced in the direction that his energy had pulsed, searching the grass for a spot of white before she was enveloped in darkness.

She activated her illusory energy in a shadow several meters away before popping up again.

Her heart almost leapt from her chest when she nearly bumped heads with Nabu, whose tail wagged furiously as he stared at the very shadow she was still half immersed in.

"Got you!"

He bopped her with his nose to her cheek before she could recover, and then he took off again.

After a beat, she gave a delighted laugh in his direction, proud that he'd picked up on her antics. "I'll get you back eventually, young man!"

"If you can catch me!"

She dropped back into the shadow. This time, instead of only using her illusory energy on one shadow, she used it on two while she searched for a shadow in the area she thought Kurama to be.

There were plenty to choose from, but she chose a seemingly random one near the area where she'd sensed Kurama's energy, and she popped up with her back facing the tree, figuring he wouldn't give his actual position away and instead searching the grass for the white fox. *

"I suspected you'd eventually show up." Kurama the Youko was sitting on his knees near the edge of the grass off to Akari's left, facing the tree line but bending over a little mound of dirt he'd scooped to the side and slowly poking holes in the soft ground to put some seeds into before gently covering them. "You're welcome to tag me, I suppose. Though I'm sure one of those ridiculous fellows out there will start chasing the others claiming he was tagged whether we're party to their antics or not."

~!**!~

"It's like a sword, Hiei." Shikiyoku said patiently as she picked up the tablet pen and showed him how to hold it again. "It's just an extension of your hand. You don't have to grasp it so hard. Your knuckles are turning white, look." She brushed her fingers over them as if her touch might get them to relax. "Here, is it easier if I hold it for you?" She took the tablet and sat facing him on her knees, making a platform of her arms for him and resting it against her lap, her fingertips peeking out the other side where she grasped it and held it his direction where they could both lean over it. "It's a little easier at a desk, you'll find. But you can put your other hand on it if it's easier. It's not unbreakable, but it's pretty sturdy."

As she leaned over the tablet to watch, part of her hair started to fold over one of her shoulders as she smiled down at his still unsteady hand. 3

Before Shiki could get too far away, noticing rather quickly that she intended to move, he snuck a kiss against her cheek again, his focus never leaving the adjustments she made to his hold as she pointed out his grip.

He relaxed a little, unsure of when he'd tensed up. "Like this?" he asked as her hands moved away and he managed to rest the grip of the digital pen on the inside of his middle finger. He moved his thumb a little this way and that until he found a spot that wasn't quite as uncomfortable as the rest of it.

With her prompting, he decided to rest his other hand on the tablet, and as he leaned over it a little further, he tried writing some more.

"This helps," he reassured her. His hand shook a little less with the unfamiliarity of the motions, and he made sure this time to not grip the utensil so tightly.

(By the way, I love you.) He smiled down at the tablet.

~!**!~

Akari hadn't expected him to be in his more human-like demon form, so when she finally set eyes on him, she blinked. "Well," she took a few steps in his direction, curious about why he was sitting in the grass, "I honestly thought you were hiding over here." She stood behind him and peered over his shoulder to watch him move dirt over a couple of holes in the ground.

I thought he just used his energy to make this stuff grow. She looked around herself for a moment, taking in the area and wondering if he'd done the same with every individual flower, tree, and bush in and around the meadow.

Game of tag forgotten, she stepped to his side and crouched down. "You're planting seeds." As she crouched, her hair - almost too long for her liking - became caught in the bend of her knees, and she briefly stood to sweep her hair over her shoulder before crouching at his side again. "If I may ask, what plants are you cultivating?" She twisted her hair around in her hands idly. *

"You were supposed to." He replied, smiling a little, "Couldn't have you sneaking up behind me."

He continued to poke little rows in the ground, barely an inch apart, and then let go of one of the seeds hidden against his palm with the other fingers.

"Is it that surprising to you? Me planting seeds?" Another small smile.

"More of the same as the meadow." He told her. "...Did you want to help?"

~!**!~

Shikiyoku blushed again as Hiei's affection scattered her energy across her cheek, and she still hadn't quite recovered even when she reached up to tuck the strand of hair threatening to fall past her shoulder back behind her ear.

"Good." She nodded, settling in to watch him continue to copy the strokes across the screen so the repetition might take hold in his mind.

His admittance across the bond startled her, her eyes widening as she stared down at the tablet and a small wave of her energy trilled up the back of her neck.

I...I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to that.

But when had she gotten used to anything else he ever did?

There was nothing of it to hide behind in the bond, the truth of the statement too stripped down to the core of its meaning for any misunderstanding to pass between.

It was such a strange thing, she felt, for him to say.

Finally her expression softened, though she was aware that her bit of surprise at it had filtered between them.

(I love you, too.)3

Hiei traced the same kanji several times before moving to the next set and finally, after some time of practicing those, finding himself at least somewhat satisfied with the way the phrase came out on the tablet's surface. He eyed the title of the book and, after a few moments of staring at it, tried to remember how the rest of her note looked.

He drew a little dash before what he knew was supposed to be the last of the note, wanting to replicate her signature at the time, and he delved into the bond with the intention to ask what the last of the note had said and how to write it when something within him rang in alarm. A warning that he couldn't decipher, but that he somehow knew to be pointed at him specifically - or perhaps to do with him.

He caught the sound of footsteps next, and without hesitation, he sat up straight and calmly rested the pen on the top of the tablet's surface. (So I don't break it.) he told her.

He hadn't even been able to look into her face before the ground beneath him was gone, the collar of his shirt pulled almost violently as he was swung through the air and carried by a four-legged creature in some unknown direction by the collar of his shirt.

"You come back here with him, you jackass!" Tarou yelled somewhere behind him, and the rumbling, feline-like growl that almost sounded like laughter had Hiei sighing.

"Raion, if you rip this shirt, I'll behead you the second my sword is repaired."

"Yeah, yeah," the other replied telepathically, though there was no mistaking the amusement in his mental voice, and Hiei braced himself for the swing of the lion's head. He landed not-so-gracefully between the cat's shoulders, and were it not for his immediate instinct to grab hold of the fur there, he might have fallen off.

~!**!~

Akari smiled. "As if i could sneak up behind you in the middle of your forestry." She watched his hands work, only catching sight of the seeds falling from his palms after a few moments. A quiet fascination settled over her, and she didn't immediately answer his question.

"Not… surprising," she told him. "Not really, when I think about it." She rested her arms, folded, on top of her thighs and leaned a little more forward to watch him work, though mindful to stay out of the way. "Most demons with your abilities would just toss the seeds wherever and feed them the energy needed to grow and be lustrous." But you've never been like other demons, hm?

She went quiet again, hearing his second question but not answering.

"I wanted to thank you for the plants in my shop. And for the customers you lead in on opening day." She continued to watch him work. "The plants are lovely, and the customers were fun." *

"It's very soothing," He replied, "To do it this way, I mean. I could just make them sprout up, I suppose. But a seed that is allowed its proper time, is cultivated, looked after, cared for, no matter how small a seed, grows into great, lasting finery it earned on its own. And is much more satisfying that way, I find."

He let the silence grow between them, deciding not to push the issue and let her accept the offer of helping him if she chose.

...he did, however, pull a few more of the same seeds from his pocket to place on the ground within her reach where there were only a few left, taking more in his own hand again and steadily continuing to work.

Kurama let out a little laugh, "You're quite welcome. I hope they've served well in mellowing out your more unruly customers? And I had a hunch I'd be followed if I came to visit, but as the thought only occured last minute, I apologize for not warning you sooner. It seemed you were amply equipped for the task. Your staff served you quite well, I think."

~!**!~

"Is it keep-away, then?" Tsundora's tongue lolled with wolfish laughter out the side of his mouth when he came up alongside Raion, the tips of the dark fur along his back flecked with snowflakes that blended in with the lighter ruff of it around his neck. The same bright icy-blue eyes as always were dancing with good-humor. "C'mon, boss. My turn." 3

Nabu, realizing that the game now belonged to the demons, trotted his way to Sparkles and Kiyoko, panting but happy. He sniffed at the blanket, noticing where it had been ruffled in the places that Tarou had stepped, but moved on to lay next to Kiyoko, still asleep next to Shikiyoku. He rested his head on her side, and she stretched just a little before settling in again.

His eyes followed the debacle that was Hiei atop the giant cat creature.

Hiei loosened his grip on Raion's fur just a little, only enough that if he got the response he thought he would, it wouldn't be a problem. "I did not," he began with a withering look to Tsundora, "sign up for this game of keep away."

"Your choice, then," Raion rumbled as he plucked Hiei from his back and tossed him over to Tsundora's. "Have fun!" The lion broke off in another direction, but not before body-checking Tarou, who said more than a few choice words, but ran after Tsundora as if nothing had happened anyway.

Hiei cursed his luck. Twice in one day had a moment with Shikiyoku been interrupted.

Twice.

~!**!~

Akari's eyes shifted from Kurama's hands to his profile for a moment, considering him and his answer about preferring the 'dirty work' of planting over the instant gratification of using his energy to sprout the seeds. She studied him for a minute, a small smile slowly finding her lips before she turned and glanced at the seeds he had placed within her reach.

After a beat of hesitation, she decided to take him up on his offer and she placed the seeds in her palm. One by one, she dropped them into a hole, just as he did, knowing that there wasn't anything she could 'mess up' in this process.

"I think not having a warning was more fun," she told him. "I had to think on my feet to keep up, which is more accurate to how I want it to be in the future, instead of simply having a few regulars.

"As for the plants, they've worked wonders. I haven't had any unsightly customers in a while. Though, I have had a few drunks from Shikiyoku's bar, but that's to be expected." She smiled to herself. "I don't mind them so much."

She planted a couple of seeds and then began to cover the ones she had planted before planting more. She hadn't ever cared for plants before. Even the ones in her cafe were taken care of by the one next to her, his energy keeping them lustrous and healthy without any work on her part.

After a few beats of silence, she took a deep breath. "...I want to apologize." She dropped a seed in a hole, covered it, and moved to the next one, slower this time. "I was selfish, and used any excuse to get myself out of Yomi's palace instead of... " Instead of what, Akari? She frowned to herself, suddenly unsure of how she'd wanted to word it. "I wasn't a very good friend, and I'm sorry." She paused and sat back on her heels to look at him finally. "And even worse that I didn't even check up on you after, for equally selfish reasons."

She didn't know how long that had been eating her up inside. The regret she'd found later, once she had finally come to her senses again, had taken root so far into her being, and she had only tried to cover it up and distract herself with other things instead of facing it.

She turned back to the holes in the ground and dropped quietly more seeds. *

The pair of them worked companionably together, Kurama endeavouring to make more holes so she wouldn't have to get her fingers dirty if she didn't want before going back himself to plant a few off on the side of him where it would be rather far for her to reach.

His pause was almost imperceptible as she spoke of an apology and he continued to let her speak after glancing in her direction briefly.

"I..." He took a breath when she finished and then let some of the air out before answering, "I am...glad that you did not come find me once we had all returned to New Human World. Perhaps it is selfish of me to say so, but..." His voice lowered a little, "It is bad enough, I think, how I treated you when you returned to Yomi's and sought after me. And I am sorry I did not have a chance, didn't have the wherewithal to explain how-" He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed, trying to think of the exact words he meant to say. "-how if I acted poorly towards you that I hoped Yomi would leave you alone, truly. But it would be too noble of me to say such a thing. I was already...beyond the capacity for such niceties." The edges of his eyes flinched a little at the remembrance of those days, when Akari had all but fled and Yomi had decided to increase the mind games he and Kurama played tenfold as if punishment for her escaping his grasp so easily, and the metamorphosis Kurama knew he had been all but forced to undertake in order to survive. To protect her. To protect his mother. "Those were not my most shining moments, certainly."

He continued, "But please do not feel as if you did anything wrong upon our return. It pains me enough for Yoku of all demons to have experienced me at my lowest. I can't imagine what you would have thought of me if we had crossed paths." The corners of his lips twitched as if in amusement, "You likely wouldn't be sitting here next to me if you had, and that would be a pity."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku let out a sigh as she watched Tarou thunder through the blanket, the lion having snatched her Consort all but out of her very arms.

Well, I suppose it's probably better for Raion to have him than whatever Tarou was planning if he got a hold of him.

She wasn't sure if they would have a chance to get back to doing any more writing, but Hiei had made good progress, adapting quickly like she thought he would given his battle-prowess which demanded the ability to process changes quickly.

In either case, she gathered up the two tablet pens and the tablets themselves and slipped them back into the basket, watching as Nabu came trotting up to lay down with Kiyoko nearby with a small smile. 3

Raion broke away from the fun and stood to the side for a moment, towering over a good area of the meadow on his four paws as he watched Hiei be passed from Tsundora to Raiton. His chest rumbled with laughter he couldn't genuinely voice in this form as Tarou shook his fist in the air and yelled more curses at the brothers.

After a few beats, he turned and began making his way towards the picnic area, trotting at first until he was only a few paces away, at which point he transformed fluidly from lion to man and strolled the last steps toward Shikiyoku and the two dogs.

He passed by her to grab a small parcel off the blanket where he'd been sitting. "I figured you both needed a break," he said as he unwrapped the brush he'd asked Kurama to make. He studied it carefully, though he was not surprised by the superior quality of the craftsmanship.

He turned the brush over in his hands and moved to sit behind Shikiyoku, and without hesitation, he began to brush her hair.

"What were those things you and the boss were using?" he asked conversationally. "Are they electronic?"

~!**!~

Akari mouthed a 'thank you' in Kurama's direction as he poked holes in the ground for her, but otherwise remained silent.

She listened to his own apology and his explanation for his behaviour, most of which she had already guessed some time ago. She gave a sad smile to herself when he spoke of her return to Yomi's, and the reason for doing so. On some level, she wondered if she'd understood at the time what his intentions had been, and if her own response had been to help him achieve what she might have known deep down he'd desperately wanted to achieve.

"Obviously, you missed the past tense."

She gave a humorless laugh under her breath. "I think we both… acted as we felt we needed at the time." She paused with her hand over a hole in the ground, a seed poised to be dropped and buried. "I never did thank you for your efforts on my behalf either. So, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you." She released the seed. "I wouldn't be sitting here today if you hadn't cared so much." She thought about her brush with death, and her near-encounter with the King of the Realm of the Dead. Or whatever he called himself. She shuddered with the simple memory of the being.

Finally, she turned to look at him again, this time studying him. "So you're Kurama the Youko now, hm?" *

Kurama couldn't think of anything to say in response to her thanks, so he just nodded, not disagreeing that the thanks was deserved and at the same time part of him unable to think it was in fact deserved.

He looked over at her at her last comment, though and nearly let out a laugh.

"I...don't remember much about the time I spent in the past, but what I do remember very distinctly is being made fun of by other kitsune for calling myself 'Youko.' At that time, our kind apparently were referred to as such, so when they asked me for my name again, I told them it was Kurama."

~!**!~

"Of course you did." Shikiyoku gave Raion a little smile, "It had nothing to do with the giant rumbling our direction and your desire to not let him have what he wanted."

Any tension Shiki had melted away when Raion began pulling the brush through her long tresses and she blinked, a little surprised at him for having done so.

His question made her think the moment was meant to be completely intentional, and aside from Hiei having helped her with her hair a few weeks ago, nobody had offered to do any such thing in a very long time.

"Yes." She replied, knowing not to nod her head for the moment. "A little bit easier to work with than pen and paper and I couldn't exactly pack a desk inside that basket."

She still thought the moment to be rather odd, upon reflection, and it led to her next question.

"How are you, my lion?" 3

"I didn't say that was the only reason," he replied with his nose lifting in the air a little. "The expression on the boss' face was definitely worth it, too." He grinned at the back of her head.

He passed the brush slowly and carefully through her hair, gentle with any tangles he came across. For a moment, he thought of his sisters, and he wondered where they were. How they were doing. He hadn't heard from them in a while.

He blinked back to the present, hearing Shikiyoku call him 'my lion' lifting whatever was left from his earlier 'moodiness', as Tarou would have called it. He thought about her question as if the answer were world altering, and she shrugged a little.

"I was frustrated that we were barred from the bar today, but seeing as we're all here-" seeing as you're here, "-then you're forgiven." He lowered his nose after a moment and turned serious. "We were worried about you guys," he admitted.

~!**!~

Akari quirked a brow in Kurama's direction. She had very little doubt that this was the Kurama she had once known - albeit changed as a person for his experiences - but his comment about calling himself Youko did have her doubting her assessment just a bit.

She didn't know how to ask about the personalities and their blending, or lack thereof if that were the case, and she only continued to study him for a few more moments.

It wasn't like it mattered anymore, truthfully. They were both different people than the ones who snuck away into a fighting room to seek some form of refuge in one another. Hell, with all of the things she'd experienced since their split, she wouldn't be surprised if Kurama had experienced ten times that, what with his time with Yomi.

So, she decided to ask outright, and if he didn't want to answer, he didn't have to. "Last we spoke - really spoke - you had two souls in one body. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Did you find that balance you needed?" She was certain it was in no small part due to Yomi and his games, but she had wondered for a while if two souls could truly share one body for too long. *

Kurama didn't answer at first. Not for a minute or so. But just as the time might have come for Akari to rescind the question, he spoke up.

"Do you know what it means to have a baby that is stillborn?" He went on after a moment anyway, "Something happens to it when its still in the mother's uterus. And it dies. But she may not know it at first, may not realize anything is wrong. I-" He blinked and paused, putting his hands on his knees and staring at the ground, "When I was escaping the Spirit Hunters, I was reduced to little more than a spirit myself, hardly strong enough to seek the nearest refuge I could, little left of me to actually speak of.

"I have spoken to Shikiyoku more and more recently, about her situation and the ritual she spoke of earlier and I think...I think there never was another soul in that body I found. You're right, everyone is right, how could two souls exist in one body? ...they can't. If the body had truly been occupied, what I had done would have been something more like a possession, but..."

He looked down at his hands.

"Possession would have meant, surely, that I would have heard another voice in my head right from the start, no? That when I had been born again, frustrated at how slowly the body I occupied developed, there would have been another presence there with me the whole time?

"There was no such presence. I heard no such voice. Instead, like Yoku, if not as immediately, I eventually grew dormant and receded from the monotonous day to day life, leaving behind instead a small part of myself to tend to the tasks needed until a better time when I could emerge. Like Shikiyoku, I hid behind a more human persona, my energy limited by the nature of its form, which was truly human and not just an illusion that went haywire to create a substantial image."

He got quiet for a moment, "I...I have never told anyone else this before aside from her, when I started to have my suspicions. For a time, Shikiyoku had Toriko and for a time I had Shuichi, but as I came into my own, better able to handle the limitations a human form imposed upon me, and-" -and after losing a battle with myself over my old love and my new.

...

"-and make it more my own, make it truly more demon than human at the last...I found the other side of me had faded. No longer needed."

He finally looked over at her and gave her a small smile, "I am Shuichi, Akari. Always have been. But he is...was...not all of me. I understand that better now, I think. And it's why I..." He huffed a little laugh and looked away, "It's why I never came looking for you either. I...I think I was afraid. I- ...I'm sorry."

~!**!~

At her question, Shikiyoku felt some tension or another on the lion's part ease away.

She chuckled at his statement following, however.

"I banned you lot because all you've been doing is hovering around moping for days. Once Hiei had the all-clear I completely expected you all to leave, so when you didn't, I figured I would make you."

"...I'll have to remember to thank Kurama for my forgiveness, since it is because of him we are all here."

She let out a sigh at his last statement, shoulders hunching over a bit.

"I was worried too." She said very quietly, at the last taking a shaky breath and sighing it out again. 3

Raion nodded. "Of course we stuck around and 'moped'," he said matter-of-factly. "I don't know if you've noticed, Mother, but this group is the closest thing to a Pride - a family - that any of us are going to get." he smiled at the back of her head. "Apparently, families get a little flustered when a member isn't doing well. Though I hear that's more of a human thing."

Brush still moving calmly through her hair, Raion let out a long, calming breath, if only so that she would know he genuinely was not upset with her about the ordeal. "Besides," he took the brush and started at her crown, where he tapped once to ask for her to tip her head back a little, "someone other than you can do the worrying once in a while. Aki and I both know you do all of the looking out for Hiei." He chuckled a little.

"Let us look out for you once in a while too."

~!**!~

In the stretch of Kurama's silence, Akari politely turned away and began dropping seeds into the dirt again, giving him space to consider answering while letting him know she did not need one if he didn't wish to give it.

Her opinion of him wouldn't change either way, really.

So she worked quietly, patiently, making holes in the dirt when she ran out and planting until she had planted all of the seeds he had given her. Then, slowly, she began to cover the seeds, ever patient.

His initial question gave her pause, and she looked up at him with curiosity. Before she could answer, he continued on, so she remained silent and listened to what he had to say. She gave him her undivided attention, recognizing that what he was saying was not easy for him to tell her. She lowered herself to sit on the grass and clasped her hands in her lap.

He reasoned through the idea of there never having been two souls, and she nodded a little here and there. It certainly makes sense, she thought, though she kept all commentary to herself as he continued on, not wanting to interrupt.

She gave a gentle, encouraging smile at his brief pause, imagining it to be difficult to admit these things aloud. She did blink a little, though, when he said he'd only ever mentioned it to Shikiyoku. While that made sense, it made her wonder for a fraction of a second why he felt the need to tell her.

But he laughed and looked away, and the admission he gave her stunned her. She almost missed his apology for her own sudden internal maelstrom.

Why would you be afraid of coming to find me of all people?

The little voice in the back of her mind whispered one word: Rejection.

That's silly. Why would he fear me rejecting him? ... Surely not for the reason I'm assuming. That would be a large assumption. I mean, yeah, we were.. But not really.

She stared at him for a long while, unable to order her thoughts enough to say anything about not needing to be afraid of her of all people. As if I could be a threat.

You know that's not what he meant.

"I- ...I'm sorry."

His apology suddenly rang in her head, louder than all of the turmoil and confusion and jumbled feelings, and a calm settled over her as she realized he'd gone back to planting the seeds he'd held in his hand.

She blinked at him.

"I- ...I'm sorry."

"Hey." Her voice was soft as she called out to him, and she reached out to tap him on the arm. *

Kurama had returned to planting, the act as meditative and peaceful as always for him, leaving Akari to her thoughts.

Which...he realized...was likely a lot of them.

He and Shikiyoku had worked over together the facts and come to the conclusion over time and discussion, and while he didn't think he had particularly laid it out very concisely, being that it was the first time he'd tried to say it all at once, their conversations at least had built up to it.

When she touched his arm, he raised his eyebrows to indicate he heard her as he leaned over the dirt.

"Hm?"

~!**!~

Shikiyoku let out a little chuckle.

"Well, he's very young. He can use all the help he can get."

It was her turn to sniff and raise her nose into the air a little, "People don't look after the Kuraku, Raion, it would be beneath them." 3

"You've got that right," Raion mumbled as he ran the brush from the very top of her head to the ends of her now de-tangled hair.

He raised a brow at Shikiyoku. "Yeah, yeah." He set the brush down and used his fingers to part her hair. "Head further back."

He began to weave a braid that stemmed from the right side of her head, his fingers gentle in her soft hair as he not only braided, but weaved strands through the braid to fall down through the crown he was making.

~!**!~

When he didn't look at her, her smile softened at him just a little. Akari shifted around until she was crouched on the balls of her feet again, careful that her hair was over her shoulder this time so she didn't pull on it or step on it by accident, and she leaned in his direction.

"Here's the thing. I want to hug you, but I can't tell if you're okay with it or not. Can I hug you?" *

Kurama had to fight the urge to throw his head back in a bout of laughter for fear of offending her, but he couldn't suppress all of the chuckles and one sneaked out past his lips.

He turned to look at her and an eyebrow raised up over one of his yellow eyes, "I don't think I've ever had anyone ask me that before."

And he reached over and hugged her.

~!**!~

"Well, if you're playing with my hair, you must really have forgiven me, Raion." She teased. "I didn't think you were the type to bother with all this nonsense." 3

Raion pulled a few strands through the braid on the right side of her head, glad to see the waterfall effect coming along as he remembered it to. "Well, I have sisters." He tied the end of that braid before moving to the hair on the left side of her head and starting again. "Several sisters, actually. I haven't kept in contact with them since I was kicked from the Pride, though."

For some reason, he remembered Kurama's words earlier about 'love', and he wondered if that's what the Pride had been missing.

He pursed his lips together.

~!**!~

Akari raised a brow at Kurama, her lips twitching at the chuckle she heard. "Well, I'm glad to be the first," she commented just before he hugged her.

She hugged him around the neck for a bit, her smile fading a little as her earlier thoughts rolled to the forefront of her mind again, no longer distracted by his apology and her need to reassure him. When she pulled away after a moment, she eyed him again, more serious this time.

"Just so you know, I don't care if your name is Shuichi, Kurama, Youko, or Kurama the Youko." She wanted to tell him that he didn't have to be afraid of searching her out, but she had yet to convince herself that she shouldn't believe in what she thought he meant, and she wasn't sure she had the bravery to ask. "You're you, and that's what matters." She nodded.

"...Side note: I thought you and Shikiyoku were engaged?" *

Kurama smiled at her, glad after all this time to have seen her, in fact, even if he hadn't been sure up to this point what would genuinely occur.

He tilted his head at her question, as if curious as to why she asked, "We are. Or, well, I mean, I suppose demons don't really do that sort of thing, do they?" He put a finger up to the side of his chin thoughtfully, "Technically it's Shuichi and Toriko who are engaged, in that case."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku nodded a bit, "I think I assumed as much on that last part. My understanding is the males born to it usually leave to seek their own Pride to join."

She blinked, remembering he'd said the word in regards to the guild before correcting it to family and fell silent, uncertain exactly how the notion made her feel. 3

Raion nodded absently, though his fingers continued to work through her hair. He combed through her tresses for a few moments as he isolated a strand he wanted to thread through the braid.

"Shikiyoku?" His hands paused briefly, hesitating in both word and action. He eyed the strand he'd been working with for a moment before picking it up again. "What is 'love'?"

~!**!~

Akari nodded. "So, a fake proposal with fake personas?" She held up her hand and pointed to the finger she'd seen the ring on Shikiyoku's hand. "I just noticed the ring on her finger here, and I was curious if congratulations were in order." *

"Mm, I suppose you could put it like that. Like I said, demons don't really do that sort of thing, or not seriously anyway. It's all just a game." His lips twitched, "Personally, I think it would be hilarious if you did. She's really still quite upset with me about it. She wouldn't admit it to you, I would imagine, but deep down it still irks her that I arranged for it without her suspecting a single thing. Either way, you could feel free to congratulate me, if you like." He sniffed a little, obviously proud of himself. "I'm looking forward to whatever she cooks up to get me back, frankly. I'm certain it will be quite spectacular." His eyes flashed.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku blinked at the question, wondering immediately what made Raion curious and why on earth he would ask her of all people.

"I-" Her eyes darted off to the side, hearing another feline voice from a long time ago echoing the question from her past, "What in the nine levels makes you ask, my lion?" 3