After leaving Yusuke's apartment, Meiyuki wandered about a little before finally deciding to go home and arriving there about an hour later. She opened the front door to see Kokoda sitting at the table doing his homework while Kurama and his mother worked on dinner in the kitchen. "Hello?" she said, walking in and shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, Minaku!" Kokoda said, barely looking up. "You're sure home late."

"I had some errands to run," she replied with a smile. She then glanced over his shoulder and said, "History, is it? What period are you studying?"

He showed her the book and said, "Right now we're just talking about ancient Japanese myths and legends. Look at this one! It's my favorite! It tells about a Demon Fox who was the bravest and most cunning of all the Demons. He could steal just about anything he wanted to, and he was great at it! But he stole something from the king of Spirit World and was chased by the castle guards. They injured him, and he was forced to come to Human World and live as a human for the rest of his life."

She smiled and said, "That's a pretty amazing story. Wouldn't it be strange if it were true? What if that Fox were wandering about in a human form right now? What if he's someone you know?"

"Wouldn't that be cool?" the human child replied excitedly. "I want to meet him for sure! If he were real, I bet he'd be the coolest human! I bet everyone would be afraid of him, and he'd be a real rabble-rouser. Nah, if he were real, we would have heard something about a guy like that. I mean, you don't think that that Yusuke Urameshi kid is him, do you? He's a rebel, and everyone's afraid of him."

Meiyuki had to resist a laugh as she said, "No, as far as I know, Yusuke Urameshi isn't a Fox Demon." She then looked up to see that Kurama had been standing at the door, listening to them talk. "Kokoda was just telling me a myth in his history book that tells about a Demon Fox who was cunning and brave and had to come here to live as a human. Do you suppose it's true?"

He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Anything is possible, I suppose. Of course, I wouldn't get my hopes up at finding such a demon. If he's as cunning as the myth says, I'll bet he has a pretty good disguise." Kokoda just shrugged, still enthralled in the story, and Kurama went on, "Dinner's ready. Minaku, would you please go upstairs and ask Father to come down?"

"Of course," she replied, walking upstairs and calling gently, "Hatanaka! Dinner is ready!"

"Thank you, Minaku!" he called back. "I'll be right there!"

She smiled and walked back downstairs to see the others sitting around the dining room table already. "Minaku!" Shiori said. "I didn't know that you were home! When you weren't with Shuuichi, I was a little worried."

With a little chuckle, she replied, "There's no need, Shiori. I assure you that I know how to take care of myself. Besides, I just had a few things to take care of before coming home."

Several minutes later, Hatanaka had come down and they had all begun to eat. Kokoda continued going on and on about the myths he'd been learning, still stuck on the legend of the Great Fox Demon. "Oh! And then there's this other one that's really cool, too! Not as cool as the Fox Demon, but definitely awesome!"

Kurama laughed and asked, "Please tell us."

"There was also a little group of three demons who called themselves the Trio, and they were the last of the White Tiger Demons. Apparently, a demon who ran their part of Demon World had killed all but the three of them, so they vowed to kill him together and repopulate their world with White Tigers. Isn't that awesome? I wonder if they ever succeeded! There were two males and one female, and the legend says that the older male and the female were in love."

While Shiori and Hatanaka encouraged him to go on, Kurama looked at Meiyuki and saw that she was holding herself together very well. She was smiling at Kokoda's story and listening with interest, as though she didn't know how the story would turn out.

"What do you guys think?" Kokoda asked them. "Do you think they ever killed the demon?"

Meiyuki cleared her throat and said with a smile, "I think they will."

Later that night, she was sitting on her bed and reading another of the books she'd become entranced in since coming to Human World when there was a knock at her door. "Come in," she called, not looking up.

Kurama looked inside and smiled to see that she had already forgotten that anyone had even knocked. He cleared his throat, and still she didn't look up. "Meiyuki?" he said gently. He walked closer and sat down beside her, looking over her shoulder and saying, "Something interesting, I presume?"

"What?" she asked, still not looking up.

He shook his head and took the book from her hands with a smile. "Come now, I have to speak to you about something, and then you can go back to reading."

She sighed deeply and said, "All right. Is something the matter?"

"You tell me," he replied. "What with Kokoda's myths and legends, I just wanted to make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine," she said convincingly. "You can't keep worrying about my like this. You have enough to worry about." She then paused a moment and added carefully, "You know, Yusuke is going back to the Makai in a couple of weeks, and he asked if I wanted to go with him. He's planning on training some more before the next tournament, and he thought I might like to do the same at Raizen's old battlegrounds."

"What did you tell him?"

She shrugged. "I told him no just because I know that would be the safer thing to do, but I can't help but feel like I need to stay strong. The time is going to come shortly in which I will have to go after Yomi, and I have to be stronger than I've ever been before."

He nodded, understanding. "You're right in that it's too dangerous for you to go back to the Makai right now, Meiyuki. That's why I will work with you here. We'll train together here, and you can retain your power that way. You know that the moment you go through the barrier, Yomi will sense your Energy and come after you."

"I know," she replied. "That's why I've decided to be strong and stay here. We'll stay here together and train. Happy?"

"Better," he said.

"Good," she replied with a smile. She then reached behind him and said, "Now give me back my book."

He smiled back and walked back to the door. "Goodnight, Meiyuki," he said quietly.

Of course, she was back into her story and wasn't paying him any attention. He just nodded and shut the door, convinced that she was going to be just fine.