The Nekoshou's Wolf

by Curiosity44

Reborn into DxD 20 years before Canon, Hei, a human orphan, must rise with his own will to the top, overcoming Devils, Angels, Fallen, Gods, a loli dragon, and most of all, the felines in his life as he spreads the name of his legacy, the Legacy of Lupa, a legacy of assassins. Come Join Hei on his journey as Lupus, the Nekoshou's Wolf. AU world. FUCKING READ THE WARNING

12. 9,5 and a message to user SlyMonster

AN: To the 'kind' reviewer named 'SlyMonster'. I hope you take this as 'constructive criticism' but I hope YOU SUCK A DICK YOU FUCKER.

DID YOU NOT FUCKING READ THE FIRST FUCKING CHAPTER OF THIS GOD DAMN FUCKING FIC YOU FUCKING FRUIT CAKE?!

Fuck off with your fucking constructive criticism. You think I give two fucks that your disappointed? You think I give two fucks if your bored? You think I give a single fuck that you even fucking exist?!

I could put all the fucks I have for you in a box and run it over with a fucking tank. Then I'll back up and roll the other fucking way over it to show the box was FUCKING EMPTY.

If I ask for fucking opinion on my writing, I'll take your shit and shovel it down my throat. But no, I EXPLICITLY SAID TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND NOT COMMENT YOUR BULLSHIT 'CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM'.

So before you 'constructively criticize' my writing abilities, why don't you get your fucking eyes checked and learn how to fucking read a goddamn warning before you read something.

ITS NOT THAT FUCKING HARD TO READ 500 FUCKING WORDS BEFORE STARTING A 200K FUCKING STORY.

AND I DO IT ON EVERY FUCKING STORY. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF FOR FUCKERS LIKE YOU TO TAKE A FUCKING HINT?!

Fuck off from my work and let people who have a common shred of decency to follow my simple fucking warning and request to not do exactly what you fucking just did.

I will write whatever the goddamn fuck I want to write. Like it or fuck off.

You think your opinion on what you 'expected' to happen matters? How many fucking stories have you read that uses the Nekoshou village directly like this huh? How many stories have you read that did exactly what I fucking did? No imagination? Motherfucker, let's go visit my dungeon and I'll show you fucking imagination you fucking shit case.

When you have an anal umbrella shoved through your intestines and impaling your organs, we will see then how much of an opinion you have on my writing.

You ain't no fucking professional writer, the messiah to the world, or some big shot fucker who can tell me that I'm not doing a good enough job. Fuck you bitch, I hope you get hit by a truck and Isekai'd to the fucking wild lands of Attack of Titan with two broken fucking legs and no cheat power.

I will spend the next fucking 40 years of my life to create a way to stab someone through a computer screen just so I can fucking stab pieces of shit like you.

In conclusion, Fuck you and fuck every other fucker out there who thinks they are 'helping' fanfiction authors who didn't FUCKING ASK FOR IT. Let alone the ones who specifically said NOT TO FUCKING DO EXACTLY THAT.

People like you are just as bad as the trolls and flamers and ruin this wonderful piece of life for everyone else.

If someone reviewed my work about things they enjoyed, things they found funny, or hell, even things about the MC that made them annoyed, I would welcome it. That means they are enjoying my work and having fun in the story, not spitting in my face and ignoring every single request I had made as a free content writer.

Don't try to tell me what the fuck to do, because I'll hit you with a fucking Boeing 747.

To the rest of the readers here who have not decided to spit in my face and enjoy some FREE GODDAMN WRITING, here is part 2. Enjoy : )

It's more reactions from a different view point. Chapter 10 returns to Hei's POV.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any original content; I claim no ownership of DxD or HxH content. With that said, I sure as hell wrote this fic so don't steal my shit.

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Chapter 9.5: Reactions Part 2: The Fox, Memories, and a Magical Girl.

Entering the mind of someone else with her special method was always a unique experience.

She didn't do it often as it was incredibly personal and the process to wake someone up would take them deep into their memories.

It was something Yasaka didn't want to do often, as the memories were accompanied by the emotions felt at the time, and she was a very emotional being.

Plus it was basically reading someone's mind without their permission but considering the circumstances and the approval from his closest kin, she relented and went through with it.

But out of all minds she entered in her life, there were two main patterns.

She either began at the beginning of one's memories and life, or at the end. The consciousness of her target usually laid toward the end of the path she walked.

The mind was like an onion. It had layers to it that she had to move through. And those layers were made out of chapters of one's life and experiences.

Which is why Yasaka was very confused at her first destination.

It was pitch black with nothing around except incredibly loud noises and unfamiliar voices that had her holding her ears in pain.

*BOOM!*

"It's an ambush!"

*BOOM!* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"We got a man down! Man down!"

It sounded like she had entered an active war zone. The only thing she could tell were that the voices were shouting in American English.

She couldn't tell her left from her right or up from below in this dark space and the emotional connection was practically severed from her.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!*

"They got an RPG! Get down!"

*BOOOOM!* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"We need a medic over here!"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Sargeant! Get your men down the left flank!"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Corporal! I want those supplies….*BOOM!*"

The sounds of war, explosions, shouting, and gunshots all seemingly ceased at once and Yasaka gently pried her hands from ears with a wince.

"What the fuck was that?!"

Why the hell would Hei's mind begin or end with an active war zone?! That made no sense!

Yasaka didn't get a chance to ponder that anymore before the darkness around her receded like a tide and dropped her in a hospital room.

"One more push! You can do it!"

"AAhhhhh!"

"Wahhhhh!"

Yasaka looked on bewildered at the scene of a mother giving birth.

Sure the subconscious memory would recall the earliest of memories, but they should not have appeared on her path.

The minds path was made of chapters of one's conscious life.

"Was he born with eidetic memory or something?"

Her mind flashed to the space she was in just before.

"Or perhaps…"

Her train of thought was interrupted as the doctors began moving around quickly.

The baby had his cord cut, he was washed and wrapped in a blanket, and handed to his mother.

Yasaka smiled at the sight. The emotional connection coming through to share what was experienced into her.

The birth of a child and the glow of a new mother was a special moment in life.

Yasaka couldn't put the mothers face to memory so she assumed it was an average citizen. Albeit one with natural red eyes but her complexion and beating heart proved she was not a vampire.

The mother looked at a baby with a loving smile and hugged him tightly for a moment before she whispered something and began losing strength.

Yasaka's smile fell as she teared up at the sight of a new mother losing her life as her baby cried into his sleep.

As a mother herself, she felt the pain as if it was her own.

The emotions of love, joy, and acceptance coming off the dying mother that Hei had felt hit her like a train as tears fell uncontrollably.

The scene faded as she appeared in a hospital room that cared for newborn babies and she heard a nurse speaking to a newly awakened Hei.

"I'm sorry for your loss little one, it's a real shame to lose a mother so young. And without a father around, you will have it tough growing up. But never give up, life is…"

The words of the nurse trailed off and Yasaka felt herself get heated up at the young woman.

"Who just tells a newborn baby they were an orphan like that?! Granted, a newborn human baby shouldn't be able to understand you, but it's the principle of the thing you bitch!"

Yasaka's anger at the young woman faded as she looked on at baby Hei.

Those clear wine red eyes were not blinking with a babies curiosity and confusion.

Yasaka was taken aback by the emotion in those eyes that didn't belong on a baby before his little eyes teared up and he cried loudly.

More tears joined Yasaka's as Hei's emotions poured into her.

The loss of what could have been, was painful for anyone to feel.

The scene began to fade once more as the space formed into what looked like a human orphanage.

Yasaka cleared her eyes and looked around the space curiously.

It was a bit run down but well cared for and the orphanage seemed warm and welcoming.

There was no sounds of movement or noise and Yasaka sighed in relief.

There were two kinds of memories on the mental path.

The first kind were impactful scenes that played out automatically and she could not move on till they finished.

These scenes had strong emotional ties that passed on to Yasaka through the connection.

The second kind were the longer years with less impactful scenes like where she was now. She would have to find the end of the scene by trying to locate the last memory of the sequence.

If she bumped into or touched anything that Hei had spent time around, she would get flashes of his memories and emotions revolving that thing.

The emotions were not as potent as the first kind.

She was in the second one now and she was relieved since nothing bad happens in these types of memory sequences.

The young man's life was seriously pulling at her heart since she began hearing his story from the girls, it was both exhausting and interesting to her.

Looking around the orphanage, she began moving around and touching thing to get a feel for where Hei would go.

With her hand on the playpen, she got flashes of memories of a baby Hei, from 1 to 3 years old, sitting and playing while other kids played as well.

Except while others played with toys, Hei seemed to be looking at his hands a lot and doing strange movements.

She couldn't help but laugh at his silly face as he stood on his head or called out magic words.

It seems even he can act like a child now and then.

The other kids occasionally laughed or clapped at his strange actions as they were interesting.

Yasaka watched on through various memories.

Hei was not disliked here, on the contrary, he was a very helpful and mature boy and assisted the matron with chores when he could.

It didn't seem like the other kids picked on him, but he also didn't have any real friends.

'Hm… a bit of a loner then? Heh, a lone wolf already? Or is that a lone pup?'

She watched in something between amusement and interest as the little baby grew up rapidly before her eyes through the flashes of memories.

She followed Hei through them to the center of the sequence, an old and dusty library.

The child Hei was pulling out books one after another and reading them much to her curiosity.

'Did he know how to read already? Or did he teach himself? My, what a little genius.'

She never saw any sign of him attending classes or getting taught in private by the matron.

He always just seemed to know how things worked without instruction but he never stood out so no one realized he was so advanced.

Children who prove they are capable and don't need the matrons extra focus don't get to much attention, so Hei often spent time reading in the library.

The sight of a small boy holding and reading a book the size of his own torso was greatly amusing for the vulpine woman.

'He's such a little cutie.'

She couldn't stop herself from cooing over his serious face as he read and learned.

Soon enough, she understood where the center of the memory sequence was.

It was the desk in the library.

Her hand reached out and touched it, bringing a new memory.

In this scene, a frustrated looking Hei was spooked by a falling book and fell backwards on his chair.

Yasaka couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

But right after he got up, she understood why this scene was important.

A ring flashed on his finger before a large book or binder seemed to materialize in the air.

The book glowed with a holy light for a moment as the words 'GREED ISLAND' were clearly visible on the cover.

'Hm… so he awakened his gear at such a young age? How rare.'

She was a bit surprised by the excitement that Hei showed, almost as if he was expecting something to happen.

The book opened with a pulse of energy and Yasaka frowned.

'A pulse like that is like a beacon to any supernatural forces in the area.'

Despite her worry, she looked on and pouted when she couldn't see into the book.

It only looked like glowing light to her eyes even as she saw Hei's eyes move across the pages as if he was reading something.

Whatever it was had made him both annoyed, ticked off, and happy from what she could feel.

The memory moved on with nothing else of note until the matron came in with an old man.

Yasaka studied the old man as he walked in on a cane and began talking with Hei.

'So this must be the last generations Lupa huh? Interesting.'

She couldn't fully feel out the old man's threat level as all she could feel were things Hei felt to a smaller degree.

She did nod in approval when the old man laid his cards clearly on the table without any underhanded methods. He was giving Hei an opportunity of his own free will and clearly listing out what was likely to happen.

And Yasaka agreed.

If Hei didn't move soon, one of the factions would come to investigate the pulse of energy from his gear awakening.

Thankfully, he accepted the deal.

His use of one his 'cards' from his gear to make his choice interested her.

A scale that could warn you which of two choices were for the better was incredibly valuable.

The memory began to fade as the two of them shook hands with smiles as the space around her cracked.

'One more layer down.'

So far, she had walked through three 'layers' of Hei's mind. How many more was up to what kind of life he lived.

The next scene began forming and Yasaka squeaked in surprise as she was dropped from a few thousand feet in the air.

Her eyes widened but she relaxed as her chakra flared and she slowed down.

Her feet taking steps on air itself as her tails slowed her descent and gently touched down on the ground.

'Well that was rude.'

She straightened her yukata and looked around, finding herself in the courtyard of a small single storied home.

The courtyard was pocketed with training posts and various targets and training gear were placed along the walls.

'Hm… this must be where he grew up under his teacher.'

No sounds of voices or movement were heard despite it being day outside, so Yasaka understood it was another memory sequence she would have to manually explore.

'At least that means he was happy here.'

Her eye's trailed over the courtyard deciding where to begin before she settled on one of the wooden posts with rope wrapped around it.

The rope was bloodied and the wood cracked.

Her tail stretched out and tapped gently on it before a memory flashed before her eyes.

A five year old Hei stood in a martial arts stance as he punched the post without a complaint.

Old man Lupa stood to the side watching with a keen eye.

"Stop!"

Hei's small and bloodied hand stopped mid strike.

The old man walked over and tapped his cane lightly on Hei's hips, shoulder, and elbow.

"Recall my words well. Twist your waist, pull force from the lower body, let it flow through you and outward from your fist.

You can accomplish more in a single correct and powerful blow than one hundred weak and improper blows."

After fixing his stance, he stepped back and nodded.

"Again!"

He barked out and Hei returned to punching.

The corrections made were sloppy at first but smoothed out as Hei did his best and the wood began creaking under his strikes.

Yasaka cast a look of sadness and pride for his young determination and looked over with soft eyes to see the same look on the old man's face.

Through it all, Hei never complained or argued.

He rose questions that were to the point of his issues and the old man calmly explained with patience.

She pulled out of the memory with a shake of her head.

'Even now… I find myself underestimating you. So young and yet so fierce. Where does your will arise from young Hei?'

Her tails spread out, tapping one object after another to get a feel for the sequence she was in.

She had to find where Hei congregated the most to find the center of the space.

And yet, she found herself quite interesting in watching his founding years.

To know more about the young man and what had shaped him to be who he is today.

Memories flashed before her eyes one after the other.

Muscle and endurance building through countless ruthless but effective training styles.

Running with a tire filled with weight tied to his waist by a rope.

Horse stance with jars held by his fingers on outstretched arms as blunted blades hung from his body in various places to encourage him to keep it up.

Dodging or catching thrown tennis balls, then softballs, then baseballs, then metal pellets.

On the ground, in the air, and even while jumping on wooden posts a dozen feet off the ground while he was barefoot.

She watched it all.

Dozens of training methods that would make grown men and women pale and run for the hills.

'Extraordinary.'

He was like a sponge that took everything thrown at him in stride and absorbed lessons at breakneck speeds.

He didn't succeed on the first try, or the second, and most of the time not even the third.

She watched as he fell, as he collapsed in exhaustion, as he cradled fractures bones, as he ignored bloody welts, calluses, and cuts around his body.

He wasn't simply a talented natural genius, but he was a genius of hard work as well.

He gave everything he had at what was in front of him from sunrise to sunset and limped his way back to a patiently waiting teacher, one step closer to his goal.

Again.

And again.

And again.

He just never quit.

And at the end of every day, she watched as his teacher lifted his beaten form with soft eyes filled with pride and joy and bandaged him with gentle movements before allowing him to soak in a similar healing hot spring to what her body was currently in.

Just without the aesthetic extra's.

Her feet had moved without her even realizing as she followed the trail of training mechanisms and devices from the courtyard, to the small forests in the back, and all around the home.

She watched as he grew, from the age of four to the age of eight.

She watched him struggle and push on.

She watched his joys, his failures, and his accomplishments.

And through it all, she watched the beautiful bond between a strict master and a hard working heir.

To them that might be all it was, but to an outsider looking in, there was no mistaking the loving bond between a father and his son.

She didn't realize when she stopped searching for the central node of the memory sequence, so lost in the formation years of Hei's path.

And it wasn't all endless hard work.

She looked on with a swelled heart to see the moments of joy and laughter, of celebration and cheer shared between the two of them.

There was something greatly amusing about a copy of the Joy panda maid that humiliated her throw around an old man and a child when they made a mess and caused unnecessary property damage.

There was thankfully no spanking involved, but she watched with a vulpine laugh as even the old retired legendary hitman sweated nervously before a righteously angry panda maid.

One memory had her keeling over in laughter as Joy stomped over to them after an overzealous training idea had a tree fall and break a wall.

The two stood side by side with paling faces as Joy approached.

Lupa's eyes hardened as he spoke out with aged wisdom to his heir.

"Remember Hei, sometimes in life, one must face his challenges head on."

A young Hei swallowed and nodded with determined eyes.

"Have you faced worse teacher?"

"…."

"Teacher?"

He turned his head to see an empty space next to him.

"!"

A voice rang out from the tree's.

"Other times in life, a distraction is needed. Good luck young one."

Hei's forehead twitched as he yelled at the tree's.

"Damn old man! Why the hell am I the distraction!"

*STOMP!*

A dust cloud rose behind an angry child Hei as he paled rapidly.

His head turned like a rusty swivel to see a glowing red eyed panda maid behind him looking down.

"…Uhh….I didn't do it?"

His excuse didn't save him from his fate.

Yasaka was on the ground laughing from the scene and hearing Hei use the exact same words she did in his position.

Her tails came up to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes as she settled herself and moved on.

She made her way around the property seeing it all.

It was fascinating, inspiring, hilarious, saddening, and it sucked her in like a little girl hearing her first fairy tale bed time story.

She didn't know how long she spent going through the area around the home, but time moved differently in the mental world.

The brain worked at a much higher speed than what we perceive on the outside, so hours here could be minutes out there.

When she finally stepped into the home, she got an idea of a new side to Hei and his teacher.

There was a classroom where the old man would teach Hei things on a daily basis, no matter if he was physically exhausted or bored out of his mind, the teaching would continue and Hei would do his best to pay attention.

Seeing him so focused and studious made her want to coo over his cuteness all over again.

'If only I met him when he was so little… those cheeks would be pinched red from how adorable he is with that serious look all the time.'

The old man went through every topic from general school subjects to supernatural politics and faction knowledge.

He truly made his lessons all-encompassing and spared no effort in drilling it into young Hei's skull.

She found the heavy stone helmet device he created to be interesting.

It was seemingly made from his sacred gear and allowed for perfect retention of what was learned while wearing it.

However it's weight adjusted to always be incredibly heavy for whoever wore it so it created the strange sight of a young child struggling with all his might to wear the helmet while staring at his notes until his teacher saw he was about to hit his limit and ripped it off him.

'What a….unique item. I can't tell if it's useful or junk.'

She mused thoughtfully as she walked on.

The kitchen, bedroom, and hallways were full of short quick memories of various everyday things that she didn't pay much attention to.

There is a difference between learning about him and crossing a line into his privacy.

Well, the line is blurred in her current state but it's the principle of the thing.

She avoided bathrooms.

It was cute to see the old man instructing Hei in the kitchen on nutrition and old recipes he picked up around the world.

He taught him many things that were useful for a variety of situations and he made it fun for Hei to learn while retaining the importance of the lessons.

She could feel the familial love shared between the two.

Finally, her steps took her to two locations that seemed to be the center.

The first was the wooden patio porch where the two would sit in silence and sip tea as they stared out into the setting or rising sun.

Day after day, they would continue such a ritual.

It was meditative, it was soothing, and it was special to them.

They connected silently from teacher to heir, from parent to child.

It brought an incredibly warm smile to her lips.

'Seeing them sitting like this is like looking at Kunou and myself. Like an older version and a mini version of the same person.'

Her thoughts stopped for a moment as her eyes darkened.

'Did I just call myself old?...'

She shook her head.

'It's ok Yasaka. You might be a mother but you still have many centuries left in you. You are still a beautiful and youthful woman.'

Nodding with satisfaction, she all but skipped into the last place.

The sitting room in the center.

There was a comfortable rocking chair, a two person couch, and a leather chair.

Lupa would sit in the rocking chair while Hei would sit on the leather chair, and one would speak while the other listened in great interest.

Lupa was giving examples and stories from his own life to expound on lessons the two covered during the day, helping Hei learn from his senior and view things from different point of views.

Lupa would stop to question Hei throughout the story on his views and opinions before he continued.

It was a very sweet sight.

If you disregarded the topic of the stories anyway. Considering they were all about death, killing efficiently, and experiences on jobs.

She shook her head at the two.

'Boys…'

Only men can become so invested and interested in such topics.

She haughtily stuck her nose up at them despite the fact they couldn't see or notice her.

The memory sequence came to an end with the two laughing over something said.

It faded from the warm home to the backdrop of a full moon shining down over a forest.

'Hm? Where would this be?'

She didn't recognize the area but it wasn't a concern for her. It's not like she had been to every forest in the world.

She jumped to the top of a tree but didn't see any noticeable landmarks.

A flash of moonlight reflected off of metal caught her eye as she jumped through the tree's in time to see a young eight year old Hei zooming through using nothing but his own physical capabilities.

Yasaka rose a brow at the sight.

'This seems to be beyond human capabilities… interesting. It must be that strange drink he used from his cards. Not that I would know what those cards were!'

No matter when she saw the binder, she could never see inside it or what the cards said. She only saw effects pop up every now and then if they were used in a memory.

She took off into the tree's easily keeping up with his form racing through and she watched in measured interest as his young form danced in the moonlight, dodging various traps from arrow, darts, blades, swinging logs, rope traps, and many more.

It was actually enough for Yasaka to raise a brow with a tick.

'Is the old man trying to kill him? Who the hell uses this many traps? I'm a kitsune and I made my territory hell for anyone to invade with numerous magic and physical traps set up around the area and I'm actually getting inspiration from how well these traps are placed to chain together so smoothly.'

She was actually regretting not reaching out to the old Lupa to see if he would take a commission to trap her territory.

Those thoughts got her distracted for a few moments and when she snapped out of it Hei's figure was already in the distance.

'Damn! Pay attention girl, this is some quality stuff I don't want to miss.'

She quickly caught up and followed Hei on his journey through the woods.

The traps were numerous in design and ingenuity as time passed.

A few snagged him and other glanced his skin.

Many he used his twin pistols to intercept and deflect.

She had to marvel at his marksmanship to shoot needles and darts with bullets, while on the move through tree's at high speed.

'The girls weren't kidding about his frightening sharpshooter skills.'

It took close to two hours before Hei broke the tree line into a clearing while breathing heavily and falling to a knee.

Yasaka stood on the final tree branch before the clearing with an impressed look.

'Remarkable stamina for one so young. He will truly make a girl happy one day~.'

She thought with a smirk and unconsciously licked her lips before a clang of steel snapped her out of it.

She looked on in surprise as the old man wielded a cane sword and began a deadly spar against Hei's tired form.

The two danced with extreme precision and effortless accuracy born from endless repetition.

The cane sword sparked in the night as it clashed with the guard of Hei's pistols.

While one attacked the other defended while attempting to create an opening to return fire.

And when the opportunity came and Hei unloaded in a pattern to keep up the rate of fire while reloading with the offhand pistol, the old man moved with deadly proficiency and sliced clean through each bullet, deflecting them to his sides and moving toward Hei's position.

The two didn't remain standing but kept up a game of cat and mouse, expertly using their environment to their advantage as they fought until the end came swiftly with the old man's blade resting against Hei's throat.

She wanted to clap at their performance under the full moon and wholeheartedly did so, even if was only her that could hear it.

The two seemingly joked around as they stood on a hill overlooking the landscape.

Seeing them stand side by side on the top of hillside next to a battle torn field while the moonlight shined down on them stirred something inside her chest.

Her eyes flashed as what she saw was no longer an old man and child but an aged, scared, and wise wolf standing next a younger wolf shining with eagerness to take on the world.

To make his own mark.

To live up to the memory of the older wolf.

She caught the old man's smile that reflected on the elder wolfs form.

It was a smile of pride and bliss.

The space began fading once more as a voice rang out in the old man's gravely tone.

"Hei, you are ready."

When the space formed next, she was sitting at a booth table in what looked like a high class club.

She blinked at the change before turning to look and felt her heart swoon at the adorable sight.

A young Hei wearing a fancy and fine suit sat with a mask on his face next to a finely dressed Lupa while across from them sat a well-aged but not as old gentleman.

Winston was his name it seemed.

They discussed details of membership into a guild.

The rules, how to rank up, what was expected, and how things worked.

'Ah, so this is when he joined the mercenary guild….*sigh* he is so young but I understand what you meant Leone. He is wise beyond his years. It's almost as if looking at an….'

A thought stirred deep in her as a seed began sprouting and growing.

She was stirred from her thoughts by Winston reaching his hand across the table to shake a now mask-less Hei's hand as he smiled slightly.

"I formally welcome you to the mercenary guild Hei, ah, that is Lupus now haha."

Lupa and Hei chuckled at the line as the scene began to fade.

She caught a comment from Winston about commissioned an order for drinks and shook her head.

She couldn't blame him for his addiction but Hei was still a child.

She decided to ignore her eagerly wagging tails that said she would do exactly the same thing in that scenario.

Some morals be damned, good liquor was hard to come by.

She shot her traitorous tail a betrayed look before scoffing and turning away like she was above her own tail.

Which she technically was and was not.

The scene came back into focus as she looked around to see herself stand atop a rooftop with Lupa and Hei, now dressed in quite an intimidating get up between his cloak that seemed to reflect her eyes off his form and his white mask with two red lines crossed through it.

She could admit that if she saw such a figure come out of the darkness, it could be quite a presence.

But she also got a sense of vertigo between the figure she watched grow and the masked and cloaked form.

One was calm but kind and soft while this one was calm but cold and hard.

"You are on your own, I shall wait here."

Hei nodded to his teacher and took a few steps back before taking a running leap from the rooftop to the adjacent building.

Her brow rose as she noticed he wouldn't make the distance before he seemingly got himself in midair and began floating to a fire escape.

'Curious… but not to rare. There are numerous methods of flight in the world.'

She stood next to the silent Lupa and was surprised to see him clenching his fists as his knuckles turned white.

She smiled warmly at the older man.

'You truly care for him Lupa. A shame I never got to meet you before your passing.'

She turned her eyes back to the building and watched through the windows as Hei's form blurred through the floors, past overworked employee's, and entered a specific office.

She couldn't see what happened inside but she felt his emotions.

Calm, collected, cold, sharp.

There was no panic, nervousness, or worry.

She would have been worried except she noticed a complete lack of joy or satisfaction in the act itself.

There was some satisfaction in a job well done, but none in taking a life.

For that she let go of that tiny bit of hidden concern she had ever since hearing his story from the cats.

It's one thing to hear it from another and another to tell for herself in such a setting.

Soon enough, Hei returned and Yasaka caught a small smile on Lupa's face before it faded so Hei didn't catch it consciously.

The mind captures an incredible amount of detail into the subconscious that the consciousness does not always perceive.

Much is filtered out so the mind can run without damaging itself from sensory overload.

The scene faded into the night under the image of the old and young wolf jumping along rooftops.

Their backs seemingly a copy of another and their movements in sync.

The next thing that appeared to her was an empty room except for a small table in the center that held a cellphone.

Her brow rose at the sight before she walked over and lifted it.

The screen flashed as rows of Bronze rank jobs appeared.

"Ah, I see. The missions he took in the following weeks are compiled here. Hm.. perhaps I'll see a few before moving on."

She looked at the job titles in interest and clicked on one.

The surroundings faded to the nightlife of downtown Barcelona, Spain.

She looked on as a hidden Hei sat perfectly balanced on a flagpole while blending in the night.

Directly across from his position was a hotel room with a man and woman having intercourse.

Hei used his phone to zoom in and snap photos of the who was cheating on his corporate businesswoman wife.

He took two dozen pictures and sent them directly to another phone number before a few minutes later, his phone flashed with a job completion sign.

The scene faded as Yasaka returned to the room.

She shook her head in disgust.

"Bah, it might have been easy for him but seeing the breaking of a sacred bond like that is disgusting. If your lust is stronger than your love for your partner then why even get married!

Humans spit on bonds as they please. *sigh* I'm getting worked up again."

She tried a different mission and saw a young Hei sitting on the ledge of a building kicking his legs lightly while it poured rain.

He didn't seem to mind the rain as he sat and waited until a few moments later, the door of the building directly under him opened from a strip club as some kind of big shot gangster walked out pissed drunk.

Hei zeroed in on him as the man moved drunkenly to his car before the man heard the click of a gun and saw a reflection in his car's window.

His eyes only managed to widen as Hei pulled the trigger and ended the man's life.

The gunshot masked in the rainstorm around him.

The space faded once more back to the room and Yasaka sighed.

'I think that's enough of this. I understand his reasons but I do not have to watch him do each one."

She skipped to the end of the list and pressed the clear all button.

The room and phone faded as the space turned into the next scene.

She blinked as she noticed she was back in the sitting room of Lupa's home as three figures were speaking.

Lupa, Hei, and Leone.

A smile grew on her face.

'This must be their first meeting that Leone spoke of.'

Their interactions were quite amusing between the calm and cold slightly twitching Hei, the smug Lupa, and the teasing Leone.

"Oi, I said I would train the brat if he passed my test."

"Well then go out back, we can talk more when you are finished."

"Puurfect."

Yasaka laughed at her tone.

'Oh she is trying too hard to be badass and mysterious. I can't wait to tease her on this.'

Leone and Hei moved out back to the clearing and faced each other.

"Your quite the silent stoic type huh? No questions, not curious?"

"Assassins don't need to ask questions. Besides, curiosity killed the cat."

'*Pft* ahaha, he got you there bitch!'

Yasaka laughed and watched on as the two sparred.

It was a beautiful match of skills and Yasaka nodded in approval.

'Just as Leone spoke of. The match is truly remarkable for a young human, or for a human in general.'

The match ended with Leone hiding her energy signature and surprising Hei with a heavy punch that threw him through three tree's.

Leonce winced and Yasaka shot her a deadpan look that wasn't seen.

'Just wait till I get my hands on you bitch.'

She got to excited and hit him for real.

The following happened just as she was told and she enjoyed the shocked face of Leone as she met Joy for the first time.

'Hahaha, oh that's gold.'

Time seemed to fade into the backdrop as scenes passed one after another.

Hei becoming a Silver rank mercenary.

Leone taking Hei to the Nekoshou village for the first time and his shock at the beauty of it all.

Yoru challenging him to a match.

The feast to welcome him.

Sitting quietly with Ghislaine as they listened to the village be merry.

Each scene was short and had its own sequence with strong emotional ties to Hei's mind.

Even if he never thought about it, these moments were special to him.

She fell over laughing when Hei pulled out the crate of silver vine wine.

The chaotic apocalyptic cat fight that ensued between every adult villager with no care for seniority was just to glorious for her not to lean against a tree and laugh her heart out.

And the nights end with Hei looking up at the stars with a genuine smile from his heart brought a dusting of pink to her cheeks.

He was still young, but that smile was accompanied by pure emotions of joy, gratitude, excitement, and peacefulness.

The emotions connected with her and made her see the young boy as the much older man he was inside.

'It really is as I thought. He is no simple boy is he?'

The next scene to appear was another silent one but it made her groan at the sight.

It was an empty and quite Nekoshou village.

It's not that she didn't appreciate the view of the beautiful and peaceful place that didn't exist anymore, but she would have to search for the memories.

Starting from the center, she connected with the old Sakura tree and her eyes flashed as memories began playing out.

"Big bro!"

"Catch me!"

"You shall fall before my might today!"

A groggy and tired looking Hei that looked like he just crawled out of bed was tackled by three rockets that clung to him and crawled around his body like chipmunks.

Yasaka chittered in laughter at the adorable sight of the triplets, much smaller than what she had seen in the real world, clung to his form.

Hei seemingly ignored them and kept walking to get breakfast of rice balls from a smiling Nekomata while his arms were used as swing sets and a certain someone gnawed on his knee with determined eyes.

He kept walking as little hands snuck between his arms and stole rice balls much to his amusement if the soft smile on his face was any indication.

Yasaka swooned at the sight.

'THAT – IS – ADORABLE!'

By the time he finished his walk to Kurumi's home, the triplets were hugging his shoulder and Shi was riding on his shoulders.

She saw time pass around the Sakura tree as dozens of similar scenes played out.

Hei being assaulted and not responding at first before giving them attention and silent love much to their delight.

He was such a wonderful big brother that recalling the scene of the three girls curled around his head was heartbreaking to her.

She wiped away a tear from her eye and turned away.

'Too much sweetness. You are going to give me diabetes young man.'

She walked off from the center in the direction Hei had always walked in each scene.

The trail came to a small clearing in the woods next to a gentle stream.

When she entered a certain area, memories were activated of Leone's countless lessons on energy sensing and suppression.

Yasaka smiled at the dedication from teacher and student.

The steady progression of excitement, joy, and determination she saw in Leone's eyes as time passed made her smile warmly at her friend.

'It's no wonder you missed how much he meant to you at first. You were so excited by his progress.'

From Leone's spot, she followed Hei's form to Yoru's area, to Ghislaine's, and finally Chloe's.

Chloe really made her eyes twitch at the sadistic training method.

Was it effective? Very.

Was it cruel and unusual? Very.

Words would be spoken when this was over.

After Chloe's session, the path brought her to a tent on the edge of the village where Hei stayed.

She entered curiosity and her eye twitched at the sight of a trapdoor.

"I think he has an addiction to secret hideouts. Men…"

Entering inside brought her to a design of a half large rocky cavern and the other half being an open infrastructure home without any walls aside from the bedroom.

The space was less than a 3rd of the one her physical body was currently in.

Her entire body twitched at the open aired and security free fish pond full of juicy Bluefin tuna's.

She moved in a flash to the pond as her hands snapped at the fish but they just phased through it like they didn't exist.

Because they didn't.

Yasaka snapped out of her moment and fell to her knee's in defeat.

"Gah! What am I doing?! I have a serious trauma! Hei you bastard, you owe me some damn fish and booze for this strangely cruel punishment!"

She spent a minute collecting herself before straightening her yukata like she didn't just have a mental breakdown and moved on.

After crossing a line, she activated dozens of short memories of Hei and the four cats playing, living, soaking in the hot springs, and sleeping cuddled on the bed.

It was heartwarming in a way that actually birthed some envy in her.

'Ugh, I have to deal with paperwork and numerous faction issues while these four got to relax with a really fun toy.

Comfy bed, great cuddles, skin care healing hot spring, high quality fish, endless good liquor….yeah, I might just steal him for myself at this rate.'

Of course, she knew she was joking.

Kind of.

Sort of.

Maybe.

She was debating it.

He was interesting her more than she originally wanted to admit.

Even if you take away the material things he brings, his personality and will have been highly attractive to her.

'Hm… but he has a mate already.'

It wasn't a massive concern really.

She would watch more, see more of who Hei Lupa was.

If he was worth it, she could consider seriously looking at him.

Of course, you should never get between two mates, but if the girl was interesting as well, she wouldn't be adverse to making it a threesome.

Yasaka had lived a long time ang swung both ways. Her and the cats had their fun times when the itch came on.

Still, that's for another time.

For now, she had a job to do.

The memories ended with Hei leaving for Lupa's home.

With it the space began to fade.

The next thing that appeared before her was a surprise.

It was a scene playing out before her.

But it was the emotion that hit her upon her arrival made her heart heavy beyond belief.

Hei and Lupa were sitting on the patio looking out on the world as Lupa spoke in an old and weary voice.

'Ah, I see. It's that time.'

Her good mood plummeted as she watched on.

One of the harsh points of swimming through another's memories is the overwhelming emotion that can switch on a dime.

She watched on with a heavy heart as a dying old man passed on the final bits of his life story to his son and heir over the course of 3 days.

The conversation itself blurred as she watched in fast forward.

The highs, the lows, the passion, and weakness in the old wolf as his fires of life died out.

She watched as a sword of great power was reverted to an egg and handed to shaking hands that received it with tears.

She felt her own tears fall at the heartbroken eyes of the young man before her.

The steel like will, the endless hours of silent training, the deadly machine that he came to become was all forsaken in this one moment as Hei finally looked his age.

Like a young child grasping onto the clothes of their parent begging them to stay for just one more moment.

She watched as a weary shaking hand landed on Hei's head and heard the final words of an incredible soul.

She watched him directly recognize Hei as his son for the first time and thank him for the time they spent together before the light receded from his eyes and his hand fell from Hei's head in the light of the setting sun.

She watched as Hei cried his heart out at his father's side and shouted for him to come back.

She watched him lose his parent and the last sliver of his childhood to time as the dark of night came over their forms.

The incredible flux of raw emotion pouring into her from him was enough to bring her tears falling down.

Her tails futilely attempted to wrap around Hei's form and comfort him even if she knew it was pointless.

The memory faded as her tears kept falling and the emotions began to recede but before it got too far, the next memory came and the tears followed once more.

Hei was kneeling in the dirt before a freshly dug grave as the sun began to rise upon a new day.

She desperately wanted to reach out and embrace him.

To let him cry in her chest and stop him from his next actions that she knew was coming.

She literally felt it.

Hei's emotions were dulled.

He pushed them down as he stood up.

A final brush of his hand against the tombstone before he gave a broken smile and turned away, walking from the home with only a short hug and message to Joy before leaving and not looking back.

It might seem simple to an outward gaze but to Yasaka, she could feel his pain growing.

Like a child shouting at the unfairness of the world and desire to hear their parents voice one more time.

The scene began to darken as she returned to an empty wooden room with a single small table and an innocent phone resting on it.

She looked on at the phone with sad eyes.

Her tails came up to wipe her face as she brought herself under control from the rapid explosive emotions.

It was too much all at once and with a great amount of intensity.

"*Sniff* This is why I dislike doing this type of memory dive! The emotions are just too intense! Ugh, I want to hug and protect Hei from the world right now. My maternal and feminine instincts are raving at me right now to comfort him."

In the real world, her head rolled forward to rest on top of Hei's and her body slightly tightened its hold on him according to her thoughts but thankfully that was the only things to transfer over.

In the memory world, she got herself under control and halfheartedly lifted the phone.

"I think I'm getting tired of this."

She scrolled through the mission list and just like the story she was once told, the amount on the list was staggering.

Over 150 Silver colored mission tabs filled the list and she knew for a fact that clicking on any one of them was going to bring her on an emotional rollercoaster she didn't want to experience.

On the other hand, she had already come this far and she wanted to learn more about Hei. The good and the bad.

'In for a penny, in for a pound right?'

She scrolled through the list randomly and clicked on one.

The room bled away before being replaced with a raining cityscape.

Yasaka stood on top of a building, unaffected by the rain.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings looking for Hei before they rested on the edge of the building where a figure was crouch and looking down while smoking a cigarette.

She rose a brow at his figure.

The emotions were not as intense but what she was feeling was cold and hard.

He was dull and void like a machine.

Her eyes saddened at the sight but she watched on anyway.

Her eyes couldn't look away.

His form seemingly took her gaze and held it.

His hand moved, flicking his cigarette away and fixing his mask on before she saw his legs tense.

Her eyes widened as he jumped.

'He wouldn't!'

If she had thought clearly, she would know he had a dozen ways to go uninjured but in his empty emotional state, she thought he might have attempted to take his own life.

She rushed to the side to look down as sighed in relief.

Hei jumped at an angle with a cord attached to his foot, allowing him to swung across the space, pull out a pistol, shoot a man between the eyes from a short distance, and be swinging off before anyone could see more than a blur.

"*sigh* This is bad for my heart."

The scene changed back to the room and she prepared herself before jumping into a dozen more.

She witnessed him ride on top of trains in a snowy landscape.

Enter jungles hunting targets.

Eliminating gangs.

Infiltrating corporation headquarters.

And a large variety of jobs.

But that wasn't all for some jobs gave her glimpses into his state of mind.

Staring up at rain clouds to mask tears.

Sleeping in alleyways as he shook from nightmares.

Looking on with empty eyes.

He was in pain, and it pained her to see it.

But she wanted to know him and knowing him meant knowing his pain as well as his joy.

After two dozen jobs, she felt she saw enough and skipped to the end.

The room bled away to show her a rooftop with Hei looking off into the sky with dull eyes.

A shadow phased into existence on the roof silently looking at Hei.

It was the moment Leone found Hei.

"Leone."

"I'm here Hei."

"Leone….I'm sorry."

"Shh.. it's alright."

Yasaka looked on as they embraced and cried and felt herself smile.

She could feel it as soon as Leone appeared.

His cold and hard emotional state finally cracked as warmth spread inside.

She turned away and looked at the sun in the sky, knowing Leone had this covered.

The scene began fading as she didn't wish to watch on further.

Along with her acceptance, the memories began flooding past much faster.

Hei's return to the village.

His recovery.

The time spent with his sisters and the villagers.

His increased training intensity.

It all flashed by quickly in a short bursts just giving her tastes of what it all encompassed without keeping her tied down for long periods.

The next time the memories slowed enough for her to focus on the details, she found herself standing in a bright forest clearing as sunlight shined between the branches to illuminate two forms.

She watched with great amusement as the young Nekoshou who could only be Kuroka startled a training Hei into poisoning himself and seeing him twitch in annoyance as Kuroka started panicking.

It was highly amusing for her and the following scene of Hei collapsing from paralysis and Kuroka giving him a lap pillow felt incredibly special.

It had the aura of fate connecting in a special way.

Something she had only witnessed few times in her long life.

She knew it as she watched the young girl blush as she looked down as his smiling face.

This was a moment in which they became bound by fate.

They had no idea.

They were just enjoying a special feeling.

But they already belonged to each other without either doing anything special.

She sighed with a smile at the sight.

'My~, how I wish I could find that same moment.'

She didn't mind feeling slightly envious of the purity of their bond in that moment, it wasn't something to feel ashamed of.

They gave her an example of what could be, if you found the right person and had the right moment.

The scene faded to the sound of their joined laughter.

The next she found herself, she was back in the empty village.

'Another memory sequence huh?'

She began once more from the Sakura tree, seeing dozens more of interactions with Hei and triplets except this time there were two more members to the group.

Kuroka and Shirone.

Yasaka felt herself gush over how adorable the young Shirone was.

And Hei being the stoic loving big brother he is spoiled her rotten.

Anything she asked for was provided, be it shoulder rides, candy, cuddles, food, naps, anything.

It was hilarious for her to watch the mighty Lupus bow willingly to a tiny feline girl.

And Kuroka was by his side in almost every seen, only appearing more and more frequently as the time went on.

Yasaka followed them around the village, gazing into dozens if not hundreds of memories of the two young fateful lover experiencing life together.

Pranks, jokes, activities, poking the proverbial bear that was the leaders of the village, cuddling, making food, festivals, hunting, having water fights in the streams, washing and sleeping, listening to the ocarina being played, and dozens of more scenes.

Rather than the violence and bloodshed, Yasaka felt each heartwarming scene wash over her in pure positive emotions.

She could stand there for years gazing on such pure emotional memories.

Untainted by lust or sin, just filled with innocent growing love and joy.

Oh she could tell they both recognized what was happening, and they almost had a few moments where they crossed the line before being interrupted.

But by some unspoken agreement, the two young teens far more mentally mature than they should have been, decided to enjoy the moment for what it was.

What they were waiting for Yasaka couldn't tell.

Perhaps a special moment to make it come together naturally.

All she knew was she was soaking it up like the greatest soap opera she had ever watched.

Hey, a girl has to have her hobbies and it gets boring being cooped up in a castle all the time.

As time passed, she stepped into a memory of Hei getting his rank up at the guild and the applause and congratulations from the members for his record breaking time on ranking up from Silver to Gold.

She found it amusing if also saddening due to how exactly he accomplished the feat.

But with Gold rank jobs being more complicated, she was happy to know he would spend less time a month on those jobs and more time in the village with the girls.

She could literally feel his positive emotions spike like a fountain when he was around the villagers, a geyser around his sisters, and a metaphorical volcano around Kuroka.

She actually found it interesting how he was able to keep a solid poker face even in such a good mood.

When the sequence of events ended, she once more found herself in a wooden room with a cell phone listing jobs with a gold colored tabs.

Except this time the number was only around ten.

A single one of them happened to glow a darker gold and got her eye.

The scene that followed surprised her greatly.

From Hei's professionalism, to how much he changed over the years to be more open with his client, to the clean and cut work he put in, and to the friends he chanced upon.

She didn't know what was discussed in private between them, as something seemed to bar her from entry.

'Hm... memory protections? I commend them for the effort.'

She could try to force things but that wasn't the purpose of her current visit.

She let it go and moved on.

Consequently, Yasaka didn't see the conclusion of the mission as she left early, avoiding the scene of Hei's energy levels increasing dramatically in comparison to what he had.

She only looked at a single other gold rank job of Hei performing a calculated and perfectly planned mission to take the life of a government spy before being turned on by said government and eliminated the termination team sent to terminate him.

She chuckled as she left the memory.

'Humans are truly the most vicious race in the world. They think they are kings and therefore stand supreme in their ignorance, demeaning people into rolls of heroes and villains as it deems their fancy.

Truly, no other race is as ready to backstab their fellow member than humanity. Not even the devilkind of today. Hm… maybe the old Satan faction had the same mentality.'

Lost in her thoughts, the space around her moved on from the wooden room to a scene she was familiar with.

It was a scene of Kuroka bugging Hei to take her on a job and Leone interjecting to allow her, I.E. force Hei, into taking her along.

A feeling of dread reached her as she recalled how this scene went on.

The space around her faded before coming back into focus as she stood atop a rooftop with Hei telling Kuroka some final instructions and information.

Yasaka followed with a heavy heart as they infiltrated the building.

The plan went off without a hitch at first.

They took out the boss, poison mist weakened the thugs, and Hei dropped down to smoothly finish them.

What went wrong was when Kuroka moved in to finish off the stragglers.

Unfortunately, she underpowered her fire and didn't make them strong enough to instantly kill.

Yasaka looked on in sadness as Kuroka stared straight at the burning and screaming bodies of her first human kills with traumatized eyes before she had a gun pressed into her head and a man start shouting at her.

She didn't even think before she acted and slit the man's throat.

Yasaka would have approved of her reflexes had it been a better situation.

She wished she could have comforted the girl as she threw up and hyperventilated on the ground but thankfully Hei noticed and was at her side in seconds.

"It's alright."

"Your safe."

"I have you."

"It's ok."

"Shhhhh."

Sweet and caring words were spoken from Hei's lips as Kuroka clung to his frame for dear life and he carried her away.

Yasaka watched on in a mix of sadness and bittersweetness as a mate supported their other half through her sickness and trauma.

She didn't need to go further; the next part of the memory was special and sacred to the two mates.

She just smiled and sat down on a rooftop to wait another hour before the memory began to fade away and she returned to the village.

And just as she appeared was when Hei and Kuroka popped back in and were assaulted by curious cats.

They confirmed their relationship being official if Kuroka clinging to him and screaming 'He's mine!' was any indication.

Yasaka chuckled at her territorial look but a thoughtful look crossed her face as she watched Yoru tease the girl about her sexuality.

Seeing her curiosity was there opened doors for Yasaka in her mind.

'As long as she is open to it, it can create a window for all us to 'get to know' one another in an intimate setting.'

Yasaka lost herself in a day dream before she shook her head from those thoughts.

'Bad Yasaka, I know your thirsty but you need to focus on the job right now. Heal him first, deal with the fallout with the devils, meet Kuroka, and then get a jump on them.'

The duo might be a bit young for her tastes even with their mature minds and bodies, but that didn't mean she couldn't make an investment for a few years down the line.

As a centuries old being, she knew very well that some things are better well aged than ripe.

The memories continued with time flying by.

Unlike in the first type of memories with strong emotions, the second type with the memory sequences does not give Yasaka every memory Hei has.

She sees only what she interacts with, any anything missed cannot be gone back to.

Not only that, but when she interacts with a specific location, she gets whole fragments of dozens of memories associated with that location or item.

It took her a few tries, but she eventually found the next center of the memory sequence.

It was at Hei's home inside the hideout in his tent.

And it was Christmas morning.

The sight of an undressed Hei waking up with Kuroka curled up into him with drool at the corner of her mouth as he looked down at her with a pure loving smile was too much for Yasaka's heart.

A drop of blood fell from nose as she nearly squealed at the adorable sight before her.

'What the hell… a couple shouldn't look this adorable! Be still my beating heart!'

Unfortunately for her heart, the scene only got more adorable when after failing to wake a sleeping Kuroka, Hei just wrapped her in the blanket and picked her up princess style.

Yasaka had to pinch her nose to stop the blood flow.

Thankfully for her blood pressure, the next image was of the cats drunkenly passed out on the floor in various stages of undress and she was able to recover by laughing at the sight.

'*Pft* that's just like them.'

She smiled fondly and felt her attraction to Hei grow as she watched the following scenes.

Hei carrying his mate to the couch and lighting the fireplace to keep her warm and cozy while kissing her forehead.

Making coffee and setting out medicine for the cats to smell and drift into the kitchen like zombies.

A short parental interrogation.

Checking each of them over when they weren't looking for any injuries.

And then sitting by the fire with a bundled Kuroka in his lap as the cats came to join him and exchanging gifts.

The entire memory sequence was just so full of love and affection that she felt herself desire that environment even more.

Yasaka loved her daughter tremendously, but due to her work and position, she couldn't give her the family life she wished she could.

Not to mention she herself hadn't had such an experience in many, many years. Not since her own childhood when her mother was ruler of a much smaller faction.

The idea of living around family, friends, and lovers while being able to spend holidays and mornings or nights together was enticing for her.

An enticement that only grew as the memory faded and she watched fondly at Hei's memory of a very lively new year's festival.

Her own faction in Kyoto of course celebrates the new years in style, but it was much more grand versus the small scale village style celebration.

Seeing Hei running a stall and cooking up a storm with dozens of super focused cat eyes stalking his movements until he dished out the plates and war ensued had her doubling over in laughter.

Kuroka's performance on stage and Hei's pure and incredibly staggering feelings bleeding into her had her falling into sync with him.

And his own performance and the way he tried to act cool while being inwardly incredibly happy was something that had her want to tease him mercilessly.

The night was full of affectionate festivity for the whole village.

Hei danced with the four little girls, spinning them around and throwing them up much to their joy.

His sisters having their own fun with him.

And finally moving in step with Kuroka before falling asleep cuddled up in the branches of the old Sakura tree.

It was beautiful.

She watched on with a smile as her tails danced behind her, tuned into the positive emotions and festive sounds of music and merriment.

And then the memory bled away.

But rather than the first or second types of memories, a third kind happened next.

A mix of the first two.

She stood in a void like space as small comets of light that represented memories flew past her.

Hundreds of small fragments passed her by, filling her in on events that happened within the next few years as things seemingly blended together.

Highs, lows, joys, sorrows, laughter, and anger.

Nothing specifically stuck out that could become the 'core' of a memory sequence.

Hei took one Gold rank job after another, he trained with his sisters and grew at astonishing rates, he dedicated time each day for his mate and the little sisters that loved him dearly, he met with…unusual friends and had moments of fun, and he enjoyed the varies colors of life.

The emotional aspect was dulled, but the sheer amount of memories had Yasaka enthralled.

Seeing Hei's life flash before her, learning more and more of what made him, him.

She didn't see it all, it would take her weeks to go through so much, but what she did see painted an outline of who Hei was.

All those memories from the beginning…before his birth…and all the way till now showed her a clear image of the young man she had heard so much of.

But what came next truly showed her the limits of what he would do for his loved ones.

When the memory came in next, it was a single memory she was watching as Hei took on his first Steel rank job.

She recalled the passing memory fragment of him ranking up, but all she saw was the man named Winston congratulating him and telling him his father would be proud.

'I think just those words meant more to Hei than Winston might have known.'

The Steel rank job he took was one that had her making a disgusted face before anything even happened.

'I know exactly what rogue exorcists get up to. Those sick bastards are a plague that torture any innocent Yokai they get their poisonous hands on. And the fucking church claims no responsibility because they went 'rouge'. Fuck those bastards!'

Yasaka was internally raging as her tails waved violently.

To many of her people died gruesome and nightmarish deaths to the hands of those fiends.

So as she watched on as Hei stalked and studied his prey for close to three days, she approved of his professional conduct, but she really wanted to see their corpses.

To confirm they couldn't harm another soul.

Her tails twitched however, when she felt Hei's slight turmoil.

Over the emotional connection, she could tell his instincts were acting up and her eyes softened.

'Oh Hei… you are so mature in some ways, and still so young in others. For those like us, with instincts like ours, we must always trust them.

The longer you live, the more you learn how important they are to our wellbeing.'

Yasaka had lived for centuries as a Kyuubi. She knew very well the cause and effects of ignoring or listening to her instincts.

Sometimes listening to deeply could make you become a wild monster that does cruel things, and often when ignored, you lose things you hold dearly, whether it be your life or the lives of loved ones.

Basic animals in the wild had instincts that would warn them of predators, natural disasters, and all kinds of things.

For those enhanced and evolved by energy, instincts become a power all on its own.

But Hei decided to ignore his instincts for his professional logic as an assassin. Something trained into him for most of the years of his life.

She didn't blame him, but she felt sorry for what it would lead to.

And she knew what was coming from the story she was told.

But for now, she watched on as Hei did his job.

The memory passed quickly until he started acting.

Taking out the guards silently before moving in to remove any stragglers.

Her blood rose in excitement at the deaths of the cruel monsters.

She wasn't usually bloodthirsty unless provoked, but for these true monsters she would gladly laugh as they fell.

The cold, logical, and systematic analytical slaughter of the group of rogue exorcists was cathartic for her.

Especially the main target.

Freed Sellzen was a man internationally known for sadistic torture and rape for the living or dead victims.

He had avoided capture and extermination numerous times through dumb luck and his superb swordsmen skills.

So to see Hei remove him with extreme efficiency was very satisfying for her.

And the following shootout in the enclosed space was strangely beautiful to watch.

The way Hei moved, stepping between his foes and removing each and every one as blood and gore flew through the air was entrancing as if watching an ancient painting come to life.

He had zero wasted movements, each one cold and precise like a machine, and he almost danced between bullets, swords, and bodies.

Her eyes did narrow as she noticed a few hits graze him but seemingly do no damage as they phased out.

'Hm… that should be that 'Sacrifice Armor' of his. Interesting, I believe he said it only blocked a max of fifty strikes but breaks at random. I wonder if it's based on luck?'

By the time the last body hit the floor and began cooling, only Hei's blood spotted form was still standing.

Blood pooled over the ground as gore and flesh decorated the space.

It should have been a cruel and disgusting scene, and yet for Yasaka, who had watched his life till now, seeing him stand tall in the middle of the carnage was something she felt was oddly fitting for him.

At least when he wore his mask and cloak, death seemed to walk in tune with him.

Like a reaper.

'Heh, that nickname of his was fitting.'

The names of 'Lupus' and 'Reaper' rang loudly through his hundreds of jobs that he had taken in his mercenary career.

Something she found fit him the more she watched on.

Especially as she watched the final moment as he gave mercy to the tortured victim on the sacrificial alter.

The emotions that passed over the link for only a few moments made her chest tighten in pain before they were ruthlessly suppressed inside him.

She could physically see the sag in his posture as he pushed through the emotions.

Yet, for the next few hours, he went about cleaning up his work, making sure to secure the heads of the bounties and give the sole victim a crate of his own so he could be 'lost' in an accident before being returned to his family for burial.

It was a small mercy that she respected him for doing.

It's not like he had to do it or was on a mission to help others or anything, but it was a simple respect for a life that wasn't his target.

As he left the building and called in a cleaning crew, she couldn't hear what he said over his phone, but she did see the text message he got from Leone.

[Hei. Come Home. Now.]

The memory faded and she sighed, knowing what was coming.

His arrival back home was the first thing she saw as the black was painted with color and the quick conversation with Yoru and Leone confirmed the timeline of events.

The second Hei realized what had happened, she felt a wave of emotions over the connection that confused her.

Grief, self-loathing, self-disgust, self-blame, self-doubt.

They came in like a wave as thoughts she didn't have access to processed in him mind rapidly.

But then they were all wiped away by three main emotions that came in like a literal storm as Hei activated a card and flew off like a comet.

Fear. Anxiety. And Wrath.

They came on so strongly even Yasaka had a hard time getting ahold of herself and began growling.

'Grrr…. Damn it. Control yourself girl, these are not your emotions!'

She took deep breaths and dulled the emotional connection as much as she could.

'God, I'm not doing this crap again for another century at least! Hei's memories have more subdued emotions than anyone else I have done this one before, but when he really peaks emotional, positively or negatively, it's like an eruption of emotion all at once.'

Then she sighed as she watched on as Hei had a mental conversation with Kuroka.

She didn't know what she would see this time, the girls didn't know what happened, but she knew it wasn't going to be simple.

The conversation was a wild mix of emotions.

She was as saddened by Kuroka's pain as she was approving of Hei's commitment and determination to not be deterred no matter what.

The pure devotion in his tone and emotions was extremely attractive for her.

She couldn't help but sadly chuckle at Kuroka's attempts to keep him away.

'Foolish girl.

Us women always try to push away our partners in our fear, anger, or pain.

But it's the partners who ignore our stupid excuses and push on as they recognize our inner turmoil and true desires and will never leave us alone too steep in our negativity that won't go away just because we tell them to.

The ones that deserve our hands for a lifetime.'

She sighed in slight envy at such a bond.

And then she laughed at Kuroka's last words as Hei got through to her.

Her words rang out with cold steel that was matched by Hei's burning calm.

"Come get me my moon."

A deadly cold calm came over my face.

"I'm here my sun."

I could feel the smile in her next two words.

"I know."

He rose his weapons and stepped into battle, letting his bloodlust and rage fuel his calm tactical mind like never before.

The fight, or she should say the slaughter, that proceeded to happen took her breath away.

He was not the most powerful she had seen before, hell, she was a dozen times more powerful herself, but it was the perfection in his preplanned actions that took her by surprise.

She had seen him on missions before, but never a battleground like this.

Dozens of devils, mainly of low class with a few mid class, facing a calm and logical Hei was like a chess game with one side moving four or five steps ahead of the other side.

Him and his clone divided and conquered, taking on the enemies from above and below as Hei teleported through the sky and ground, facing devils in deadly combat.

His clone faced the dozens of canines head on with dual knives.

And at the same time, they unleashed an incredibly fast spreading poisonous cloud that encompassed most of the battleground from above and below.

A poison that Hei was seemingly immune to.

It was entrancing, the way he went through devils in droves using nothing but his gears abilities, holy bullets, intelligence, touki, and human skills.

He was a true wolf in sheep's clothing.

Almost every race looks down on humanity aside from powerful sacred gear holders and the ones part of the church who wield dangerous weapons.

And unless those gears were Longinus grade, they would still look down on sacred gear holders if they were not part of a faction.

Conflicts would never end until they died or joined a faction.

Such was the fate of humanity in the face of those far above them.

But here was a human, showing his power formed through his supportive ability and the dozen years of brutal and cruel training he endured and excelled in.

And it was that point, that made her enthralled with her tails waving in excitement.

She found herself cheering him on through it all, holding her breath in critical moments, and almost jumping in exactment as he turned a deadly moment into an advantage in a way she wasn't expecting.

By the time the last of the devils fell and Hei divebombed the mansion, she was already off the preverbal edge of her seat.

The moment of emotional loss as his weapons perished with the last two devils hit her like seeing a movie where the main characters partner that had accompanied him through his journey was destroyed in the fight with the final enemy.

But it was only momentary, if very powerful, before a stomp of touki infused strength smashed through the manor's roof along with a shout.

"KUROKA!"

It was as much a shout for him as it was for her.

A declaration of his presence and a shout from one mate to another.

Yasaka didn't know what to expect when Hei entered, but the sight that greeted her as the memory continued had her smiling wide with pride and excitement.

Kuroka was no wall flower.

As soon as she understood Hei was there and that he would go for her sister, she unleashed her own wrath and stood up for her own battle.

The high class devil's corpse was visible through open doors as Kuroka fought a group of mid class devils in the hallway.

Yasaka winced in sympathy at what it meant.

Kuroka might have removed the largest threat, and with great justification and pleasure, but the death of her devil 'master' by her own hands would no doubt make the devil piece in her soul rampage.

It was something most races understood after a dozen years after the devil piece's creation.

When the master died to a peerage member, it would cause a collapse of the potent devil energy inside the peerage member and begin transforming them into disgusting demonic creatures that craved for the flesh of the living.

Through the memory she was watching, she could see the lines along Kuroka's skin signifying her using senjutsu and understood.

'She is using natural energy to offset the demonic energy rampaging inside her along with that whatever else they put inside her.'

She was both extremely proud of such a young girl using senjutsu so proficiently and saddened by her current state.

The poor girl was hazy eyed, barely keeping herself standing on trembling limbs, and her signature traits as a Nekoshou, her tails and ears, were dissolving bit by bit.

It was a horrifying thought for a Yokai.

To lose the core of their being, their connection to their animalistic genes.

The idea of life without her vulpine traits was anathema for Yasaka.

It was one thing to become a devil hybrid, and it was entirely something else to forsake your own core.

It raised her worry for the girl as Yoru and the girls didn't know what happened to her.

And it raised another feeling in her.

She didn't just watch Hei's memories of life after all.

Many of the core important memories to Hei involved her and Yasaka found herself getting attached to her just as she was to Hei.

It wasn't something like she fell in love with them, but it was a high degree of interest, worry, and attraction.

Like she said before, it might not be something she would go for immediately, but a few more years of growth for them and spending time with them in real time would tell her which way she wished to walk.

For now, they were firmly rooted in her mind.

So seeing her in such a state made her worry for her current wellbeing.

And at the same time, she found herself sucked back into the memory as the two seemingly fell into a natural synchronization and took down the six mid class devils in an incredibly speedy match.

The way the two moved around one another to defend, attack, and evade was artful.

And as the last enemy fell with Hei taking on the last hit, Yasaka noticed the lack of armor or necklace on them both.

'Hei's must have been destroyed in the fight, and Kuroka didn't seem to be wearing it from what I can tell.'

It wasn't like she noticed every detail. Just like Hei's mind stored much more of each moment in his subconscious, she too followed the same pattern.

She only picked up what she consciously paid attention to.

As Hei moved toward Kuroka's form, she got pulled in like she was reading her favorite romance novel's climactic scene before she burst into a strong laughter at Kuroka's action of tearing through Hei's mask.

'Go get him girl!'

She cheered her on as they kissed and lost themselves in passion and emotional connection.

A connection that Yasaka was keyed into and felt herself moaning from.

It was a moan of contentedness, peace, and emotional pleasure.

The feelings rolling off Hei like a storm wrapped around her like a comforting warmth and she purred loudly inside the memory.

'Mnnn…. Yes~, I think I need to seriously ponder this option.'

It wasn't like she wasn't going to before, but such pure emotion just reinforced her decision.

Then the moment passed as Hei fretted over a weakened Kuroka.

Yasaka felt herself grow increasingly concerned as Hei tried various methods before his final method took effect.

She couldn't see what the card said, but it encased Kuroka in a cocoon of golden energy as she saw the rampant energies calming.

Whatever Hei did, it was helping and healing her.

She sagged in relief at that and watched on as Hei teleported them away to some kind of ice type cavern.

An igloo if she recalled the name correctly, and the beautiful artic style home with a view of an artic landscape.

She was entranced with the exotic sight as Hei gently rested Kuroka on a bed and promised to go for Shirone as the cocoon finished encasing her.

It was a heartwarming sight that everything was going to be ok.

'So this is where Kuroka ended up. *sigh* Thankfully she is safe.'

With the confirmation that one of the two girls was safe, Yasaka felt her own inner rage that had been brewing since her friends told her of the situation cool somewhat.

But her concern for the second sister was still there.

Fortunately and unfortunately, Hei didn't waste a moment to rest before he teleported back into the underworld and took off tracking down Shirone.

The memories here were sped up in places and she didn't see everything that happened.

She saw Hei standing before a case with a single intact glowing silver vial.

She saw Hei breaking into the devils safe before bombing the building and escaping.

She saw him running through the underworld's wild terrain as he following a blinking dot on the binder floating next to him.

And then she saw him reaching the capital of the underworld.

It was like a fast forwarded movie pausing on the main events and skipping the in between.

The arrival at the capital though had her raising a brow.

'Why would Shirone be here?'

Hei's masterful infiltration had her excited since she now knew a new method for infiltrating that city.

Something always useful for a leader of an opposing faction.

The memory sped up once more until Hei was looking up at a certain building and Yasaka felt her hope drain out of her.

'Why in the world is Shirone in Lucifers headquarters!?'

She was baffled how it turned out like this, but Hei's next actions had her both admiring and shaking her head at him.

He formed a clone that infiltrated the building from the entrance while he scaled the outside to reach the roof.

'Foolish young man.'

She was shaking her head but smiling softly at him.

Even facing insurmountable odds, the young man she had been watching didn't falter without at least attempting to save the young girl he considered his precious little sister.

The memory had split from this point, showing in a smaller section Hei sitting on the roof while the larger section showed his clone's point of view.

The infiltration had her dropping her jaw.

Not in shock at Hei's ability, but in shock at how smooth and simple it was.

'Can anyone just infiltrate the ruler of hell's HQ?'

She shook her head.

'No, of course not. There are dozens of formations in there that I can see just through Hei's memory.

They just were geared toward supernatural beings, not humans.

After all, who would expect a human to physically infiltrate the building.

Heh, I like your style Hei.'

The journey was smooth to the top and Yasaka held her breath.

She could feel the energy that Hei sensed and knew exactly who it belonged to.

'So Grayfia is here huh? Oh Hei…you poor soul.'

Yasaka knew Grayfia well, and while she was an honorable and trustworthy woman, she was also extremely vicious and cold when provoked.

She often put Lucifer in his place for acting out and she reeled in many of devil kind with her personality and will, let alone her power.

But she was also fair and warm to hardworking subordinates and cordial toward others.

A paradox of a personality, but one that oddly fit her well.

So she had her own breath frozen as Hei clung to the ceiling while the door burst open and Grayfia scanned the room literally two feet beneath Hei's body.

The image was so comedic and crazy that she didn't even know what to think.

But from the corner of her eye, she noticed Hei's main body calling forth a card to his hand and using it before she grew confused by his reaction.

Hei's main body sported a large blush she could see as he had his mask turned away to smoke while his masked clone shifted slightly as a tent grew in his pants.

She was baffled by the change.

'Hei?! What the hell do you think you're doing messing around in this situation?!'

She didn't have much interest in the boner itself, she had seen his impressive package first hand and up close before she dove into his memories, but it was having the boner in this situation that made her interested in what the hell kind of card he used.

The effect also seemed to be his undoing because as Grayfia turned away, Hei shifted ever so slightly to hide his boner, and the shift seemingly pinged on her senses as Grayfia looked straight up at him.

"…"

"…"

Nothing was said for a moment until Hei coughed.

"*Cough* This isn't what it looks like."

Grayfia raised an eyebrow.

"I come in peace?"

Grayfia nodded her head.

And then she unleashed a burst of ice faster than Hei could blink and froze him to the ceiling.

"Then you can peacefully answer my questions."

"…"

There was another silence.

"Cold."

Grayfia's eye twitched.

"Is that aimed at me or being trapped in ice?"

"Yes."

"*Pft* Hahahahahaha!"

Yasaka fell over laughing.

She couldn't help it.

The situation was just to hilarious from her point of view.

And the following conversation had her struggling for air as she was beating her bountiful chest with her tails to try and get metaphorical air in her lungs.

The two were like a comedy show.

Firing back and forth with hilarious barbs and comments, the game with masks, and the bribery birthed from his merchant side.

Both Grayfia's ruthless way of ripping him off and Hei's instinct as a merchant were liver pain inducing hilarious.

By the time they reached a consensus, Yasaka was wiping the tears from her face with her tails as she felt her cheeks cramping up.

'Oh my god Hei, only you. Only you could just naturally meet one of the most powerful devils with the coldest external personality in an incredibly sketchy situation and become best friends in second.'

She was wiping her tears as another thought hit her and she paused.

'Oh god, he can never meet with Serafall. Add in Kuroka and those three would cause endless chaos to the supernatural world.'

Her mischievous vulpine side desperately wanted to see it happen, and her leader side desperately didn't want it to happen for fear of additional paperwork.

In the memory, she found out what happened with Shirone and she was both saddened but slightly relieved by the turn out.

Hei couldn't retrieve Shirone but getting a promise and honor bound deal out of Grayfia was as good as protection among devils as he could get.

What Grayfia wanted to protect, Lucifer would protect.

Everyone knew who wore the pants in that marriage.

Lucifer was far from a bad man, he was actually a charismatic, powerful, handsome, and good natured man who wanted the best for his people, which meant peace for the world.

But she understood how decisions had to be made within the faction as a whole rather than by an individual.

There were laws, politics, and other forces that held a significant weight and stopped a leader from complete freedom to act.

She pushed those thoughts away.

She would have time to make her own moves to insure Shirone's safety.

If the devils couldn't give her a satisfactory answer, there would be war.

And even if they did, there would be large consequences for devils from the Yokai faction.

The Yokai were not on the same power level as the whole of devilkind, but the Yokai were backed by the Shinto pantheon, and while not numerous, the main members of the pantheon were top grade powerhouses that could cause extreme damages to them.

She shook her head and focused back on the memory.

She would have time for such things when she finished here.

The memory faded with the crate left behind and Grayfia charging at the roof.

And while Yasaka couldn't see what the cards had said when Hei used them, she was able to read the note Hei wrote as he stuck them on the box of cookies as well as the ticket.

Another wave of laughter shook her form at what he left her.

"Hahahahaha oh my! Hei! Your evil! Hahaha. I should pay attention to see if Sirzechs happens to start walking funny in the near future."

With a woman like Grayfia behind the wheel, or should she say a 'man' like Grayfia behind the wheel, Sirzechs was in for one hell of an experience.

The humor hit her strongly but as she felt her face cramping up again, the last sequence of memories began.

She knew it was the end both due to experience traveling through memories, and because what happened next matched with the story she was told.

The humor drained out of her like a broken dam at the nightmarish sight that greeted Hei's eyes as his exhausted form teleported into the center of a burning Nekoshou village.

Seeing it first hand, or perhaps second hand? In this form instead of through a story was something else.

It was something alright.

The slits of her eyes became extremely pronounced as flames ignited along her tails and her teeth sharpened as a violent growl grew in her throat.

The emotions slipping in through Hei and the sight before her, even if she knew it was all fake and that they were all alive, was pulling on her own wrath like a storm.

It took pure willpower for her to reel herself in and all but cut the emotional connection between her and Hei.

She was not able to severe it completely as that would kick her out of the memory space altogether, but she was able to dull it to the best of her ability so only a fraction of emotion poured through.

It was only then that she was able to get a hold on herself and shut her eyes.

'It's not real. You know what happened. Control yourself. Don't be overcome by the emotional link.'

She repeated the logic to herself and successfully cooled herself down but she was still a Yokai, and Yokai were beings much closer to emotion than other races.

Devils and Fallen were close to sins, but Yokai were closer to emotion in general.

Their mythology and legend among humans even speaks of Yokai being birthed from the raw emotions of humanity.

And while it holds a small nugget of truth, they would not be the people they were today without the Shinto pantheon.

So it took many years for a Yokai to be in control of their emotions and not lose control to the volatile ones such as anger and hate.

When she opened her eyes once more, it was to the heartbreaking sight of an open mouthed Hei on his knee's as he looked on at what the devils did to the illusions of the four leaders of the village.

Her own tails twitched violently at the sight of how they would have treated her closest childhood friends.

She could do nothing but watch on stewing in her own emotions at the nightmarish sight while Hei's mind began it's decent into it's subconscious.

She was forced to blink in surprise at the sight before her.

She was sure it was only visible to her in the mental plane of the memory rather than in the physical world, but as Hei's sinking consciousness picked up the chatter of two devils flying nearby, she witnessed a beast take form behind his body.

It was a wolf, a very, large, wolf.

It's shined with a golden divine light just as a golden light began shining on Hei's belt.

The paw of the beast touched on Hei's back as it began to change.

The paw seemingly attached to him as the giant golden wolf began shrinking in size and changing from divine gold to a mix of ebony black and silvery white.

At the same time, the wolf seemingly resonated with something inside of Hei as its eyes began to shine a wrathful red.

'What is this?'

Yasaka was looking on in wonder at the event in bewilderment until something a crying Leone had said reached her.

"I know where he got them. *sniff* it's the weapons of Lupa. The old man's notes in his box spoke of it. Every Lupa awakens their weapon when they are ready.

And it seemed…Hei was only ready…when he saw our corpses…"

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked on.

'Is this the power of Lupa's legacy? Is it consciously done by Lupa?'

Yasaka pondered on how it worked.

As the messenger of Amaterasu-Sama, she was familiar with divine blessings and weapons.

The divine can bless mortals or other beings with portions of their own power as they please.

How much they give away in a blessing and in what form is always different.

However, the more the power relies on the blessing, the more the person becomes an avatar of the divine rather than it being their own power.

That's where divine weapons come in.

Someone who is granted a divine weapon can adjust the weapon to their own energy and make it a part of themselves.

It might not be strongest in such a scenario, but they can grow with the user.

Very few have ever been granted them or gained the acceptance of the weapon, and the power scales with the affinity between weapon and user, and the users own power.

So Yasaka was quite interested in the following scene.

The scene of the wolf being absorbed into Hei's body.

The space around her began to shake as edges of the space began to be died red.

She looked around warily.

'What is this? If the conscious mind retreats, this space should collapse.'

Yasaka knew what happened next from the cats, but she had never experienced the memories of someone in such a situation.

The space seemingly shifted somehow and she felt the pushback on the emotional connection.

Her face scrunched up in pain as the emotions she was dulling were pushing through, except this time, only a single emotion was fueling it.

Wrath.

Nothing but pure wrath had taken over the emotional connection.

It was overwhelming, even for someone like her.

She looked on wide eyed in surprise at Hei's change.

Tattoo's manifested along his arms as shapes grew in his hands.

Half a black and half a white wolf formed on each arm in tattoo form as twin pistols shining the glow of divinity formed in his hands before the divinity faded as the lifeforce of Hei began to fuel them.

And then she stood frozen as Hei's mouth cracked open and an inhuman howl of wrath and pain escaped his lungs.

The words of her friends echoed in her mind.

"He…we didn't know at first…but then….Yasaka…. he howled…"

She covered her face with her hand and looked away for a moment while the others were getting red eyed at the memory.

"It was so…broken.."

"It was primal."

"I've never heard someone howl like that before."

She finally understood what they truly meant.

Witnessing it first-hand though, she had some more insight into what was happening then the girls did.

'Hei… your mind collapsed but the combination of your pure wrath, your instincts wanting to act, and the activation of Lupa's divine blessing gave form to your instinct.'

She understood as she saw the metaphysical form building in the mental plane of his world.

'His inner spirit was awakened…. He truly is a wolf now, it's not just a name anymore. Is this what the blessing of Lupa truly means?'

He was still fully human, or an evolved human considering whatever his gear did to him, but his spirit was firmly a wolf now.

The divinity of Lupa's weapons connected with Hei on a spiritual level.

So while Hei's consciousness as a human faded, the instincts and spirit of the wolf were left behind with extreme amounts of wrath fueling it to take action.

Yasaka was truly surprised by the turn of events she didn't fully understand through a story.

Not many would really understand what happened here unless they had the connections she did.

And if anything, while many would see the monster that just awakened, Yasaka felt something different.

A connection.

The spirit of the wolf connected with her inner fox.

Not in a magical way, not in a spiritual way, but in an instinctual way.

She couldn't help the slight blush she felt as her instincts began stirring.

If before now it was just emotional, mental or physical attraction, it was a purely instinctual attraction that came up at this point.

'Oh fuck me…I'm not walking away from this anymore.'

It wasn't just a decision of her logical self anymore. If her instincts wanted something, they weren't going to be quiet forever.

She ruthlessly suppressed them for the moment and shook her head out of it.

'I do not need this right now, go away.'

She tightened her mental hold on her instincts and they all but growled back at her as they settled.

Instincts were tricky things for Yokai.

In fact, Hei was practically half a Yokai at the moment.

He was still human, but he experienced the true spirit of a wolf Yokai at the moment.

She struggled to adapt to the changes in the space, her instincts, and the pure wrath trying to fill her while Hei walked one with red eyes towards the edge of the village where she could hear the sounds of laughter coming from.

Yasaka growled as her own anger was being pulled on strongly.

'Grrrrr… damn it Hei… you're not…making…this easy for me…ggrrrrr.. FUCK. Just kill the fuckers!'

She couldn't help it.

She was incredibly angry inside herself and Hei's emotions and the scenes she was experiencing made her want to taste blood.

She was a Kyuubi and she couldn't stop the sharpening of her teeth as her jaw lengthened and her nails extended into claws.

Her tails were waving behind her dangerously as the tips sharpened into points and a growl escaped her.

So when Hei began his slaughter, it wasn't met with grim acceptance or disgust from her, but excitement.

He was resonating with her instinctually ever since his instincts gained form.

It was drawing on her deeply, and animalistic slit eyes stared on with glowing eyes as he worked.

He detonated a massive explosion, scattering the devils, and stepped in to slaughter them all.

His cold, calm, and analytical mind was gone, and he cared not for what he had to risk to tear out the throats of his foes.

This was a wild and berserk Hei roaring at the world with everything he had.

His pain, grief, and wrath exploding with such force that it drove him toward his enemies spear points to remove their lives.

It was frightening, it was enchanting, it was saddening, it captivating.

And it – called – to – her.

'Yes. Kill them. They harmed your family. Avenge them. Ingrain fear in their souls as your reap their lives.'

Yasaka was no child, she was centuries old, she had gone on her own rampages and slaughters, she had seen the highs and lows of life, and she understood there were times in life.

Times when you had to let the beast out.

Times to stand and fight even if you had nothing left.

Because if you walked away you would have nothing.

You would never be able to face your old self. Never be able to recover.

All because you walked away.

Hei wasn't walking away.

On some level, he understood Kuroka still needed him.

He didn't want to abandon her.

But he wasn't walking away from this.

His wrath was awoken like never before as his instincts roared to the world.

Her eyes watched on in hyper focus, paying attention to every life he took and every injury that he took on.

Her tails waved wildly behind her as she was crouching in a leaping position.

She wanted desperately to step in, to help him, to tear out these fools throats for what they have done and what they were doing to him.

When Hei was stabbed with fourteen spears, she couldn't help the growl that became a low roar.

The wrath fueling him was flowing into her wildly.

The very least she could do was stop herself from lashing out and potentially harming Hei's mindscape.

When the final strike came, she couldn't help herself.

Her form blurred as she appeared before Hei's trapped form and speared her tails forward into the devil.

But of course, her tails simply went through the memory as it continued.

The devil struck Hei's face and split his mask while a single string decapitated the bastard.

Yasaka's slit eyes from her crouched form turned to look at Hei's face up close as the mask fell.

The look in his eyes was blank.

Only a flicker of wrath remained and it finally began to drain out of her form as the source weakened.

A clawed hand rose to hover from Hei's cheek.

Yasaka's slit eyes stared into his blank ones without thoughts.

She didn't think, she just felt, her instincts feeling out something animalistic in nature.

Yasaka's eyes twitched as she finally got herself under control to feel she was…purring? Did she just purr?

She looked down at her clawed hand as her extra vulpine features began to recede.

'Did…I just…'

She looked back up just as Hei took a step forward.

She looked on with a tilted head and thoughtful eyes as the young man, the one she heard so much about, the one she watched grow and pull on her emotions, and she felt like saw him for the first time.

A connection was made.

One she wasn't sure how to feel about just yet.

'I know I considered spending time with him and Kuroka for a few years, but this… it feels like… I know him, beyond the memories…'

It was not love.

It was not possessiveness.

It was…primal.

You couldn't easily put it into words because it wasn't meant to.

And whatever it was, she found her eyes glued to his form as he walked.

As the young man reached the finish line.

As his last strands of black hair faded, and as his last trickle of wrath was making a decision that even his instincts were strangely silent on and as his gun glowed with the last of his lifeforce, she felt herself acting before she could think.

At the exact moment the cats appeared and restrained him, Yasaka's own form appeared before him as her hands tried to grasp his cheeks.

"Hei. T-that's enough."

"Stop young warrior."

The words left her mouth at the same time as Leone's words rang out.

But Yasaka wasn't paying attention to the memory of her friends.

Her eyes were glued on Hei's eyes.

She watched the inner battle.

She watched the struggle.

She watched as those instincts that ran the show, the wolf spirit at his core, began to calm as his wrath was a drop from extinguished.

She watched as the words and smells connected with his instinct and calmed him.

She watched as the last of his lifeforce returned to him.

And she watched as the last of the strength left his eyes.

But in that final moment, with her eyes inches from Hei's own, her face came closer and kissed his cheek.

Unnoticed to her, there was a tiny flicker deep in Hei's eyes.

A flicker that wasn't part of the memory.

The space began to collapse and the void returned.

Yasaka looked on in confusion.

'What did I… oh my..'

Her logical functions finally began reasserting themselves as she blinked and looked around.

The emotions were no longer influencing her.

And her instincts had finally quietened.

Yasaka shook her head wildly.

'What is this young man doing to me?'

Before she could think more, the void faded as she once more reached a new space.

Except this time…it wasn't a memory.

She blinked and looked on before small smile reached her.

'The memory path was completed; I reached the core of his mind.'

She looked around herself in wonder, finding herself inside a grand and ancient looking forest.

She stood in a clearing among the tree's, full of wildflowers of all colors and felt a breath escape her lungs at the beauty.

She smiled like a young girl and bent over to sniff at the flowers.

'The core of one's mind is shaped based on their personality, so an image like this speaks wonders of his core.'

She let out a vulpine chuckle before standing up and looking for the path.

Hei would be here somewhere. Now she just had to find him.

Her eyes found a small mountain path through the tree's and she followed it.

As she walked, various small animals and critters looked at her from the tree's.

All were small and friendly, some even waved little paws and hooves at her.

She giggled at the cute sight and waved a tail back in greeting.

'If he is awake, he should know I'm here by now. Everything here is part of his mind after all. But I fear if he is asleep.'

The path wasn't long, there wasn't an obstacle in the way, but the path did take her around a hill.

And when she crossed around, she paused at the sight before her.

'Oh my… that wasn't a hill.'

She was so distracted by the natural beauty of the mindscape that she didn't look closely and notice it wasn't stone but ebony colored fur that she was walking around.

The sight that greeted her eyes was of Hei's form.

The true form of his current self.

He looked the same as what she saw on the outside.

His hair was silvery white aside from two black strands that stood out on his head.

He wore a simple sleeveless shirt, combat pants, and boots.

To the side rested a black cloak with a white mask on top.

He was seemingly resting against the hill of fur, a cigarette between his lips, and she blinked at the rest of the image.

On his left and right laid wolves.

A gorgeous silvery white wolf and a beautiful ebony black wolf.

They were curled at his sides with their heads on his lap.

His hands rested on their heads as they rested.

And finally, the wall he was laying against happened to have a large head.

A head that was resting on two front paws and slightly had its neck curled around Hei's form.

It was entrancing.

A wind blew and lifted his hair from his face and she couldn't help but be drawn into it.

He was not the most handsome man she had seen, and no matter how old he looked, she knew his real age.

But it was just so…enchanting.

Like a painting you could get lost in for hours.

A masterpiece that fills the viewers with their own impression.

She didn't know when she walked forward, or how long she was staring, but the sounds of light growling snapped her out of the trance.

When she blinked and looked forward, she was only a few steps away from his resting form as the two wolves had opened their eyes and were growling in warning slightly.

The black wolf had white eyes and the white had black one.

It was unnerving a bit but the hands on their hands twitched as a soft voice rang out.

"Shh… rest."

Hei's hands lightly scratched their heads as their growls became sounds of contentedness.

Hei's right eye peaked open and looked up at her from his angle.

They stared at each other for a moment before he spoke to her.

"Did you enjoy your trip miss?"

Yasaka blinked.

"You…you knew I was here?"

Hei's calm and steady voice responded without any annoyance.

"I did."

Yasaka felt her pride slightly poked.

"Oh? And for how long?"

Hei shrugged.

"There are many skills to enter one's mind in the world. How it works, I can't tell you, but I was aware as soon as a foreign presence entered my mind."

Yasaka's eye twitched.

"And you didn't respond to such an intrusion because?"

He waved a hand halfheartedly but a whine from the wolf that lost the petting made him chuckle and bring it back down.

"I felt no malice. And a certain someone has gained my complete and utter trust in these things. No longer will I doubt or ignore him from his opinions."

Yasaka tilted her head and looked around.

'Was there someone else here?'

Her eyes moved from Hei, to the wolves, before it moved up and to the side as she noticed an eye peaking at her from a half closed eyelid.

"The big one?"

Hei nodded with a chuckle.

"He is big isn't he?"

A rumble like growl left the hill sized wolf that just made Hei chuckle louder.

"Don't be offended big guy, it's a compliment."

The rumble lowered and the eye closed.

Yasaka looked on in wonder before her eyes widened in realization.

"Is that…?"

"Mn. This is the mental representation of my instinct."

Yasaka blanched at that.

"How is this a mental projection? You're a human aren't you? Wait…I see. The blessing of Lupa."

Hei surprisingly nodded as he spoke with a smile.

"Indeed. When my egg of Lupa woke to my call, he took form in here. My instinct was always loud, but it's not as if I entered this mindscape before.

I'm talented but I'm not some Deus ex Machina protagonist. I only entered here after my consciousness fell.

He formed just as I entered and took hold of the reigns."

Yasaka looked on strangely.

She stepped forward and laid a hand against the hill of fur.

An eye peered at her once more as she looked back, before it closed and a content sound rumbled from it as she patted his incredibly soft fur.

Yasaka felt herself smile at the sight.

"He is you."

Hei looked at her closely for a moment before responding.

"Yes. He is my instincts. My inner spirit. My wolf. We are one yet separate. He holds no voice but has no need for one.

With the birth of my weapons and these adorable ones, Mercy and Wrath, he permanently took form in here."

Yasaka looked at him intently.

"You seem to have a very good understanding of something that was never explained to you."

Hei shrugged and leaned back comfortably into the giant wolf.

"I have had plenty of time to think while being here. Plus well, he is my instincts. I'm using words to attempt to describe what I learn from it."

Yasaka laughed lightly in a vulpine manner as she looked at him.

"You know, you're not what I was expecting."

Hei rose a brow at her.

"Oh? And what were you expecting? A man broken in his grief and denying reality?"

Yasaka's smile fell as she looked at him.

"I was expecting you to be unconscious. Why are you still in here?"

Hei chuckled and pulled on his cigarette while looking far older than a young man should.

"Life experience has taught me that ignoring my grief and pain is not the way to go, but a man still needs a moment to grieve you know?

How much time has passed anyway? I can't tell in here."

Yasaka looked on sadly.

"I think we need to discuss something but first off, it's been close to two days since you collapsed."

Hei nodded with a thoughtful look.

"Two days huh…time flies. It feels like it's been longer but also like it was all a moment."

"Thoughts move at a much faster speed than time in the outside."

"I see. So what did you wish to speak of miss intruder?"

Yasaka shot him a look as he smirked slightly at her with a titled head.

"I only came in to help you."

"Does helping me involve going through my memories?"

"It does. I can only reach here after following the memory path."

Hei hummed at that.

"I see. Well, it is what it is. What did you wish to speak of?"

Yasaka looked at him weirdly.

She had expected anger or annoyance at reading his memories, not just simple acceptance.

"Wait a second, how you can you not mind my intrusion that witnessed your life's memories?"

Hei shrugged.

"On one hand, I have less to live and care for now. On the other, I promised never to fight my instincts again, and my instincts are currently purring under your hands like a common house cat."

A long tail swung around and lightly swatted against Hei's head as he chuckled and waved it off.

"See? They are even defending your honor."

Yasaka laughed at the sight and shot the head of the sleeping wolf a smile. Her instincts inside of her have also been purring in contentment but she wouldn't mention that.

"Good boy. He knows who is currently alpha here."

She stuck out her chest regally and Hei chuckled at her shamelessness.

"Well excuse me your highness."

This time the tail came and smacked Yasaka lightly.

She scoffed in fake anger as she slapped the wolfs side.

"Bad!"

Hei laughed at the sight and Yasaka joined him a moment later.

When they calmed a bit, Hei looked at her.

"So, Yasaka, the ruler of the West Yokai faction, how may I help you?"

Yasaka paused before she looked at him seriously as her tails waved around.

"You know who I am?"

"I do."

"I see. May I confirm a guess before I begin the main discussion?"

"You may ask, I won't promise to answer."

Yasaka hummed.

"Fair enough. I'll be direct here. Are you someone's reincarnation?"

Hei's hand twitched but otherwise he had no reaction.

"Oh? And what makes you ask that?"

Yasaka sat down next to him with her back laying against the giant wolf.

"You had memories before your birth, and you were far to mature growing up than a child shood be.

Your mate, Kuroka, is far more mature than children her age, but it doesn't exceed the extreme and it's reasonable.

You on the other hand, were abnormally mature and well-spoken throughout your life."

"Hm.. I could just be a rare genius."

Yasaka shot him a look.

"I literally just watched your life."

Hei shrugged.

"Maybe I do have past life memories, maybe I don't. It doesn't matter. This is my life now and it's all I care about."

He wasn't annoyed or rattled to say that, it was complete honesty.

To him, this was his life now.

Yasaka wasn't so convinced though.

"Are you sure? I only got a glimpse of some kind of battle. Are you not curious of who you once were?"

Hei turned his head to look her in the eyes and saw a glimmer he didn't know how to describe.

"Your oddly persistent on this topic. Why?"

Yasaka answered without hesitation.

"Reincarnation is not impossible in the world. The Buddhist system has a method for it, and various pantheons have their own cycles of life and death for the souls that fall under them.

I am simply curious on if your past life was anyone I had once known, and how much more to you there is to know."

Hei rose an amused brow at her.

"You make me seem like a fun puzzle your trying to finish."

Yasaka's eyes gleamed with a mischievous look.

"A woman has her secrets~."

Hei scoffed as he bent forward to stand up.

"Heh, oh I'm sure."

He got up with a slight groan that had Yasaka frowning in concern before he turned and presented a hand for her.

She smiled thankfully and took the gesture.

"Such a gentleman~."

He shook his head with a smile that felt…wrong to her.

"I have…had…good teachers."

She reached out a hand to try and touch his shoulder and tell him the truth without causing any fractures to his mental state but he stepped forward without seemingly seeing her hand.

His two wolves, Mercy and Wrath, stood with him and glowed in respective colors of white and black as they synced with the tattoo's along his arms.

They seemed to dissolve and flow into them.

Said tattoo's glowed before they dimmed with only their sole eye's retaining their glow.

"Come, I'll show you something to settle your curiosity."

He beckoned her forward and she looked on curiously before following.

Hei led her through the peaceful woods on a different trail from the one she walked on earlier.

Small animals converged on Hei's position and climbed up his arms and legs, jumping and pulling on him playfully before running off chittering.

Yasaka smiled at the sight and commented.

"You have a kind soul under it all Hei."

Hei gave her a look over his shoulder before continuing.

"And why do you think that Yasaka?"

Yasaka's tail twitched at someone other than her closest friends using her name so simply, and yet, she found herself enjoying it.

"The core of someone's mindscape represents their own core of thoughts. You have many layers to you, but the center of those layers is this, this paradise you have formed."

Hei hummed at that.

"I see. Thank you."

He didn't say more and Yasaka didn't comment again.

The walk wasn't long before they reached a large cave entrance covered in vines to give it an ancient and sacred feeling.

The inside was lit with torchlight as they entered.

Hei led the way as they walked along the cavern hallway as Yasaka looked on curiously.

The walls had symbols and pictures along it that Yasaka could relate to Hei's memories over life.

Soon enough, the cavern hallway opened on the left to reveal a dome like chamber.

The chamber had a hole near the top and casted the glow of sunlight down through the cave to land on a tombstone.

Hei entered the chamber with Yasaka following him.

She looked on in curiosity at the tombstone.

It was blank aside from two words carved in cursive script.

[Jake Solis]

It was just a small and simple tombstone resting on a small mound in the center of the chamber.

Yasaka's eyes trailed from the tombstone to Hei who was looking at it with old eyes.

After a moment, he rested a hand on its smooth surface and spoke.

"You wish to know who I once was? This is all that remains. The last dregs of a soldier who died in the line of duty with no family. My old life has no connection to the now. I am Hei Lupa, nothing more and nothing less."

His tone was calm but his voice rang with a steel that Yasaka didn't doubt for a second was telling the truth.

It was a tone that warned of angering him if his declaration was questioned.

But it also reassured Yasaka internally.

Mortal souls who awakened past life memories tended to pull on the darker emotions of their pasts and hide behind masks.

It's incredibly rare, but she had personally seen them before.

Three in total over her long life.

It reassured her that he put who he once was away.

The dead were meant to remain that way in whatever form they took.

If some memories passed through, she didn't mind. Memories can be passed from one to another in various ways.

The main thing that she was glad about was that the young man she had learned about wasn't internally a very different person from the one she had been observing.

Hei shot her a smile and turned back to the entrance.

"I hope that answers your question. Come, let's get out of here. It can be quite dreary haha."

He spoke with a bit of humor to try and change the subject but Yasaka stretched out her tails to stop him.

She had to tell him.

Hei gave her a curious look over his shoulder as she took a breath and spoke.

"Hei, I know your mentally vulnerable right now, but I need you to seriously think about my words alright? You said yourself that your instincts have said I meant you no harm, so I ask that you hear my words and know I mean you no negative intentions."

Hei paused before turning the rest of his body to face her fully.

"Very well. Go on. I promise not to react wildly."

Yasaka nodded.

"Thank you. Now, you know what happened back at the village right?"

Hei's eyes darkened and Yasaka took his silence for acceptance and moved on quickly.

"Do you remember what happened before the 'you' controlled by your instincts almost killed you?"

Hei's eyes narrowed as he thought about her words.

His voice came out slightly chilled and hard but not violent.

"No. I only have fragments from what happened when he took over. I am unused to such things so the memories are not perfect."

Yasaka cringed at that but went on.

"I see. Well, *sigh* Hei, your sisters made a plan in case a situation like what happened did happen."

Hei looked at her silently for a moment before speaking.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because they are my childhood friends."

"They never spoke of you."

"They were present for the birth of my only child!"

Hei paused.

He wasn't exactly around every day and his sisters had taken their own trips.

"I see. Let's say I believe you, what was their plan?"

Yasaka looked at him sadly.

"The plan was to gather the villagers in a single location and cast a grand realistic and interactive illusion over the village to create bodies that the enemies could 'kill' and fake their death with."

Hei's pupils shrunk as he processed that and his voice came out harder.

"I see. It sounds like it would have been a wonderful plan."

Yasaka stepped forward and placed a gentle palm on his shoulder as she looked at the face she had been watching for hours or even days in this mental world.

"It WAS a wonderful plan, and it was successful."

Hei's whole body froze before a feeling of bloodlust began leaking from him.

"Don't. It took me days to finish grieving in here."

Yasaka looked on sadly but made no further attempt to close the distance.

A tail rose to gently turn his head toward her.

"Hei. Look at me."

Wine red eyes that looked calm and cold on the outside but hid incredible amounts of pain and fear inside looked into her own.

She didn't need an emotional connection to understand him.

He was rattled and his eyes spoke for him.

Not only that, but she practically knew his emotional tendencies by heart at this point.

"Listen to me. The fight between the berserk Hei lost in his wrath and the devil parties named the Mad Dogs happened approximately between thirty two to forty eight hours ago in real world time.

Approximately six to twelve hours ago in real world time, I was visited in my home by four very worried childhood friends of mine who told me a tale of a certain incredible young man they all loved dearly and wished for me to help.

And approximately four to eight hours ago, I entered a hot spring, held a young man's prone body to my chest, and reassured a few felines that I would do my best to bring him back to them.

I think you know who those friends of mine were."

Hei's eyes shook as his bloodlust vanished.

He rose a hand to his head and covered his eyes.

"Say their names."

Yasaka looked on sadly but pushed forward.

"Leone, Yoru, Ghislaine, and Chloe. My childhood friends, your sisters and teachers, and the ones who stopped you from taking the final shot and killing yourself in your wrath."

Hei's breath hitched before he turned around and walked away.

Yasaka's hand slipped from his shoulder as she was surprised by his sudden action.

"Wo, Hei?"

Hei didn't respond to her call and walked on as Yasaka walked quickly to catch up.

He left the first chamber and turned left to keep walking deeper.

Yasaka followed behind with worry and concern but didn't break the silence that enveloped them.

Soon they passed a second chamber and Yasaka looked in to see another grave.

This one was covered in various symbols and had statues around it of a fierce man wielding a sword cane and others with the man having a patient and clam look like a teacher.

She understood this grave belonged to his teacher and adoptive father.

But Hei didn't stop moving.

They had kept walking for a while longer before the hallways opened into the third and final chamber, larger than the first two by a few degrees.

The chamber was still dome shaped, but a large ceiling high Sakura tree rested in the center of the room with a large tombstone, easily ten feet tall and eight feet wide, resting at the base.

The stone had over a hundred names carved into it with four standing out at the top.

Hei looked on at the tombstone with dull eyes.

"I saw their corpses; I wasn't able to save them."

Yasaka approached from his side and made sure to stay in his line of view.

"Those were illusions, you did save them."

Hei shook his head.

"They couldn't be illusions; the blood and gore was real."

"They used the corpses of others to increase the realism. An illusion was cast over the corpse to trick the senses of anyone watching."

Hei processed those words and shook slightly.

"If that was true, why wasn't I told?"

Yasaka came closer and couldn't stop herself from softly wrapping her tails around him in an embrace.

"They never got the chance. You rushed off the second you found Kuroka was missing. And no one blames you for that."

Hei's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to think of what to say.

It's not as if the possibility that something could have been done to save the villagers didn't cross his mind.

He had many days to stew in his thoughts as time flowed quickly here.

But such thoughts were banished from his mind quickly as he didn't wish to fall into the same trap he did when his father died.

He didn't want to make excuses, get lost in what if's, or lie to himself.

He wanted to accept the truth, no matter how painful, and recover so he could return to his mate who would need him.

So Yasaka's words shook him.

Could they be alive?

Could he have been wrong?

If…

If it was possible…

Could he see them all once more?

Could he embrace them once more?

Did he not fail?

Could he protect them rather than avenge them?

Was there still hope he could believe in?

His jaw clenched and his eyes stilled as cold steel once more entered them.

He looked forward at what he created.

The aged Sakura tree he saw burning back then remained standing in all the beauty he remembered of it.

Eternalized in his mind and cemented here.

The petals fell gently from branches as it blossomed in the natural beautiful pink color of its namesake.

His eyes flashed with memories of his time among its branches with his loved ones.

The times with his sisters, his little sisters, and his love.

He recalled all the times he felt dirty, tired, sad, or other depressing thoughts, and then he would look up at the tree, see its beauty, and recall all the joy he felt as his eyes took in its beauty.

The first time he arrived, and every time after that, he would always pause to look up at it and smile at the positivity it radiated.

He didn't even realize when tears fell from his eyes.

Tears that he had already shed and told himself he had enough of.

He was almost ready to leave, a few more days in here to sulk and he would be ready to face the world again for his love that was waiting for him.

But he was not alright.

He was not whole.

A large part of his heart died when his family did.

So as he let the memories in and understood he might once more be able to see them, the tears came from his dried well like an underwater spring burst through the cracked earth.

The cracks in the piece of his heart sought to meld once more, but they couldn't just yet.

He needed to confirm it with his own eyes.

Hei's eyes remained on the tree but he wasn't unaware of the incredibly soft and warm tails wrapping around him, or the woman who was standing at his side and trying to comfort him.

Yasaka was doing her best to reassure him.

She wanted to be there for the young man she came to respect, be interested in, and find a surprising desire to invest in.

She saw a potential future with her entering the lives of him and the young woman Kuroka in time.

But that wasn't why she was trying to help him.

She wasn't helping to get his attention, she had plenty of ways to woo a man if she wanted to.

No, she genuinely wanted to help him.

A man of such will, such steel, and such a kind core.

They say a man is defined by their actions but no, a man is defined by his ideals.

Their ideals are what they shape their actions around.

To truly know someone, you must know what they value, what they wish to achieve, what they fight for.

Yasaka watched this young man from his birth, slightly before that even, all the way till now.

She didn't see everything, hear his thoughts, or sort through the ocean of tidbits.

But she saw enough to know what Hei's ideals were.

Hei was a man who began with the desire for freedom.

She saw it in his eyes, heard the words he spoke as a child.

He wanted to be free.

But whether through his past life memories or what he saw as a young child, he understood that strength was needed to be free in this world.

The weak are always at the mercy of the strong when you live in a world where any being in the supernatural community could kill a civilian human in a second and get away with it without anyone caring.

Something as simple as hypnosis magic to the supernatural world is a nightmare for the weaker human world.

And Hei got his opportunity when the old Lupa found him.

He seized that opportunity with everything he had in him.

He forged his steel with his own two hands without a single complaint.

He desired strength for himself, but to be free rather than to harm others.

And as he grew, more ideals appeared.

He wanted to make his teacher proud.

He wanted to live up to the name of his legacy.

He wanted to gain strength in an efficient manner.

He wanted to achieve things that could all be solved in a single path.

The path of a mercenary, an assassin, a hitman.

So his core ideal remained the same, but it was seconded by his desire for honoring his legacy and parent.

So no matter the actions he took to get there, even if they did not deserve taking pride in, he lived according to his ideals.

And despite what Hei thought of his actions, Yasaka had seen far worse.

She had done far worse.

She was a leader of a faction after all.

Hei might think his hands were incredibly dirty, but very few lives he took could be considered 'innocent' by any means.

And as he grew some more, a third ideal was born.

Hei wanted to protect his family and love.

He wanted to be strong enough to be their shield and sword when needed.

Yasaka understood that he didn't see his sisters or mate as wallflowers. Far from it. He would send a quick prayer for the poor sobs that actually challenged them rather than rush to defend them unless it was a noticeably powerful foe.

So she knew that Hei Lupa was a man who held three desires in his heart above all.

They formed his ideals and his ideals shaped his actions.

He was a man of freedom, honor for his parent and legacy, and a sword and shield for his loved ones.

These are the core principles that shaped him.

And at the center of it all, behind everything he used to achieve his goals, lied a natural beautiful landscape of kindness and purity.

He was a gem, a true gem in the world.

A man who could not be corrupted without first tearing away every single ideal he held.

And he intrigued her like a shooting star in the night sky.

She wanted to watch him rise and shine in all his glory.

And she wanted to be there, by his side, to enjoy in the small moments of peace and help him in times of hardship.

But there would be time for that later.

Right now, she wished to help him heal.

Once he was of health in mind and body, well…. he was fair game then.

'Fufufu~ it seems I have to brush off the dust on my wooing skills. I think Kunou would enjoy a male role model in her life.'

She smirked at her thoughts and was only shook from them when she heard Hei's voice.

Her fox ears twitched at the sound of his rough voice like he was struggling with something.

"I… I want to see them again."

Yasaka smiled at that as she gazed at the side of his face.

The first step on his side was taken with those words.

His eyes never left the tree's branches while he spoke.

She spoke softly but confidently.

"Then wake up Hei, they are waiting for you."

Hei didn't move or speak for a moment as her tails continued to embrace him and share her warmth before his voice returned.

"I want to see them… but I am afraid."

Yasaka leaned in to him with her shoulder.

"Of?"

"Of this being a lie. And what I might do if that was the case."

Yasaka sighed but made no move to change her position.

Hei was currently in a very delicate balance.

He wanted to believe her and see them, but he was afraid of how much he could break if they truly were dead.

He had just barely finished putting matters to rest and face the world again, but knowing his loved ones still lived could heal him or break him further than he was before.

Yasaka rested a hand on his arm as they both watched the falling petals.

"You know I'm not lying."

"I know you wish me no harm. I do not know if you are lying."

Yasaka's eye twitched but she understood.

She reached for Hei's hand and besides a slight twitch, he didn't fight her.

She gently placed his hand against her chest, right over her heart.

Hei finally turned his head to look at her as she looked back with a soft but earnest smile.

"Ask me."

Hei narrowed his eyes and spoke.

"Have you lied to me about my family's wellbeing?"

She looked him straight in the eye and answered.

"No, they are all alive and waiting for you."

Hei could feel her heartbeat beneath his hand and the smooth and soft skin and flesh of Yasaka's chest.

There wasn't a single change in her heartbeat, taking away the indication that she was lying.

"This works with humans; you could know a way to keep your heartbeat calm."

Yasaka stepped in front of him and looked up at his face as he was taller.

"I assure you it works for most supernatural's as well. But very well, how do you wish me to prove myself?"

Hei looked down at her earnest expression and pondered that question himself.

"Why are you trying to help me so much?"

Yasaka tilted her head.

"Didn't I explain that your sisters came to me?"

Hei's eyes narrowed on her.

"You did, but what do you get out of all of this? What is it you desire?"

Yasaka looked into his searching eyes and fought a small internal mental battle.

Hei's instincts were sharp, and he wanted to know her desire in order to trust her.

"You mean aside from helping my best friends with their desperate wish? Aside from aiding a member of their family? Aside from trying to help someone who almost killed himself to try and avenge what he assumed were my fallen friends and subjects? Aside from my duty to my people, to the Yokai?

You are asking me what I desire outside of all of that?"

Hei grunted.

"I am."

Yasaka looked up at him searchingly before she stretched out a hand to gently lay against his cheek.

"I will not lie as I have not lied so far.

I watched the main points of your life till now.

You interest me, intrigue me, attract me.

I have no interest in taking advantage of you now, but when you are whole, I wish to see if there could be a deeper bond between us."

Hei found himself blinking in surprise at her frank admission and she chittered in laughter at his expression while her hand continued to rub his cheek gently.

"Is it so surprising for you Hei?"

Hei responded with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I am flattered I guess. But I apologize, my heart belongs to…"

Yasaka placed a finger on his lips with a teasing smile.

"I know. I have seen your bond with Kuroka and seen what she was like.

The greatest crime among mates is to betray one for another. I would never try to change your love from Kuroka to me.

However, who said a duo can't become a trio?"

Hei's jaw opened and closed a few times.

He was not expecting this topic of discussion and was caught off guard.

Yasaka laughed more and went on with a more gentle look rather than her teasing one a moment before.

"Yes, Kuroka is a beautiful young girl and I'm sure she will bloom even more in the following years.

But do not think on it for the moment. You and she are young still.

We have time to get to know one another before moving on in a few years.

For now however, just know my hidden desire is not malicious in nature. Perhaps a bit salacious though~."

Her words spoken in a light hearted tone helped alleviate much of the panic inside Hei's mind for the moment and he nodded.

He had time to speak with her later and discuss things with Kuroka in private.

He sighed and sagged a bit, letting his tense body finally relax into the embrace of tails wrapped around him.

All the grief, the nightmares, all the worry, and all the what if's flying in his mind had taken him on an emotional rollercoaster he really wanted to get off of.

He wanted to rest in peace and safety with his loved ones, knowing they were alright and safe.

He closed his eyes and leaned forward slightly into Yasaka's frame as she caught him without issue.

"Yasaka… I think I want to go home now."

Yasaka smiled and spoke softly as she embraced him while affectionately rubbing her head on his.

"Then wake up Hei. Wake and see your proof before your eyes."

Hei's eyes opened and he looked into the golden slit irises inches from his own eyes.

The pupils were ever so similar to the ones he loves, but he noticed the difference in color.

Whereas his love's eyes were a golden amber that shined like jewels he could get lost in, Yasaka's eyes were golden yellow like the gentle rays of sunlight that warmed him and made him want to rest.

Her eyes shined without a single intent of negativity and Hei couldn't help himself from allowing hope to enter his mind and take root.

The massive tombstone by the tree silently began to crack as he accepted what might be possible.

Hei looked into her eyes, saw her face, smelled her scent, felt her body against his and her tails around him, and in this moment, he found her beautiful and unforgettable.

It was not love; his love belonged firmly to another.

But it was a seed.

A seed that could be watered and allowed to grow into something that would take root in his heart just as his mate did before.

A genuine smile appeared on his face as Hei began to feel a pull.

Like a hook on his naval that had always been there but never became clear to him that was slowly increasing in strength and waiting for his permission.

He bent his face forward and left a gentle kiss of gratitude on Yasaka's cheek as she purred at the touch.

Hei whispered to her as his eyes looked past her to the crumbling tombstone.

"Thank you Yasaka."

Yasaka smiled with a pounding heart she couldn't control as she leaned into him and hugged his form tightly.

"Your welcome. Now go. They are waiting for you."

Hei nodded into her form and let go of his hold on his mind as his body began to dissolve into motes of light.

Twin growls of joy came from his forearms and a deep rumble of the cave signified his instincts pleasure.

Yasaka laughed in a vulpine fashion at the sight and gently pushed him away as he fully dissolved and vanished from his mindscape.

She smiled in happiness at her success and turned her head to look back one final time.

The cherry blossoms glowed in their natural splendor and rained down petals like a snowfall as if it was celebrating its joy while the grand tombstone at its base caved in on itself and fell to pieces.

It was a sight of incredibly beauty, and Yasaka would never forget the experience she had in the mind of Hei Lupa.

A petal landed on her face as she chittered and let herself go from the mindscape as well.

A second tremor shook the cavern as a wolfs howl was heard and Yasaka turned to face the wall and laughed loudly.

*AWWWOOOO!*

Her inner instincts as a Kyuubi demanded she respond and she couldn't help but let her wild side out for a moment and howl back in vulpine fashion.

A fox doesn't howl like a wolf, but she was a Kyuubi, not a simple fox.

*AWWOOOOOO!*

The howls stopped as Yasaka faded leaving two sets of instincts growling in content and excitement for the future to come.

*Line Break*

When Yasaka next opened her eyes, she was back in her physical body, still sitting in the waters of the hot springs, and flushed skin to skin in the nude to Hei with his head pushed into her ample bosom and her tails wrapped around his body.

The steam and her tails obscured their heads from any other watchers.

He groaned lightly as wine red eyes looked up into her golden ones that looked down with a great deal of emotion.

"Welcome back."

He didn't say anything for a moment before he groaned as the pain of his body hit him in full force now that he was conscious.

"Gah... I'm back."

Yasaka chittered at the sight and bent her head to lay a gentle kiss on his forehead as he looked at her.

"I think there are a few people waiting to see you~."

Hei's eyes widened from the slight trance he was in looking at her before Yasaka's tails receded from Hei's upper body even if the ones on his lower body and her arms around him remained steady.

With the view cleared, and the steam swiped away by a tail, four anxious pair of eyes were revealed.

They zeroed in on the open pair of wine red eyes looking at them and everything stilled for a moment before the four dive bombed the two resting figures who responded to their affectionate attack with wide eyes.

""""HEI!""""

"Wait! Girls! Gah!"

"Oof!"

Hei's eyes almost popped out before they rolled back and he fainted with foam coming out his mouth as the four cats squeezed him and Yasaka tightly.

"Girls! HE IS STILL INJURED!"

Yasaka yelled with shark teeth but the cats ignored her to hug the life out of their loved one that was returned to them.

If Hei was awake and uninjured, he might have enjoyed the bliss of five pairs of breasts pushing against his chest and head but he was neither of those things.

It was a blessing he could pass out again.

"Brat?! Brat!"

"Kid?! What happened!"

"Pup! Wake up!"

"Hei….nah, they got all the good lines."

Yasaka sighed and accepted her fate even as she used her tails to try and protect the young man that was dropped into her world like a falling star landing in her backyard.

A soft smile reached her lips as she looked on at his body being shook by the four of them in worry before her brow twitched as the water was being died red.

"YOU REOPENED HIS WOUNDS! PUT HIM DOWN ALREADY!"

Seconds back into the real world, and both Yasaka and Hei was suffering their own battles that welcomed them home.

But it was home nonetheless.

Because home is where your loved ones are.

*Line Break*

Hours later, a thoroughly exhausted Yasaka teleported back to her office slightly tipsy after the drinks given to her with Hei's permission.

She smiled in delight as she sat in her comfy desk chair at the memories of the celebrating and reconnecting that happened after Hei woke up from his coma and injuries and managed to heal himself using his sacred gear.

She was just about to close her eyes and get an hour or two of rest before her daughter inevitably woke up with all the energy of a young child in the morning when there was a knock at her door.

A groan escaped her lips as she sat up and called out.

"Come in."

The door cracked open and one of her assistants stuck their head in nervously.

"Um, Yasaka-Sama. I apologize for interrupting when you said not to but…we have… a certain guest here trying to meet with you."

Yasaka rose a brow at her.

"And it can't wait a few more hours for normal working hours?"

Her assistant looked troubled.

"They are…very…insistent. She is causing a scene with the guards."

Yasaka sighed.

"Who is it?"

"Its… Leviathan-Sama ma'am."

A second groan left Yasaka's throat as she lifted a hand to the bridge of her nose and processed that.

'I really just want some sleep right now. Can't the world pause for a couple hours?'

"Yasaka-Sama?"

Yasaka waved a hand without looking up.

"It's fine, send her in."

"Yes ma'am."

Her assistant closed the door and walked off as Yasaka tried to get her shit together.

'*sigh* at least I already knew what I was going to do. Well… it depends on how things play out.'

Before she could continue her thoughts, the doors were shoved open wildly as a figure charged into the office in a pink outfit and red and teary eyes.

"YASAKA-CHAN! I'M SO SORRY!"

Yasaka looked on with a deadpan expression.

'And now I have to change that door. I liked that one.'

"Ugh, just sit down Sera, I have a headache."

This was going to be a long day for the leader of the West Yokai faction.

Chapter end.

Omake: I'll post two omake's next chap to make up for the lack of this one.

AN: CHAPTER 10 RETURNS TO HEI'S POV.

Good news, I actually found the interest to try and get back to the Danmachi fic. I'll focus on these two for the moment.

My third and fourth focus at the moment is Pheonix and my Coiling Dragon fic.

After that comes S&M maid, Child of Chaos, and the Campione one.

Hm… maybe I should put up a poll? You guys and gals want a poll to vote for which fic gets attention first?

I can put it up on my profile and I'll mention it through the fic for 'Author Notes'.

I usually just wrote whatever I was in the mood for, but I guess with 11 stories now, maybe I should start making you all more inclusive in the decision process.

I'm open to idea's and comments about the stories, but don't fucking dare try to help me 'improve' my writing skills or fix my shit. If I wanted to fix my shit, I would do it.

This is a hobby, not a job. I don't owe anyone shit. Keep this peaceful and friendly like talking with friends and I'll be your best friend. Insult me and I'll throw you in a prison shower and drop all the soap, every – last – bar.