IMPORTAIN

Hey guys, D.R.O.H here! So I spoke with my Beta reader and for the time being they are too busy with work, plus they are doing NaNoWriMo. I did some serious thinking about putting my stories on hiatus until I could have someone look them over, but in the end, I couldn't do it. I myself hate it when a story is stalled, so how could I do so myself? So I'm going to keep posting, but with out a Beta looking over my shoulder for me there will probably be some errors and I would love it if you guys wouldn't think any different of my stories because of that!
As for NaNoWriMo me me, I crindged at it when I realised it had arived - seeing as I have three stories in the works right now, and one origenal on hold - there was no way I could come up with a band new one and then hope to finish it. SO instead of that I'm going to use NaNoWriMo as a way to push me forward and finish this story before the end of November. I'm deeply sorry to all my readers for being so slow with the updates, but hopefully you'll get to read this finished very soon.

On a side note: to any Dragon Age fans, my short story Beautiful Shadow had been posted and is finished. I would love for you guys to check it out and tell me what you think!

That's it for important new though, so lets get the ball rolling!

Thank you to Counting Sinful Stars, for your review! You've always reviewed my stuff every time and I'm grateful for you sticking it out for me!

As always, I enjoy any feed back i can get and hope my long time readers are sill enjoying Izumi's story, Enjoy!


Chapter Eleven: Memories

The next thing I knew, I was dreaming. When I opened my eyes I was staring at what looked to be the inside of a cave. The walls had been smoothed though, and there were small fat disks sticking out from each side in set increments, each one holding a seemingly free floating ball of light that glow an eerie cold white-blue color. My mind registered them at as Wisp Lights, a type of harmless fungus spore that glows as long as it remand stagnate in the air, which according to what I knew about it, could be years. They were widely used in demon world, but unfavorable during the harsh winters as they gave off no heat.

I was dreaming about demon world then, I grasped at the thought, my mind fleeting and unfocused. The thought occurred to me, but held no real meaning to me other then for that instant.

A sound reached my ears from further down the hallway echoing out in a firm, distant voice that seemed vaguely familiar, as did the hallway, I realized as I started towards the sound. I wanted to know why it seemed that way, but like before my mind seemed unwilling to focus on a thought for more then a few moments in time.

I let it go, focusing on finding the owner of the voice and finding a door in my way. The light that seeped in through the gaps in it was a warmer color then the fungal light, shinning a yellowish hue. I pushed the cracked door open, watching as it swung in with ease to reveal what I was looking for, and also answered my questions.

The warm light came from a roaring fire on the far side of the room, blasting heat and making the two figures in front of it appear as shadows. A table – large and made of a purple brown wood – stood between the two and myself, and while both were facing me, I could tell instantly that I was not present to them.

I blinked my eyes, focusing them and willing the figures to show themselves. As if I commanded the fire behind them dimmed, the contrast lessening. I saw the one leaning on the side of the fireplaces' wall first and was only slightly surprised to find Kuronue there, though he seemed a bit younger. His arms were crossed loosely over his chest while his pendant dangled from a fisted hand and swayed lazily.

I was only slightly surprised to see him there because it was more likely a dream about his memories rather then my own. I often had dreams of his past, though this one seemed new, at least to me.

My eyes drifted to the other figure – he was leaning over the table, hands spread upon it as he looked over what might have been a map – and found it to be none of then my partner's old friend. Youko Kurama was a vivid being, made in silver and gold with eyes that were far colder then the lights in the hallway could ever hope to be. Still, the fox demon showed kinship to those he trusted and gave them the title of friend, rather then just fellow thief. When Youko suddenly moved, it was to look behind him at his friend.

"It's cold out." He said easily and Kuronue rolled his eyes, reaching beside him and throwing a piece of wood on to the fire, sending its blaze anew.

"She's not that weak, it is nothing." He replied and Kurama sighed turning back around.

"To us maybe."

My mind reeled for a second, wondering why the fire was a 'she', but like every question, it soon faded. Dreams weren't meant for be examined though, and so I let go and simply watched, walking over to a near by chair and sitting down.

"We may be getting in too deep for this. One wrong move and someone will get hurt." Kurama said evenly, turning his gaze back on the map, a clawed finger tracing something upon it. Kuronue shifted against his spot on the wall, rolling his shoulders.

"Are you going some where with this? You act as if this is completely new to the both of us, yet that is far from the truth. Fate simply has not chosen the path quiet yet."

Though it was slight, I saw the fox's shoulders tense; saw the finger that had been tracing the map curl in ward to make a fist. He turned again, pivoting half way to look upon his friend.

"What are you hoping to get out of this?" He asked curtly, his hand waving at the map. "It will solve nothing, it's a futile attempt, and I think you know that."

"You know nothing of what I think." Kuronue replied briskly, his crossed arms seeming to tighten. After a moment though, the bat demon seemed to rethink his words. "You would do the same…" he relented finally.

"No." The silver fox muttered coldly, "I would not, at least not now. Maybe a few centuries ago, but not now."

Kuronue pushed off from his spot, stocking forward a bit and glancing at the map his partner still studied. "You don't understand. Everything always fell at your feet. I never found what I was looking for, not till her." He jabbed his finger at the paper and I wondered if what they were looking at wasn't a map at all, but a person.

I might have gotten up to look, if my mind had become drawn to their conversation again and all thoughts vanishing with them.

"It isn't fair to her Kuronue, nor to me, or yourself, your smarter then this." Slowly, the fox demon reached out with a pale hand and laid it on his friend's shoulder. "It's not your life any more, it's her's and she should be aloud to choose. Even if that choice is not what you want."

"You don't know her the way I do-"

The fox demon cut him off.

"I don't, but I also think that maybe, that is why this hurts you so much."

"What are you talking about?"

"You knew the old her." Kurama said quietly. "Know her thoughts, her past, her memories of before this life. Not only that but you knew her before her job tainted her, forced her to grow up too fast and changed her out look on life. I think that maybe, what you truly love Kuronue, is the person she use to be. Its like how she first described me, she only really had thing to go off of what your said, and what she saw herself. I think the reason you resent our relationship is because you know if I approve of her now, she will never return to the way she was." He gave his friend that all too command icy look. "Your in love with a ghost Kuronue, which I guess, is ironic."

Kuronue scowled, brushing away the hand. "And if I do? I trust you Kurama, I always have, but your reasoning is unclear and foolish." Kuronue nodded to the paper once more. "What you have done, you have forsaken yourself, what would happen if that loss meant you couldn't protect her, or anyone else?"

"And you could do better?" Kurama rebutted, and while I had expected Kuronue to become angry, instead, he simply smiled.

"I'm not going to let her die, I promise you that Kurama. She deserves a life without pain, but that is impossible, and so I shall do what I can, when she needs it most."

Slowly, the fox demon nodded his head and began to roll of the parchment. When it was nothing but a small cylinder in his large hands, he ran a finger over the edge of one side.

"I know what I did was selfish, but I don't think it will put her in danger. She didn't always have me there, and she has protect herself. If she needed me though, I could do enough."

"Are you sure about that?" Kuronue muttered frowning as he eyed the paper. When the fox demon only have him a stern look he sighed. "Alright then."

Youko Kurama shook his head, using the roll of paper like a wave as he started to move from around the table.

"We shouldn't fight like this, but at least think about what I have said."

Kuronue tipped his hat back, frowning as he looked back at the dancing flames. After a moment, a smirk appeared. "Yes. For her, I will."

Kurama smirked right back. "That's all I can really ask for." He waved the parchment again and the bat demon nodded his head, following his partner out of the room. I watched them leave, blinking slowly as I tried to process everything.

What a strange memory. Something about it just didn't seem right, but in this world, in this place of dreams I was unable to hold a thought together long enough to truly do anything with it.

The boys disappeared from view and with it; the light of the fire seemed to evaporate. Slowly but surely, the place drew dark and I felt that darkness dragging me down, down, down, into itself and my mind went blank once more.

It seemed like a long time before I felt something warm – a hand I realized after a moment – touched my face, skimming over the left side gently. It stroked my cheek and I took in a deep breath as a voiced gently said my name. Cracking my eyes open, I blinked, the haze of my dreams still in the forefront of my mind. Glancing upward I found my favorite redhead sitting on a desk chair near his bed where I was still laying down. He smiled when I met his eyes and brushed blond locks out of my gaze.

"Dinner will be ready in a ten minutes." He informed me, and it took me a few moments to remember where I was and how I had gotten there. Once I remembered that, I nodded my head and slowly sat up.

"You sure it's alright for me to stay?"

Kurama just smiled again, his hand leaving my face to rest in his lap with the other one. "I'm sure. I told my mother you had a case at work that really hit close to home. She understood."

Right. My fake job at a Law Firm where I worked under one of the Agents to learn the job. I had said we worked on mostly international, complicated cases, so Kurama's excuse was a rather good one. Not that I expected anything less from him.

"Alright. Thanks." I muttered rubbing my head. I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, the memories of a dream I couldn't quiet grasp at the moment. It was always such a frustrating thing to know it had struck a cord while you slept and then refused to make itself reappear once your were awake.

"You alright?" He asked after a moment, his eyes reflecting the worry in his voice.

"Yeah, just sleepy." I answered my eyes drifting around the room. They came to rest behind the fox demon, where the only light in the room came from a desk lamp. His desk was neat, clean of almost everything, save fore a single piece of paper with handwriting on it, and a stack of envelops. I raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"

"The last letter you sent." Kurama answered, reaching back he picked up the paper. "It came in the mail yesterday."

A small shock ran through me, for I had nearly forgotten about that last letter. That day had spiraled so fast, yet it had barely been a week ago. It felt like it had happened so long ago.

Time it seemed had a way of playing tricks on me.

"You never did explain what Hiei meant. Though I would assume it had to do with your rather odd greeting to each other." The redhead prompted, and I was glad for the subject change. It made me wonder if my face had given something away. Instead of feeling bad about that though, I pulled myself out of my darkening mood, and focused on his question.

"As you know, Hiei and I have known each other for a while. It wasn't long after the two of you caused that mess with the Dark Artifact and stated working off your debt that we met. He was assigned to help me find and interrogate a group of humans. We didn't get along that well at first, I'm not sure if it was his charm or just the fact that for the most part it takes a while for me to feel comfortable around demons, at least, that's how I felt back then." How many years had that been? Over four years now if I really thought about it.

Kurama chuckled, setting the paper down on his lap and getting comfortable. "You both have rather stubborn personalities. I was surprised when I realize you were one of his friends, though he would never admit to that."

"No, he wouldn't." I agreed. "Over time, I did learn more about him, tried to be friendly with him, that hardly helped. After I gave him the tape with Yukina on it, the one he was to deliver, I told him to look at it first." I shifted a bit, pulling one knee on to the chest and resting my chin on it. Kurama didn't seem surprised, nodding his head and I continued. "I got in a bit of trouble for it, once Koenma figured it out. Enma put me on a hard assignment, one I had to do on my own. I think he misjudged the severity of it, because it turned out to be too much for me. The group of demons I was supposed to take down, or at least survey, got me and kidnaped me. There had been too many and back then my hand to hand combat had been even worse." I grimaced at that and sighed. "Koenma found out and sent Hiei to get me. He did, killed all of the demons rather quickly. He was angry with me, for being caught like that, he told me I needed more training. I argued with him, and some how he ended up teaching me a few things."

At that, Kurama did seem a bit surprised, his brows rising. When he moved to say nothing though, I gathered my thoughts again and concluded my short tale.

"It kind of became a thing after that. One of us would just randomly throw a punch or something at each other. I often lost, got angry and would end up with quite a few bruises because of it. He never really hurt me though, just taught me a lesson as he saw fit."

"So that greeting was a test?"

"To see how much I had improved in the last two years. He seemed to approve… I think." I rubbed my neck for a moment. "He's… "

"An enigma?" Kurama interrupted. I raised my head from my knee and tilted my head.

"I was going to say 'a pain in the ass'." I corrected him to which he smirked. "But, I guess that works for him too."

Kurama shook head said slightly, amused and sat up from his chair, leaning forward. He placed a kiss to my forehead and I smiled, heat blooming on my face. When he stepped back he folded the letter and put it back in its case. "We should go see a movie, like you asked." He said, referring to the letter. "You'd have to pick one though." I watched, amazed as he placed the paper on top of the stack I had seen before and then placed them in a box I hadn't. He had kept all of my letters then…

"I can do that." I muttered, trying not to feel guilty about loosing his in the ranch mess. I hadn't even thought to look for them when I had been there. "I'm not even sure what's out." I muttered off hand, time laughing at me again.

"Neither am I." He agreed, smiling as he placed the box in the corner of his desk. "They should be in the paper though."

I nodded my head; a bit relived I wasn't the only one that was clueless. Down below, through the closed door, the sudden sound of Shiori calling us down drew my attention. I stood up form the bed, stretching once and Kurama watched me as I did so. Once I was done, I stared for the door, with him by my side.

"You know." I ask after a moment as I pulled the door open. "We should go outside with Kokoda later, have a snowball fight." I wasn't sure why, but it just seemed like a good idea. I hadn't spent much time with his family, and I wanted to get to know them better.

"We could, but what are you hoping to accomplish, besides getting all wet again?" He asked, amusement still in his tone. I turned to him once I was in the hall, meeting his sly gaze.

"Nothing really, besides maybe some fun." I said, before a smirk crawled up onto my face at a new thought. "Though, now that I think about it, Kokoda and I could probably kick your ass, Mr. Bookworm." I teased, turning to walk down the stairs. He caught me around the waist before I even made it a step forward, pulling him into me, and leaning over my shoulder.

"I will take that challenge and prove you wrong." He mused, a promise in his voice that made my pulse race. I snorted, and pulled away.

"You are so on." I said with a laugh, and headed down stairs with the redhead right behind me. Dinner was peaceful after that, full of positive words and warm food. After the meal and cleaning up, the three of us, Kurama, his brother and I, did commence in an all out war, the youngest pairing with me.

To the fox's great displeasure, he found himself not only covered in snow by the end of it, but was also the sore loser of the night.