The Hideout

Everyone stared at the huge white stone, palace like hideout surrounded by forests and a huge marble stonewall surrounding the palace. Nakada stepped back a bit looking at how high the highest tower was as her brother whistled, "That is some hideout Yoko."

The youkai looked at him and smirked, "Glad you like it DJ, but I'm sure you'll like the inside even better." He looked at him and smiled as they all walked to the entrance of the "hideout."

April moved closer to Falser and he held her close, "What's the matter?"

She looked at her and smiled as she looked at the palace, "Its so huge…how many people live in there?"

The demon smirked, "You honestly didn't think Yoko's band of thieves only consisted of the people that you met did you?" He wrapped his arm around her waist and started to lead her to the doors of the palace. "Yoko has been collecting demons for his band ever since he became a thief. You need many thieves to make sure you rob a place and have others to replace the ones you lost if you did lose any. You also need lots of space to put all the valuables you have stolen as well. Not to mention all of the slaves we have to operate this place: keep it clean, cook the food, clean the clothes, take care of the garden."

April stared at Falser, "Their human slaves," he looked at her shocked, "Aren't they?"

Falser stared at April, not sure what to say, but was saved by Kuronue, "Yes April," she looked at him. The group continued to walk into the palace walls and listened to the bat demon speak, "All of our slaves are humans. Ever since we could get slaves, they have been human. They're stubborn and cheap. Their cheapness helps to take care of them, to house and feed as well. Being stubborn, humans always seem to have some kind of fight in them that keeps them going. When they no longer have the fight, they keep doing their work because they have nothing else left to do."

"As of late," Yoko said, speaking up and looking down at his son in his arms, "When we left, there seemed to be a downfall in the efficiency of their work."

"How are they treated?" Lacey asked from inside the group.

"We don't really look after them honestly," admitted Kuronue, "That is left up to another demon. When we left, we told him that there had better be an improvement of…" Kuronue stumbled over the words for a second, but he still came up lost.

"How long have things been like this?" Lindsey asked looking the demon, "Or, when did you start taking notice? This place is huge! It would have taken a long time for a problem to have surfaced, who knows how bad the problem is now."

There was silence among the group for a while. Nakada looked at Yoko, "Yoko?"

The demon sighed, "I first started to notice that there seemed to be things, small things, but still…I noticed about, three and a half months before I left. As time grew on, I noticed that: it took longer for the food to be prepared; I almost, more than once, ran out clothes to wear; places were starting to show some dust. That was only the small things. One of the big things was, the smell."

"The smell?" asked Sophie.

He turned to her and nodded, "There was a stink in the air, disease…death. That was a few weeks before we left. When the smell became too much to bear, I went down to the demon that took care of the humans and asked where the smell was coming from. He had told me that some of the humans were getting sick and some didn't survive. He said that there was nothing to worry about; he said he was taking care of it. I had asked him why they were sick and he said that he had no idea. He told me that the humans were starting to be brave and started to demand things. The things they demanded were more food, water, and better living conditions. He said that he had taken a look around the slave quarters himself and said that the quarters were fine." Yoko tilted his head up to the wind and took a cautious sniff, "The smell is still here, but it is faint."

"They wanted more food, water, and better living conditions?" Rebekah said more to herself than to anyone else. She walked up Yoko's side, "Could it be that, they weren't given enough food or water? Do you even know what good living conditions is for a human? I wouldn't be surprised if the way you think of living conditions for humans and what I know they are, are very different. I believe that the way your living conditions are barely manageable compared to the way I think of them."

Yoko looked at Rebekah and stopped walking to stare at her, "I have no doubt about that. This past year with you has made me change my thinking about you." The fox looked at the sleeping baby in his arms and help him closer, "I am…worried about what we will find when we enter the palace." He looked at the place. Presently, they were about a few yards away from the walls that surrounded the palace. He looked back at his son, and then to Nakada who was holding his other child. Conner was standing by her leg, and the little tiger cub was beside him. He walked over to Nakada and gave her Calan, "It is probably better if the band and I go into the hide out first, we'll come and get you as soon as we can."

Nakada nodded and Conner stepped forward, "See ya later dad."

Yoko smiled as he kneeled to his adopted son and placed a hand on his head, "See you later."

With that, all the demons were gone, leaving the humans alone. "I really don't like the way that this is going guys," April said as she crossed her arms and leaned against a tree.

Every member of the team found a place to sit, lay or lean and waited for someone to come and get them. Conner sat next to his adopted mother with Yume on his lap. He leaned against Nakada's arm and watched as the twins bit on their rubber teddy bears to relieve themselves of the pain that came with the growing of their teeth. The boy looked up at his mother and saw that there was a worried look on her face, "Mommy," she looked at him, "Are you okay?"

She stared at the boy for a few seconds before a smile grassed her lips, "I'm as fine as I can be Conner."

"What does that mean?" he asked as he tilted his head to the side.

She continued to smile before she gently wrapped her arm, which the boy had been leaning on, around Conner. "I just have a lot on my mind right now Conner."

Everyone stared at Nakada, and understood what she was talking about. "Nakada," she looked at Jennah, "You know other worlds are faster than this one right? We also know how to make world mirrors as well."

"That is what I was thinking," Nakada said with a nod of her head and held her children closer.

"Thinking about what?" Everyone turned to see Yoko standing in front if them, looking rather confused about what he had walked into.

Nakada sighed, "I'll tell you later Yoko," she said as he walked over to her and took the twins so that she could get up.

"So," Rebekah started, "What's the damage?"

Yoko looked at the ground as he gave Calan to Nakada, "Far worse than I had thought. We've lost more than two thirds of our slaves and things aren't going smoothly at all. I'm going to have to recruit more slaves somehow, and fix the living conditions for the humans." Yoko closed his eyes as he sighed, "It is going to take a while, and it is going to take a long time as well. I can't even begin think of where to start, everything is so out of control."

"And this is what happens when you leave a man in control," Lacey stated as she shook her head.

April nodded her head as she crossed her arms and looked at Yoko, "We can probably help with most of the things. We can improve the living conditions in the slave quarters, I highly doubt they're liveable."

"We can also get food," piped in Jennah, "Though it will be fruits and vegetables."

"Any kind of food at this time will be greatly appreciated," nodded Yoko.

"Then?" asked Lindsey, "What are we waiting around here for? Let's get going!"

After three weeks of hard work, there was hardly any improvement. Yoko was not kidding when he said that it was bad. Not only had he lost slaves, but also valuable members of his band as well due to disease. The palace was not in complete disarray, but it had seen better days. There was dirt and grim wherever you looked, the place stank of bodies that probably hadn't had a bath in a month or more, there were no clean clothes or materials, and there was barely enough food to go around.

The living conditions of the slaves' quarters, as expected from the girls, were nowhere near habitable. It was hard to believe anyone lived there in the first place. The quarters were spacious, but in that space was dirt and dust so thick, you could mistake it for soil. There were rats everywhere you looked, hiding in pots, sinks, wardrobes, clothes, everywhere you could think a rat could hide and then some. The rats were even abnormally huge; you could see where most of the humans' food was going.

The humans beds were small cots that were broken, or on the dirty ground with the rats and insects. There was no place for the humans to clean themselves or eat a good meal, if they ever found one.

There was also very little light in the quarters, the only light came from random torches and the boiler room that kept the whole palace warm at night and during the winter.

There were many things wrong with the place, but it would take sometime, that I don't have the patience for, to put it all down.

The little band of girls and two boys were able to tend to the sick humans, adult and children, as well as grow enough food for everyone. No one knew what they did in the slave quarters except for Yoko and the band of demons he had taken with him. Better clothes were given to the humans and the demons even helped out in putting the palace back together. All in all, even with all the help, after three weeks, there still was not that much of an improvement.

That night, Nakada was in a small room she had picked out for her and the children to sleep in. She was taking care of the twins with Conner sleeping in a bed on the other side of the room with Yume sleeping next to him. Yoko walked into the room with a tired expression on his face after another day hard work and a quick shower.

He saw Nakada sitting in between the two cribs that held their two babies. He smiled as he walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaned over to place a small kiss on her cheek. Nakada smiled as he did this and turned to look at him, "So, did you finish cleaning up, whatever it was you were cleaning up?"

Yoko chuckled at this, "No where near it." He walked over to his futon and fell onto it with his arms spread apart away from his body. "I have to give more credit to those slaves than I ever thought. Only now do I realize how big this place is." He sat up and looked at Nakada with tired eyes, "Is there a spell you and the girls know that could fix this place up so that I can spend more time on trying to figure out where I am going to get the slaves I need?"

Nakada smiled as she stepped away from the twins and over to Yoko. She stepped onto the futon and sat behind Yoko, placing her hands on his shoulders and back. The fox instantly closed his eyes and began to softly purr at her ministrations. As she did this, Nakada began to think over what Yoko said, "Do you really need this big of a place?"

Yoko smirked, "This place is filled with jewels, gold, artefacts, and many other stolen trinkets my band and I have stolen. Also, you haven't seen my entire band of thieves to know just how much space I need anyway. You see a small part of them in the fields picking fruits and vegetables, and a small part inside trying to fix things that were broken due to lack of care."

"I suppose your right," the teenager agreed as she brought her knuckles down hard on Yoko's back, making the fox give a slight moan a the treatment. "It seems that everywhere I look, there are at least ten members of your band working on something."

Yoko smiled at this, and then he noticed that there seemed to be something troubling Nakada. He turned around, making Nakada stop her massage and looked at her. She seemed tired, for some reason, either than the fact she and her friends had been working hard helping out with the place, and taking care of the kids, though someone else would usually look after them for her. Nakada seemed to be lost in a way, far from his reach. As if to emphasize this, he reached up and cupped her cheek. The teenager looked at him and tried to smile as she closed her eyes, but he knew that it was fake.

"Nakada, what is the matter?"

The teenager looked at him for a few seconds, than sighed as she turned to look at her children across the room in their cradles and bed. She continued to look at them as she started to talk, "Out of high school and university by the age of fifteen," she whispered to herself more than to him. "I got a degree in teaching, though, I can't use it until I am at least twenty-six." She turned to look at Yoko with a far away look in her eyes, "Don't get me wrong, I love you and our children very much, you all are my whole world but…" she stopped talking and turned to the ground.

Yoko understood and nodded, "You humans have such a short time to live, even you know this, you like to take your time, wait for certain things until you are ready." Yoko cupped Nakada's cheek again and turned her head to look at him, "You are not ready to be a mother right now are you?"

Nakada sighed and leaned into the hand, "No, I'm not. I'm still a child, and want to be treated as a child in some ways, and an adult in other." She looked at her children again, "When I look at them, I don't see them as my children, I see them as my younger brothers and sister, only with a stronger feeling, close to being a mother, but not quite." Tears began to fall down her face and Yoko scooped the girl into his arms and held her against his chest, "I'm just not ready Yoko."

It was than that Yoko realized something he didn't before. Nakada really was just a child, a pup compared to him, and it wasn't just her as well. The rest of her friends and her little brother, they were all children as well. They were strong, had knowledge beyond their years, but they were still just children. Yoko looked down at the girl in his arms, he loved this girl with all of his heart, but… To follow through with my wants with her, that would be hurting her…almost considered rape.. What I did with Sara back in the Forest of Doom, Nakada would not be ready for that, even if others her age would be, she isn't.

Yoko held Nakada closer to him and began stroking her hair, "Hush, don't worry, you'll learn and adjust eventually, you don't have to worry." She continued to cry and he didn't know what to do, "Don't worry Nakada, I'll be there to help you."

Nakada continued to cry until she couldn't cry any longer. She sat up straighter on the fox's lap and wiped away her tears. She looked up into the kitsunes eyes and smiled a little, making him smile as well. She relaxed against him, with her head against his chest and sighed, "There is another way, but…" she started.

Yoko looked down at her, "What do you mean another way?"

Nakada shook her head, "It would be selfish, and I'm needed here anyway."

Yoko stared down at Nakada, "You mean there would be another way for you to become ready? How?"

Nakada sat up again and looked at Yoko, "My friends and I can travel to different worlds, as you probably know." He nodded, remembering going to a different world while Dianna and Calan were still inside him. "There are other different worlds out there, not just that one. They also have different time settings, in some worlds; time goes faster than this one. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"I believe so," the fox said with a nod, "You're saying, you can travel to another world where time is faster than in this one, become older, more experienced and than come back with little time lost in this one."

Nakada nodded her head, "But the only world that I know of that is faster than this one, the one that I, and maybe some of my friends would need, well…to say the least…" Nakada stopped talking, trying to sort out her words.

Yoko provided the words for her, "How much time would pass in this world?"

She looked up at him, "A month at the most, maybe a week or two more." Yoko stared at her, "I know, it wouldn't be worth it…"

"Why don't you go?"

Nakada stared at the fox with wide eyes, "What?"

He smiled, "Why don't you go to that world? It is not selfish if you want to be able to be a better parent to our children." Yoko stroked her hair, "And I wouldn't feel like I am violating you in any way when I show you I love you. It is better if you think about it, in more ways than one."

The teenager looked Yoko in the eye, "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

The fox sighed and placed a kiss on her forehead, "I won't lie to you, it will be lonely, but," he held her closer to him, "It is good that you, and maybe some of your friends go with you. Hey, if it is only for a month, or so, why don't all of your friends go?"

Nakada started at him, "Are you sure?"

Yoko smiled, "I'm sure, but…do you want to go?"

The girl sighed as she smiled, "I want to go, to be better at everything I need to be better in; a mother," she looked at Yoko," A wife and mate. I know that it won't be that long here, I just don't want to be separated from you and the kids for long."

Yoko smiled, "Why don't you leave in one week?" she looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes, "That way, you can spend time with the kids, and help out around the place to make sure it won't fall down when you and some, if not all, of your friends leave as well?"

Nakada smiled, "That sounds like a good idea."

With that, Nakada went to her futon to sleep, and Yoko fell asleep in his own futon. Neither of them noticed Yume perk her head up and look at the teenager and fox demon. Perfect. She thought with a grin. If she and the others leave, it will be easier to take Calan and Dianna. Yoko will pay for what he did to my village. After she thought that, Yume laid her head back down and went to sleep…Nakada began to shiver.

Me: I"M BACK!:)

YuYu team: ABOUT TIME! WHERE WERE YOU!

Me: Bored, doing something else, have to read a book for school (though I'm done of it now) I was also not happy enough to write this chapter.

Yoko: What made you happy and suddenly want to write again?

Me: You won't beleive me but, I was reading over all of the reviews I had from other stories, and that made me really happy. It made me so happy that it made me want to write this chapter again and maybe finish this story. I am coming close to the end I figureed out, but not to worry, there is another story comng after this. I just realized something.

Yusuke: What?

Me: My stories are like soap operas, I don't want them to end ':) I also have a frien to blame for me not writing that much. He got me hooked on PS2. The game he got me hooked on was Kingdom Hearts! After I came back home from visisting his house, it was all I could do to not buy a PS2 of my own and both Kingdom Hearts games. But when the weekend came...lets just say, I went out with around three hundred dollars, and came back with as least eighty. This was before I had exams so I was stuck between playing Kingdom Hearts and studying for exams. Now, I have finished both Kingdom Hearts games and waiting to see if there is going to be a third. I also hope they put Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories out in English so I can play that. So, that is my story, I also have to tutor two kids for two hours :) but it's all good. Who knows, I might have enough time to write another chapter. But, I am going to put on this site, a story I wrote for my Englsih project. Hope you like it!

Too Darn Lucky

Have to run, have to run! Thought an orange male tabby as he continued to run down streets with an angry dog at his tail.

"Come on now Franklin," the dog said to the running cat, "No use running this time, you are going to pay for biting my tail!"

"For the last time!" Franklin yelled as he continued to look straight, "I didn't know that was your tail!"

"Yeah, and fleas are heaven on earth…get back here!" Yelled the dog as he continued to go after the fleeing cat.

Maybe if I run by a fire hydrant or something…no…that only works in the movies. Franklin continued to run as fast as he could from the dog. I have to think of something, I have to think of something…oh, fish! Franklin instantly stopped on the side of a shop and looked up at the fish.

"Now I have…" the door of the fish shop opened suddenly and the poor mutt couldn't help but run into it, "…you," the poor dog said, but it was only a whine to the human that opened it.

"Silly Rufus," said the owner to the dog as he patted his head, "You have to stop running into the door like that, you are going to hurt yourself." The owner than heard a meow from behind him and turned to see a cat on his stand with his fish looking at the dog with a grin. The owner couldn't help but to laugh as he turned to Rufus, "So, what did Franklin do to you this time?" The owner said as he kneeled in front of the dog as he began to sit up and shake his head. The owner petted his head, "Was it worth running into a door like that again? Honestly, how many times are you going to try and out smart that cat?"

The dog look at the cat, who had a Cheshire grin on his face, "Not just smarts, but too darn lucky as well."

Yoko:...Cute...R&R