Yay for me finally finishing chapter three! Sorry it took so long, I had a bit of writer's block and I've been busy. Please excuse typos, my keyboard is really messed up and some keys don't register. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or any of the characters aside from Sei. If I did, would I really be writing all of this?

"…" Flashbacks and Thoughts

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A week came and went, chronicling all the loose ends that had to be tied up in order to finally set forth on the mission. Schoolwork was procured, family members were said goodbye to, and training was a regular occurrence. Yusuke and Kuwabara goofed off life usual, not even bothering to get homework, only to train and beg Keiko and Shizuru to let them leave. Fortunately for them, permission was given. Kurama and Sei were good students and had gone to get their schoolwork, only to receive hoots and wolf whistles when they went up toward the teacher. Since they had asked for work for the same week at the same time, it was assumed by the majority of the class that they were taking a clandestine trip together or something of the like. Botan and Hiei disappeared for the next week, only to reappear at the week's end for departure. At the end of the week, the whole group was sitting in Yusuke's backyard. Koenma was late and Kuwabara and Yusuke were pretty pissed.

The two delinquents were sitting side by side on a wooden plank lying in the grass; they obviously didn't feel like sitting in plants. Kurama and Hiei were leaning on the side of the house, deep in conversation. Sei was alone, kneeling in the grass, reading a book titled, "Heaven's Angels and the Demons of Earth" and looked very absorbed in it. Ten minutes later when Koenma finally arrived with Botan, Yusuke and Kuwabara were the first to torment him, holding his hat high above his head, making him jump for it and taking his pacifier so he couldn't fly to it.

"Hey! Shitheads! Give those back! Otherwise I'll sentence you to eternal torment in the last layer of hell!" Koenma shouted at the pair. Botan was watching amusedly, her hand over her mouth, smothering a giggle. It appeared that she had gotten over her heartbreak. Kurama, Sei and Hiei looked up at the chaos. Sei marked her page and closed the book with a slam. This startled the group into silence. Yusuke dropped his boss's hat and pacifier into Koenma's waiting hands with a sigh.

"I see you chose life and relative happiness," Koenma remarked with a smirk.

"No, I just got really bored with that game. Next time, I'll think up a better one," Yusuke retorted, walking away from the overseer. Koenma frowned.

"Okay, everyone leave all of your shit where it is and listen," he called. After gumbling, the group obeyed.

Koenma turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara, displaying a malicious grin. Oh yes, he would get back at them.

"You two go to the Saitama Prefecture and investigate. Just warning you," he said. "That's where the demons with large amounts of killing intent congregate." He was certainly having his fun, sending his tormentors to the most dangerous region. Botan, you go with them too. I can't have them being injured too badly." He smirked. Revenge is sweet, he thought.

Next he turned to Kurama, Hiei, and Sei. Kurama sighed. He could tell that he would be put into a grouping with Sei. Honestly, that was a little scary to him. How could he be around her so much without triggering some really awful memories?

"The rest of you, go to Chiba. I don't really care what happens to the rest of you, but you guys are strong and I'd rather not lose you," Koenma said with a fake sigh.

"Got it," said Hiei. Koenma motioned for them to all come together. When they complied, he yelled, "NOW GO!" at the top of his lungs into their ears. This was obviously not his favorite day.

The next day, the group was split and each part was headed to their respective location. Botan, Yusuke, and Kuwabara were mildly freaked out when Koenma had said they were headed to the more dangerous location, but demons were looking forward to the action headed their way. Once there was about a three mile distance between the groups, conversation and jeering started. Of course, the jeering came from the idiot team.

"I can't believe Koenma sent us to do the hard job!" Yusuke complained.

"Well, if you two hadn't made him so mad, maybe this wouldn't have happened!" Botan yelled.

"We were bored!" Yusuke protested.

"That doesn't mean you should torture the prince of the spirit world!"

"Oh, come on bitch! Give me a break, that kid's a fucking asshole!"

"Language!" Botan retaliated. "You're on a job, show some amount of professionalism!"

"What are we office workers?" Kuwabara imputed. "We're detectives, not boring fuckers that sit around on a computer all day."

"How is falling for your 'coworker' professional?" Yusuke remarked. This was his final card to pull on Botan. It worked, she immediately blushed bright red. Kuwabara, however, was confused, due to not having heard of this plot twist.

"Huh? Who'd you fall for, Botan?" he asked mischievously.

"No one! Just shut up Kuwabara!" Botan said, still blushing.

"I know!" Yusuke nearly sang.

"Don't tell him you asshole!" Botan said with a faint note of pleading.

"She likes…" Yusuke started. Botan was making motions and nearly crying out of stress. This was fun, very fun to him, maybe the most fun he'd have all year.

"…Kurama!" he finished with a flourish in his words. Botan basically screamed in anguish.

"Yusuke!" she screamed, tears welling up in frustration. During this, Kuwabara was rolling in laughter on the side of the dirt road.

"Come on lover girl! The other group'll beat us to the chase if we don't hurry up! Kuwabara, C'mon, get your ass up!" Yusuke's voice rang all over the surrounding area.

Indeed, the other group was already far closer to their destination than the poor lovesick, spirit detective, and clueless gangster. They had been using their demon powers to move more quickly, and it was paying off; they would be sleeping under shelter tonight. Hiei was ahead, with Sei and Kurama trailing behind, side by side.

"Kurama-kun, you know what the tattoo on my shoulder means, right? When you first heard I was a demon, you looked for it," Sei asked with an inquisitive smile on her face, her green eyes illuminated by the sunlight. Kurama stiffened. She still doesn't remember, does she? With a sigh, he said, "It's similar to an animal marking its belongings or territory."

"So I'm like your 'belonging'?" she asked. Kurama chuckled. She was pretty clueless in the matters of the past.

"In a way. The tattoo is a marking that shows that you're mated to me. At one time, I had a marking similar, but it disappeared when I was reborn," he explained.

"Oh." Sei became silent and looked at the ground in front of her.

"Hey! You better hurry up or I will leave you behind. And I won't regret it either," Hiei called from in front of them. With wide grins, they complied.

Nightfall came upon the demons, and they were just nearing a town with an inn. Blue met green as Sei and Kurama caught each other looking around. Their fingers intertwined, and they sprinted ahead, leaving Hiei in the dust.

Upon entering the inn, they immediately reserved a room, and then traipsed off to find dinner. They finally found it, at a soup shop where they ate before returning to the inn. They had only gotten one room, so it was cramped. There were two beds on either side of the room, with a chair in the corner. As they passed through the room door, the demons sized up the room.

"Ok, how do you want this to work?" Sei said casually.

"Well, it's only for one night either way. One of us can have each bed, and the other can take the chair," the fox replied.

"Guard shifts. Whoever guards first should take the chair," Hiei remarked.

"Oh. In that case, I'll take the chair. I want to guard first," Sei said.

"Ok," the men replied in unison.

"Kurama-kun, will you tell me more about my past? Since you told me last week, I've been remembering more," the leopard asked. Kurama sighed heavily.

"Okay, what do you want to hear about?"

"The tattoo. I want to hear about how I got it."

We had met, learned together, trained together, and pulled off many heists together. Furthermore, we had fallen in love. This had gone on for two years, and I was at a loss for where to take our relationship next. Yomi and some of my other subordinates where urging me to do all sorts of things, none of them appropriate. Meanwhile, you still stayed by my side, the same way you always did, not even noticing the changes. Even so, I knew that you loved me. So many shared kisses and shared nights, but we both still had so much to learn about love. One day, I finally got an idea of what to do to finally mark you as mine. I would leave a physical mark, not a ring. That would be too dispensable. A tattoo would suffice nicely. That night, I came to you with my proposition.

"Sei… Will you love me forever?" I asked.

"Sure, as long as I'm able. I mean, you know, there's always the chance of separation and—"you replied until you were cut off by hard pressure on your lips; I had kissed you.

"Don't talk, just tell me straight. Will you?" I said. You nodded slowly. This was the moment of truth, when I finally asked you the big question.

"Will you… be my mate?" I asked quickly. You looked taken aback; you had probably never seen me so stressed and unsure. Then to my great pleasure, you nodded and said, "Yes." I smiled.

"Show me your shoulder." You did as I asked. With a small amount of rei, I marked the skin of you shoulder. It was a tattoo, something that would never go away, just like I hoped you would never leave me. A white rose. It represented me and you. Seeing what I had done, you asked for my shoulder, to do the same. I complied and you left a mark on my shoulder as well. We now belonged to each other, and I can say without regrets that there was no sleeping that night.

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So, um, thanks for reading. Next chapter, I promise will have more action and Sei will remember something big on her own. Ok, here's the deal. I'd like 10 reviews total before the next chapter is posted. If not, I won't be motivated to wite very quickly.

Sayuri