It wasn't difficult to tell that Kurama was immensely pleased with how his first encounter with the woman, Ichigo, had gone. It also wasn't hard for the fox demon to begin integrating himself into the woman's life little by little, each day afterwards.

It was thanks entirely to the fact that he had stuck to that ridiculous story that Yusuke and Kuwabara had given her about his wiring being bad, so his fridge stayed in her home, which allowed him to drop in on her pretty much every day whenever he pleased.

And whenever he was there, he managed to stay for a while and visit. Which also allowed him to ask her questions about her life, family, friends, likes and dislikes and gather other necessary information on her that would likely come in handy later on.

He was surprised to learn that she already knew that his fridge being in her home was part of a courtship ritual.

In fact, he'd pretty much fallen on his ass when she'd accidentally let that slip to him one morning after she'd invited him to eat breakfast with her. And he'd simply been so damned shocked to hear her admit it that he had lost his usual composure and hadn't been able to stop or catch himself when his knees suddenly went weak on him in relief, and he'd fallen to the floor with a loud thud.

But thankfully, he had recovered quickly. Though not quickly enough to save his pride- nor his ego- but whatever.

In the end though, knowing that she knew about demon courtship rituals after all, had been a boon that worked in his favor since he gradually began to notice over the next few days after that, that she was reciprocating and courting him back.

However, unlike him, and his move of carrying his fridge up to her apartment, Ichigo proved to be much more subtle about her actions.

Kurama didn't think that he'd ever met someone so inspired by being courted by a demon before that they would actually engage in slightly inhuman courting habits. Yet Ichigo startled him by doing just that.

She started out small and had begun to leave him random gifts here and there. As he had mentioned before- she was subtle so sometimes her gifts were difficult to see/find. Or at least they would have been for him if he had been a human.

Thankfully, he wasn't.

Which is one of the only reasons why he even managed to find the little crazed squirrel and tiny hummingbird that she'd caught for him and then let them both loose in his apartment somehow without his knowledge while he had been at work.

As far as courting gifts went, he'd certainly had stranger things gifted to him. But those things had also been far less entertaining to him.

One thing was certain, once he realized what they were, he couldn't stop grinning to himself even as he set out to try and capture them.

He chased those damned animals all around his apartment, trying to catch them for the better part of several days. The hummingbird was far easier to catch than the squirrel was since all he had to do was offer it food after it had gone without for a while. Whereas the deranged little rodent proved to be a bit more of a challenge to him.

Especially since it seemed to go to great lengths to try and drive him mad.

Or at least that was what he had convinced himself of after failing to catch it, repeatedly after a few days. Only to find that the blasted thing had decided to take up residence in his garden where it kept gnawing on his plants until finally he broke down and went up to Ichigo's apartment and asked her to come and help him get the damned squirrel out of his apartment before it got itself eaten.

The woman had laughed almost hysterically at him the whole time that they had walked down to his apartment. And once they were on his floor, he even got to see how her let herself into his home to begin with.

The damned woman did it by using one of her fingernails to let herself inside without making so much as a sound. A feat that was positively unheard of given the strength of the locks on the building doors.

Yet it was certainly a noteworthy trick that he would be asking about later on.

But that didn't stop him from standing in the doorway glaring at his stupid door lock as if it had just betrayed him when he heard her make a strange chattering sound, that drew his eyes away from the door just in time to see the squirrel come tearing out of its latest hiding place and run right up to her.

The damned thing even allowed her to pick it up! All while it chattered back at her as if it were telling her everything that had happened since she'd unleashed it upon him.

Ichigo smiled at the animal and chattered back at it, making that same strange sound again before finally turning to him and gently prying the animal from her clothing, and handed it to him, leaving him feeling confused and just a bit put out. After all, if catching the rodent had been that easy then why hadn't he managed to catch it without her help?

He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do then since he hadn't really planned on ever managing to catch the damned thing alive and in one piece. He'd had plenty of fantasies of killing it. But now that he had it in his grasp, he felt that that would be the wrong move to make.

Especially since it seemed so very calm and happy.

"How did you do that?" He asked curiously, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

Ichigo merely smiled at him; it was one of those deceptively sweet smiles that hid terrifying intentions that usually scared the shit out of anything remotely male and with common sense. And to be honest, it kind of terrified him too even as she said smugly, "You just have to know how to talk to him." As she gave the beguiled squirrel a quick scratch under the chin with her fingertips and then walked away from them both, cackling, to go back up to her floor.

It was then and there that Kurama admitted to himself that he loved a woman of skill.

And the skill to turn a deranged and possibly psychotic animal into a loving, and calm, little puddle of goo was definitely a skill worth possessing as far as he was concerned. Especially when there was a very real possibility of having an animal army at one's beck and call.

Honestly, the people of Disney would be envious of such a terrifying skill! God knew that he was certainly envious of such a skill right then.

But it didn't help him with what he was supposed to do with the animal now since he no longer wished to break its little neck. He wasn't sure how long he must have stood there in the open door of his apartment thinking about what to do with the little creature before he finally sighed and resigned himself to keeping it since it was a gift and all.

And since he wound up keeping the squirrel, he also wound up keeping the little hummingbird.

He let them both make homes for themselves in his garden, away from his more dangerous plants. He also wound-up naming them too.

He named the bird Bee, due to the sound its wings made whenever it was flying. And he named the squirrel, Psycho since he felt that it would be entertaining to call the rodent's name whenever his friends decided to drop by his home for another visit.

Hiei and Yusuke would at least get a good laugh out of it. Whereas Kuwabara would probably scream and run for the door. Oh well, at least he'd get some entertainment out of the fluffy tailed little scourge.