The restaurant that Kurama took Ichigo to for dinner was one of the nicest places in the city. It was also someplace that catered to both demons and humans alike.

Which made it ideal to him since it was a place that was both private and also a place where they could talk freely about anything and everything that had to do with their pasts without being looked at as if they were both nuts.

And he would admit, he had been getting a tad bit antsy lately about finally asking her about her involvement with Koenma and Spirit World since both topics were very sensitive information and his curiosity could be held back only so much.

Taking her hand once they were out of the car, he led her to the door where he put the manners that he'd been taught by his mother to good use and opened the door for her so that she could enter the building first.

She blushed prettily and thanked him before entering, and even turned around to take hold of the door so that she could hold it open for him as well.

Which was a cute move on her part. And very flattering too since he gave her an amused smile as he passed through the door so that he could join her and then waited for her to release the door so that he could take her hand again and place it on his arm and then led her up to the hostess.

Thanks to the reservation that he'd made hours before, it didn't take them very long to be seated and place a drink order while they looked over their menus for what they wanted to have for dinner.

He found it interesting that despite the niceness of the restaurant and coziness of the atmosphere and place where they were seated, Ichigo didn't want to indulge in drinking any alcohol. Even while Yuki was gone, she still took care not to do something that adversely affect the baby somehow. Which was not only impressive to him but very endearing as well.

And since she refused to drink any liquor, he decided not to indulge himself in drinking any liquor as well. So, they both wound up getting a couple of simple sweet tea's and then waited for their waiter to leave them before he finally decided to start up the conversation with, "Tell me something about yourself that I don't know yet."

Ichigo tilted her head to the side a little bit and regarded him with an oddly calculating expression that he'd never seen on her face before as he sensed the gears in her head turning.

He got the impression that she was trying to think of something that he didn't know about her yet and discarding a lot of stuff that randomly popped into her head before finally asking, "Like what?"

"Like...for example," He paused for a moment to shrug his shoulders and plaster an innocent look on his face. "How you got involved with Spirit World and Koenma."

He had never seen someone flinch as if they had just been slapped by him before. Especially a woman that he was courting.

So, he wasn't really sure what to do now and just wound up sitting there, waiting in silence for some sort of response from her.

It was awkward too. Uncomfortably so, but eventually she spoke again.

"Ah...I'm guessing that you've been curious about that for a while."

His eyes locked on her face, and he just nodded his head, suddenly afraid that he'd crossed a line of some sort that had just ruined everything that they had both been building between them.

"Okay." She said in a slightly shaky tone that had him frowning at her before he said sagely.

"You don't have to tell me if you aren't comfortable doing so, Ichigo." And he meant every word to. After all, for his question to elicit such a reaction from her- it must be something that was hard for her to speak of. And if she didn't wish to speak of it...then he could always ask Koenma.

Hell, he could even bully Koenma for the answers he wanted. But he wasn't going to push her for them.

"Uh, no. It's okay." She finally said with a small smile. "It was something that you would have asked me eventually anyways. I just...wasn't prepared for it to be right now, that's all."

He wasn't going to lie; he felt a small measure of relief at hearing that and then settled down so that she could tell him everything.

He had thought that her story would be a simple one akin to Yusuke's. That she had accidentally died at the wrong time and had somehow just wound up working for Koenma in a different capacity than he and his friends had as Spirit Detectives.

He was ill prepared for what he found out. But despite that he still listened anyway. His mind absorbing the knowledge like a dry sponge absorbed water as she told him everything from the beginning to end.

Her age when she had become embroiled with Spirit World, how she had more or less become a soldier in Spirit World's military. The near constant fighting, close calls on her life, her family and friend's lives, the assassination attempts that she'd foiled while guarding nobles, and most importantly of all- the war.

A war that had only recently ended without any of them being the wiser.

Needless to say, Kurama wasn't sure that he was all that pleased about being left out of the loop in such a big way. After all, he prided himself on the fact that he was well informed about everything that happened in the three worlds.

And the fact that Koenma hadn't bothered to contact he nor his friends and ask them for their help with the incident, stung a bit. Especially since Koenma had promised to come to them if he absolutely had too, regardless of their retired status.

So, knowing that there had been a war in any capacity...didn't sit well with him for certain reasons.

After all, hadn't he, Yusuke, Hiei and Kuwabara proved themselves to be capable and reliable over the years that they had worked for him?

Why would he hide such a thing from them? Didn't they have a right to know that life itself- worldwide in all three of the realms- had been in imminent danger? That it could have been wiped out without any warning?

He was trying to figure out why they had been left ignorant and uninformed when he heard Ichigo say, "He didn't tell any of you about those things because you were out."

"Hn?" He said as he glanced at her face. He had been so deep in thought about what he had learned that he had looked away from her and had been ignoring her without meaning to.

"You were finally retired. You had lived through so much already and were finally moving on with your lives and were happy. Koenma didn't want to bring you back into the thick of things and lose any of you. You're his friends. He never would have been able to live with it."

He wasn't sure what to say to that since he already knew that Koenma had been grappling with a lot of guilt over a multitude of things that he and the others had gone through since the first Dark Tournament that they had been in. So, hearing that the prince had decided to keep certain things under wraps once they had been retired and gone on with their lives was somewhat more understandable.

Though it didn't sooth his feeling much. Especially since while he and the others had moved on with their lives, Ichigo had been forced into situations far, far worse.

Spirit World's military may be small in numbers compared to the numbers in both the human and Demon World's armies...but they were also incredibly savage, vicious, and unfathomably brutal.

He could only imagine the horrors that Ichigo had been subjected to during her time being trained by and fighting alongside them.

Though he also supposed that the fact that she had been trained by some of the higher ups there and fought beside them during certain incidents would explain some stuff that he had noticed about her.

The way that she was so quiet at times. How watchful she was, was also something that he'd noticed. She seemed to be far more in tune in others than even he was. Physically and emotionally. It was often as if she could feel everything that no one else could.

And he already knew that she picked up on certain details easily.

Lying to her was nearly impossible for him, even when it came to trying to surprise her with something nice.

But then since she had worked alongside soldiers- so certain behaviors were to be expected. After all, she would have had to be quiet, watchful, and very aware of everything just to stay alive during the battle's, fights, and conflicts that she'd mentioned.

"And you are retired now?" He finally asked once he could finally think of a good question to ask.

After all, if she weren't retired yet, then it meant that she was still active and could be called upon at any time to fight again. And he didn't like the mere idea of that happening anytime soon. Especially since the endgame to their courtship was a mating.

If she were called away to fight again after they were mated...he would go with her. And if she fell, he would choose to die as well so that they would be together again. Which would mean that they both would be leaving little Yuki an orphan.

All of those things, to him, were completely unacceptable.

"I am," She said, causing him to inwardly sigh in relief at her reply. "I've been permanently retired for the past few months now."

"I see." He said with a wry smile before asking. "Is it wrong of me to be glad about that?"

She giggled, "No. Not at all."

He smiled at her and reached across the table to take hold of her hand and relished the feel of their hands linking together.