Umm... yeah. Last time I said I would update sooner... oh well. Good news is, I'm done with school for the year! Now off to college! Yikes!

So, a quick FYI on ages - there are lengends of kitsunes gaining a tail every hundred years, every thousand years, or just as they gain power. Kurama was living one thousand years ago with Yomi, so I am sticking with the one-tail-every-thousand-years lengend, making Kurama around three thousand years old. Of course, I may change my mind later and use a different legend, but I'll stay with this one for now.

Disclaimer: By now we all know that I only own Kaya.

"Very well. We shall meet in two weeks. I look forward to seeing you again."

Two weeks. It's been two weeks since I saw him. Today, I will find out where we stand. I just hope he forgives me for leaving all those years ago.

I ran a nervous hand through my hair one last time before finally stepping through the door to the restaurant we'd agreed to meet at. Unfortunately, I would be the first one here, which meant more waiting and worrying. I had just seen his mother ask him to make a delivery to their neighbor's house – this would be an extra five minutes.

I sat down in a small booth towards the front; the sun was shining and I was hoping to get to the park and meditate again soon. The little tug I had felt the one time had yet to make any reappearance. Hopefully, going back to that spot will bring it back. There was something indescribably important feeling about whatever was behind the tug.

My musings were cut short when someone slid into the seat across from me.

"Hello."

"Good afternoon. I trust you've been well?"

"No need to be so proper with me, Kurama. It doesn't fit the times, not to mention that it's never been used with me and probably never will. Nearly no one sees me as worth the effort. I'm used to it."

His face glazed over in sadness. "I know. That is why I will always give you the respect so many others don't deem you fit to have."

"Maybe because they are right."

He gave me a sharp look as he opened his mouth to try to correct me. I cut him off.

"Don't say it, I've lived through it. Even you treated me the same when we first met. Doesn't change much – I'll always be viewed as a weapon to gain possession of. Besides, today's purpose isn't to discuss any of that."

"You are right. Let's order some lunch and go from there."

After ordering, Kurama sat back in his seat with his arms crossed and a neutrally polite face. I knew that look. I began to laugh.

"What?"

I kept laughing. "You always had that look when you settled in for a necessary but most likely unpleasant talk. It won't work on me. You have to be apart of this conversation." By now my laughter was under control. "We both have a lot we need to get out."

He leaned over and took one of my hands when he saw my now depressed look. He understood immediately what I was referring to. "I know. But I will stay and listen until you ask me to leave. You know this."

I sighed. "Yes, I do."

Our food arrived before I had the chance to say much else. I peeked over at his plate of grilled chicken. If I remembered correctly…

"You honestly still like peas and dandelions in your salad? Better question – they actually serve that? I thought that was just a stage you were going through."

He huffed. "There is nothing unusual about peas or dandelions being in a salad. You, on the other hand, still dislike meat?" he gestured toward my picked apart sandwich.

I pulled a disgusted face. "Meat's gross. The texture's weird and I don't like the aftertaste. It reminds me of the smell of an awful area of Makai I was once dragged to."

"Sorry. I hadn't known it would be that bad."

Kurama and I ate in silence for the most part after that. When we finally pushed our plates aside he broke the silence.

"How has Yusuke been since the encounter with Hiei?"

I began to fidget. I hated it when I was on the receiving end of his scrutinizing stares. I just knew he was trying to figure out where this conversation was heading.

"He's doing well. At the moment he is training with the old psychic Genkai. Knowing Yusuke, he is probably cussing up a storm at having to follow the old bat's orders." I gazed over at Kurama's small grin. "How is your mother doing? Much better I would hope."

Kurama's smile grew bigger. "She is growing stronger and healthier by the day. She also won't stop asking about you – she seems quite taken with you. I would bet a good deal that she hopes to see you and me together one day."

'If only that would come true,' I mentally sighed. 'I suppose I should start explaining. I really don't want to upset him though.'

He beat me to it. "You know, I didn't recognize you when I first saw you. You looked so different."

"I had reached maturity when you first met me in Makai. I look about seven years younger at the moment. I'll stop aging again once I hit about twenty-two – just like before."

"How exactly did you end up in this situation?"

I turned my gaze to my lap as I took a deep breath to ease the tension I felt building in my chest.

"After I heard of your death, I went to Koenma. I decided to ask him if I could start over in the human world, at least for awhile. It seemed like a good time for a change of pace. As it is I'll probably leave in about ten or twelve years. People would start asking questions about why I'm not aging." It was an unfortunate fact of my line - we stop aging at maturity until we give birth to a daughter to inherit our psychic abilities. Even after that we don't age very quickly. "Anyway, Koenma allowed for me to revert back to when I was born with all memories intact, altering the memories of everyone in the hospital to think I was the twin of Yusuke Urameshi. It would appear as one of those cases where there was an undetected twin. All documents were provided with no one the wiser. All I really wanted was some time to live without feeling hunted."

We were both quiet. I knew he was waiting for me to continue. My eyes traced the lines of his throat until they eventually locked with his own emerald orbs. 'Now or never.'

"I am so sorry, Kurama. I had to leave. If I had stayed, nothing I could have done would've helped you in anyway. You would have been killed." No need now to say how he would have died.

I watched his eyes turned desolate.

"I searched for you - Kuronue and myself both. We couldn't find you. After he died, I continued to search, following leads and any little bit of information I could force out. Never once did I find a real trail. I thought you were dead."

I really wanted to cry at the moment. He wasn't yelling, he never did, but this was worse. His low voice was seeped with despair and his hands were fisted so tight his knuckles had turned white.

I let myself slump back against my seat. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't go back. I had to protect us both. If what I saw came to pass you would have died and I would be long since caught." I could only tell him this tiny part of the truth. I had left to keep us both alive, but if he knew the most important part… the reason he would have died… he's not ready to know yet.

Kurama slowly reached back toward me. "Would we have really? I would have done anything to protect you – that's part of why I mated you."

I rolled my eyes. Of course. Leave it to Youko Kurama to play the power card. 'I would have done anything to protect you my ass. He has no idea.' "Yeah, sure, I was just going to let my mate be put in death's way by sticking around. No way."

He let loose a slight growl as he clenched his hand. "I do not appreciate the sarcasm Kaya."

"Why shouldn't I be sarcastic? You can just do whatever and leave your mate at home with her visions to figure out if you would ever come back and I can't walk off the property without giving you a full report?"

Kurama took a deep breath. "Stop grasping at straws. We are here to discuss the future, not the past. Besides, I was never gone for more than a few weeks – you were gone for over one hundred years."

He was right, not that I was thrilled by the thought. We both did what we had to. "I did try to keep an eye on you, but your lifestyle was so sporadic I couldn't do much to help without you knowing it was me."

"Couldn't you have at least told me you were going to leave?"

If it weren't for the context of that question, I would have laughed. "Kurama, if I had told you I wanted to leave, you would have thrown me over your shoulder and carried me off to one of your abandoned hide-outs. I wouldn't have been allowed to leave the vicinity until you had proven why staying with you was my best option."

He lifted his lips into a smirk. "You know you would have enjoyed every second from the moment I had you over my shoulder. But you still could have told me before I went mad with worry." I bowed my head.

"I couldn't. I am truly sorry for every pain it caused you. I wanted to come back, so badly. And then I heard you were dead. I called in that favor to Koenma and now know that you are alive and well." I stretched my hand the rest of the way to grasp his. "So much has happened, but I still want to come back to you."

Kurama gave my hand a small squeeze. "I know you're not telling me everything Kaya, but then again you never have." I sent him a pointed glare. "I know, neither have I. However, you've always had good reasons behind the secrecy, so I am willing to be patient. You will eventually tell me. Until then, I would like to try again."

I stared at him in confusion. What did he mean 'try again'?

He chuckled. "I want to court you. And for real this time, not the half hurried job I did last time. We need to get to know each other again, don't you agree?"

"Do you think? Last time we all of kissed once and then our next real intimate physical contact was the mating ritual! Hardly romantic by anyone's standard." Kurama chuckled again as he lifted my hand to his lips.

"You are correct. We should have done it right the first time. How about we start with going to the park and explain what we've been up to for the past fifteen years of human life?" He pulled me to my feet before I had a chance to argue.

"It sounds great, Kurama. I just have one question though. I'm not worried about mom, but how are we going to tell Yusuke?"

There was no answer to that question.

"Are you serious? Do you have any idea how wrong that sounds coming from you? Man, I would've loved to see that. And you thought you were such the ladies' man." Of all the ridiculous stories he would pick up… the great Makai thief not knowing what a bra was topped the list. But I guess I never really knew what one was until I lived in the human world either so…

"You can not criticize me for that lack of knowledge. You didn't wear one when we were together, so you certainly didn't know what it was either."

"Of course not. They hadn't been invented yet," I huffed.

Kurama laughed. "Alright, I suppose I can except that excuse. But now I am curious, how come you seem to be so…exuberant? Your behavior is so cheerful."

I bit my lip in thought. What could I say to that? "I guess I've just relaxed a bit. Not that I wasn't happy and relaxed before, it's just now…"

He looked at me curiously. "What?"

I led him down the pathway that led to the park's koi pond before answering. "I haven't been attacked or hunted down in nearly fifteen years Kurama. In the Makai, I always had to be on guard. But here it's different - it's normally such a comfortable… atmosphere… here…" I began to trail off. We had walked right up to the bench I had meditated on previously, and my mind snapped back to the tugging that had thrown me out of my meditation.

I could not get that tug off of my mind. Something like that had never happened, and to have it happen right after my involvement with other demons started again… it's too much of a coincidence.

"Kaya. Kaya!"

I started. "Huh? Oh, I'm so sorry, I just remembered something…"

Kurama lifted a brow. "You remembered something that was able to make you stop not only in the middle of walking but also the middle of a conversation? Out with it my dear, this has only happened to you with something important."

I sighed. You couldn't get around anything with that man. Might as well say it now. "It's really not important, but a few days before Yusuke and I met up with you to save your mother, I came to this park and meditated on that bench. I was able to go deeper than I've been able to recently, when this little tug sort of nudged its way in. I tried to go deeper into the tug, but it literally kicked me out of my meditating. I haven't felt it since then."

"But you haven't truly meditated since then, have you."

"Not in that spot or that deeply, no."

"Well then, we will worry about that when and if it happens again. Today is about us."

He took my hand and led me to a different bench, likely to try to bring a lighter edge to our conversation. "May I ask, have your tastes changed or do you still enjoy fine art?"

I took back my hand and wrapped it around his arm. "As long as you aren't planning to steal anything, then that would be fine. But afterward, we have to do something that's actually considered fun."

For the first time in years I got to see the legendary bandit throw back his head and laugh.

6 months later…

It had been six months since Yusuke went to train with Genkai and since Kurama and I decided what we were going to do now that we're both living as human teenagers.

And I must say, this has to be one of the slowest courting periods in demon history. Six months and the great thief known for his numerous lovers has barely gotten around to giving me a peck on the cheek at the end of a date! He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to take his time.

But still, I certainly won't complain – I would never be able to say how wonderful it was to have my lover back in my life. Even if I did have to deal with his little "fan club".

My first encounter with the many adoring followers of "Shuichi" was interesting to say the least; not even my own AJ from school was as bad as these girls. I must say I am proud I didn't back down.

I had stopped at Kurama's school a couple of times for an afternoon walk with him – just one of those lazy strolls around town – until one day I got out of school early and had to wait for him to finish class. Unfortunately, they were waiting.

I honestly could have laughed once I saw the ridiculous pins they were all wearing, but managed to hold it in as one of the girls stepped toward me.

"How do you know Shuichi?" she demanded.

I still wanted to laugh. "Old friend of mine. Why do you ask?" 'Feh, obvious why – she's jealous. Don't even have to look in her head for that.'

She grimaced. "You've been hanging out alone with him. Everyone within four districts knows no one is allowed to go out with him. Look but don't touch," she finished with a satisfied smirk. I just gave her a small smile. The boy was already mine anyway – there was nothing she could do that would ever affect that – except give us a few laughs now and then.

"Guess it's a good thing I'm not part of those districts." I glanced over her shoulder. Now there was an expression I never would have imagined even in my wildest dreams. I didn't know Youko Kurama could make such a face. I could definitely have fun with this… "Hi Shuichi! How are you this fine and lovely afternoon? You never told me you had such good friends."

He leveled a fierce glare my way. I only smiled.

"Good afternoon Kaya, ladies. May I ask what I have missed of this little introduction?"

The girl who appeared to be the groups' 'leader' immediately ran up to latch onto Kurama's arm. "Oh, not much. We were just… welcoming your little friend."

I nearly gagged. "How do you stand being touched by that thing? And do NOT bring up that Youko would have eaten this kinda thing up."

He grimaced. "I can not stand it. Did they hurt you?

I gave him back a simpering smile for an answer before walking up to the giggling bimbo and physically removing her hand from my man's arm. "Would you mind? As pleasant as this meeting has been, Shuichi and I have an appointment to get to. Good day." I had promptly dragged Kurama away after taking enough control of the girls' metal capacity to stop any further annoyances from them.

"You're controlling them aren't you?" Kurama laughed.

I hadn't even deemed that worth an answer. Today though, I was not going to let those girls anywhere near us. I had a plan and my mate was going to enjoy having a break from school, rabid fan girls, and family health problems. Mom would be gone until after night fall this evening and Yusuke would most likely be with Keiko the rest of the day to make up for being gone for the past six months. So this was the perfect time to stay at home and pamper the battered fox demon. That and I had to start making it up to him for having left at some point.

No sooner had I thought that than the man of the day knocked on the apartment door. I bounded out of the kitchen and to the front door, throwing it open to reveal Kurama's startled face. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck with the demon speed I hadn't used in years. "Hi!"

"Well, someone certainly is excited today. Do I want to know what you've been planning if you are this keyed up?"

I laughed at his still surprised expression before giving him a quick peck on his lips. "Of course you want to know! Who knows better how to relax you than the woman who has been you mate for centuries?" I let go of his neck and grabbed his hand to pull him into the apartment, only to give up any hope of budging him when Kurama remained frozen on the door step.

I looked back at him. "Kurama? Is something wrong?" He just stared at me for a moment with an odd light in his eyes. I turned to him fully. "Kurama?"

In answer, he swiftly picked me up and pushed my back against the now closed door. Before I had time to see what was going through his mind Kurama suddenly moved his lips to cover mine, forcing his tongue into my mouth. He dominated any and all movement I attempted, effectively proving he would always be the alpha of our mating.

I tried to match each probe made into my mouth, but lost my train of thought when his wonderfully gentle hands turned rough as they moved from my hair to slowly inch up toward my chest. I came back into the game with a small nip to his tongue when he suddenly froze in his movements.

I pulled back from him as much as I could when I realized what made him stop – the communicator Botan had left for me was going off.

I gave Kurama a quick glare – he wouldn't get off me - before reaching my mind out to create a shield around the communicator and lifted it over to where I was trapped tightly against the door. I grabbed it and popped it open, Kurama and myself immediately cringing at the sound of the spirit prince's shrill voice. "Koenma, shut up and slow down!"

Koenma's mouth snapped shut as he glared at me. He began again only this time slower and at a more pleasant pitch. "Your brother and his spiritually aware friend are currently on their way to Maze Castle in Makai. I want you, Kurama, and Hiei to join them. You three are to assist as needed."

I glanced at Kurama and saw a calculating look had replaced the lustful stare I had finally recognized was present not thirty seconds earlier. "So you want us to… Wait, you sent my brother and Kuwabara to Maze Castle on their OWN!? Are you insane? The Saint Beasts will rip them apart!"

"Relax. Botan just sent them in. There won't be enough time before you get there for them to screw up."

"You'd better be right. So what exactly do you want us to do when we 'assist'?"

Koenma waved a hand at me. "Oh, you know, the usual: saving Kuwabara, fighting Yusuke's battles for him, the like." He paused as his eyes widened in what had to be realization. "Uh, Kaya? Why are you so close to Kurama?"

We stared at him. I know Koenma's still young by Spirit World standards, but really?

"Perhaps you should worry about telling us where to go so we are able to help rather than worry why two mates are alone together," Kurama answered with a very testy air. Apparently, some one still didn't like having his private time interrupted.

Koenma winced. "Sure… I'll just send the coordinates of the portal to the communicator and leave you guys to it. I've already contacted Hiei, so you know. Bye!" The screen suddenly clicked off. I looked back up at Kurama's face. 'Why is he still so close?'

"Um… do you want to move? Just a little?"

He continued to stare at me. "No."

"Okay… do you want to tell me why you just initiated something truly worthy of a kitsune?"

He shrugged. "You are - well, were - my mate. Feeling you so intimately after so long… well, I couldn't resist the invitation."

I watched him in wonder. "If you reacted so strongly to such a small action… you haven't been with anyone since I last saw you have you?"

Kurama lowered his head slightly and moved away from me to open the door. "I kept waiting for you to return. For now, however, I think we should head to Makai and continue this… activity… at a later date. Ladies first?"