Secrets of a Family

Chapter 2

Yoko tried to get his breathing under control, he was the king of thieves, and he had a reputation to up hold. He was the cool and collected demon who could not be caught, right? His near brush with death may have left him near exhaustion, but he was backed into a corner and foxes always fight the hardest when backed into corners.

"Yoko Kurama of the Silver clans, known as the King of Thieves." She nodded having heard of him before. "My work is my business. I…underestimated the thunder demon. I would have paid for that mistake had you not stepped in…I thank you," he realized he would have to pay her back for saving his life, intentionally or not. "I must repay you -"

"Thanks for the offer, but it's unnecessary. I don't need or want anything."

"Then why aid me if you wanted nothing in return? You could have easily killed the demon before I stopped to face him, before I was in any real danger…"

She turned and began to walk away. He called after her.

"Is there nothing you wish for, nothing you desire, nothing I could give you and simply walk away?"

She stopped. "There is…one thing…one thing I crave more than any material thing in this, or any other world."

She seemed reluctant to continue. Yoko tried to encourage her- he was a kitsune and kitsune are extremely curious creatures. What could such a dangerous beauty want, and yet be so uneager to reveal?

"What is it that you desire more than anything?" He whispered walking towards her.

She turned around. Cocking her head at an angle, her ears flicked in opposing directions,to an innocent bystander she would have looked absolutely adorable- but Yoko Kurama knew better than to think so about a full grown kitsune, they are never cute they are seductive.

Her grin was full of fox mischief as she spoke slowly, as though purposefully choosing her words. "I refuse to tell a strange demon, fox or not, what I desire. Besides, you are a thief, right? So shouldn't you be able to just 'steal' my secrets?" Still speaking to him, she turned around seeming innocently surprised at her own thinking. "Unless, you don't think yourself capable of such a task…" She trailed off, clearly knowing that she had just insulted his abilities as both the King of Thieves and a kitsune. She challenged him and he liked it. He was not going to back down from this new challenge.

"Then, Lady Tsukiko, I am just going to have to join you wherever you may go, until I repay you this debt, and prove that I am more than up to any challenge placed before me. Your secrets will soon be mine." Yoko elegantly bowed, his many tails swishing in excitement; he winced.

He forgot he was still injured; He could not be so distracted especially if he was to steal this vixen's secrets. As he looked up, knowing she saw him cringe, she was right there. Less than a breath away from him watching him as he languidly rose from his position.

Yoko noted in the back of his mind that she was more than a full head shorter than him. He warily watched as she slowly reached out a hand to touch a particularly nasty burn across his chest. Her hands were icy and felt good against the scarred flesh. He watched only her light eyes.

She lifted her warming hand away; he glanced down at the lack of pain.

All his burns were gone…Yoko's golden eyes narrowed in confusion. This "Tsukiko" had saved his life, albeit unintentionally, already. Then she tells him that she wants nothing in return for her kindness, and now he finds that she has used some sort of ability to heal his burns- just what game is she playing at? Kitsune courtesy demanded that he not leave her side until his life debt be repaid; was this what she was after? To have the elusive King of Thieves, the heartthrob of many a female and male- any who had set eyes upon him, at her beck and call? Yoko wasn't certain but he was damn well going to find out! He was not some vixen's plaything! Yet he had to be careful- in the state he was in now, still exhausted from running so far and using so much energy, she could easily destroy him and he had no plans of dying just yet.

"Why did you do that?"

Tsukiko glanced at him curiously before looking up at the night sky. "Do what, Thief?"

He skeptically crossed his arms across his defined chest, "Firstly, you saved me, unintentionally, and now you have just healed my wounds. Though kitsune courtesy demands that I return the deed, I demand to know the reasons for your actions. Surely there was more to the story than you happened to be searching for the same artifact as myself."

She remained looking thoughtfully at the stars. Yoko was getting impatient. It took a truly talented person to get this kitsune impatient or irritated.

"Hmm…you're right Fox, I wasn't here just to get the amulet for my Lord," She looked him square in the eye. Her silvery eyes flecked with an icy blue color. "I am here on behalf of my Lord, searching for you." She looked critically at him to see if he would interrupt her to make some other atrocious claim.

"My Lord has need of a demon of your talents and caliber. In fact, he is most anxious to meet with the infamous Yoko Kurama." She smiled softly at some memory for a moment before becoming completely serious. Yoko was almost disappointed; she was beautiful in that moment- and kitsune love beautiful things.

"What Lord do you serve, vixen?" she raised a brow at the generalized term, but shook her irritation off.

"I temporarily serve your childhood rival and friend- Lord Sesshomaru of the inu clan under the Moon in the Western Lands. My Lord has great need of someone like you to aid him in a personal quest of the up-most secrecy. Of course your efforts will not be left without reward. Will you meet with him?"

"Certainly, but I will only aid the old dog if the prize is worthy of this Yoko's skills."

She laughed lightly at him. "I would have expected nothing less from the King of Thieves."

Kurama felt himself being pulled from the memory, 'Wait- what happened next? Who is Sesshomaru, what did he want you for?-' The kitsune within his mind cut through any other thoughts the avatar had. 'That's enough for now, but I am sure you see my point. The lovely woman in Yusuke's living room is without a doubt the same as the vixen I knew centuries ago.'

Kurama's human counterpart, Shuuichi, frowned within his mind. 'Perhaps Yoko, but I still don't understand how that is possible- though the two are similar in appearance the one is clearly human while Tsukiko is not.'

Kurama felt Yoko's frustration with the human part of himself. 'Then, ningen, take the chance to observe that although we appear to be human we most certainly are not. At least not completely. Perhaps what happened to me happened to her. I do not know- all I know is that that is my vixen and I will not let her go this time. Besides, I will show you more at a later time, but right now Red needs to get back to reality.'

Kurama tried to hang onto the consciousness of the fox thief, but was at a loss because he clearly did not want to be bothered anymore by his host. Kurama blinked and found himself back in the Urimeshi living room…with everyone looking at him like his hair turned blue.

Kagome looked at the people who entered her cousin's living room through the reikei portal. Keiko looked good, if a bit upset; her hair had grown longer since her teenage years, and of course she was wearing that new piece of jewelry- a simple white gold band that looked like it was woven around her ring finger.

The others with Keiko were certainly strange though. The man next to Keiko was tall, he had mixed energy like a hanyou, and dark hair that was gelled back. He wore normal human clothes, but had fierce brown eyes that seemed just as upset as Keiko; maybe even a little angry. This must be Keiko's husband Yusuke. He seemed like he was Spirit Detective material, in any case, he had fought in some dangerous battles, according to her cousin. Wonder why they were both upset though?

Perhaps it has something to do with her being in their living room…nah.

There was also a hybrid youkai, half ice and half fire, a forbidden. She noticed that he had a jagan eye, covered by a white band, in the center of his forehead. He was certainly a dark person; much of his attire was black. As many elemental demons are, particularly fire demons, he was shorter than his companions but not by much. Kagome continued to look the forbidden demon over; she saw that he was powerful, with a katana strapped to his waist and a hell dragon covered on his arm. Yes, she would have to be wary of him. He would definitely be one of the most dangerous of the group. Looking at his ruby eyes that reminded her of a certain neko, she saw that he was observing her just as critically as she was he. Good. She was not someone to be taken lightly, not anymore.

-Hmm, but you have to admit miko, he is very cute. He's got that whole sadistic, pessimistic, homicidal- protector thing going for him. It's kind of sexy. -

'Tsukiko, shut up before you get me in trouble with Keiko…again.'

-Whatever you say miko; just remember that we are still on a mission. -

'You're one to talk you easily distracted, perverted, narcistic, possessive vixen!'

-Sweetie, complimenting me isn't going to get you back on track; it only makes me seem even more perfect. Besides weren't you the one who wanted to stop talking and…Oh by Inari, Yoko Kurama. It can't be, yet that's his youki…-

'Uh, Tsukiko, what are you talking about?'

-Look to your left, the red staring at you next to Kuronue, that's Yoko Kurama.-

Kagome glanced over all the other young men and women in the room, noting their strengths, weaknesses, and who they probably were, before seeing just what her fox spirit was talking about. Next to her old friend Kuronue, whom she met during her adventures to the past and before that briefly as Tsukiko, was a very handsome man. Shoulder-length blood red hair, and deep green eyes, speckled with gold, which spoke of wisdom and inner-conflict; he reminded her of someone, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Wait a sec- wasn't Yoko Kurama that thief that Tsukiko had an affair with hundreds of years ago?! But this guy isn't a demon, is he? The red-haired man was well muscled, hygienic, and seemed to be unfocused- like he wasn't all there. She started to notice that her staring was causing others to stare curiously at him. Kagome quickly looked away when the young man looked right at her. She'd have to worry about him later.

She finally noticed some people she hadn't before: her little brother, Souta, and her sister-like friends, Rin and Kirara. Souta and Rin were watching her closely and smirking like they had some big secret to tell. Kirara…well Kirara was staring at the hybrid demon as though she couldn't decide how to make his life miserable. Kagome internally sighed, that cat would never learn.

Kagome smiled cheerfully at the large group. "Well, are you guys just going to stand there or do I get some hugs." Almost immediately Souta, Rin, and Kirara tackled her.

"Gah…guys I can't breathe." She laughed lightly as they retreated from their "attack".

"So Keiko, I heard you tied the knot. Who is he and…who are all these people in your living room?" Kagome questioned her dear cousin.

Keiko walked up to Kagome hesitating before giving her a heartfelt hug. "I missed you so much." Keiko backed up, still hanging on, completely serious, "You weren't at my wedding." Kagome was instantly nervous knowing that she was in so much trouble for missing out on her cousin's big day.

"Uh, yeah, about that, you see there was this demon and he decided that I looked like a good woman to kidnap-"

10 minutes later "- so you see I couldn't come because of this adorable little girl, who needed my help, and 500 years later turned into the lovely and screwed up Princess Rin."

Said princess glared at her, whilst everyone else (except those that already knew about the whole time-travel thing) just appeared to be absolutely floored by the priestess avatar- and that only took her 10minutes.

Important AN- Sorry guys I know it's been a long time but I just want to get this out of the way; this chapter has been seriously ticking me off and my dad is not doing anything to help my mood right now, my parents told me to go to the library to read except that I kinda need the computer to do anything at all!

~Sigh~ Rant over, and one more thing- I know for a fact thanks to our new hits recorder that more people are reading this than review, a lot more ppl. So I just want to ask nicely for a review from someone, and thank you to those that have reviewed I know the chapters have been taking me a long time, but I am working on a couple of different things right now that I hope to post within this month…

So again just one or two more reviews is all I am asking for here out of the dozens of people who hit up my story, I'm not going to stop writing or anything if you don't it's just nice to hear some feedback once in a while.

To my few loyal reviewers- I will be thanking you all in the next chapter

Thank you to those that actually read this.

RoseGlass