"Not like that. You'll never get me if you attack from that direction. I only have to do this…"

Kurama dodged to his right and knocked Ariya to the ground in a split second.

"And I could have taken your life easily."

Ariya stared at the ground blankly. She had been training so hard, but still, she could never meet Kurama's standards. How was she ever going to get revenge?

"Get up. You won't accomplish anything by just lying on the ground."

Ariya forced herself to stand up. Why did that stupid fox have to hit her so hard? It was just training…

"And if you're wondering why I hit you so hard, it's because I wanted you to know, that if that was a real battle, you would have been dead."

Ariya scowled. Sometimes, she wondered whether Kurama had the ability to read minds or not.

Kurama smiled at her. "Don't look at me that way. It's better if you smile more often. Since the day I first found you, I don't recall ever seeing you smile. I think… You'd look a lot nicer if you do."

Ariya didn't answer. How could anyone be so calm and cool about issues like this? Now, she started to doubt that the fox had feelings…

And not to mention, he never seemed to notice how tired she was…

"We'll leave it here today."

"Huh?"

"I can see you're tired. So, what say you and I go do something fun, shall we?"

"HUH?"

Chapter 4 – Tangled Emotions

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi, and no matter how much I wish, NO, Kurama doesn't belong to me either. Please don't sue or flame me, I'm broke…

Ok, this chapter will be mostly flashbacks, to make things clearer, I hope…

By the way, I really want to thank whoever it was who reviewed my fanfic the other day, I can't tell you how pleased I am. I know it's only one review, and it's the only one I got (not to mention the first one I got, too), but it means a lot to me. Thanks.

And again, this is how the format goes:

"Kuronue!" – This is when they are talking out loud

'What the…' – This is when they are thinking

Flashback – Flashbacks and…

'No way…' – This is the irritating little voice in Ariya or Kurama or anyone else's head. The irritating one…


"Come on. I heard there's going to be a festival at the nearby village. It will be fun."

"Fun?"

"You'll see when we get there. But stay close to me, ok? I don't want you to get lost."

They drew near the village. The laughter of little children rang out in the night sky and bright torches lit up the entire village.

A sudden image of burning houses, with maniacal laughter and lots of blood surfaced in Ariya's mind. She hid behind Kurama.

"What's the matter?"

"Is the village on fire?"

"Nonsense, those are only torches." Then he realized she was really scared. "It's alright. I won't let this village burn down. Trust me."

Ariya nodded her head. But she still stayed behind him as they were walking through the decorated houses, clutching his clothes tightly.

The villagers had smiles on their faces as they welcomed the two strangers into their midst. They were located quite far from any communication so they haven't heard of Youko Kurama before. Even if they did, they didn't even know how he looked like.

'It's better that way. At least she could experience a normal life every now and then.'

The festival was held to celebrate the full moon. A few village girls started dancing around the fire, and soon some others joined them.

Normally, when he visited such places during these times, he would be eyeing the valuables he could pocket when the villagers were immersed in all their celebrating. But somehow, this time, he just wanted to sit back, relax and… have fun.

One of the villagers started pulling in the audience to dance with them. Quite a number of girls came to drag Kurama in but he turned them down. He wasn't the party type.

Ariya however, started playing with some of the children. Kurama noticed that she wasn't exactly playing, she was just standing and watching them play.

'What's wrong? What's the matter with her?'

"That's a nice child you've got there."

A villager sat down beside him. "You really caught the girls' eyes, I have to say. You're the most good-looking stranger who's come to visit our village ever."

Kurama blushed slightly at the comment. Even though he knew perfectly well that he was… How would you put it… hot… He still enjoyed it when people said he was good-looking. Foxes are kinda vain after all.

"I see your girl has got her daddy's looks. I can tell, she will grow up to be a fine young lady."

"Ermm… She's not my daughter…"

A strange silence followed. The villager coughed once.

"Oh, sorry about that. So she's your sister? Or you adopted her?"

"Neither. I just take care of her, that's all. She's more of an apprentice."

"Well, she's going to be a fine girl."

Kurama glanced at Ariya again. She was still watching the kids playing. One of them tried to get her to play but she just shook her head and stood there. And unless Kurama was mistaken, her eyes were glistening with tears.

Kurama got up and walked over to her. He pulled her to a corner and looked into her eyes.

"Can you do me a favor and be happy for once? I know how you feel, you remembered your mother, right? Look, she wouldn't be happy seeing you sad…"

Ariya nodded blankly. She walked over to the other kids and joined in their game. Kurama felt a lot better seeing her play. He never felt that way before, how it was like to care for someone else.

"Why is it that every time you go somewhere to party, you never tell me to come along?"

The bat demon swooped down from the sky and landed beside Kurama.

"Oh, Kuronue. You're just in time to finish the leftovers."

"HEY! I'm being serious here! The only reason I'm late was because someone 'forgot' to tell me…"

"Hey, look! There are still some snacks over there. I'll just go grab some, you wait here."

"KURAMA!!!"

Chuckling to himself, Kurama slipped away into the crowd as a gang of drooling girls surrounded Kuronue. Oh, how he loved to see that bat angry…


"Darn that fox. I can't believe we're best friends. He's always running off to who-knows-where and leaving me behind."

Kuronue stopped short. His eyes fell on the young girl standing in front of him.

"Ariya? What are you doing here?"

Ariya shrank back. She wasn't really used to this intimidating bat demon yet.

"Hey, I'm not going to eat you. I'm just looking for Kurama, have you seen him?"

Ariya shook her head.

"Darn that stupid fox. Probably frolicking around somewhere with some village girls."

"Frolicking with village girls, did you say? Who was the one with the girls practically drooling over him?"

"You, as far as I'm concerned. Where did you go, you moron?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I went for a swim in the river?"

"Well, naturally, no. Who'd go swimming in this time of night?"

"Alright then. Then that's just what I did."

"STOP THAT!!!"

Ariya couldn't help but giggle. Maybe this bat wasn't that bad after all…


Ariya smiled as she remembered that day. It was actually kinda fun, and she got to understand the fox a little better, not to mention the bat sitting by her side now.

Kuronue toyed with his pendant. It gleamed in the moonlight, casting flickering glimmers on his face.

"Hey, Kuronue-san, do you remember the time when Sensei got himself badly hurt in a raid, and you yelled at him for going alone?"

"Yeah, I remember. I was mad at him for a week."

"You know what? You and Sensei have a lot in common. You both seem not to care, but actually you worry about each other a lot."

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to sink into a whirlpool of memories.


'Perfect.'

She drew closer to him, taking great care not to wake him up.

"Don't even think about it."

The fox snapped open his eyes. His hazel eyes fell on what looked like a young girl of 15.

"Aww… I wanted to wake you up. Why can't I ever sneak up on you?"

Kurama smiled. "You shouldn't sneak up on your mentor like that."

"Yeah, but I wanted to scare you for once. You were really mean to Kuronue-san last night you know."

"Me? Mean? Ooh, now doesn't that sound just like… me."

"Sensei…"

"What?"

"I think you'd better apologize to him."

"No way. No way the great King of Thieves will say that he's sorry to anyone."

"But…"

Ariya put on a cute look, one that even Kurama could not resist.

"Fine then. I'll go apologize to him."

Ariya smiled happily. "Promise?"

"Promise."

He stood up to leave.

"Oh, and by the way, you should forgive him for cutting down half of your plants."

Silence followed. Kurama swallowed once or twice to cover his rage. 'That bat… I'm gonna pull off his wings… I spent months on those on those plants…'

"Where's the guy? I'm gonna get him for this."

"But you promised."

"I… What?!"

He cursed himself inside. 'Oh… I fell for it again.'

"You're no better than he is, Ariya. How could you?"

"He only did that because he was mad at you. If you had only apologized earlier, this wouldn't have happened."

Kurama took a deep breath. 'Guess she's right. Sometimes, I'm just too stubborn.'

"Ok then. I'll go apologize to him. You coming?"

Ariya jumped up. "Sure. I'll be hiding behind a tree in case things get out of hand."

"I won't hurt him… much…"

"Sensei!"

"Alright, alright!"

They walked through the forest together in silence. Every now and then, a soft rustling of the leaves broke the silence.

Ariya glanced at the silver fox beside her. She just realized how tall he was. She had never seen him this way before, so tall, handsome, and strong…

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. Your hair is getting a little long, that's all."

"I'm not cutting it, if that's what you're suggesting."

"No, I'm not. I like it this way."

"Yeah, now where is that bat demon? When I get my hands on him…"

"SENSEI!"

"Alright, alright…"


Ariya blushed slightly as she thought about her feelings towards the fox. In her eyes, he was the one who saved her, gave her a new leash on life, taught her everything she knew. She treated him with respect, and cared for him deeply.

But what about the other feeling?

Sometimes, she would feel embarrassed when they were standing close to each other. She would be happy when he was, and upset when he felt down.

'Why am I getting this strange feeling? Am I…"

She remembered what Kurama had told her, that emotions could be quite confusing, that she would have to learn how to control them.

'Why is it that I can't tell him about this strange feeling? It's not like me to feel that way.'

She didn't want him to think she was weak either. Her worst fear, apart from the people who killed her mother, was Kurama leaving her.

"Kuronue-san? Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever felt this strange feeling for someone, that you just care for this person a lot, and you can't bear to see that person get hurt? And when that someone is happy, you feel happy too. Same when the person feels sad…"

"Well, I guess maybe… It's a crush? Or it could be love… But I'm not sure, I never given this much thought…"

"But I don't think love is like this…"

'How can this be love? Sensei will always be Sensei, I love him as a teacher, a mentor, a father…"

The more she thought about it, the more confused she got. A voice was nagging in her head, making her even more confused.

'A father? Is that so? Or is this really a crush?'

'Stop it…' 'He's handsome, isn't he? And so strong and…' 'I said, be quiet…' 'No matter how hard you run, face it. You like him…' 'No, I don't. I mean, not in that way… and why am I arguing with a voice in my head?'

'Because you like him. And that's the truth.'

Ariya tried to drown the voice out. 'Go to sleep. That's all you need… Sleep…'

But somehow, she seemed rather wide awake. The voice in her head disappeared though, so she stopped trying to force herself to sleep and instead, concentrated on the little ant crawling through the grass.

"Ariya? You want to take a walk? I mean, just sitting here doing nothing is rather boring, you know."

"You boys always want to have fun, don't you?"

"No, I mean…"

Ariya stood up, brushing the grass off her clothes. "Let's go."

She strode out of the clearing. Kuronue followed suit.

After a while, they still weren't able to find a topic to talk about. They just kept walking on in silence. Once or twice, Kuronue tried to say something, but he changed his mind halfway. Ariya just kept staring into space. How she wished that feelings wouldn't be such a complicated thing.


Author: Now if you're wondering where our fox went to, he hasn't died yet, that's for sure…


Kurama trudged through the woods. Kuronue and Ariya were nowhere to be found, according to Yomi. After trudging through the forest for nearly an hour alone, he began to long for company, especially that of a certain raven-haired beauty.

Kurama shook his head again. 'Stop this! I wonder who's playing with my emotions?'

As he couldn't make a head or tail of this strange feeling, he seemed to get it into his head that someone was playing with his mind. He tried closing his mind every night before he fell asleep but it wasn't working.

'Now where could they be? I do hope they haven't got themselves into any kind of trouble…'
Ok, I finally finished chapter 4, after getting writer's block so many times. Please forgive me for the stupid story line, I don't like where this is heading either. But, I promise that I'll try to spice things up, ok? In the meantime, see that button that says "Submit review" down there? Please, please, please… Press it!!! And thanks if you do so…