I'm finally back! Please forgive me, loving reviewers! There was this and that and I had to study really hard to pass, and then my best friend had her baby and there was Christmas, and my birthday, and dad got me a new laptop, (SQUEEEE!) and I had so much trouble with the wireless internet connection and stuff and things and whatever and I got this new thingy that fixed it and AAAAH! I'll be a better author this time! Please don't review me to say, "its about time!" or something; that would break my heart to have being a flaky dunderhead rubbed in my face. I love you all, and its good to be back!

Chapter 18

Nostalgia Does Not Suit You

Kurama knew where to go and what to do. "Hiei," he called out to the trees; a smaller figure in black made himself visible to the streaming green eyes. "Hiei, I desperately need your swiftness!"

"What for?" the youkai leapt from the trees above to the ground, his eyes wandered over the girl in his arms.

"She's dieing! Please, take her to Genkai, I'm not fast enough."

"Help that deceitful tetsujin?" he sniffed in scorn, turning the droplets of rain around him into steam.

"Hiei, please…" his voice cracked, tears continued to pour down his pale face, "I love her… if I lose her…"

"Fine; stop your blubbering!" he snapped and took the girl from him. "I'm doing this for you, not her, got it?" Kurama nodded and Hiei disappeared, creating a slight vacuum around him.

A pounding on her front door jerked Genkai awake. Grumbling, she put on her house robe and stomped over to the front door. She was surprised to find Hiei, dripping wet, holding the blonde, and scowling. "Kurama said to bring the little witch here." He snorted, rudely depositing her body on the floor. In a flash of lightning, he vanished.

Kneeling, the old woman felt the girls searing forehead and quickly carried her inside. She woke Yukina, and together, they lowered her temperature, saving her life. The last stage of the sickness had come and gone.

The sun rose again on the mountain temple, clearing the darker clouds from the gray sky. Kurama sat in a chair next to Gabi's bed, watching her sleep. From the color of her cheeks, he knew her fever was gone, and she had curled up on her side, showing peaceful slumber, but she had not moved from that position all night. Genkai entered with a cup of tea for him, "Why didn't you tell me she was sick?" the old woman asked quietly.

"I thought I could take care of her. I wanted to be there for her." He rasped and sipped the tea to refresh his voice. "I took my eyes off of her for one second, and she disappeared. I should never have even let her out of bed." He brushed his tangled bangs out of his face as he looked up at Genkai.

"There are a lot of things we wish we could have done in the past; but if she had not been out, she would have never revealed who she was…a youko."

Kurama's eyes widened marginally, "How-?"

"You're easier to read than a billboard. I knew you liked her ever since the beach house, so I asked Koenma to let me do a little digging. He knows as well as I now what and who she was. Haven't you ever wondered why Koenma never got around to giving her a shaman's license? It's because she has it in her blood. Non-blood shamans have to do the paper work."

"Will Koenma give her memories back?" he asked hopefully.

Genkai shook her head, "She lost them naturally. She has to remember on her own, if at all. He can't interfere; it's Reikai law. Only her dreams can know."

"Then I've truly lost her," he sighed sadly. "She was my mate, Genkai, as a youko…"

"Idiot." She snorted and rapped him on the head, "haven't you ever seen 'the Notebook'? Or 'Fifty First Dates'? You have to help her remember, baka." She turned and exited the room, scoffing, "if there's anything I hate worse than a quitter, it's a bonehead like you who's too scared to even help himself. Cheer up, nostalgia doesn't suit you."

Kurama rubbed his scalp delicately, the old woman was far from feeble, or even gentle; but she had given him hope. The object of his affection stirred and gave a groan. Rising into a state of half-consciousness, she felt his reiki and identified him. "Kurama…" she muttered softly, rubbing her forehead.

"I'm here," he said taking her hand in his. "Are you all right?" For several seconds she didn't answer him, appearing to be asleep again, but then she spoke, "Why am I in bed?"

"You don't remember? You were very ill and almost died of fever."

"I remember being angry at you," she mumbled hotly, opening her eyes to glare at him.

He frowned, "You don't remember being sick?"

"No," she said and closed her eyes in sleep again. Kurama's heart wrenched again; he felt hopeless to ever recover his wife. "But, I had a dream," she continued, making his ears prick up, "that may have been me being sick, but you were there, as Youko; I … knew you, like someone very close to me, from a very long time ago… I don't understand it, how it could have been, and there was someone there I knew… he was scary… and…" he realized she had fallen back to sleep, breathing evenly, her hand clamped to his. Kurama sighed with relief and fell asleep leaning on her bed, sitting on the floor. Youko took over from there; the silver fox put his paws on the bed and leapt up next to her, curling his numerous tails around her and himself and slept. (I just had to do that, I love his fox form.)

Yusuke rudely awakened Kurama several hours later, he threw a heavy backpack on him, "You stood me up, you jerk!" and stomped out. The redhead became himself again and lifted the satchel off of the bed; he noticed the close proximity with Gabi and scooted off the bed with a blush. She awoke and sat up, "Good morning, world! Man, I feel good; not even my arm or my ankle hurts!" she chirped, rubbing the place were her cast was.

Kurama, who was too busy trying to get his blood out of his cheeks, sat silently on the floor. "Hey, some'm wrong, Kurama?" she leaned over the side of the bed and reached out to him; she stopped when he turned his head away from her, "It's nothing, just a little stiff I guess. " he lied, "today is Wednesday, school has been let out for the holidays." He quickly changed the subject and opened the incredibly heavy backpack. Inside was the make-up for both Gabi and Kurama. With their work cut out for them, they hastily parted ways to complete the work before their teachers decided to give them each a failing grade. Gabi made it home and Daren never knew she was missed; Shiori visited her son and they spent Christmas together. The holidays came and passed.

It was the first of January before any of the detectives even spoke to each other again. Gabi was walking alone in the park, bundled in a long coat, hat and scarf. She didn't know why she was wandering around in the dead of winter at ten o' clock at night, but she was rewarded with the sudden company the red headed spirit fox. "Hey," she said softy, not even turning around as he walked up behind her. "Hey," he replied, standing beside her. They both stared into the distance, silent, still, breathing soft clouds through their scarves.

She started to walk forward on the sidewalk, and he followed. "Listen," she started awkwardly. "I never thanked you, you know, for taking care of me; even if I don't remember it."

"It was nothing," he said quietly.

"But… there is one thing I have to know; in my dream… or whatever that was, we-er- kissed. Did I-uh…?" she knitted her eyebrows worriedly and looked at him from the corner of her eye. Blushing, Kurama nodded. "You did."

"Eh-right. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," he sighed, and did a mental double take, "I mean, its okay." He stopped and grabbed her shoulder, "Look, we can't go on like this," he said. The blonde raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"If we kept doing this, my heart is going to burst out my chest and break." The redhead openly wept; Gabi held his head with her mitten-clad palms.

"Kurama, what's wrong? What is it?"

"You, you're my mate."

R&R!