Okay, school is back at me with full force. Even after just two days, I know that my only free time to write will be on weekends, so I'm going to try to update every week again. With Honors Math, English, and Chemistry, I just won't have any time.

This chapter is dedicated to MangaMamma because A) dedicating chapters to people is fun, and B) she's great!

Sorry about leaving you guys like that last chapter. Without further ado, here's the rest of "Memory".

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Words Once Spoken: Chapter 17 part 2

To a kitsune like him, this place was boring. Kuro kept him busy, but even he could only do so much. By this point, Youko was wishing desperately for something interesting to happen.

And then, Yusuke arrived.

"What are you doing here?" Kurama asked the grinning detective. Yusuke was definitely a site for sore eyes. With his clothes wet from melted snow, and his knees quivering with cold, it was clear that he went through quite a lot of trouble to get into town.

"Jeez Kurama, you're getting old. Don't you remember our goals?" He swept his hand toward the horizon dramatically. "You know, bridging the gap between humans and demons! Changing the world!" Yusuke was laughing all the while. "Making Grandma's wishes come true!"

Kurama hit one fist against his other hand. "Oh yes, that's right."

Yusuke nearly fell over. "You mean you really forgot? I thought you were kidding!"

Laughing sheepishly, Kurama rubbed the back of his head. "Well, a lot happened you know." He felt Kuronue's furry jacket come to press against his neck from behind, earning him a glare from Yusuke. "But more importantly, how did you get here?"

"Hm?" Yusuke asked, turning his gaze from Kuronue. "Oh, I just followed Hiei. He's the one who found you."

"What? Hiei's here?" Their last encounter hadn't ended very well, and Kurama hoped the little demon wasn't still mad at him about that. If I recall it correctly, he called us a whore. Youko piped in. Kurama could practically see the fox's fur bristling with anger.

"Well I couldn't exactly find you by myself. He's probably off in a tree or something" Yusuke told him cheerfully.

Looking upon his smiling face, Kurama felt a distance thrown in between himself and Yusuke. I suppose I really am moving on, he thought sadly.

Sensing his mate's change of mood, Kuronue spoke up. "Well, I suppose if Kurama likes you, I can't let you freeze to death out here." He told Yusuke arrogantly. "Let's go inside."

Kuronue turned to go inside, with Kurama close behind him. Behind them, Yusuke glared daggers at Kuro's head. "What are you saying bat boy? You'd just leave me here if Kurama didn't like me?"

"That's exactly what I meant." Kuro stated, smirking at the smoldering Yusuke.

"Bat boy?" Kurama asked with some amusement as they entered the town.

"Stupid twerp keeps calling me that." He muttered, stepping over a puddle of slush.

Makai towns were small, and generally very far apart. They mainly consisted of shoddy-looking rock walls enclosing a few large, hollow spikes that were shed off of a Rock Serpent's back. As with all snakeskin, the spikes were paper thin, but they gave off a surprising amount of warmth.

They wouldn't break easily, so the walls were more of a boundary than anything else. As was true in all towns and villages here, many of the citizens were trapped within those boundaries, forbidden freedom by the one who "owned them." Demon law stated that (except in cases of fighting) if your life was saved, you became the property of the one who saved it.

Many children were abandoned near towns like these and rescued, only to be enslaved. The butterfly village was one of the few that didn't do that. For that reason, they made the perfect choice for demons to bring over to Ningenkai.

Inside the spike, Kuronue continued to calmly provoke Yusuke. Kurama smiled fondly at the chimera's antics. "It's been too long." Kurama said wistfully, gazing up at the pure white sky. The other two demons stopped bickering and looked towards Kurama.

Kurama's emerald eyes seemed to light up as he turned his head towards Yusuke. "How about a fight?"

"Whaaat?" they both screeched incredulously.

"I don't think we've ever fought, have we Yusuke?" Kurama asked, smiling at him. "It would give us something to do."

"B-but Youko!" Kuro whined. "How could you want to fight a twerp like him?"

"Hey bat boy, what's that supposed to mean?" Yusuke yelled, grabbing Kuro by the collar of his jacket.

"Hmph!" the bat huffed dramatically. "I don't really get why he'd want to fight a twerp like you, but I suppose I'll allow it this once."

Yusuke's lip curled up in a snarl. "I dare you to call me that again!" he yelled, hitting a fist against his chest.

"Twerp. Twerp. Twerp. Twerp. Twerp." was Kuro's childish reply as he stuck his nose up in the air.

"That's it! We're taking this outside!" Yusuke growled, starting another glaring contest with the bat.

Kurama couldn't help but be amused by their bickering. Really, they were like a couple of children. By my standards, the Mazoku is a child. Youko pointed out. Kurama could tell by the bemused tone of his voice that Youko found this as amusing as he did. Watching them, he began to chuckle.

They both stopped the wrestling match they'd begun to look over at him when his chuckle became outright laughter. "His smile is so beautiful…" Kuronue thought as his lover's musical laughter tickled his ears.

"Youko…" he said, gazing lovingly at the Kitsune.

Bang!

A sudden explosion tore through the air outside of the walls, loud enough to be heard over the sound of the blizzard's raging wind. All three heads snapped to the gate marked with the symbol for north. From behind the gate rose a pyre of smoke, staining the white sky with streaks of black.

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I really overdid the dialogue in this one, but there wasn't that much for me to describe…

Even though the writing could use some definite improvement, I hope you all enjoyed the rest of this chapter. I'll do my very best to update again next weekend. Until then, this is RKF, signing off!