Sora: Chapter three, sorry about the wait. School, work, and personal reasons.

Quote: "Miracles happen, but one must work terribly hard for them." Chaim Weizman
The restaurant was well known, a five star that many people would reserve tables for months in advanced. It was here that a jean clad Yusuke and casually dressed Kagome entered gathering stares and mutterings. Yusuke glanced around; uncomfortable with all the hostile glances they were receiving. Kagome, on the other hand, merely smiled at the people waiting in line for their turn and walked straight to the front. She grinned brightly at the host, a young black-haired man with startling blue eyes. Yusuke froze; the man was a demon, a strong demon at that.

"Kagome-dono!" the young demon greeted the girl brightly, "How are you? Are you here to see father?" Kagome shook her head, waving at a few waitresses as they passed by (all of them demons Yusuke noted.) How, Yusuke wondered, did Kagome know all these demons? And how where they even in the human world? "Just a room than?" the demonic boy asked, then proceeded to wave over a waiter standing by the door at Kagome's nod. He turned back to the duo, gathering two menus in one hand. "I won the bet this year," he told Kagome cheerfully, "So I'll be helping you this festival!"

"That's wonderful Ryu-kun," Kagome responded with a gentle smile. The demon's grin grew wider and he wished them a 'good-day' as the waiter showed them out of the crowded front lobby and down a long corridor. Yusuke looked at the carefully constructed building, the gentle designs in the wood and rice-paper screens, and leaned over to Kagome. "What are we doing here again?" he hissed in her ear. He definitely wasn't comfortable in such a high-class place.

Kagome giggled. "Because I'm friends with the owner, he likes me to drop by. Don't worry about being underdressed, Kouga-kun doesn't mind." Her cheerful smile didn't do anything for Yusuke's frazzled nerves. There were just too many dang demons around! (Privately he was wondering why Koenma never sent him to get rid of the lot. Surely such a large gathering of powerful demons would have caught even his notice.) Kagome, seeing her friend's sour look, said, "Calm down Yusuke, no one's going to jump out and attack you! This isn't the type of place that street-fighters go to." Yusuke only mumbled something ineligible and continued to glare that the passing wall.

The room they ended up in was beautifully crafted, dark wooden panels, polished wooden table, and elegantly embroidered cushions. In all, a place Yusuke would never normally enter. Sitting crossed legged on one of the cushions, Yusuke scanned over the menu. Excellent food, if you could afford it, "You sure 'bout this 'Gome?"

She merely rolled her eyes as she sat down. "Yes, Kouga-kun lets me and my family eat for free, and you're practically family. He won't mind." She opened her menu, glancing through the available dishes. "You can ask him yourself, he'll be here in a few minutes." Nodding, Yusuke turned back to his own menu, silently contemplating the chances of this Kouga recognizing him as a Spirit Detective. That certainly wouldn't go over well.

"Kagome-chan!" the sliding door burst open, and a tall demon entered. He was obviously the host's father; the same messy black hair and bright blue eyes. Grinning brightly, the demon collapsed next to Kagome, throwing his arm around her shoulder. Yusuke eyed him warily; this must be the owner, Kouga. A strong demon, that was for sure. "How are you today?"

Snorting, she pushed his arm away. "Perfectly fine, the same as the last time you saw me, you big lummox." Kouga pouted, his eyes turning toward where Yusuke sat. Blinking, Yusuke waited for the 'bomb' to explode. Would the demon just burst it out, as so many others had, or would he be more discreet in consideration of Kagome? Noticing the growing tension, Kagome rolled her eyes. "Oh stop being such a jerk Kouga-kun! This is my childhood friend Yusuke."

Kouga nodded and smiled, but his eyes clearly stated that he did not trust the Spirit Detective. "Nice to meet you Yusuke-san," he said, nodding his head, "I trust that you'll take good care of our Kagome-chan while she's with you?" The penetrating blue eyes gazed into Yusuke's honey brown ones.

With narrowed eyes, Yusuke said, "Of course. She is, after all, my dearest friend." He leaned back, folding his arms. "And I hope I can trust you to take care of her when she comes here?" The elder man merely nodded.

Kagome groaned, she should have known this would happen. You just don't put a bunch of overprotective men together in the same room, especially if the one who they where protective was yourself. "Will you two knock it off already?" She turned to Kouga, "We would like to have our lunch, and you should get back to work before Ayame-chan finds you." The blue-eyed man groaned, than nodded. With one last warning glace toward Yusuke, he bid them a quick goodbye.

"Well…that was interesting, I guess." Yusuke eyed the spot that Kouga had abandoned. "Any more friends you want me to meet, or are we good for now?" He watched as Kagome laughed happily. It had been far too long since the two of them had truly relaxed together. Her crystal-blue eyes shined as she shook her head. "I think we're good for now."

Nodding, Yusuke grinned, "Good, 'cause I'm getting hungry. Let's order so we can get out of here faster. This place is far too fancy for my tastes." Laughing once again, Kagome turned to the patiently waiting waiter. She truly had terrific friends.

-

"So a girl dragged Yusuke-baka away?" tall red head asked his shorter friend. The fox-demon nodded. "A beautiful girl, not Keiko?" Again he nodded. "And he did nothing? He just went with her?"

Sighing, Kurama nodded in response to Kuwabara's questions. "Yes, Kuwabara-kun, he left with the young woman. But that is not the point. The point is that I felt miko powers from the girl. That could pose a problem for Hiei and me." Emerald eyes gazed out the window, wondering how much the black-haired girl knew about demons. Miko's where generally intolerant of any demons.

"Who cares? Yusuke must have been cheating on Keiko! The scumbag," Kuwabara muttered to himself. It was the only possible explanation for those two to be so distant from each other. How could he betray her trust, her loyalty to him?

Kurama eyed the other red-head. "Kuwabara, I do not think that is the case. Yusuke is not the type to do such a thing, and Keiko has not been acting like a broken-hearted woman would. If anything, it was Keiko who broke of the relationship." Shaking his head, Kurama turned to face the other. "And, once again, I would like to point out that our concern should be this unknown acquaintance of Yusuke's. We know nothing about her and she could be a potential threat to us demon members of the team."

Kuwabara nodded, "Right!" Turning around in his desk chair, he picked up his cat. "Why don't we just ask her?"

This earned him an amused look from Kurama. Yes the very idea of going up to a complete stranger, someone who had the potential of being very lethal to demons, and asking them about their beliefs on said demons. That would go very well. "Just keep a watch out, see if you can get anything from Yusuke when you next see him."

Petting his cat absently, Kuwabara nodded. "I don't know if he'll say anything, with the way he's been acting lately, but I can try." Sighing, Kurama turned his gaze back out the window. That was all he could ask at this point in time. Hopefully Yusuke would return to his old self soon.

-

Yusuke eyed the cowering child-ruler. He sat upon his chair, sucking his ever-present pacifier. "So you mean to tell me that you 'forgot'to inform me about these 'Residential' Demons? That it never crossed your mind that it might be, I don' know, important for your Spirit Detective to know about demons who have permission to say in the human world?" Yusuke's chocolate colored eyes flashed dark pits of boiling anger. "I knew you could be stupid, but this is ridicules!"

Koenma warily watched his subordinate. It was never a good thing to have Yusuke angered, an angered Yusuke usually involved pain. "There where more important things that I needed you to attend to. Like your job, capturing illegal demons."

Growling, Yusuke slammed his fists down on Koenma's paper-cluttered desk. "Well I'm not doing anything of the sort right now, so why don't you tell me now?" The black-haired teen was sick of not knowing everything about his so called 'job,' and when parts of this 'job' concerned Kagome learning about, it was even higher on his priority list.

"Alright," the miniature prince sighed, "Residential Demons are high-level demons who've signed a peace treaty with the spirit world. Why this practice started, I don't even know. The most information I have on the subject is that one of the Great Lords would destroy the spirit world if this compromise wasn't made. Father agreed, simply because the other Lords would follow Sesshomaru-dono in any of his actions, he's that powerful." Relaxing slightly, Yusuke listened to what his 'boss' had to say, while Koenma leaned back into his chair, thoughtfully sucking on the blue pacifier. "The Residential Demons must follow certain rules and regulations in order to stay in the human world. Regular check-ups by the spirit world and mandatory surveillance bugs are among those requirements. They are not tame in any way, nor are they harmless. These demons are all very powerful, but they are also honorable. They keep their word and make sure their offspring does the same."

In the end that was all Koenma could tell him. As usual, the child-ruler had the barest minimum of facts. Taking one last glance toward the building the little prince resided in Yusuke headed home, hoping that his mom would be home and sober. Usually the chances of that happening where very slim, but with Kagome dropping by the chances that his mother would stay sober increased dramatically. The knowledge he had gained was a small comfort to the Spirit Detective, but at least he knew he could trust Kouga, to some extent, not to harm Kagome. The last bit of information that Koenma had been able to give him was a list of the names of the first demons, the most honorable, who had signed the treaty. Kouga's name was among the others on the small list.

Even with his new found knowledge, it did not explain why Kagome of all people knew him. The way the two interacted was much like how Kagome and he interacted, like very old, very close friends. It unnerved Yusuke more than he'd want to admit. His demon-hunting life was supposed to be separate from his regular life, not all mixed together. Narrowing his eyes into a glare, Yusuke set off toward Kurama's home. Koenma may not know much, but the ex-thief just might. It was long past the time that he should talk to his comrades.

I felt the using 'baka' or idiot in this way would be appropriate for that context. Nearly two thousand words, that's an accomplishment for me. Sorry once again for the time it took to update. This page was uploaded 11/10/07.