Hi everyone. This is the end of Befriending The Fox. I hope you enjoyed the quick wrap up, but I've set up Naraku's inevitable anti-climatic defeat for a while. The real issue with this story wasn't about wrapping up the Inuyasha plot, but getting Kurama to have someone he could rely on and talk to openly, which he's done by that point with Kagome. [I also really suck at writing Naraku, so the less of him the better.]

That being said, this chapter is more a mix between my limited Kagome third person point of view, and an intrusive Kurama third person point of view. I hope it's refreshing and shows a little more into the character I've created for him.

If you liked the story, please review. I'd love to hear if you guys want to read about Sessh/Kura. On with it.

The red tuffed Kurama sat belly up to Yusuke's hotplate counter poking at his food. Yusuke hadn't made his favorite today, some claim that Kurama was going to get fat if he kept eating like that. Kurama knew better. Yusuke just didn't want to make it. That was fine with him. He sighed and took a long sip of his water as his friend finished up with another customer.

"Running late today, huh?" Yusuke asked as he came over, tossing a towel over his shoulder.

"It would seem so."

"You know, I always meant to ask, how'd you get back here without ripping a hole in something? Did you have to live all those years again or something?"

"No. I woke up in the park. Hiei would know better than I would about exactly what happened." Kurama sighed. "He told me that there was just a sudden surge of my energy at the well-house. He came and got me, took me to the park. Last thing I remember is a big flash of light, then it felt like I was living the years again. The strange thing is that I didn't wake up hurt. I was perfectly fine."

"What did Kagome say happened on her end?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama gave Yusuke a wry grin, his lips half-cocked up as he looked up at the detective, his chin down. "I'm not going to tell you that Yusuke."

"Aw come on!" Yusuke whined.

"It's really not important." Kurama picked up his dish and actually began to eat in earnest.

"Yeah it is! I want to know." Yusuke pulled over his stool and sat down in front of his friend. "I mean, you guys tell me these fantastic stories about the hunts for this jewel and now you're going to tell me that I don't get to know the end?"

A new customer distracted Yusuke from continuing his line of inquiry.

"Shuichi, sorry I'm late!" Kagome ducked under the flap and sat down next to the red head. "The busses were running way slow and I hardly had time to get changed before I was supposed to get on the next one."

"It's alright Kagome. How are things?" He smiled to the girl as she tugged down her hat.

"Good, things are real good. The well is still holding up fine and Inuyasha's started construction on the out-house so we'll be closer to up to date soon which is going to be amazing. Oh I can't wait to not-"

"I don't need to know," Kurama huffed, somewhat put out.

Kagome laughed and bumped against his shoulder, "What about you? Hiei tell you anything new yet?"

"Kagome," Kurama scolded, "he really isn't the type." Kurama couldn't help the contentment washing over him as Kagome teased him, even if he did scowl at her. Since the well had effectively remained active, she'd been going back and forth to complete her education, but live, mostly, in the past. Only Inuyasha, and the new half-blood Kagome could pass through.

Kagome snagged Kurama's nearly untouched cup of water and rolled it around in her hands. "Mm, but if he was, could you imagine the-"

"Hey Kagome! Do you want the usual?" Yusuke asked as he came back over. The other customer on the far side of the little stall just wanted a drink.

"Sure! Kurama looks like he's barely started, I might as well take my time." She leaned forward, eager to gossip with her favorite detective.

"You do have oodles of it," Kurama teased.

Kagome slapped his shoulder. "So, back to you. Why do you think he's not the type?"

"Who's not the type?" Yusuke asked.

"No one!" Kurama exclaimed. He sighed, "Kagome, isn't that right?" If she could have more tact, Kurama wouldn't have all of these headaches. He shook his head at the thought of Hiei being anything but asexual as Kagome gave him a sneaky lewd smile.

"Right, no one." She sighed and rolled her eyes. Kagome leaned closer to him signaling Kurama to lean closer and give her his ear. He could feel his stomach jitter at the minimal secrecy and Yusuke's dubiously un-impressed stare. "You really got to stop this. It's not healthy," she whispered.

Yusuke got the picture and turned up the grill. Her food sizzled loudly. Kurama shook his head. "You know I can't do that."

"You can't do too much," she scolded. "You can't go home, you can't go back, you can't talk, you can't dance. Why do you even bother staying?"

Kurama smiled and played with his food. "It feels good."

"Huh?" Kagome hadn't been expecting an answer.

"It feels good." Boy did it ever. With Kagome giving him a little private company that actually understood, and Yusuke the male companionship he'd loved in Kuronue, and his band of misfits, he had everything he wanted. He even had real blood family. "Even if I can't have him because he's completely immune to such things, or I can't do that," he hoped she caught what he was talking about. She always seemed to, "because it wouldn't be understood," Lords, Hiei would probably never understand anything sexual. He just had no interest in it. "I still like it here. I still feel good being here around her, and them." He couldn't pass up his love for his friends and what he did have just because he didn't have romance, and he needed to go find a club to grind once in a while.

"Still, you should feel good being around you," her sharpness always astounded him. Kurama just gaped at her. "and right now you seem positively miserable."

Kurama sighed and leaned against her some, their upper arms touching. "There are worse things in life than an insubordinate self-image." Really there were too. Still, she had hit it on the nail, company was the only thing keeping him sane, and without someone else around, he was positively miserable. There was just a dull ache of wanting something he couldn't pinpoint.

The stranger stiffened. Kagome saw it as she watched Kurama's face, but he didn't notice. "Yusuke, do you know him?" Kagome asked jerking her head down the length of his grill.

The stranger noticed. He stiffened up, the long black coat not hiding the drape of thick black hair hidden behind the flipped up collar and the hat.

"Nah, but he seems fine. Demon of some sort. He's been stopping by every few days for a couple weeks now."

"Hey sir, what type of demon are you?" Kagome called out.

Kurama turned to see the newcomer to their conversation.

The 'sir' stiffened, his shoulders made more of an obtuse triangle with his head than they should. He turned to face her. He slowly pulled his sunglasses off. "Inu," he replied.

"That's not your natural hair color," Kurama remarked offhandedly. The fox went back to his meal.

"So what is?" The creature asked.

Kurama looked him over, "I'm not sure. You're too hidden to know. There aren't many Inu, and only one family had black in their genes. They died out a couple thousand years ago."

"We're the friendly sort here Mister. You don't need to mind them if you don't want to," Yusuke explained.

"I'll, humor them." he pulled off his hat and flipped down his coat collar turning to face the fox three empty seats over.

Kurama looked at him closely. "It's too short," he whispered half to himself, half to Kagome.

"How could you tell?"

"Aside from the straight edge cut? There are only two families that were short hairs and both of them are accounted for in Demon World with no new children. That leaves you as twelve out of sixteen families left."

"Yeah?" she asked, smirking. "I don't suppose you wear make-up, do you?" Kagome asked.

"I am an Inu. I have to wear make-up," the dog replied. The man grabbed his napkin and dipped it in the cup of water Yusuke had given him.

Kurama got up and came closer. "Oh, no, this is too much fun." Taking off the make-up would give who it was away. "I'm a fox. I know the Inu clan's."

"Your hair's the wrong color too," the demon remarked. He dropped his hand to his lap and slowly let his eyes draw over Kurama as Kurama worked on him as well.

The jawline was familiar, and the high cheeks. He squinted some as he looked into the contact hidden eyes. There was a lot of yellow in them. "I know you." Kurama whispered. He took a seat next to the man, facing him. Guilt and determination wretched through his stomach. He couldn't have possibly come here, could he?

Kagome wiggled her finger at Yusuke and whispered in his ear.

"Seriously!" Yusuke gaped.

Kurama's head snapped around to see them, but Yusuke was just giving Kagome a disapproving stare and shaking his head.

"It is!" she exclaimed.

A finger gently touched Kurama's cheek, drawing his face back around. "You do." For some reason he didn't break the finger and try to dispose of this slightly familiar energy.

"You know who I am, and yet you…" Why would he know when Kurama hadn't met any of the Inu clan members while a human? Kagome knew who this was, so she knew him. She was completely comfortable. Kurama frowned again and looked back over his shoulder at Kagome, a heavy frown on his face. "She was late." He turned to focus on the demon. "You came right before her."

"I'm not-"

"Inuyasha, or Shippo." No, Shippo wasn't an inu, and Inuyasha was dead.

The demon shook his head, waiting. Kurama's level of disbelief slowly dropped. It had to be him. He was the only one that Kagome would know and be this comfortable with.

"Well I'll be damned." Yusuke shook his head. "All this time and all you had to do was ask me about him, or tell me your name, and instead you take this long way around."

"I needed to know if he remembered me."

"Of course I remember you." Kurama stiffened and pulled back, sitting straighter. He felt like someone punched him in the gut. He swallowed nervously and tried not to look at him.

"It's been a while," The demon shrugged. He turned back to his drink.

"It has." Kurama turned to the counter as well. Yusuke put Kurama's half emptied plate in front of him. Kurama smiled at his friend, a fake acceptance, and took a bite. How long had he even been in town?

"So, no one new?" The demon questioned. What had sparked that question? Kurama felt his mind doing races around how he should say his answer. He'd had lovers since Sesshomaru, he had to or he'd have gone crazy, but right now? There was no one permanent, and Hiei wasn't going to do anything.

"Two hundred years, and no one new." Kurama confirmed. God, he didn't want Hiei, he wanted what he had, those beautiful few moments that he had with this man next to him. Desire struck him like a cannon baller to the water's surface. He wanted to be with Sesshomaru.

"Two hundred years," the demon sighed. Relief was tangible between the two of them. "That brat over there told me to contact her in five hundred years. I had no idea why until a month ago."

Kurama couldn't help but smile. She had done this for him, and he was never going to let her live that down. "That's about the time it happened. I am just glad you remembered, Sesshomaru." Saying his name was like the final click on a lock. Kagome took the seat on the other side of the previous demon lord.

The demon snorted. He never had been much for dramatics when Kurama knew him.

"She's a good friend." Kurama chuckled. "Sorry Kagome, I think I have some catching up to do. I'll have to skip out on the rest of our rendezvous."

"How about we talk tomorrow? I'll be in town for a few days." Kagome suggested with a grin on her face she never would be able to hide. When had his mischievousness rubbed off on her?

"Alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow then." For now he had a demon lord to interview.

fini