Disclaimer: I don't own 'Yu Yu Hakusho' you all know the drill.

Pen Name: sarahh86

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kurama opened his eyes and looked at the clock. Satisfied with the time he sat up and reached for his shirt.

Today was the day of his graduation from his university.

For years he had been struggling to finish it but it had turned out quite difficult. Being Spirit Detective hadn't helped him much either but now it was over. He was finally going to have the chance to finish his degree as a botanist. Originally it should've only taken a much shorter time but so much had happened and now it was at least five or so months late.

Once he finished dressing himself he smelled something coming from the kitchen and it smelled…good.

He smiled faintly. Relli must've learned how to cook well for the food to smell that good. Either he was a good teacher or she was a good student and he opted for the good student.

He went downstairs with his black tuxedo jacket flung over one shoulder.

Relli looked up once she heard a noise coming from the stairs and almost dropped her jaw once she saw her housemate. He looked like a model with the way the jacket was flung over his shoulder. She quickly tore her gaze from his body and gave him a warm smile. "Ready for breakfast Suichi?"

His stomach grumbled at that moment and he placed his hand over it, chuckling softly. "I guess I must be."

"Well here. I hope I cooked it right." she said nervously as she set a plate in front of him.

He tasted it and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. Her cooking had really improved. "It's…good!"

She smiled, reassured and went upstairs to change. Once she was securely locked behind her door she opened her drawer to pull out a simple box. It was her present for Kurama…

"Inizi Makawaru, Terari Menizu, Suichi Minamino-"

As soon as his human name was announced a group of very special people cheered and several others in the audience looked back, disturbed by the loud noise.

Kurama walked up to the stage and took his diploma and stood with the others of his class feeling vaguely embarrassed for all the good attention his friends were causing him.

When the names were done being called out by the dean the first one that hugged him tightly was Shiori.

"I am so proud of you Suichi." she said through a choked up voice.

"Thank you mother." he answered as he hugged her.

Shiori turned for a minute to attend to Kurama's group of friends and Relli took advantage of the fact that she was distracted to make her move.

Relli shyly approached him with her gift. "Suichi, I made this for you." she said, carefully avoiding the other eyes of the former Urameshi Team. She handed the long box to him.

Kurama carefully took the box and opened it. Inside was a chain with a small gold pendant.

"It's a mood necklace." he murmured, taking it out of the box and studying as the colors changed.

"Not exactly. It doesn't change according to your mood." Relli took the necklace and wrapped it around her palm. "It changes according to how close you are to changing into your Youko Demon."

Kurama's eyes widened. She had actually made something for him that could predict when his demon was close to taking over?

So much for the element of surprise…

"This is priceless." he whispered as he twirled the chain around his palm. Now he would be able to see just when his Youko was about to take over and prevent it, if possible.

He smiled at her. "Thank you." he said.

The pendant glowed a deep green as he hugged her tightly.

"Hey save the making out for later. I don't think your entire college class would like that." Yusuke said teasingly from where he was standing.

Shiori grinned at her son's obvious affection for that girl. She would bring him much happiness.

"They make an amazing couple." Keiko said to her and Shori nodded. "It's a pity that they don't seem to realize it."

However, both of them heard that comment and their reactions were immediate.

Both Kurama and Relli turned one shade of pink darker, holding on to their pride so that they wouldn't blush any more.

He turned back to Relli with an intent expression. "It's green now so what does that mean?"

"When it's green it means that you are completely in control and when it's silver, Youko is the one in complete control. After green comes red, orange, blue, black, purple, yellow and finally, silver." Relli smiled at the usefulness of her gift. "It should help to keep your demon under control, Suichi."

Yukina peeked over to Relli and Kurama. It seemed that they were doing talking about the supernatural and nodded to Keiko as her signal.

"Shiori, why don't we fix our gift for Suichi?" Keiko suggested with a glint in her eye. She couldn't wait to see the Demon Fox's expression once he saw what Relli, Yukina, and Shiori had gotten for him.

As if echoing her thoughts, Shiori nodded. "Yes, I can't wait to see my son's face when he sees our gift."

"What gift?" Kurama asked but he was immediately distracted by Kuwabara.

"They wanted to keep it a secret Kurama," he said with a big smile on his face. "Of course I know what it is and I sure ain't telling you!"

Shiori turned to them with a puzzled expression on her face. "Why did you call him Kurama?"

Kuwabara realized his mistake but Yukina covered for him. "Oh that's just a nickname for Suichi." she said lightly.

Shiori smiled. "Alright then I'll go get your gift. Relli, would you mind coming with us?"

Relli shook her head and went off with Shiori and Keiko while Kurama stared after them with puzzled expressions.

He inched towards Kuwabara. "Do you know what they got me?" he asked him.

Kuwabara laughed. "Of course I know."

Kurama struggled to control his curiosity. "So what is it?"

"I don't think you should be calling their gift an it." he corrected.

"Stop worrying about what they got you Kurama," Yusuke told him patting him on the back. "Soon you're gonna see just how tough my life is." he said leaving Kurama more mystified than her already was. He waited for him to go on and explain himself.

But Yusuke didn't say anything else. He inched his little child closer and stroked him tenderly, exchanging a grin with Kuwabara.

Within a few minutes Shiori and the two girls returned but Relli was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Relli?" he asked them.

Maybe she left…

She wouldn't leave…would she?

"Behind you genius." Kuwabara said, grinning a wide, goofy smile.

Kurama turned around and-bluntly stared.

With a timid smile, Relli held Runo in her arms. A bow was on Runo's blanket.

Now he understood why Yusuke had told him that he would understand how tough his life was. Runo was the gift.

Relli gently held out Runo to him. "Here," she said. Relli hesitated debating on whether to say her next words. "Here's our-our daughter."

Kurama looked into her eyes as she said those words. He reached out for Runo and his fingers brushed against hers.

They both felt the tender burn travel through their bodies.

He glanced down at his present. She was awake now and he could see her beautiful brown eyes shining. She was playing with a small racket and her face brightened as she saw her new dad.

Kurama smiled. So beautiful…

A loud, rude cough brought them back to the present. They both turned to face a very irritated Botan and a very amused Genkai.

You can never have any privacy Youko said, in bad humor.

Meanwhile through Botan's mind preoccupation was surging. If King Enma found out…

Through Genkai's mind the exact opposite was happening. If King Enma knew what she knew then there would be no clear reason of why to separate these two kids. But as a favor for Realeza, Genaki promised her to never tell unless it was absolutely necessary or until it could not be hidden any longer.

"Botan, Master Genaki, we didn't think you'd make it." Kurama said, pulling Runo completely in his arms.

"Yes, well I was stopped by the police on the way here." she answered sullenly.

Kurama frowned. He knew just what kind of "police" had stopped Botan. You didn't need to be a genius to figure it out.

"I wasn't in a hurry to come here so that's why I'm late. Congratulations Kurama but the real reason I came here was to talk to Realeza so come with me while Botan talks to Kurama." Genaki commanded.

Relli glanced at Kurama and then walked away with the old woman having a good idea of what she was going to talk about. She had feared it since she had started helping Kurama out with his missions. It was going from bad to worse.

Genaki stopped by a bench and sat down. Relli sat down beside her.

"I can sense your energy stronger now Realeza. Pretty soon Yusuke will be able to detect it."

She shuffled her feet. "How long will it be before Suichi senses it?"

"Not long, although he may think that it's his at first." Genkai replied.

Relli nodded. Her energy had been very weak at first, which was why Kurama hadn't sensed it. When she had first met him she hadn't been training to improve that energy. She hadn't even thoroughly realized what to do with it. Genkai had informed her of the best way to hide it and she tried to keep the energy hidden.

In a way it made sense that Yusuke would be the second to notice it. As Relli grew stronger she would soon throw off waves of that energy and since Yusuke himself had human blood running through him, it would be simple for him to realize that the particular energy that Relli had wasn't human.

Kurama would take longer. He was mostly a full-blooded demon and he wouldn't sense her special energy for another months. He wasn't a full human and therefore he wouldn't be especially sensitive to her natural born energy.

Genkai shook her head. "That's not a big concern right now though. Don't let this special attention go to your head. Yusuke went through the same thing."

"You've told me that Master Genkai." she said, wincing slightly.

"Yes but in Yusuke's case, the demon blood came from an ancestor," she turned to Relli with narrowed eyes. "Your energy doesn't come from an ancestor, at least, not one from time like Raizen."

"If I had any choice I would happily give up my energy."

"Which one?"

Relli bit her lip. Spirit Energy made her human but the other energy was-was just a plain sign of how unusual her life was. As if she hadn't had enough troubles with the demons already. Now she had another reason for being on the most wanted list.

"Whichever one is worse for me to live with." she answered finally.

Genkai chuckled. "Both of them are bad, in a way. Spirit Energy makes you a target for demons and so does the other energy although…" she paused for a minute deliberating. "Although this energy surely would make you more appealing for Kurama."

Against her better instincts Relli flushed because she knew it was true. Even as only lust Kurama would probably be much more interested in her if he knew about her second energy.

"Don't think that you're special Realeza. He has enough thorns in his life already for you to be one more."

Relli glanced at the old psychic in confusion. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that every rose has its thorns and that Kurama is no different."

She glanced down at her hands. That was true but what kinds of evil things had her Kurama done? "And what kinds of thorns does Suichi have?" Relli asked, curiously.

Genkai narrowed her eyes at the young girl. "That Youko Demon for one, surely you've seen how much more aggressive he gets when it takes over?"

"Yes, I have." she mumbled. The memory of seeing Kurama transformed into that silver-haired fox intimidated her. Although that once might have been his true form it seemed utterly foreign to her. She preferred Kurama's soft, gentle personality.

"And he's no doubt told you about the people he's killed, including that Amanuma boy right?"

Relli gasped and glanced up at the old lady. "Suichi has…killed a boy?"

"Koenma revived him so don't go thinking that Kurama is a ruthless bastard. The truth is that Kurama had to beat him at his own game or end up throwing the world into destruction and he chose the right thing to do. Hasn't he told you about his past?"

Relli stiffened. "He told me that I could ask him anything I wanted about his past but I don't like to get into other people's business," Relli's rigid expression softened as she remembered what he had said after that. "He said that he trusted me with all his heart."

"Shame the feeling isn't mutual."

Realeza bit her lip. "I've considered telling him the whole truth."

Genkai raised her eyebrows. In all the time she'd known Relli she'd always had a hard time trusting people. At first she had thought it was simple caution but then when she sensed the obvious discomfort Relli felt for people it became clear that she had been hurt.

It seemed unlikely that she would tell anybody the whole entire truth about herself. There were too many secrets inside of her lonely heart.

Would she really try to tell Kurama the whole truth? she thought to herself. Would she tell him how her parents were killed, knowing that he might not like what he heard? "Even the truth about your father?" she asked, skeptically.

Relli nodded slowly.

"That's good," she responded. "Now there's only one more thing for you to do."

Relli frowned. "And what would that be?"

Genkai's voice rose an octave at her naiveness. "For you to get your head out of the clouds and realize that you mean to Kurama than his own life."

Relli's eyes widened and her heart started beating faster as she repeated Genkai's words in her head. Was it true? Did he care more than she realized? Her mouth trembled slightly. Her past tormented her. Would she really be able to let go of it? Would she be able to put back all of the tears if Kurama cared? Her eyes softened. Yes. Yes she would. He was so calm and gentle with her, could he actually-love her?

Genkai smiled in spit of herself as she saw Relli's shaken state. Kids. She was a little girl to her…But that glow in her eyes whenever she spoke Kurama's name wasn't imagined.

"Well my duty here is done. Think about what I said Realeza. You're not the only rose with thorns and if he trusts you enough with his past then you should do the same." she turned swiftly and walked away.

Kurama opened the door. He was changing out of his suit so that he could be more comfortable for the dinner that Yusuke and Keiko were inviting him. Relli had gone on ahead with the pair and she was going to wait for him there.

He quickly shed his jacket and then thought better of it and decided to take a warm shower. He did have another hour and if he was quick it wouldn't take long.

As soon as he finished, he wrapped a towel around his waist and dried his hair with a second towel.

"Nice look."

He glanced up to find Botan, smiling half-heartedly at him. Her expression was unusually tight.

He sighed. "If you came about Runo then-"

"No, I didn't come here because of her, although you will have to have a chat with me about her. I came because of your next mission. It's unusually difficult and you have to go to the Demon World to solve it." Botan said, leaning against the wall.

Kurama raised his eyebrows slightly as he continued drying his hair. "Demon World? Who's our next criminal?"

Botan sighed. "Tekkan, the owner of the prostitution ring over there. The Siluvian Brothers have gone back to Demon World and they're hitching a plan and you and Relli need to stop it."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "I get the feeling that Relli was somehow involved with Tekkan, am I right?"

"As always." she admitted, sullenly.

He sighed. It wasn't like she would tell him anything about herself. She kept herself an enigma and he couldn't seem to draw her out of the dark hole.

"Suichi, where are you? We need to go-" Relli froze in her place as she saw Botan and Kurama….in the bathroom…with Kurama half-naked.

She struggled to remain in composure. "Oh…well I'm sorry if I interrupted. I just came in to tell you that you should hurry up." Relli said, sounding cold.

She went back through and they both heard her slam the front door shut.

"Tell me she knows you're married."

"It never came up." Botan admitted weakly.

Kurama groaned and flung the towel over the sink. "We'll talk tomorrow okay?"

Botan agreed and fled as fast as she could.

Um…well this is my seventh chapter and I hoped you liked it. This is a lead up for the next chapter which is going to be more…how should I put it? Um, passionate yeah. But it's not gonna be a lemon! Like always, review!