Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot. I don't even know how to play Uno.

Recap: Kurama and Kioshi experienced true torture. Then Kurama got into a fight with Neichi, sorta got healed by Tsukino before kissing her, and then provoked another fight with Neichi that caused Tsukino to run for her room. Oh and Kioshi is actually Kurama's supposedly long dead partner Kuronue, and Rose wants Tsukino to seduce and then attack Kurama. Did I miss anything?

This Is How You Remind Me
Chapter Sixteen
Escape from the Base Part 1

Day Hundred-Twelve

The day had barely started, and I already can feel my optimism fading. My torturer seemed to be enjoying himself much more today as he tried every last method he had to try to make me speak. Once my journal almost fell out of the grasp of the vine the held it secure and out of view under my shirt. It was only by pretending to wince and turn away from the pain that I was able to keep its existence a secret. If the cats found my journal they would have a field day wondering why one of the spirit detectives had concerned himself with the war.

Thankfully, the journal and my identity remained unknown, and hours later I was finally brought back to the cage where an equally wounded Kuronue was waiting. Too exhausted and weak to speak, we silently sit on the ground and waited for a healer.

Now that the healer has finally arrived it is only The Fox's Rose, which causes me to wonder what had happened to Tsukino. Had she been ordered to take care of a worse case or was she avoiding the prison because of my actions yesterday?

Before I can come to any conclusions, The Fox's Rose quickly enters the cage. She quickly heals Kuronue and causes him to fall unconscious before turning her attention to me. With a smirk that seems familiar to me, and a gleam in her eyes that makes them look black and causes all the warning bells go off in my head, she slowly walks over to me. Despite my wounded state, I try to move away from her and towards a corner of the cage so that I can use the walls to support and defend myself should she attempt to assault me again.

Unfortunately, my wounds cry out in protest causing me to halt my efforts and glare at her, warning her to keep away from me.

To my displeasure, the glare has no effect and within seconds she has closed in on me. Bowing down in front of me, she coyly blinks with what is supposed to be a seducing smile on her face. However, I quickly avert my eyes to avoid looking down her low-cut shirt, and her strong scent of copper mixed with wild roses makes me want to retch.

I can see her grin widen as she bows farther now and says, "Come on fox-boy. Don't I get a kiss too? Or do you only do after mated girls now?"

Without waiting for an answer, she places her hands on my chest and her energy starts to flow through me. Unlike Tsukino whose healing gave me energy, The Fox's Rose seems to be stealing it. Within seconds, I'm barely able to stay awake, but within the last moments of my healing, when The Fox's Rose attempts to kiss me again, I manage to duck and fall onto my stomach effectively ruining her plan. Now knowing that I have managed to at least best The Fox's Rose once, I feel my optimism returning. Perhaps we will be able to complete this mission soon and without problems, but for now I will rest.

New Plan

It was hard to act like nothing had happened the next day. Sure Neichi didn't act any different other than muttering darkly about Kurama when he thought I wasn't paying attention (which seemed slightly out of character for him, as if he was an actor playing a role and guessing how his character would act), but I found it hard to act like the happy and caring healer that I usually was. My visit to the jail had destroyed all my thoughts about how merciful the cats were in battle. Rose had given me the impression that the cats didn't take prisoners or kill the enemy while they retreated but the trip the jail obviously proved that false. Now knowing the darkness that leaked through the army it was hard to keep up the caring healer act when my thoughts were elsewhere.

Thankfully, my thoughts never strayed from healing while I was being a healer, but in the few moments I had to myself, such as walking down the hallways, my thoughts quickly turned Kurama and mission instead of thinking about my duties. Most of my thoughts were filled with guilt because I was well and he was being tortured, but some of my thoughts were of regret because I hadn't listened to him and indirectly caused the situation. However, something usually managed to distract me from my thoughts before I was able to dwell on them too long but the one time I was able to dwell I realized something important.

I was walking down to the Food Branch for dinner that I was probably just going to throw up later when my thoughts turned from wondering if Neyuki and Neini were there to thoughts about the jail. Even though I had only seen the jail once and didn't have to go back there again, I could picture it clearly as well as the beating Neichi had given Kurama.

If I had just obeyed him and joined the dogs with him then maybe he wouldn't be in such bad shape, I told myself. However, I also reasoned that if I had joined the dogs I wouldn't have been able to talk with Rose and warn her about her paying for my mistakes. On the other hand, Rose's plan was probably the worst one we could come up with. It was far from fool-proof due to my curse, and the fact that Kurama was locked in jail and wouldn't be able to escape after the plan was completed.

I paused in my steps as a worrying thought hit me.

Or was that part of Rose's plan? I wondered. Did she really want revenge for Kurama breaking her heart or was there something else going on?

I shook my head and continued walking. Regardless of Rose's reasons for her plan, I wasn't going to let her go to Spirit World Jail for my mistakes. But I couldn't let Kurama die either. With a sigh of self-pity caused by the headache I had given myself, I decided I would have to either come up with a new plan and convince Rose to play along, or play along with hers and then help Kurama and his ally escape.

However, I was running out of time. Since Rose had seen Kurama's reaction to me, she was going to be hounding me to agree outright to the plan. If that I did that, I would only have hours to think of a way to help the guys escape. But that was if I agreed to the plan. If I didn't agree, I maybe would have a little more time since Rose seemed dead set on having me take part in the plan. I reasoned that from what I knew of Rose's character she would try to convince me to do the plan anyways. That would give me a little more time seeing as how the cats weren't ready to kill Kurama or his ally yet. But even if I disagreed, it would probably only give me a day at most.

I sighed again and wondered what I was going to do.

Before I could come up with an answer, Neyuki and Neini spotted me in the halls and walked over. We talked for a bit before we started to walk down to the Food Branch. Neyuki and Neini had already eaten but agreed to sit and talk with me. We were almost there when someone walked onto the branch from the jail and bumped into Neini. Neyuki and I didn't notice at first and only paused when we noticed the kitten wasn't following. We looked back to see her standing in front of a person and realized that she had bumped into someone. For a moment, we stood there waiting for her to apologize and catch up. When Neini still hadn't moved we moved our gaze to the person she had bumped into and saw it was Rose. However, if I hadn't known that there were no other kitty-bats but Rose and I in the cat army I would have mistaken her for another demon. Her eyes had turned black with rage, and she was snarling down at poor Neini instead of hissing or screeching as I'd seen other bat and cats demons do.

Neyuki, never one to be intimidated, walked up to her younger sister and with a hand on the kitten's shoulder, apologized for the accidental bump.

Rose stared at her for a moment before noticing me. At once her furious expression vanished behind a smiling mask that did little to erase the memory of her rage just seconds earlier. She virtually bounced over to me, took my hands, and all but ordered me to do the plan tonight while giving me another rundown of the plan, which still had no hint of a way for the guys to escape.

For a second, I was shocked into silence by her mood swing as well as her lack of concern about being overheard. Quickly I recalled my thoughts before running into Neyuki and Neini and I realized what was probably the best course of action, as long as she didn't kill me right there. Even if she was smiling, her eyes were literally still black with rage.

I was about to reply when Neini quietly said, "I thought you didn't want to hurt anyone."

I turned to look over at them and saw Neyuki glaring daggers at Rose while Neini hid behind her sister and looked like she was going to cry as if she had just been betrayed. Even though she had kitten ears and was a full demon, I was strongly reminded of Rei, Keiko and Yusuke's daughter, when I had left to go to the jail. After making a mental note to thank Neini for strengthening my resolve, I moved so that I blocked her view in case Rose did attack me and cause blood to flow. "I don't and I won't," I replied to Neini before turning my attention to Rose. "Rose there has to be a better plan than this. We still have time to think of something new since the generals won't be kil- removing them right away."

For a moment, the rage disappeared from her eyes though they remained black and stared at me in surprise. However, the moment passed and the surprise turned into a smug look that caused me to wonder what I had done. With an amused smirk on her face as if I had fallen into some sort of trap, she nodded and turned to leave. "That's okay," she said. "I think my backup plan will work better anyways. Don't worry about your part in the plan; I'll make sure you get the credit you want. Shame you won't be able to enjoy the moment as much as I'm sure he will." She was about to leave the branch and my sight when she paused and turned to see my reaction to her next sentence. "By the way, your wannabe lover is full of energy," she grinned showing fangs, "but then again, I guess you already knew that."

I closed my eyes to block the hurtful image that appeared in my mind and then opened them to see Rose grin widely and triumphantly before she disappeared around the corner. By the satisfied look on her face, I knew that my reaction was what she wanted to see. I wasn't sure what she was going to do but it was obvious that I should have listened to Kurama when he warned me while we were back in Spirit World about not trusting Rose. She probably had been messing with my head this whole time, and Kurama had been paying for it. Annoyed and angry with myself, I tried to think of something to do. Rose obviously had a plan and was going to act on it but I couldn't be sure what the plan was or when it would happen. That meant I that I had to get down to the jail ASAP and warn Kurama, but I had been banned from the jail so I wouldn't be able to get in.

Suddenly remembering that Neyuki and Neini were also in the hallway, I turned around to see them still standing there staring at me in confusion. Quickly, Neyuki's look of confusion turned to one of determination. She opened her mouth to demand an explanation, but by that time I was already running towards the jail branch opening. "I swear I'll explain later!" I yelled over my shoulder as I disappeared down the hallway.

I knew that Neyuki would not rest until she had the answered she wanted, like why I wanted credit for Rose's actions, but I was sure that after I warned Kurama and his partner that I would have thought up something to tell Neyuki without giving away the fact that Kurama was Kurama. In fact as I walked down the hallway, I silently tried to think of something to tell her as well as how to explain to Kurama why I had joined forces with Rose and then separated. The best way would be to explain to him the real reason why I had acted the way I did, but I had the nagging doubt that he wouldn't believe me. Once again the fact that he looked and acted slightly different caused me to subconsciously separate the fact that he was still the same Kurama regardless of human or demon blood from my mind.

Shortly, I found myself in front of the door to the jail and paused. It was quiet inside, which would make it all the harder to sneak in. Even the smallest noise, such as entering the jail would draw the action of the guards. For a moment, I paused and stared at the door, trying to think of a way in when I heard a noise from behind me. I darted into the shadows and watched as a cat dressed in armour walked towards the door. As she entered the jail, I quickly darted in after her before hiding in the shadows so that I wasn't spotted.

At once I noticed that all the cages that were filled yesterday were now empty and their walls dented as if a battle had taken place inside of them. In some blood even coated the floor. Worried about Kurama and his partner, I quickly followed the single guard down the hallway. Since there were no other guards to worry about, I only thought about walking behind her and timing my steps so that I took a step at the same time as her so that she didn't get suspicious. Just in case, I also cloaked my energy. (Thank you Yusuke and Kuwabara.)

Within minutes, we arrived at Kurama's cage, and I had to duck behind an empty cage and listen as the guards chatted to themselves.

"I'll be glad when the cages are all empty. Then I won't have to come here until the cages are filled again," the guard I had followed said.

Her fellow guard nodded and looked towards the cage behind him. "I hear ya, but look on the bright side. These are the last two and tomorrow if they don't give us the information we want, we'll just kill them. Secretly I hope they keep quiet. This place is creepy enough as it is without the bat making stupid noises." He stood up from his seat and stretched. "Well I'll leave them to you. Try not to kill them before tomorrow."

She nodded but also raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were out for the night."

He grimaced before turning and walking back the way we had come causing me to duck behind the cages again. "If only," he said over his shoulder as he walked out. "Night."

The female guard rolled her eyes and sat down where the other guard had been sitting before replying.

Briefly the jail filled with light as the other guard opened the door and quickly became dim again as the door closed behind him. Once I was sure that no one else was going to enter or leave the jail, I turned my attention back to the cage and the guard. If I was going to warn Kurama and his partner, I would have to get past the guard. To do that I would have to knock her out or wait for her to fall asleep, however the chances of that happening were slim. Even thought it was just after dinner, most cat demons wouldn't be ready to fall asleep for many more hours. I was considering trying to use an experimental attack Yusuke, Kuwabara and I had been working on called the Sonic Screech to knock her out but before I could make a sound something started making high-pitched squeaking noises.

While I covered my ears in pain, the guard turned her attention to the cage behind her and threw the stone she suddenly had in her hand inside. It flew for a moment before a small 'thunk' was heard and the noises stopped.

"Shut up bat," the guard barked as she reached down to grab another stone.

From inside the cage, I saw a shadow rub its head. "If I do that I would bored. Do you really want me to be bored?" a male voice asked with a slight whine in his voice.

"If it keeps you quiet then yes."

"Actually when I'm bored I tend to get more annoying. Right Katsu-kun?" He paused and the only thing heard in the jail was someone muttering, "Knock out the guard."

Suddenly a rock flew out of the cage and hit the guard in the temple. She hit the ground, and I was barely able to keep myself in my hiding place. My training as a healer demanded that I rush over and check on the guard but my common sense told me to keep hidden. In the dark it would be too easy to be taken as an enemy and attacked. My conscience hated me for it, but I was able to ease it slightly by seeing that she was still breathing normally and not bleeding as well as telling myself that there couldn't be any evidence of my being in the jail.

The jail was silent for a whole five seconds before a groan came from the cage. "Damn it Kurama! I thought you were awake!" The shout quickly quieted to muttering. "Great I just knocked out my only source of entertainment. Should have known that he would still plan aloud in his sleep."

I couldn't help but laugh quietly at the prisoner's annoyance. After travelling with Kurama for a few months, I was well aware of his odd tendency to plan his next move aloud while asleep.

Unfortunately, my small laughs caught the demon's attention before I was ready to face him. In the dim, I saw him turn his head towards me and narrow his eyes.

"I know you're here so why don't you just show yourself," he said, his playful and almost childish tone turning to one that rivalled Kurama's for calm and coldness.

After taking a moment, I stepped out from behind the cage and walked towards his cage. I paused just outside the door and waited for him to move. He stood and walked over to the door so that I could see him as well. He was just as tall as Kurama, with black hair similar to Kurama's disguise, and sharp purple eyes. His eyes narrowed as he studied me before he nodded, and his eyes widened a bit. "You were that healer from yesterday. The one who was the cause of that fight between Kurama and that cat."

I gave him a weak smile. Being known as a cause of a fight was not really the way I wanted to be known so I introduced myself as Tama before asking for his name.

He was silent for a moment before replying, "Kuronue."

I nodded and tried to think of my next move. Kuronue had seemed far more easygoing when he was annoying the guard, but now he seemed completely businesslike.

"I'm surprised that the cats allowed you back down here after what Kurama did," he thought aloud after a moment.

I nodded and suddenly remembered my reason for returning to the jail. "They don't actually know that I'm down here, but I had to come and warn you guys."

"Warn us?"

I nodded. "It's about the Fox's Rose. She has this plan to do something to Kurama-san."

"What sort of 'something'?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I'm not really sure but she'll probably do it tonight or early tomorrow because the guards-"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's all they can talk about down here. Hopefully fox-boy will have a plan by then. Though it'd be a lot easier with these collars off."

"Collars?"

He pointed to the strap of black material around his neck. "Somehow it's blocking our ability to use our demon energy."

I frowned. "Did you try just trying to break it?"

He rolled his eyes but nodded. "Tried everything but pick-locking it. When they threw us in here they took our bags from us and searched us taking everything, including my lock-pick so I couldn't really try."

I nodded and recalled seeing two cats walking down the hallway a little while before with some bags one that I had thought I had mistaken for Kurama's. However, I had no idea where the bags were now. "I could try to get you one."

He frowned and stared at me as if he was trying to figure out if I was lying or not. "Why would you do that and why did you even bother to come down to warn us? I thought you and The Fox's Rose were buddies."

"What's the worst thing that could happen if I'm lying?"

He frowned and was about to reply when he stopped and considered my question. "Good point but last I recall, you were yelling at him," he pointed over at Kurama, "for wanting to join the dogs."

I blushed slightly in embarrassment at the realization that a slightly personal matter between Kurama and me had been overheard. "And if you recall, I'm not very big on the idea of letting people die over meaningless things such as a fight."

He nodded. "You still didn't answer my question though, and I bet you have some idea about what she's planning."

Knowing that the only way to get him to listen to me was to tell the truth, I explained the situation I had gotten myself into, leaving out some personal details, as well as told him what I could guess of her plan from her hints.

When I had finished, he was staring at me in what seemed to be amazement. I asked if he didn't believe me but he just shook his head and replied, "I'm just amazed by how blunt you are. Kurama gave me the impression that you were… well…"

"Naïve?"

"Ignorant."

I shook my head. "That's not really important right now is it?"

He nodded. "So basically The Fox's Rose is going to try to seduce him but make sure you are the one who gets into trouble in Spirit World so that she gets out of jail-free and you get into jail just like you wanted."

I nodded.

"Why do you want to go to jail?"

"Other people shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes."

"But aren't your friends in Human World going to pay anyways?"

I looked down at my shoes, realizing that I hadn't thought of that.

"And I'm guessing it didn't occur to you that Spirit World would send someone after her anyways."

I looked up at him, my eyes wide in confusion. "Why would they do that?"

Kuronue rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious (which it was). "Well they can't really let a thief break into Spirit World and tell everyone else how to, right?"

I wanted to kick myself. None of this had ever occurred to me. If it had I probably would have been a much better partner. Though it wouldn't have hurt Kurama to clue me in. Of course, he probably assumed that I already knew that. Jerk.

Suddenly light spilled into the jail from the doorway causing Kuronue to quickly cover his eyes. By the time I turned around, the door had shut again, and the jail had dimmed. Confused and slightly worried, I started to turn back to Kuronue to ask if he knew where his and Kurama's things were so that I could go and get their things when the guard suddenly jumped up and lunged at me.

"Traitor!" she hissed.

Thankfully, even though I had spent many months training as a healer, I had also been sparring with Neini and Neyuki. Side-stepping I managed to dodge and moved more into the darkness for an advantage. However, the guard followed me causing me to have to move farther and farther from the cage where Kuronue was and deeper into the jail. Every time I went to use my energy against her, she managed to lunge towards me, which caused me to have to block with my body instead of my energy.

Then the unforgettable happened. I tripped. The guard stood over me ready to stab into my flesh. Her eyes staring down into mine. The claws came downward towards me, and I prepared myself for impact. Suddenly, a rock flew out of nowhere and hit the guard on the forehead causing her to hit the ground, knocked out again.

For a second, I stood staring at the demon on the ground when I felt a wave of energy similar to a spray of water by the ocean hit me. I turned around and stretched my claws out ready to fight only to come face to face with a very familiar face.

"The next time you are dating a Spirit Detective, let me know?" Neyuki said with a grin on her face. "That way I can give you some decent advice."

A blush worked its way onto my face, and even though she was wrong, I couldn't help but ask with a smile on my face, "Spirit Detectives are different from other guys?"

She nodded. "More than you could even believe. Just ask Mukuro-sama. Now, are we going to help save your friends or not?"

My confusion knew no bounds.

It turned out that Neyuki was a lot more informed that I had thought. As we walked back to the cage carrying the unconscious guard between us, (we hoped that she would assume it was all a dream if we just put her back where she was) Neyuki confessed that she already had a fairly good idea of what was going on. It turned out that Mukuro, worried about her own lands that she protected, had sent a group of scouts (Neyuki and her close family) into the war to try to stop it.

When Kurama informed Hiei that we were joining the war (I don't know when he managed to do this), Hiei had told Mukuro who had told Neyuki to keep an eye out for us. When she saw only me, Neyuki didn't realize who I was until I told her the fake story about how I knew Kurama who she only knew as the fox, Katsu. After that, she just kept an eye on me so that if anyone found out who Kurama was, we could cover it up so that news and questions about Spirit World involvement in the war didn't happen and the war wouldn't turn into one between demons for Spirit World and demons against.

Soon, we returned to the cage and after introducing Neyuki to Kuronue and learning from Kuronue where the bags were, Neyuki and I left the jail.

As we crept around the base, I was strongly reminded of the 'missions' Botan, Keiko, and I went on in Human World. Only this time instead of harmless little trips away from the house without informing any of the men, Neyuki and I were going to do something that could easily get us killed. The knowledge made my stomach turn over in knots and caused me to question myself. It seemed that no matter what I did, I was always betraying or hurting someone. However, there was nothing I could do other than continue on the road I started. So, taking a deep breath, I followed Neyuki down the deserted hallways to the Red Branch. Besides, the mission had to come before indirectly killing random demons I didn't know.

Shortly, we arrived and I saw that unlike the Blue Branch, which kept its all natural colours, the Red Branch had been painted red and the doors each had numbers on them. As we looked down the hallway, we were grateful that we knew what number to look for, as there were far too many doors to check behind in one night. Quickly, we silently ran towards door number 35.

Once at the door, we crossed our fingers and reached for the doorknob. Thankfully, the door was unlocked. Unluckily though, the room was guarded. Inside the room a cat with fur over his face lay sleeping in his bed. Getting on our hands and knees, we crawled into the room and looked around for the bags and weapons Kuronue had described to us, careful not to wake the demon who lay sleeping.

It was no easy task and after half an hour we were still looking around, admittedly a little more recklessly after we saw that the demon was a deep sleeper. The walls were covered with weapons and the corners filled with bags. On one side of the room however, was a desk and as I crawled near it I saw that it was covered with blueprints. Remembering the collars, I looked for something similar to what I had seen on Kuronue. Eventually I found the blueprint copied many times and after taking a quick look over at the sleeping demon, I quickly folded one of the plans and put it in my pocket. As I was turning away from the desk, I bumped my wing on something on the desk. It fell off the desk and I quickly dove to catch it in case it was breakable. To my amazement, I hands felt plush, and I saw my stuffed toy from my home staring at me through the dark.

Before I could start to wonder how my toy came to be at the base, Neyuki crawled over to me and tugged on my sleeve, showing me that she had found what we were looking for. I nodded once and quickly followed her out the door and back towards the jail, not letting go of the toy. Feeling that food also might help the guys out, we made a pit-stop at the kitchen and grabbed some meat and a loaf of bread.

When we slipped back into the jail, we saw that the guard we had knocked out had vanished and had been replaced with another male guard who Kuronue had obviously knocked out. He grinned at us through the bars as a child would as they handed their parents their report card with three gold stars on it. "What took you so long?" he whined as we walked over.

Pulling out the food and passing him the bags through the bars, Neyuki replied, "We made a pit-stop."

If possible, Kuronue's grin seemed to widen as he quickly pulled out his weapon, cut the loaf in half before devouring it. "You guys are lifesavers," he said through a mouth full of meat. "I doubt even rats would eat the food they had been serving us here."

We nodded and I said, "We also found the blueprints for the collars."

To my amusement, both Kuronue and Neyuki were wearing faces filled with confusion complete with wide eyes. "We did?" Neyuki asked.

I nodded and handed them to Kuronue, who quickly read through them. He sighed. "Well looks like the lock-pick will be useless then. They can only be removed with energy from a cat in the army."

"What's the problem then? Tama-chan can remove it then."

Kuronue stared at Neyuki. "Why can't you do it?"

Her eyes narrowed but she also smiled as if she was used to people questioning her problem with using her energy. "Do you want the collar off or to explode?"

Kuronue seemed to gulp and quickly said, "Well it's not like we need them off right away. Kurama is still out like a light, and I'd rather not have to drag him out of here."

"Why don't you just wake him up?"

I smiled and turned to Neyuki. "Kurama-san is a very deep sleeper. A nuclear bomb probably wouldn't even wake him up."

"A what?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it," I replied before turning my view towards the sleeping fox. "I'm amazed he can afford to sleep so deeply considering how many people probably have tried to kill him."

Kuronue shrugged and opened his bag. "Don't ask me. All I know is that it makes him easier to prank." He frowned as he closed his bag again. "Damn, I knew I forgot something."

"What did you forget?" Neyuki asked while I said, "Do you want us to get it?"

He shook his head. "Markers. I must have left them back at the Den."

Neyuki and I traded a look as Kuronue muttered to himself as he pulled out a stack of cards. "Wanna play?" he asked when he finished shuffling them.

I frowned, completely confused. "Kuronue-san, what did you want markers for?"

He stared. "To draw on Kurama of course."

The room was silent, and in that silence we heard someone calling from the halls. Neyuki and I traded a look and Kuronue said, "Sounds like your boyfriend is looking for you."

I shook my head, slightly aware of the fact that I wasn't blushing. Probably another effect of the curse, I thought as I said, "He's not my boyfriend."

Before Kuronue could say anything else, Neyuki stood up and walked towards the door. "Don't worry about Neichi-kun, I'll cover for you." She looked pointedly at Kuronue. "When you leave, take her with you. The cats will correctly assume that she helped you if she stays."

Kuronue nodded and gave her a mock salute. "Roger that."

Neyuki quickly gave me a hug and said, "I'll mail you when I get the chance. Hiei-san probably knows where you all live so I'll just question him."

Before I could even nod or say anything else, she had disappeared out of the jail and out of the story. For a moment, we could hear Neichi and Neyuki talking before their voices faded as they walked away. Soon there was only silence that remained until Kurama muttered, "Knock out guards" again.

Kuronue rolled his eyes in the direction of Kurama and shouted, "You already said that so you can shut up any time now!" which caused me to start to laugh. Not noticing or caring about my laughter, Kuronue asked me, "Does Kurama honestly do this every night?"

I nodded and tried to stop laughing all the while slightly amazed by Kuronue's personality. He was nothing like the bats Rose had described. Instead of being manipulative and evil, Kuronue just seemed like any other guy. In fact, he strongly reminded me of Jin. Both Kuronue and Jin just had this aura around them that broadcasted good feelings when they wanted to. Kuronue even had his pointy ears. "I'm not really sure, but every night while we were travelling he did this."

"I pity you."

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "But how do you know that he's Kurama-san?"

"Simple, he told me." Disbelief must have been obvious on my face because Kuronue explained that they used to be thieving partners before Kurama 'died'. After explaining about how they met up again and such, he asked me, "So what about you? How did you end up with this jerk?"

Once again I found myself explaining my first meeting of Kurama as well as my adventures in Human World. Again, similar to Jin and the other demon boys he travelled with, Kuronue was surprisingly easy to talk to. When I had finished, Kuronue whistled which caused Kurama to stir in his sleep but not awaken.

"Wow and I thought Mikiku was having a rough time when I met her."

I nodded, my curiosity becoming active again. "Who exactly is Mikiku-san?"

Kuronue's eyes were wide before they narrowed to their normal size. "Kurama probably left you in the dark and The Fox's Rose told you some stuff so you want to know what's true now, right?"

I nodded again.

Kuronue shifted his seat a bit before randomly asking, "Where did you find Inumaru?"

I looked down at my hand and realized that I was still holding my stuffed toy. "I found him with the bags but how did my toy get here and how do you know his name?"

Kuronue's eyes widened. "Lucky guess?" His wide eyes were quickly replaced by a wide smirk as he said, "And maybe Kurama missed you?"

"So why take my stuffed toy and how did he even know it was mine?" I paused." And how did he even get it in the first place? It was in my home-" My eyes widened as I stared at Kuronue. "You guys went to my house," I said, barely able to believe it.

Kuronue waved his hands in front of him as if protecting himself. "Sorta. It was the only way we could track you down. Kurama had this watch thing that followed the energy path you left as you travelled to the cat base. Since you went to the house, we followed the trail there, and since it was too late to travel any farther we spent the night there."

I could only nod. For some reason, the thought of Kurama knowing just what kind of neighbourhood I was from made me very uncomfortable. If we both lived in medieval Human World, I would say that it was because he came from a completely different class of people than I did so the difference in class was making me vulnerable. However, we weren't living in that time so I reasoned it was just because Kurama knew where I came from and I had no idea where he was from. If that made any sense.

Kuronue brought me out of my musing by returning to our previous topic. "Mikiku was a batty-cat that I met when I was little, only a few months old. We kept in contact until she vanished one day. My dad said she probably just left because some demon attacked her so I started to travel, keeping an eye out for her. Along the way, I learned how to steal and ran into Kurama. Eventually, I learned that a batty-cat who looked like Mikiku worked at a bar so I went there for a drink just to be sure it was her. Once I was sure the batty-cat was actually Mikiku I started to return periodically. Kurama became curious about where I was going and joined me one night. He met Mikiku, and I came up with the idea of trying to get them together, since he never shown any interest in any other girls. For a while I was pretty sure he was gay, only he never shown any interest in the guys either."

I blinked. "I thought Kurama-san was a womanizer though."

Kuronue stared and then pointed at a rock. "See that rock? That rock is more a womanizer than Kurama was." He shook his head. "The guy was an iceblock about everything that wasn't stealing or annoying people. That's why I tried to hook him up with Mikiku. One to make sure that he wasn't gay, and two to make him live a little. Of course, the way that he seemed to try to be nice to her didn't help."

"What do you mean?"

Kuronue sighed and seemed to be glaring at the floor. "Well Mikiku didn't really have a name since no one raised her or cared for her, so when Kurama asked her for her name she just muttered something about not having one. Then Kurama said some crap about how she should have a name and he just decided to call her Mikiku. (No idea why he picked that but that's how she got her name.) She seemed really happy about it and Kurama seemed happy about making her happy so I thought I'd give match-making a shot. It apparently didn't end too well."

"What do you mean?"

Kuronue seemed to have said more than he wanted to because he just shook his head and said, "It's not important. Anyways, so they were dating and eventually Kurama asked for my permission to mate with her, since I was the closest thing to family Mikiku had. I said yes and they marked each other that night. Apparently, they never went any farther than that."

I nodded, remembering what he had said about how he had been placed under the late King Enma's control like I had been only hundreds of years before that.

Suddenly, Kuronue's sombre mood changed and he was grinning as he picked up his stack of cards again. "Do you know how to play Twenty-one?"

I was silent as I blinked stupidly for a second, completely taken off-guard by his change in emotions. He seemed to understand my feelings because he nodded. "Yeah, I do this often. Kurama said that if my attacks didn't confuse my enemies my chatter would."

I nodded as I took the cards he offered me. "I can understand why. At first I thought you were-"

He nodded as he looked over his cards. "First conversations always make me feel awkward since you never know whether the person you are talking to is going to stab you or not. Do you want another card?"

I stared at him. "Pardon?"

"Another card. Do you want another card?"

"Uh…Yes?"

He passed me another card and drew one himself. After a second, he said that he was done and asked me if I wanted another card. I shook my head and showed him my cards as he had done to me. He stared at my cards before looking my in the face and saying, "You have no idea how to play do you?"

I nodded, and he launched into an explanation of how to play Twenty-One. I won a few games of Twenty-One after that as well as learned how to play War. Slowly though, I felt my energy leaving me as if I was slowly coming off a sugar high. After two hours of cards, I was barely able to keep my eyes open.

Half way though playing Uno, Kuronue suggested that I follow Kurama's example and rest. I was about to refuse when all my energy left me and I gave in. Unable to move from my spot in front of the cage, and without a thought to the knocked out guard, I curled up and fell into unconsciousness, somehow feeling safe even though only a locked door blocked me from best thieves in all three worlds.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was impossible to write but I tried to make it nice and long for you. Though I think it's more or less average length for me. I dunno.

Also, I have nothing against gays except for the fact that they ARE gay so don't take Kuronue's needing assurance of Kurama's preference personally if you are gay or a gay-supporter. It's just the way I picture Kuronue acting. (Also sorry if that note seems offensive.)

Other than that, thanks for reading and reviewing and waiting so patiently. (Though if I'm taking too long, yell at me. Like other humans, I can be lazy so yelling gets me back on track.) Hope to see you all at the next chapter when Rose makes her move and Kurama has to put up with Tsukino knowing a fair bit of his… less than pleasant past.

-D101