Yuki woke up to the warmth and smell of fire a few hours later. It's natural for a human, under most circumstances, to be fearful to wake up to such a scent so, naturally, she sat bolt upright and looked around fearfully for the source. Not far from her sat the fire in question, freshly made and being tended to by none other than prince Kougaiji. "Kougaiji! What? When? I mean, how? How did you find dry firewood in this weather? And more to the point, something to light it with?" She asked as she straightened her thoughts in order to ask him a sensible question. "I lit it myself, it's no big deal." He shrugged. "How? With matches? or a lighter? I didn't think you smoked." She said edging closer, quite obviously curious. Kougaiji blushed lightly and prodded the fire with a stick. She seemed impressed with his handy work so far, so that was a definite plus. "No, I don't smoke... I'm a fire youkai... it's kind of what I do. So it was no trouble finding the wood and drying it out then lighting it out." He said... Ok so he lied about it being easy, anyone can tell you that drying out soaked wood is not easy or quick, but seeing the sweet smile on her face made him want to see it stay there.
"A fire youkai? I know you are one, I just wasn't aware you could use it practically. I thought it was just for fighting with." She said slowly, feeling a little stupid. Kougaiji smiled and, for once, couldn't help showing off as he 'accidentally' dropped the stick he'd been using into the flames then, quite calmly, reached into the fire with his bare hand and picked it out again. He glanced at her as he did so and found himself enchanted by the look of awe on her face. "There's never much reasonable and use for fire so it's hardly surprising you've only seen me fight with it." He shrugged slightly. Yuki nodded and sat watching the flames. "So... that... touching the fire, that didn't hurt you?" she had to ask, her eyes on his had. Though the fingertips were slightly blackened from the ash, his hand was otherwise indifferent to the intense heat of the fire. "Yes, see for yourself." he offered, holding his hand up to show her. He had expected her to just look at it from where she sat so was surrprise when she moved closer and took his hand with both of hers. She slowly turned it this way and that, always being gentle with him, her eyes looking over every centimeter of his hand and her fingers sought to find any trickery behind it. When she was satisfied that it hadn't hurt him she let go of his hand and placed both her hands on her lap
A comfortable silence fell between them until Kougaiji finally couldn't hold back any longer and had to yawn. "I guess it's my turn to sleep now. Don't let me nap too long ok?" He said, though he hated to leave her alone even if he was only going to be sleeping. He stretched and lay down, staring at the roof of the cave. Yuki moved closer to him so her knees were beside his head and smiled down at him. Kou smirked back, "What? Lonely already?" He asked, trying to tease her like he'd seen Gojyo do to girls... he believed this was called 'flirting' and made a girl feel good about herself... or that's what he'd been told. Yuki shook her head, "No, but the floor doesn't make for a good pillow." She said softly. Then, gently, she lifted his head and moved her legs under so he was resting on her lap, so the top of his head was touching her stomach and her feet were under her ass. Kougaiji tried to resist the blush on his face, "Won't your legs ache sat like that?" He asked. Yuki shrugged, "Maybe a little but I'm used to doing this for Sanzo. It's the only way I can comfort him sometimes. Now you really should close your eyes and get some sleep. I don't want you to be exhausted during the day when I need you." She said, gently running her fingers through his blood red hair, something the prince found to be oddly relaxing. As Kougaiji fell asleep he thought about how Yuki compared to other girls he'd met and known. She was sweet, kind, gentle and honest, if a little naive. For once, of all the things that he thought about her as he drifted off, not once did he think 'but she's human'.
When Kougaiji opened his eyes, his sweet dream of waking up to see Yuki's smiling face were short lived as he was no longer resting on her lap. He sat up and looked around the cave. It was morning, the campfire had long since gone out, and there was no sight of Yuki. She was gone and had put his jacket under his head in place of her legs. He hoped she'd just got up to stretch her legs or something. He stood up in a panic and took a more serious look around the cave and realised slowly that this didn't seem to be so. Not only was Yuki missing, but the little dragon, Hakuryuu was gone too! What had happened? Where had she gone? Had she run away or been taken by force? Perhaps she'd been scared of Kou all this time and chosen to escape? Maybe Sanzo had shown up? ...
Kougaiji sat down and tried to remain calm. She must have gone on her own, otherwise he would have heard a commotion from at least the dragon. He picked up his jacket and looked around the area outside the cave. She wasn't in sight but Kougaiji did see something else that gave him some hope though it came in a form he wouldn't have thought of. It was a human town. Humans can't live without other humans; this is a simple rule all youkai believe in. So judging by this rule of thumb, Yuki must have gone there. Kougaiji put his jacket on and headed towards the human settlement. His subconscious was questioning his reasons for going to find her at all but his conscious told it to shut up and his pride, that had 'forced' him to look after her this far, agreed.
As Kougaiji walked into town the citizens started fleeing his path in terror. It confused the prince at first until he remembered that Yuki and Sanzo weren't scared of him because they weren't your typical humans. Most humans now feared youkai like Kougaiji. He walked down the main street, trying to ask the people if they had seen Yuki but the only replies were of screams of terror. One old woman stepped up to face Kougaiji though. "I am Yuki! Do what you will to me, vile demon, but leave these people alone!" She shouted defiantly. Kougaiji didn't look impressed and rolled his eyes, "You're not her." he sighed as he passed her. The poor old dear almost fainted from the experience and those that rushed to her aid were soon cursing Kougaiji for 'using his evil magic' against the poor defenseless, charming lady. Kougaiji shook his head. They didn't have a clue what true youkai magic looked like and she wasn't exactly what Kougaiji would call a 'charming lady' either, nor would they if they had gotten to know Yuki, in his opinion.
He was starting to loose hope after this but looked up in time to see a beautiful young blonde woman leave a shop with a bag in her arms and a little white dragon on her shoulders. She stopped and looked at him in surprise. "Kou?" She said softly in disbelief, not using his full name for fear of upsetting the people around them even more. "Y-Yuki... Yuki!" Kougaiji ran over to her in relief and embraced her. He held her tight to his body, one hand on her back, the other on her head, his own head bowed to meet her shoulder, his ears drooped slightly in relief. "What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to keep the bag from being crushed while Hakuryuu, who'd had to vacate her shoulder, hovered close by and hissed at the prince. "I woke up and you were gone!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here? It's not safe to go out alone! You're only a human girl!" He protested, holding her at arms length now so he could look her over to judge if she was hurt at all. "I came to buy food... and I don't think you coming here was a good idea." She said, looking around at the angry mob that was forming. Kougaiji looked up too and smiled nervously, letting go of Yuki but holding her hand. "I've found my Yuki so we'll take our leave now. I apologise for any inconvenience caused." He said, bowing a little and slowly leading Yuki back through the mob towards the town entrance with the little dragon leading the way over the human's heads. Yuki felt the unease of the mob as she had no choice but to follow Kougaiji. She knew how this looked. She'd witnessed it once before herself. It looked, to the humans, like a despicable demon had kidnapped a young human and had made her his pet or slave and was taking her back after her brief escape. She tried to smile at them as she passed, hoping they wouldn't pay it much mind.
About half way there the mob turned and started after them, planning to drive him out and 'free' the girl in his clutches. "Time to go." Kougaiji said. Before Yuki could ask what he meant he picked her up, bridal style, and leaped up onto a rooftop and proceeded to run for the edge of town, jumping with ease between buildings, Hakuryuu following close behind. Yuki had screamed at first but he already knew it was due to her fear of heights. She clung to him with one arms, the other still holding her bag. Kougaiji finally stopped when they arrived back at the cave. "There, safe and sound." He said, putting her down carefully. "Idiot! What were you thinking, going into a human place like that?!" She demanded. Kougaiji felt suddenly ashamed, "I'm sorry... I know, I could have hurt someone... I wasn't thinking." He muttered apologetically. "Hurt someone? Kougaiji, forget hurting them, they could have hurt you!" She snapped, making him look up at her. "I thought... I thought you'd run away from me." He admitted. "Why on earth would I do that?" She asked. "Because you're scared of me. Because you think I'll turn against you. Because I'm not human." He said. "Kougaiji... I don't care that you're youkai, that's what makes you you." She said, her hands gently taking his head and making him look at her. "I would never run away from you..." She promised. Kougaiji put his hands on her cheek then slowly learned towards her. He'd never wanted something so badly from another being, especially not a human.
But just as their lips touched a voice came from the cave entrance and interrupted them and made Kougaiji stand before Yuki defensively. "Aha! Now I've found you!"