The elusive fox had finally been caught. The crude laughter of a bounty hunter echoed around the poor debilitated creature, it had been badly injured. It was running out of energy…out of time. " I shall be known as the prodigious man who killed the infamous Yoko Kurama! You will soon join that pathetic excuse of a bat demon!" The fox came to a halt, it turned and growled viciously at the hunter. "aww whats wrong? Are you sad your little friend suffered a slow and miserable death?"

All the fox wanted to do was rip the bastards throat out, how dare he speak of his fallen comrade like that. The hunter was taunting him..trying to lure him in, the fox was smarter than to fall for such trickery. It knew it couldn't win a fight in its condition, it had to control its anger…it had to escape. The hunter began to slowly walk towards the fox, " I think I shall make you die a slow and miserable death to!" Once again the fox took off, it was desperate…it had to escape..but to where?

Human world…. The spirit fox was now running through a crowd of people, a few women noticed the creature and began to scream. It ran through streets, making leaps and bounds over cars until it felt a searing pain in its side. The hunter had followed him..it had shot the fox with an arrow. The pitiful fox collapsed on the ground. With all its might it struggled back to its feet, catching site of a young pregnant women sitting on a nearby park bench, the fox had an idea..it didn't like it..but it had no other choice. With its last ounce of energy it sprinted to the women and leaped onto her belly. The startled women screamed, a few people turned to look at her..but saw nothing. The fox had vanished inside her before anyone had seen…

Kuronue had an intense expression on his face, he was sitting at the top of the stairs leading to Cheza's and Yusukes apartments. Cheza had gone to take a shower, and Kurama had to go home and check on his mother. The gang had come upon an agreement that Kuronue would stay with Cheza, since she was the only one who lived alone. Kurama certainly couldn't keep his old comrade at his house, his mother and step father would defiantly not approve of letting a strange man with bat wings stay with them.

Kurama had informed Kuronue why he was now In human form before he left. Now, Kuronue kept replaying in his head different ways to kill the bounty hunter he had been told about. He was upset he had not been there to help his friend.

Alice pranced over to Kuronue, "woof!" Kuronue was so lost in thought he didn't even notice Alice had laid her head down on his lap. Off in the distance Hiei sat high up on a tree branch lost in thought as well. He felt some weird emotion towards the bat, he had never really experienced jealousy before…he didn't know what it felt like. He damned his sense of human emotions..it was nothing but a weakness. Hiei had never opened up to anyone except Kurama, and he barely even opened up to him. To see the fox reunited with his best friend had made him jealous. He had no one close to him, no friends..no family..no one…he wanted to have the comfort of knowing there was someone who would always have his back.

Cheza sighed flopping down on her bed, it felt good to finally relax. She figured Kuronue needed some time to himself so she decided to leave him be. After watching tv for awhile she felt her eyeslids getting heavy, *I'll just close my eyes for a minute..then I'll go check on Kuronue* she thought. But she ended falling into a deep sleep, not waking until morning.

Cheza awoke to Alice barking. She yawned looking over at Alice who had her doggy bowl in her mouth. Her eyes widened a bit as she noticed a big lump under her covers, it appeared to be breathing. Being as quiet as she could, she slipped out of bed and stared at the lump. She wondered if she should get Kuronue, just in case it was some weird demon thingy. She decided to just yank the covers off instead, and that she did. To her surprise, Kuronue laid sprawled out on her bed, his wings slightly outstretched, "Kuronue!". The sleepy bat didn't budge, "I must make a mental note to remind him he sleeps on the couch NOT my bed!" she muttered.

After Cheza had done her morning routine she decided to take Alice for a walk. The two ventured outside to see Yusuke saying goodbye to Keiko, who was taking off for work. "Hey Cheza!" Yusuke and Keiko greeted. Cheza waved at the two, and Alice barked." Yusuke you better behave! And make sure to vacuum!" soon after Keiko left, leaving Yusuke and Cheza at the front of the apartment stairs. "so how do you like living with batman?" Yusuke asked. "umm…its like hes not even there" Cheza replied.

"You two talking about me!" Cheza turned to see a sleep-eyed Kuronue walking over. "I havent slept in a bed in so long!" he exclaimed. Yusuke grinned, "first night living together and your already sleeping in the same bed!" Cheza's face turned bright red, "shut up! Its not like that!"

Yusuke began to laugh, "I cant wait to tell Kurama about this!". "Theres nothing to tell!" Cheza exclaimed. Cheza looked over at Kuronue to see him smirking, "your blushing". She felt she was going to die from embarrassment, "Im going to go walk Alice!" she said taking off before Yusuke or Kuronue could respond.

Cheza sat down at a park bench, letting Alice off her leash. It was a nice sunny day out, "woof woof woof!" Alice was barking at a tree she had chased a squirrel up in, now it was chattering angrily at her.

About an hour passed and the two were making their way to the apartment. Cheza stopped in front of a two story house, painted a pale blue. "its been awhile since I've visited any friends.." the house belonged to a friend of hers, she decided to drop in and say hi.

~~~~meanwhile~~~~

"yes mother" Kurama's mom had asked him to do the dishes. He was eager to speak with Kuronue, but he wouldn't be able to until tonight. His mother had invited a family friend over for dinner, and of course it would be rude for him to not attend. For now he was stuck tidying up the house with his kid brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~that night~~~~~~~~~~~~

"is something troubling you?" Kurama asked. "no" Kuronue replied staring off into space.

"Wheres Cheza?" Kuronue shrugged, "havent seen her all day." Kurama assumed Cheza was what was bothering his old partner in crime, maybe he was worried about her? The two sat in silence at the top of the apartment stairs, the silence didn't last long.

"Hey foxboy!" Yusuke stood in front of his apartment, " I ran into Cheza and her friend earlier, me and Keiko are meeting up with them at a bar if you two wanna join."

"I don't think that is a good idea…" Kurama stated

"come on, it'll be fun! Oh yeah Boton gave this to me" Yusuke walked over handing Kuronue a glass jar filled with a green liquid. "This'll make you appear human..I think Boton said the effects will last about 5 hours..she figured you wouldn't want to be stuck inside all day.. "

"Now theres no reason why you two cant join us!" Keiko exclaimed while peeping her head out the front door.

"Cheza!" Cheza and her friend looked over to see Yusuke waving at them. They were sitting at a table in the back corner of the bar. Cheza was caught off guard as she saw Kurama and Kuronue enter the bar behind Yusuke and Keiko. "Whoa whose that!" her friend said looking over at Kuronue. "That's..umm..my new roommate "

The four sat down at the table joining Cheza and her friend. At first there was an awkward silence but after a few drinks, everyone loosened up. Yusuke's eyes began to wander as a girl with a short skirt walked by earning him a slap to the face by Keiko. Everyone laughed, except Yusuke of course. "I'll be back I have to use the restroom!" Cheza stated. Kuronue watched her as she walked away, " Now that I think about, I have to take a whiz myself". Kuronue got up, while Keiko glared daggers at Yusuke. Kurama watched Kuronue leave, his attention averted to Cheza's friend as she asked him some random question.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Yusuke I do not think it is wise to drink anymore" Kurama said with a chuckle. Yusuke was beyond drunk, Keiko was a bit tipsy. Kurama had seen Cheza and Kuronue walk out the bar a few minutes earlier, he was a bit curious as to why. He decided to excuse himself from the table , his curiosity was getting the better of him…

(5 minutes earlier)

Cheza walked out of the bathroom only to bump into Kuronue. "Kuronue!" she said a bit startled. He completely ignored her and began to walk away. She grabbed his arm pulling him back, "Whats wrong with you! Did I do something?" She could tell he was drunk, maybe he was just one those guys who got angry when they drank?

"Is it really that hard to pick up a phone and tell me where you are!" he snapped. She blinked, "tell you where I am…what are you talking about! Your mad at me because I didn't call to tell you where I was!"

"Anything could have happened to you! What if a demon got a hold of you!". "sorry mother!" Cheza wise-cracked. Cheza could tell she had really pissed Kuronue off at that point. He grabbed her wrist pulling her towards the bar exit.

Kurama walked outside, a few people were coming and going from the bar. For the most part it was pretty quiet outside. Kurama sensed Kuronue's spirit energy coming from behind the bar. He made his way behind it, stopping abruptly he caught site of Kuronue and Cheza. He was taken aback at what he saw. The two were…kissing!

She wasn't quite sure how they came to be kissing, they had been yelling back and forth..out of nowhere Kuronue had embraced her in a passionate kiss. Now, their tongues were intertwined, Cheza felt tingly all over. Everything around her seemed to fade out of view. Kuronue slowly pulled away, Cheza was at a loss of words. "why did you.." before she could finish, he hungrily kissed her lips once more. She didnt know what to think, but she knew she wanted this moment to never end...