Alyssa was fussing over Kurama, who had allowed himself to be hurt so that he could locate the heart of Genbu. She wasn't very good at bandaging him up, but he appreciated the sentiment.

In any case, Alyssa was in no mood to stay on the sidelines, seeing her mother hurt.

"I'm fine, Alyssa," said Kurama soothingly.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were staring as Alyssa's ears and tail came out. They looked really fluffy, and it was clear she took good care of them.

"Tch...if she can't handle this amount of blood, what good is she?" said Hiei dismissively.

Alyssa's ears twitched, but she kept her silence. That was why when the second Saint beast revealed himself, she didn't hesitate to challenge him.

Kurama was somewhat pleased, as this was a good test for his little kit.

At first, Alyssa mostly did her best to dodge, and she wasn't very good at it. Then she got close enough to reveal her own signature trick.

"Off With Your Head!"

A black and red collar snapped into place around Byakko's neck before he could avoid it. She had gotten close deliberately, so he would be unable to avoid her signature spell.

"You little bitch! What did you do to me?!" snarled Byakko. He attempted to use his attack to disintegrate her before she could avoid it...but his youki was completely cut off.

Alyssa had a smug look on her face.

"I may not have much experience in fighting, but I do have some experience in dealing with unruly miscreants," she said with a look of condescending pride on her face. "I am the Queen of Heartsabyl, who honors the spirit of Strictness laid down by the Queen of Hearts herself."

Kurama had a distinct look of pride on his face. It was nice to see that her upbringing hadn't broken her spirit. If anything that foul woman had tempered his daughter's nature into steel...she just had her own unique way of showing it.

Byakko attempted to rend her with his claws...Alyssa wasted no time in proving she was very much Kurama's daughter by using her whip.

Hiei's dismissive expression shifted slightly to slight approval. Her technique was flawed, and her stamina was nothing to write home about...but she had the right mindset. And if Kurama was telling the truth about her age, then she really just needed a bit of training to be able to stand on her own without Kurama protecting her all the time.

Yusuke however was eyeing Alyssa, before a grin filled his face.

"Alyssa-chan is a tsundere, isn't she?" he asked Kurama.

"Himedere, actually. She's not joking about being the 'queen' of her dorm. They made a private server to share photos of her in the dorm, because they found her personality adorable...of course kitsune charisma is fairly strong for those who don't know what to look for."

"Yeah I bet. She must be one of those prideful student council president types who has everyone in love with her, but is a total softie once you get past her fiery exterior," cackled Yusuke. Now that he knew what to look for, he was able to peg her personality pretty quick.

Alyssa switched up her whip into a thorn blade, as Kurama had called it...and stabbed Byakko in the chest, killing him.

Hiei was giving her a measured look as she walked back up to them.
"Your technique was trash," he said. "The only thing acceptable was that weird sealing spell you did."

Alyssa glared at him, though she was rather winded. She wasn't used to fighting.

"I only learned how to create a whip and blade a month ago," she replied haughtily. Hiei stared at her.

Yusuke didn't hesitate. He threw an arm around her neck and grinned.

"Not bad, Alyssa-chan!" he said. "Give it some time and you might be as good as Kurama."

"Shut up, you idiot!" she said blushing. Yusuke cackled...definitely a himedere alright.

"What was with that weird collar thing you did though?" asked Kuwabara.

"Hmph. That's my signature spell, Off With Your Head. When I use it, I can 'cut off' someone's magic and apparently their youki until they either fulfill the removal conditions or I remove it," said Alyssa.

"Signature spell? You a mage or somethin'?" asked Kuwabara.

"I do attend one of the premiere mage colleges," she said annoyed. "I'm the dorm prefect of Heartsabyl, founded by one of the Seven. Only those specially selected can attend Night Raven College."

Hiei blinked.

"Wait. I thought that was an all boy's college."

"It is," confirmed Kurama.

"Then why is your daughter a dorm prefect?"

"Due to reasons I will not get into, Alyssa was accepted under a male persona," said Kurama firmly. His tone made it clear he was not going to talk about it, and Alyssa's expression said volumes of how much she didn't want to explain. "However I will state that there's a reason there's so many stories of kitsune being able to shapeshift...including changing their gender."

"So if your female side is Alyssa, then what do we call your male side?" asked Yusuke.

"Riddle Rosehearts," said Alyssa.

As much as she despised that woman, all of her legal paperwork was under that name for her male persona. She saw no reason to abandon the only name she had known as a male because of one foul person. Besides, she'd get a new one when she found a proper mate anyway.

Kurama had been rather blunt on that front...she would almost certainly outlive any human mates she took, and considering a kitsune's nature would likely have multiple partners. Youkai didn't really do monogamy, especially kitsunes. It took an exceptional person to hold a kitsune's attention long enough that they stayed faithful long term.

Alyssa looked just done when it became immediately apparent her last attack did not kill Byakko like she hoped. He was somewhat wounded, but that was it. Fortunately for her, Kuwabara stepped up to the plate for her.

~*~*~~

Alyssa did her best to hide her poor stamina, but her body could only take so much after using so much magic. Hiei snorted when she switched to her smaller kitsune form.

Before Kurama had a chance to scoop her up in the bag he was still carrying, Hiei picked her up and settled her against his neck. She made a rather odd, if furry scarf.

Yusuke and Kuwabara stared.

"What?" demanded Hiei.

"I would have expected Kurama to carry her, not you," commented Yusuke.

"Alyssa might have the physical body of a teenager, but by our standards she's still a child," said Kurama. "It was impressive enough she was able to deal with Byakko the way she did."

"Tch...her weak stamina will only slow us down," said Hiei.

He didn't know why, but for some reason the idea of leaving Alyssa behind sat ill with him. She was far too light, and carrying her was nothing. Just looking at her inspired the same protective feeling he had whenever he thought of his twin, Yukina.

Alyssa snuggled up against Hiei's neck, before taking a light nap.

She only really woke up when she felt someone gently remove her from Hiei's neck. He was ridiculously warm, and his scent was oddly soothing. The scent went from "sharp ice and steel that burned" to "rose scented fur" that she associated with her mother.

Alyssa had a strange thrill of pride, seeing Hiei defeat Seiryuu so easily. To be fair, she felt disgusted by the icy demon's behavior towards someone who should have been his comrade.

Kurama let her down from his arms, and she immediately trotted over to an annoyed Hiei.

"What?"

Alyssa looked up at Hiei with slight stars in her eyes. Hiei was as good, if not slightly better than Lilia was.

"Can you teach me how to use a sword like that?" she asked hopeful.

Kurama...did his best to keep a poker face, because that was beyond adorable. He was also gleefully taking video of this, seeing the grumpy Hiei fall victim to Alyssa's charisma. There was no way he was letting the grumpy fire demon live this down later.

Hiei allowed Alyssa to climb on his shoulder to rest around his neck again. That strange protective feeling hadn't gone away...if anything hearing her ask if he could teach her had only made it stronger.

"Ask me that when my probation is over or when you graduate that school of yours. Whichever comes first," said Hiei.

That wasn't a no, which made Alyssa very happy indeed.

Yusuke stared in disbelief.

"Damn, she's good," he said.

"To be fair, she has a dorm of over a hundred students under her thrall to the point they would eagerly obey her every whim if she but asked in either gender," said Kurama cheerfully. "To the point they made a secret server just to share pictures of her among themselves."

Yusuke whistled, impressed.

Kurama's smile didn't abate, listening to Hiei calmly explain to Alyssa how one would coat their sword with youki. She had it a bit easier, since her sword was formed from her youki, but she still had to practice it. It was adorable as hell, watching the two bond over swords and fire magic.

It was even better when the plant monsters showed up and Alyssa immediately used her new knowledge to shoot blasts of foxfire without bothering to transform back.

~*~*~*~*

Hiei looked at the slumbering form of Alyssa. She was in her human form, her tail and ears out in the open. For whatever reason, she had curled up on his lap and was sound asleep.

Kurama had cooed at them, before surreptitiously taking as many pictures as he could before Hiei busted him.

"Why is she on my lap?" he demanded. Kurama's mother was out getting groceries, as she had busted Hiei napping in Kurama's room after the headache of dealing with the Saint Beasts and then carrying the comatose forms of Kuwabara and Yusuke home.

Shiori...was just glad to meet her son's friends.

"Because she overdid it with her youki and magic, and because you have a warm lap. Besides, she was having a hard enough time keeping up with us on the way back in her human form," said Kurama cheerfully.

Hiei glared at him, but his gaze softened slightly when Alyssa mumbled something under her breath before shifting positions.

"I'm not getting up anytime soon, am I?"

"Not until Kaa-san returns with the food, no," said Kurama cheerfully. Hiei glared at him for taking more pictures.

Shiori returned, and she came with a special surprise. It was a large tub of strawberry ice cream, and fresh strawberries.

Seeing the two of them fighting over the ice cream was hilarious and cute as hell. Kurama had a particularly hilarious photo as his new wallpaper, and knew Cater was likely cackling at the photos he was sharing on the server.

(He was, and so was Che'nya.)

The next morning, once Alyssa was more awake and had recovered some of her energy, Kurama made some wooden swords out of a few sticks he found.

He tossed one each to Hiei and Alyssa. They didn't need much prompting to start attacking each other.

Alyssa was a rank amateur, and it showed. However she was willing to learn, and within a few hours quickly picked up how to at least block Hiei's lighter attacks. He did not show mercy if she dared to show any openings in her defense.

She might have returned to school with a few bruises that hadn't fully healed, but she was still smiling broadly. On the plus side, she did find out who had alerted her mother to where she was.

Riddle went up to Lilia privately and profusely thanked the fae for contacting his mother and alerting them to where they were. Lilia merely laughed, as it was clear that reconnecting with their actual heritage had done the younger teen a world of good.

With Cater, Trey and Che'nya

"Did you notice the way Jade and Floyd have been looking at Riddle lately?" said Cater grinning.

"Kinda hard to miss!" said Trey.

"Oh this I have to hear, fill me in," said Che'nya grinning.

The "Unholy Trio" were enjoying a small break from being the overprotective older brothers of the gender fluid teen. Ace had come up with that particular nickname after hearing them 'talk' about the genderfluid teen. All three were incredibly overprotective of the teapot tyrant.

While Cater had made the server public, anything regarding Alyssa had been placed in a different server that was behind a paywall. It had been a suggestion of Vil, and all payments went directly to an account that was to be used either to promote the server or for Alyssa to use for her own expenses. Kurama certainly had no issues with the idea.

Vil had made an offhand comment about it, and it had really taken off despite the fact no one had any idea who Alyssa was. Riddle very firmly did not want to know, even if Alyssa didn't mind posing or dressing up for the server.

"Floyd has always been interested in Riddle, after Riddle kicked his ass during the sorting. But now Jade has been showing interest as well. I've seen the way those two have been watching her from the cafeteria," said Cater.

"The only thing stopping them from accessing the paid server is that they don't know the right link," said Trey grinning. "Though the second they do..."

"Yeah, Azul is going to have a field day with it," agreed Cater. It wasn't something Riddle was comfortable talking about.

Vil was about the only other housewarden that Riddle felt even partially comfortable talking to. Not enough to introduce him to Alyssa, but enough to ask questions about products to use.