True Belonging

by Too Young to Feel This Tired

It always felt as if the world was grey, haunted, silent with barely enough noise for him to realize that he was awake and present. Except for when she touched him. When she touched him, the world bathed in the brightest colors of sunflowers and green ribbons in raven hair.M for swearing, violence, non-con and later consensual explicit smut

14. Youth Part XII

Title: True Belonging

Summary: It always felt as if the world was grey, haunted, silent with barely enough noise for him to realize that he was awake and present. Except for when she touched him. When she touched him, the world bathed in the brightest colors of sunflowers and green ribbons in raven hair. M for swearing, violence, non-con, and later explicit smut.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Chapter Fourteen: Youth Part XII.

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Parents wonder why the streams are bitter when they themselves have poisoned the fountain – John Locke

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Warning: Canon typical violence, mentions of blood

Despite everything she told herself up until this moment, despite how much she prepared herself along with her granny, Shiori-san, and Kurama, despite how this was her idea to begin with, and how she has endured and faced so many scarier and deadlier challenges up until now standing outside of Hinata Izumi's hospital room, Hinata Nana couldn't help herself but remain frozen with her hand raised in the air ready to knock.

Is this really a good idea?

Her hand lowered to her side.

When she woke up the day after getting kidnapped, it took her an enormously long time to actually comprehend that she was in fact awake. Her body felt boneless and relaxed, and her mind was clear of all the horrors that haunted her since the Dark Tournament, perhaps even longer than that.

Nana rolled to her side and found the spot beside her was empty but warm which meant that Kurama stayed in bed with her through the night and only snuck out a little while ago.

The raven-haired girl slowly started to think about the previous night. Everything that went down with Kaito, her decision to see her mother at last, and the new threat looming over the Ningenkai. Despite knowing it was pointless to dwell on things the human girl couldn't change, Nana couldn't help feeling a stab of sadness or better yet unfairness at the idea that her and her friends' peaceful lives were once again to be thrown into chaos and danger.

Although yesterday's threat was merely a hoax, a ruse orchestrated by none other than their Master Genkai, the sense of dread and hijacking of Nana's feeling of safety was more than real at least for the raven-haired girl.

She frowned a bit recalling what Kurama told her about Lord Koenma's message.

A hole that opens onto Makai

For a moment, Nana's mind created a backlash to all the yokai and horrors she witnessed during the Dark Tournament making her stomach drop and the skin on her arms catch goosebumps. Her memories of vicious battles, hater and threats she experienced just because she was a human in the audience were enough to paint a horrific picture of what would happen if yokai of all classes were to walk among the humans freely. Not all of them were bad of course. Nana would be the first to root for them if they were like her friends and the handful of honorable ones she got to meet and witness fighting during the tournament. But just as well, not all of them were kind or capable of co-existing with her race. After all, apart from yesterday when she wasn't really in danger, she was usually hurt or almost killed by yokai or humans possessed by them.

Just as her mind started to circle back to her unfortunate experience with Karasu, Fuku, all of a sudden jumped near her palm on the place she could feel Kurama's warmth slowly fading away from.

Nana's brown eyes blinked surprised at her trusted pet of several years, before she smiled at the cat grateful for its intrusion before her thoughts would get the best of her.

She patted Fuku's head, and the cat started to purr eagerly for more touches from Nana while the girl attempted to clear her mind of Karasu, the tournament, and other gloomy nonsense.

There's no reason to fall into depression just yet, she thought with a newfound confidence. After all, her friends now knew of the lurking threat and were more than ready to defend the Human Realm once again like always. So far, they have always managed to win. Of course, Nana wasn't naïve enough not to worry about them or think they would always be so lucky, but at the same time, the girl couldn't find it in her heart not to feel hopeful that they would do their best and somehow like always against all odds come on top once more.

Sure, Hiei departed from them shortly after he learned his class, but just as Kurama pointed out, Nana was certain the fire yokai would appear when they needed him the most. It must have been hard for someone who was from Makai with no ties to the Ningenkai to care about its fate. But it would be untrue to claim he didn't change at all. He might not have years as Kurama did, but even so, he had weeks and months of training and fighting alongside Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara. And although bragging wasn't her style, Nana hoped even her occasional shared meals left some small impact on the yokai if only that he would feel something like sympathy over his human allies' home being destroyed.

She would never claim to be an expert on Hiei, but she would like to think she grew to read him rather well, not as well as Kurama could of course, but enough to make a bet that he wouldn't just leave them to their own devices. In fact, Nana was sure the yokai planned to stay close and only engage when he seemed fit or when the situation would grow truly dire.

Nana continued to shower her cat with affection while moving to its neck all the while thinking over Master Genkai's words.

Mushiyori City

The city, that was a short train ride from their hometown.

The city, where her estranged and neglectful mother was currently staying in Daikyo Hospital.

The city, where a hole between Ningenkai and Makai was growing every day threatening to allow yokai of all classes to enter and do as they please.

What were the chances that her horrible mother would get sick and end up in a hospital? What were the chances that said hospital was in the city where currently a hole that could cause the damnation of humanity was growing in size by the day? Nana would like to think rationally like Kurama, and say it was a simple coincidence, but how could she? It just felt too much like some sort of divine plan.

'I guess I should have gone and visited her sooner, huh, Fuku?' she asked the cat.

Fuku's ears jerked meaning he understood his name, but she doubted he understood the question or would answer.

Seeing as that was the case, Nana got up and went to prepare breakfast. It didn't surprise her; Kurama was present by the table when she came to the kitchen. If her granny hadn't been around too, she might have felt brave enough to kiss him good morning. But despite how much she would like to think she matured and grew confident; she was still a bit embarrassed teenager at heart.

Even if it was unlikely, Kurama smiled at her with a hint of teasing which left Nana wondering if the clever kitsune didn't somehow learn the direction of her thoughts. She wouldn't put it past him since the two were always good at reading one another.

Kurama's mother came just as Nana finished so she prepared a plate for her as well. Because she was here also, instead of spending the morning with her fiancé, the raven-haired girl figured Kurama had to remember what she said last night and knew what she would plan to do next. Since he didn't try to talk to her beforehand and invited Shiori in the first place, Nana knew he was giving her the green light to go on.

'I would like to go visit my mother,' she said as she sat down, and the others started to eat. For a few moments, there was silence after her declaration, and her chocolate eyes traveled through each of the most important people in her life to see what they thought of her idea.

Finally, her granny spoke, 'Are you sure?'

Nana took a deep breath and nodded, 'I don't think I'll ever put things past me if I don't,' she was sure of it. It took her a while, but she finally understood it wasn't just the Dark Tournament and Karasu that haunted her. Although like hell she would ever thank Kaito, the kidnapping allowed her a lot of thinking and coming to the conclusion she knew but tried to avoid.

'After what you and Shiori-san said about her health I don't want to waste time and end up…not being able to talk to her at all.'

Although they didn't exclusively say what was wrong with her mother, they did admit it was serious enough that she ended up hospitalized for several weeks possibly longer, and that her relatives were told to come and visit just in case. That alone told the teenage girl everything she needed to hear.

'I think that's a good decision, Nana-chan,' said Shiori-san kindly and offered the girl an encouraging smile, 'If things escalate faster, you truly might not get a chance to talk to her. It would be best for you to get closure.'

Of course, Kurama's mother who lost her husband young suddenly would see it that way, which got Nana to reach out and take her hand offering her a small smile too.

Finally, Kurama leaned forward, and Nana turned to him waiting. She was sure, he already figured she would want to do this and since he didn't stop her from telling her granny and Shiori, he must have already agreed with her decision. 'Very well then. When would you like to go? Soon I assume.'

He didn't ask the last part as a question, and she understood why. Mushiyori City was turning into a hot spot for yokai and trouble by the day, so if she truly wanted to visit, her dear protective boyfriend would want her to do so quickly before things got really out of hand.

She nodded, 'As soon as possible.'

Kurama smiled in a way that might not tell someone else anything other than he offered them a smile, but Nana knew he also offered her his support and gratitude for not making things more difficult, 'Excellent.'

And so, the same day later she was here outside her mother's hospital room dressed like she was going on a nice date that come to think of it she would much rather be at than to go and visit her possibly very sick mother.

Nana remained still outside of the hospital room. She got off the train along with Kurama and the others who came to search for the individuals responsible for what was happening and check the hole that was spreading in the middle of the city.

She agreed she would meet with Kurama later when she was done with her mother, and he was done with their part of the investigation. She knew better than to offer her help or try to sneak her way into it. Besides, she couldn't even sense reiki so what could she offer? Even Kuwabara had turned into the team's laughingstock because he was currently dried of all his spiritual awareness.

'Are you certain?' asked Kurama once again as he took hold of her palms in his looking down at her with an intense look unmasking any politeness and the façade he always kept on when around others, 'If you wait a bit we can go together.'

Nana grimaced. She wasn't certain. Not even in the slightest and the closer she got to the hospital and her mother the less sure of herself she felt, but at the same time, she felt a sense of embarrassment at the idea that Kurama would sit there as her boyfriend while she would discuss what haunted her. After all, her mother threw so many things at her and Kurama the last time she spoke, Nana would rather not have him hear them too.

'No, but I want to talk to her alone,' she confessed. There was never a point to lie to her kitsune after all, 'I want to be free of her, and I can't do that if you're there to rescue me.'

'I would be as quiet as a mouse if I was there.'

Nana giggled before calling him out, 'Liar. You wouldn't let her insult me or make me sad. You would step in. I know you too well.'

His green eyes softened and glanced to the side probably to see what the others were up to before he leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss against her cheek. He was fast as lightning. One second his lips were against her skin warm and soft and the next they were gone, but their print and the sensation they caused inside Nana's lower belly spread nicely over her whole body, 'You're right. I wouldn't allow anyone to disrespect you,' his thumb caressed her knuckles all the while heat rose into her face, 'least of all her.'

Nana knew that was the nicest thing he could call her, and he wouldn't be entirely wrong.

'Ara, ara,' she heard behind her, and to her absolute shock found Botan and the others who were tasked to check out the city very openly staring at them with the blue-haired young woman covering her mouth with her palm as if she was witnessing something naughty and loving every second of it. The others at least looked somewhat less thrilled about them, but they still openly stared at them. No subtlety whatsoever from that bunch.

'Not to be that guy but can you two carry on with this lovey-dovey stuff after we stop the world from ending? Again?' asked Yusuke with zero tact as usual.

If Nana's face was cutely blushing before, now, it was definitely red like a tomato and burning. Feeling the embarrassment meter in her body was reaching its all-time high, she took her palms out of Kurama's.

'Nosy bunch,' she said purposely loud enough that they heard. Even if they weren't wrong. She would see Kurama in less than a few hours, and she could act sweet and romantic with him any time. Still, it didn't stop her from feeling annoyed they were interrupted and embarrassed that they had such an audience. One of these days she would have to mature enough to be alright with a little bit of exposure around her friends and three strangers but today would not be that day.

'Certainly,' agreed Kurama and looked at them also not lowering his volume, 'Nosy, and jealous.'

She thought she heard Kuwabara say it was cruel Kurama would point it out before they truly went their separate ways.

Now alone, in the hospital, Nana took a deep breath.

'Can I help you?' she suddenly heard someone ask behind her and startled she almost crashed against the door in an attempt to step back.

'Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,' said the doctor, who's presence surprised her a moment ago. The truth was Nana must have been so lost in her thoughts she didn't even notice him approach her which was weird since her footsteps echoed throughout the whole hallway so why didn't his?

She let out a nervous chuckle and waved her hand, 'No, it's alright. I was just thinking. I'm alright.'

'Are you here to visit?' asked the doctor politely. He was tall with dark hair and glasses, and in general, didn't look like he would stand out too much.

'Yes, uh, a relative,' said Nana vaguely, she was trying to be polite too, but she didn't really feel like revealing her family history at the moment. She was visiting her mother, but she wasn't really her mother for a long time now.

'I see, I hope they get better soon,' he said again very politely and even kindly, but-

-he wasn't.

It made Nana blink realizing with a chill that she was familiar with this behavior. After all, she usually had a front row to see Kurama act the same toward strangers. Always with a cold politeness that was enough that they didn't feel disrespected but never so that they would feel welcome to approach him.

It was a mask made to make them fit in more.

'If you have any questions regardless of their condition feel free to come find me and ask. I'm Doctor Kamiya,' he said. Again, it sounded so polite and kind, like he was going out of his way to help people, but Nana got the sense he would secretly hate it if she truly came to ask for his help.

Still, assuming he was just some doctor tired of his job, she gave him a polite bow, and thanked him, 'Thank you, Kamiya-sensei.'

The doctor finally left, and when he was out of her sight, she sighed in relief to be alone at least.

She turned back to her mother's hospital room.

She wasn't a child anymore. She wasn't that little girl who used to shrink when her mother got upset with her because she voiced her hatred of her always changing boyfriends, the instant food, or the lack of toys. She wasn't the little girl who used to lie in the cold bed wishing she was with her granny while she could hear her mother and her boyfriend having a party. She wasn't the little girl whose mother forced her to come with her only to leave her all alone on a bus. She wasn't the little girl whose mother tried to sell to pay her boyfriend's debts.

She was a young woman who was raised by her granny to be a good person. She was a young woman who was raised by Shiori-san to be a smart person. She was a young woman who managed to befriend and become the girlfriend of the most amazing, intelligent, and wonderful being she knew. She was the young woman who made more friends than she would ever dream about.

She was the young woman who despite having Hinata Izumi as a mother was a good person who would achieve her dream and never lose sight of friends, morals, and believes. No matter what.

Keeping all those things in her mind, Nana finally raised her hand again and knocked before waiting.

'Come in,' she heard from behind the door, and without missing a beat, she opened it and stepped inside.

The hospital room was no different than the one she used to visit Shiori-san when she was sick, or the one she had to stay in when she was attacked by her mother's debt collectors. It was a simple single-bed hospital room, small but very bright due to the color and the large curtainless windows.

Her mother was on the bed and when she stepped inside, she immediately turned to her and smiled, 'Nana-chan, hello.'

Her voice is the same.

It was the first thing that crossed Nana's mind. So many months had passed since she had last seen her mother. More than that, so many things had happened that it almost felt like years since she last spoke with her estranged mother. Up until now, she didn't really think about the sound of her voice, more or less forgetting it completely. However, standing in the doorway to her room now, she knew it was her voice. It didn't change.

Over the years, Izumi changed a lot. She grew skinnier and skinner on each occasion Nana saw her. Unlike Nana who was short with chubby cheeks, her mother was tall and very fit. In Nana's eyes as well as the eyes of the men who often stopped to talk to her, she was beautiful. She never needed to lose weight, and yet she did, becoming more a shadow of that once beautiful woman, Nana remembered.

Even now, illness or addiction, Nana could tell Izumi remained skinny. Unnaturally so. She remained the girl of a skeleton from some horror movie she used to watch with Kurama when they were younger rather than a once beautiful woman who always attracted so many men.

'My, my, you grew so much,' said her mother bringing her out of her train of thoughts, 'Come, please, come closer.'

The woman remained smiling, and even if she wasn't as confident as she was before, Nana still started to walk closer only for Izumi to stop her suddenly, 'C-close the door. It's cold in here otherwise.'

The raven-haired girl partly turned around ready to do just that before her hand jerked back.

'Something the matter?' asked her mother. Her voice didn't change, and the overall sweetness was getting a bit annoying. Nana recalled her mother used to talk to her like that before, however after a certain age Nana always thought her mother sounded like she was making fun of her when she said things in that voice.

Still, Nana's chocolate eyes fell on the handle again. She wasn't sure why, but for the briefest moment, she had an absurd thought that she shouldn't close the door. Just in case.

'Nana-chan?'

In case of what? She asked herself, but since she didn't find an answer, she simply grabbed the handle and closed it. Her mother was sick, bound to the bed by the looks of it. Apart from her words how could she have hurt her?

She turned around and looked at her. She looked unwell, reminding Nana almost painfully of Shiori when she was sick. Though her mother lacked Shiori's elegance since she ruined her body with starving herself and taking drugs. Even if it shouldn't it took away some of the sympathy a person would otherwise feel for her. Knowing this was her own doing pushed the scales away from Izumi's favor.

Nana never saw it, and she couldn't even recall it, but after Yusuke's mom pointed it out, it made so much sense. Her mother often got together with men who looked like they were using drugs or at least drinking themselves. Not to mention the last apartment she took her to live in definitely looked like a place addicts co-inhabit to save up on rent and use the money and the apartment itself on drugs.

'Come, come closer, Nana-chan,' said her mother and spread her arms, 'Come give me a hug.'

The idea was so ridiculous the girl almost started to laugh, but she caught herself in the last moment and instead pressed her lips into a tight line and gave her mother a look.

A hug? Has her brain already been damaged by her substance use? How could she ever think Nana would willingly show her affection after everything she had put her through?

After a moment just thinking about how stupid of an idea it was, Nana simply walked closer to the bed.

There was a chair placed in front of it, probably for visitors, but it seemed far too close to the woman for Nana's taste, so she grabbed it and pulled it back far enough that Izumi couldn't reach her. She wanted to keep her at a physical and mental arm's length distance.

A hug, Nana thought in disbelief again.

'I see,' said her mother, and for a moment she looked sad lowering her head, 'I guess I understand. It's not like I expected you to come rushing to my arms like you used to when you were younger,' she then looked up, 'But I hoped.'

Nana started to play with the green ribbon tied around her wrist. Kurama re-tied it for her there this morning for good luck. She felt she needed it a lot at the moment, 'That was a very long time ago.'

Izumi nodded several times, 'You're right. It was. How are you? Mom told me you're still in school and came back from a summer vacation with friends. Did you have fun?' she then asked looking and sounding cheerful. It was weird. It was weird to hear Izumi call granny mom when so often she called her less favorably. It was also weird for the woman to look so excited about Nana being there, asking about her life like they were any ordinary loving relatives who hadn't see each other in a while.

It might have been just her attempt to make the situation less awkward, but the teenage girl still couldn't help but feel tense and unsure with each passing moment.

She mentally berated herself for not asking Kurama to come with her after all. It would have been so much better for her soul if he was present even as a silent companion, but as she pointed out, she knew for a fact, that the kitsune would not just stand by silently if things took a sharp turn and her mother started to insult her.

Finally, the raven-haired girl gave Izumi a small nod and answered as politely yet distantly as she could and would to any other stranger who would ask her such a thing, 'Yes, thank you.' After all, she witnessed her boyfriend act this way so often it couldn't be too hard to mimic.

If her mother noticed the sound of her voice or got concerned because of it, she didn't let it show in the slightest and started to babble in that overly cheerful and girl-like voice Nana recalled she used on strangers who approached them. It often made her mom seem like a happy and bubbly person. It often attracted people to her.

'I've never been with my high school friends, but I did go with some of my boyfriends years later. Do you remember? We went with one of my boyfriends, the firefighter, Sero-san, to Kagoshima. He was the one who taught you to swim while I bathed in the sun. We sat by the fire every evening watching the stars. He was such a cutey too. Everyone there thought we were such a cute and young family. Ne, ne, do you remember, Nana-chan?' asked the woman and reached her hand for her to take.

Nana listened to her rambling about good times before she tried to think narrowing her eyebrows as she did. Honestly, she didn't understand why her mother would want to bring something like that up, but she supposed the least she could do was try and think about it.

She ignored Izumi's hand all together.

She didn't really recall what this Sero looked like, but it seemed more likely someone other than her mother would teach her to swim. Back then, some of her boyfriends weren't all bad. She couldn't really recall most of their faces or which one did what for her, but she knew some bought or brought her toys and played with her. One carried her on his shoulders so she could see the fireworks. Another one had an old blind cat that he often took to the vet. Another one had a son too and often joked about how the boy and Nana would be siblings. She mostly remembered fragments of those guys since after a while her mother seemed to focus more on dating assholes who rather liked to party and ignore their girlfriend's kid. Even if she never confirmed this, Nana was sure the reason Izumi brought her to granny's house when she met Kurama for the first time, was because she was starting to see someone who didn't like to have kids around. Despite jerks like that, some boyfriends were nice to Nana. Some of them actually treated the then little girl like she was their kid too.

When she thought hard enough, she could almost recall a beach, but maybe it was just her wishful thinking.

'I guess,' Nana shrugged her shoulders. It was weird that there was someone out there who recalled her perfectly and how he taught her how to swim, yet Nana would surely pass him on the street without even thinking about it. It made the young woman wonder just how many people could enter and disappear from her life. For the longest of time, it was only her, Kurama, her granny, and Shiori-san. It was only recently that they started to add other people into their circle. Who knew if they all would be around forever or not?

'Are you still in touch with him?'

'No, don't be silly,' giggled Izumi in a very high volume and pitch that made Nana raise her eyebrows. Her mother often acted cheerful and girly, sure, but this seemed like an overkill, 'I think he's married now or maybe he went abroad. He was one of those good ones, but it didn't seem like it would work out. You know? What about you? Are you dating anyone?'

The question made Nana realize Shiori and her granny didn't let her mother know she and Kurama were together and honestly, the girl felt glad she didn't know. It made her recall all those horrible things her mother told her before. Things she would be embarrassed about if her mother decided to bring up again in front of the kitsune.

She straightened into her chair. She wasn't a good liar, and to be honest, she never really wanted to be one, but in that moment, she hoped her mother would buy her misdirection.

She shook her head, 'I've been busy. Like you said I was gone for the summer, I'm back in school…and cooking,' she almost let it slip she was working part-time for the Yukimura's, but at the last moment the raven-haired girl managed to avoid the information. Her mom most likely didn't even remember those times she called asking for money anyway.

'Ah, yes, mom said you've gotten even better at it now. I have to try it sometimes. Maybe…maybe if you come next time, you could bring me something you made?'

She sounded so hopeful that Nana didn't know how to deny the request, so she simply nodded, 'Maybe.'

She wasn't certain she would come again. So far whatever this meeting was supposed to give the girl, it didn't deliver. Maybe it was all a mistake, and she should have stayed home after all. Was her mother even sick? She didn't seem like it. She seemed fine or at least somewhat better than she had with excessive makeup and colorful clothing. The hospital had to also feed her and give her medication. She didn't look like Nana would assume an addict would look if they suddenly stopped taking drugs.

Her mother laughed a bit and started to ramble again, 'I was never good at cooking, but I'm sure you remembered. The best I could do was buy stuff or takeout-'

'Did you mean those things you told me the last time we met?' Nana asked cutting her off. This whole dancing around it was getting them nowhere, and the raven-haired girl feared they might never get to talk about anything serious if she wasn't the one to bring it up.

Izumi's smile faded, and she looked down at your hands, 'If I'm being honest, Nana-chan. I don't really remember what I told you.'

Nana's eyes widened as she wondered if Izumi was seriously trying to act like she didn't know the horrible things she told the girl that made her cry and have doubts about herself for such a long time. Those horrible things made her sleepless for nights afterward until she finally buried them inside her mind and avoided thinking about them like the plague. How could one person, a mother, her mother, cause her so much pain and grief yet the act itself didn't leave a single trace on the woman? All the while Nana's whole world got turned upside down in suffering.

Her hands clenched into tight fits against her knees while she felt a painful lump inside her throat and a sharp scratching behind her eyes.

No! Absolutely not!

She did her best to calm down. She refused! She refused to cry in front of this woman! She refused to show her that even after months those words held such power over her. She might know it. Kurama might know it. Granny and Shiori might know it, but she absolutely refused for her mother to know too!

'But,' said Izumi quieter and in a more grownup voice than she used up until now all the while still looking at her hands, 'I can imagine…,' she took a deep breath, 'they were horrible and disgusting words. Words…words, one shouldn't even think. Let alone tell their only daughter.'

Nana relaxed somewhat feeling better that Izumi didn't try to play the victim or sugarcode those things. During their train ride here, Kurama leaned against her ear and warned her that no matter what she couldn't allow her mother to get off the hook easily, and she agreed. More than agreed.

Thinking about Kurama, her friends and family, and their everlasting support she took a deep breath and spoke, 'You said I was born a sin.'

She swallowed the lump inside her throat and fought hard against her tears, 'You said you wanted to get rid of me, but granny stopped you. You said my father…took one look at me and ran. You said…that I would end up as a… knocked-up dropout like you,' it was extremely hard to say some of those things, but somehow Nana with a shaky voice and heavy soul just like through most of the hard times in her life powered through.

Izumi didn't look at her throughout the whole time she spoke, and even when she was done, the woman stayed silent for a little while.

The silence made Nana feel anxious. Like her body attempted to rebel against the idea of being so straightforward and argumentative. She wasn't a pushover. At least she hoped she wasn't. She definitely wasn't someone who picked up fights and arguments, but growing up with Kurama biting mean kids and calling them out on their behavior toward her and him, and everything she had to endure up until now meant she definitely wasn't someone weak. She would be the first to avoid any and all conflict, if possible, but if not, she would like to think she was the type of person to hold her ground despite tears and doubts.

Finally, her mother cleared her throat, 'I'm sorry, Nana-chan,' she glanced at her, 'I…I don't…' she took a deep breath and glanced at her hands again.

She then leaned over the side of the bed and went to reach for Nana's hand again, but the distance was too big, so she didn't get to touch her, 'You should know those things... they weren't true… I must have said them just to hurt you.'

Those words shouldn't have affected the young girl as much as they did since they could have been insincere, and yet the moment her mother let them out, Nana felt infinitely times lighter. Even if she didn't mean them. If nothing else, at least the raven-haired girl got to hear them at least once coming from her mother. And that meant something.

Nana released her fists and started to play with her green ribbon again, 'So how was it then?'

Izumi's hand dropped onto her lap again, and she looked like she was thinking before she spoke, 'I just got accepted into Meiou Academy.'

The raven-haired girl blinked surprised and couldn't help but ask, 'You?'

Her mother flinched and then shot her a look. It wasn't as filled with daggers and hatred as it was when they last met, but it was definitely one that made Nana wonder just how much of her happy façade right now was an act.

Still, Nana couldn't help herself but whisper, 'Sorry.'

Izumi looked ahead again and smiled happily, 'I suppose I can't really blame you. Believe it or not, but once upon a time, I was actually a hardworking student. I saw how much my parents were doing to get me into a good school, and I made sure I did my part too. Then, however, I started, and I quickly started to fall short and behind,' the woman started to massage her right hand moving through one finger at a time, 'Then my old man passed away. It was rough. Mom's job couldn't pay for a fancy school and all the bills, and in general, we never got all that along. I don't really get how you can stand her. All that mystification and never getting a straight answer to save my life. I hated that weirdness of hers.'

Nana was surprised. It didn't come as a shock to hear most of these things. Grandfather passed away before she was born, and her mother and granny always had problems. But it surprised her that she could understand why someone would be upset with granny's behavior. Her mom wasn't making things up, at times it felt like granny was feeding a person crumbs instead of real answers. Sometimes it frustrated Nana, true, but never to the point it became insufferable as it seemed to make her mother feel. The raven-haired girl always took her granny as an elderly person who had seen and knew too much throughout her life. Kinda like Master Genkai. Perhaps she thought all old people were like that. But from how her mother spoke it seemed granny always was a bit of an oddball who liked to speak cryptically.

'Eventually, I had to transfer,' continued Izumi with a sigh, 'I think I never felt more ashamed than when I had to explain my situation to my new classmates. I made some friends and met your father. Since the old witch was no use to talk to, I spent most of the time around them. It was the best time of my life,' she smiled all of a sudden, and Nana felt like someone knocked the air out of her lungs.

Her mom was always a beautiful woman even if now she fell from grace so to speak, she was still young and surely attractive to some men. Before she broke Nana's heart, the girl had a handful of good memories of her. When they laid in a single bed and Izumi told her made-up stories because they had no books to read from when they bought any junk food Nana asked for with their last money and ate it on the floor of the nearly empty apartment of Izumi's then-boyfriend, or when Izumi did her hair all pretty and lent her some of her clothing and makeup telling her she was beautiful and one day she would be even prettier than her.

However, even when she recalled those happy moments, she couldn't remember ever seeing the woman smile like this. It was a simple small smile, but it reached the corner of her dark eyes and made her look so much younger and carefree than she ever was. It made her look properly happy and that alone made her appear the most beautiful she ever was in Nana's eyes.

Izumi closed her eyes, and started to talk, 'I remember we skipped school one day and went to the beach. It was mid-May. The weather was terrible, but your father insisted we go,' she giggled and carried on talking about how she and her friends and father went to the beach during a storm.

Nana listened and for the first time, in a really long time, she felt in her heart she might have been able to forgive her mother. Even if just a little bit for all she had put her through. For the first time, she felt she might have seen her as who she truly was. A deeply sad person who wished to chase her once-lost happiness and youth.

Careful

Suddenly, the girl felt her shoulders tense again. She didn't realize she had gotten so relaxed while listening to Izumi. She wasn't sure what happened, but as she felt the most open to the woman, she suddenly had a strange thought that she shouldn't allow herself to be forgiving and unguarded in the woman's presence.

It wasn't new that Nana felt some sort of intuition about potential danger or bad intentions. Everyone got a feeling like that at times, but it still left her wondering about what it could mean. Why should she be careful right now? Should she be worried she would forgive Izumi too easily or something else?

'Did you try to get rid of me?' she asked cutting into Izumi's storytelling time. She didn't wish to take away from her reminiscing, but she couldn't help but feel she should stay on topic.

The smile faded, and the woman nodded, 'I was young and afraid. Your father and I were fighting at the time. I didn't want to drop out of high school, but how could I carry on studying with a kid? I was a scared almost kid myself,' she sighed, 'Mom stopped me. She helped a lot…she helped tons. If it wasn't for her at the beginning, I think I would have killed myself…sorry,' she glanced at her lap again and started to massage her hand again, 'It's why it became so hard to stay with her as you got older.'

Nana frowned, 'What do you mean?'

Izumi stopped massaging her hand and smiled a bit. It was close to the happy smile from before, the real one, but not quite, 'At first, I was a mess. I didn't know why you were crying, why weren't you sleeping, why were you hungry every hour, why weren't you hungry every hour, why didn't you gain enough weight, why did you gain too much weight. I kept waking up searching for you in the covers only to realize I already placed you back in the little crip. It was all so confusing and horrible.' It really sounded exhausting and like a lot to deal with. Nana didn't really think about what it was like taking care of a child. She heard it was hard, but she never heard someone make it sound so hard.

'I needed mom for everything. Literally everything. She would go to work, and I would call her every hour with a new question or symptom,' she sighed, 'But then it started to get better. You got bigger and your tummy hurt less and less. I started to learn your cues and reasoning, or I just grew to realize that sometimes there wasn't any reason, and I just had to roll with it all. Mom's advice and meddling became annoying and overbearing,' Izumi shrugged her shoulders, 'When I got a new boyfriend who wanted me to live with him I took a chance. It didn't work out, but being away from her was so freeing and better for my mental health, I just kept leaving. Don't you ever feel like you're stuck there? With her? In that house?'

She reached her hand toward Nana again.

'No, I don't feel stuck there. I love granny. She took care of me when you left me at her doorstep to live with your new guy, remember?'

Izumi's hand dropped once again, 'I know, I know, I…I just couldn't handle it anymore. All those guys never wanted kids or wanted their own, and I just couldn't keep you around and waste their money on you.'

Nana almost said she should have wasted her own money since she was her mother, but she beat her to it.

'That's just an excuse, I know. I know I wasn't a good mother. I know that.'

She stayed silent. She didn't want to be cruel, but she also didn't feel like making her feel better about herself. Not when she thought just that. Nana knew Izumi did her best, or at least what she was capable of, but it still wasn't enough and given the outcome she wasn't a good mother.

'What about him? My father?'

'Granny didn't tell you?' asked Izumi surprised.

Nana shrugged her shoulders, 'She said he was your boyfriend in high school. She showed me once where he lived with his mother, but the place already had new occupants.'

She was about twelve or so. Kurama, who used to be Shuichi to her back then, her and her granny were walking from the store carrying food for their little New Year's celebration. It was cold, and she kept on slipping on ice. If it wasn't for Kurama constantly catching and steadying her, she would fall and break something for sure. They went past a different street than usual, but only because granny heard of a discount in a store a bit further away.

One moment, she finally got back on both feet and the next her granny stopped in track and pointed toward a random-looking window, 'This used to be your father's place, Nana-chan. He lived there with his mother.'

She and Kurama were so stunned she said something like that all of a sudden neither of them said anything and just continued to walk. After a few more minutes, it felt like the moment was gone, and Nana didn't really know what to say to that information.

Growing up her father was never really that much interesting to her. Her mother had boyfriends, who she used to call uncles, and who entered and left their lives every couple of weeks or months. Since that was usually how it went for the male role models during her childhood, Nana figured it was normal and never questioned it or her father. Why would she need a father if she had a useless uncle one after another? When she came to live with granny and met Kurama and Shiori-san. Her life practically spun around those three and even if she used to miss her mother back then, she simply didn't have time or need to dwell on her father. Afterward, anything related to her mother became a sour spot, and a source of grief or anger, so she avoided thinking about him all altogether too. Kurama's human father passed when he was still an infant, so it wasn't like Nana had a reminder she was missing out on something.

'Well, she only met him a handful of times. I didn't like him talking to her since she could act so weird,' Izumi sighed referring to granny's mystic behavior, 'He only came to see you once. You were barely a month old. He stayed the whole day and promised he would come more and help out,' she grimaced, 'I've never seen him after that day. I heard a couple of years back he died in a motorcycle crash.'

She didn't look as sad as Nana would imagine she would be. But then again, Nana didn't feel sad either. How could one be sad about someone they never met and who obviously didn't care for them a lot to begin with?

'I'm sure mom knows. Old witch always knows everything. She might take you to his grave if you're interested.'

Nana watched her mother's hand in silence. She wasn't sure, but all of a sudden she felt like she was nine again being dragged to the apartment of the man who tried to harass her. Despite how much she wished her mother would come back. Despite how much she wished she would have helped her or allowed her to leave. She didn't.

'Nana-chan, let me hold your hand,' said Izumi a bit more forceful, and pushed her hand closer to the girl.

The raven-haired girl continued to look at it.

It's…odd, she thought. She wasn't sure why, but something inside her was telling her not to touch her mother.

'Come on!' urged her Izumi again and pushed her hand so close it almost touched Nana's skin which caused the girl to jump back in her seat. She wasn't certain why. It wasn't like she could see anything or sense spirit energy the same way her friends Shizuru or Kuwabara used to, but she still felt something off about the idea that she would touch her mother.

'What's wrong with you?' She found herself asking before looking up at her mother. She still had a hard to time accepting that this woman was someone she once thought was the most beautiful of all the mothers she ever saw. Someone she used to love so much. Someone who used to snuck into bed with her and make up bedtime stories or play with her on princesses and call her beautiful and how she would get even more attention than Izumi when she grew up.

Nana straightened herself in her seat, 'You still haven't told me what's wrong with you.'

Izumi's hand remained in the air like she was still waiting for Nana to take it before she finally let it fall. For a moment the raven-haired girl thought her mother looked annoyed.

'My kidneys and liver are failing,' she shook her head, 'Can you believe it? I don't even drink yet alcoholics every day get to enjoy their next beer. Fucking figures.'

'Can't it be cured?' she asked for a moment she wondered if her mother wouldn't ask her to donate her some organs before she remembered it was illegal for a minor to do so. Still, it meant it was weird. Her mother was sick and dying.

'How much do you have left?'

'Six months maybe less.' She grimaced, 'Probably less.'

How odd it was to hear that her mother would be dead before she would even finish high school. It wasn't like she knew for sure how to feel about it. For a very long time, mostly after what happened when she was a child, Nana wished to never see or speak to her mother again. She was grateful that they didn't meet a lot while she was growing up and even more so when Kurama and Hiei made her lose her address so to speak, but still, she never would have wished for the woman to die.

She felt the familiar sensation of a lump inside her throat returning, and she knew she had to leave or else she would start crying right then and there.

'I'm sorry,' she said and stood up, 'I know we're not on the best of terms, but I'm really sorry this is happening to you.'

'Well, aren't you sweet,' said Izumi overly girly again, and the raven-haired girl started to move toward the door only the woman to stop her, 'Wait, Nana-chan. Can I hold your hand before you go? Like you said we haven't been on the best of terms, but I would still like to hold you a bit before you go.'

Nana glanced at her hand. She wasn't sure why the idea that her mom would touch her made her so upset. It wasn't like she could be infected by her, so why did she feel like she shouldn't go anywhere near her hand?

'Nana-chan, please,' said her mom again, 'Won't you let your dying mom hold your hand for a bit?'

The girl promised she wouldn't get manipulated by Izumi to Kurama, but how could she deny her this? She was sick after all and didn't have that much time. She wasn't asking for forgiveness just some comfort. Despite all the horrible things she did to her, for the first couple of years of her life she raised her and took care of her.

The raven-haired girl started to think she needed to calm down. It was just a hand after all. It wasn't even a hug just a simple handholding with her estranged mother.

She took a deep breath and went to take it. She was so close she could almost feel her skin against her own.

'What would you like to eat?'

Her fingers almost slipped into her mother's open hand, when all of a sudden Izumi closed it by clenching her fist.

Nana blinked and looked at her confused.

Izumi looked confused too, 'W-what do you mean?'

'What would you like me to cook for you the next time I come?' asked Nana explaining what she meant, she already made up her mind that if nothing else, she would come visit Izumi again. Forgiveness might not be on the table just yet, but maybe someday before she will lose the only parent she has left. Although the role of a mother was already split between granny and Shiori-san, Nana still couldn't allow herself to fully let Hinata Izumi leave this world without some retribution.

'If it's all in vain then,' she put her free hand on her chest as if she was taking a vow, 'let me cook something for you.'

Izumi watched her speechless for what felt like a long time with her hand still raised in a closed fist. Nana wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but for a brief moment she seemed sad and upset before she suddenly gained a relaxed look and spoke, 'Curry.'

Nana was surprised, 'Really? I can make harder things too.'

Izumi lowered her hand into her lap, 'Curry's fine. I…I made it for us one time.'

'Oh? I don't remember,' confessed the girl trying to recall but coming up empty. All she recalled were the numerous shopping trips resulting in junk foods, 'Was it any good?'

The woman in the hospital bed openly laughed, 'Kami nooooo. It sucked. I sucked so bad. I must have added too much just about everything. I think mom would disown me for that horrible curry alone if she didn't for all those other things.'

Despite herself, Nana found herself smiling a little bit looking at the woman and silently grieving something they never had. This horrible cooking, and shared memories, this, is what they could have had if her mother didn't thrown it all away.

After a moment Izumi stopped laughing and opened her palm, 'But you said it was good. You still said you loved it, that I cooked well, and I was the best mommy. Every time we went to the store for like a week, you asked if I would make that spicy curry again. You were a silly little thing back then.'

Nana was about to roll her eyes when she noticed that the other woman was smiling again in that almost sincere way like she was when she was talking about her happy days with her friends all the while her dark eyes were shining with tears now, 'But you were also sweet. No matter what…how I messed up. No room of your own, no toys, shitty food. You were always sweet about it telling me it was okay, mommy.'

She suddenly looked directly at Nana and smiled some tears slipping away, 'You're still sweet, huh? Wanting to cook for a troublesome mother like me.'

It was hard to remember not to give into her urge to be a good person when she saw her mother crying. It could have been just to break her defense or an act, but the girl didn't think so. She knew her mother's acts and façades. This felt real. It felt honest.

It felt sad.

'I cook for everyone,' Nana said finally after clearing her throat. It would be all too easy to start crying too at that moment, and she would rather not do it in front of her, 'It doesn't matter what they did. As long as they'll eat it and give it a chance it's enough for me.'

Izumi listened to her before she nodded, 'Very sweet.'

Suddenly she lifted her left hand, and this time, Nana didn't feel anything in the back of her mind stopping or warning her not to take it.

She let her fingers slip into her mother's palm and grabbed it tightly. Her hand was cold yet sweaty, 'Thank you for coming, Nana-chan. I'm really sorry, I wasn't a better mother to you. I hope one day, you can forgive me even if just a little bit.'

Nana nodded, it seemed it was enough for Izumi who let her go, 'Hey, if you're not in a hurry. Could you ask one of the nurses to come to my room later?'

'Sure,' said the girl before she grew worried, 'do you feel worse?'

'Nah, I just want to ruff their feathers a bit. Ask for an extra pillow. Don't worry about it. Any nurse is fine.'

Nana nodded, 'Alright then, I'll find one for you, and I'll bring that curry next time.'

'That'll be nice.'

'Granny will probably come too.'

'That'll be less nice.'

The comment made the girl chuckle before she could stop herself, 'Well, then bye for now-'

'Nana-chan!' called Izumi just as she took the handle making her stop, 'Yes?'

Her mother looked odd now, worried for some reason making Nana wonder if she wasn't lying about the real reason why she needed a nurse to come by, 'Do you feel it?'

Nana frowned a bit dumbfounded, 'Feel what?'

Izumi opened her mouth looking at Nana's face like she was trying to determine something before she suddenly snapped it shut and shook her head, 'N-nothing, just got colder a bit.'

The raven-haired girl waited a moment as if she expected her mother to elaborate. She wasn't sure why, but she got the feeling something was going on. Her mother was an addict and therefore unpredictable, but Nana was in a way used to her at times hostility and outbursts. Right now, however, she acted beyond weird, and the girl couldn't help but think there was something important about her behavior that she was missing.

But what?

'Hey,' said suddenly Izumi, 'There's… this crazy man going around telling people nonsense. Stuff about how people are cruel and the worst.'

The girl stood there confused even more now wondering what her mother was talking about. 'He's an annoying man really. He's talking to everyone. Kids, teenagers, medical stuff. He's tall and skinny with black hair,' said her mother dismissively like it wasn't a big deal, yet it surprised Nana she would even feel the need to warn her, 'look if you see him just…just walk the other way, alright? Especially if you're alone. Weirdos like that should be just avoided.'

After a moment, she agreed but at the same time remained confused by her mother's words. Given her state, she could perhaps excuse the sudden interest in her well-being. After all, despite their issues today's meeting didn't turn out as horrible as Nana feared it could have, but even so that warning felt off.

Although the hospital was big with plenty of staff, the hallway was inconveniently empty, so Nana had no choice, but to search around a bit. Her mind was filled with her mother and her words, not just the weird parting ones but everything else she said before that too. She would need time to unpack it all and maybe discuss it with Kurama.

Glancing at her watch, she sighed realizing there was still a decent amount of time before they would meet. She couldn't help but feel disappointed since it would mean she would have to entertain herself with her thoughts.

It wasn't like her to be bored easily or need contestant attention, but right now, Nana felt she could use the distraction.

Luckily, just then she spotted a nurse entering a room and rushed after her.

She dressed nicely today in a white shirt with a long black skirt and a blue sports jacket on top. Maybe a bit too nice, but she felt she needed to look her best if only to prove something to herself in front of Izumi. It was ridiculous really. She didn't need to prove anything, and in the end, it felt rather petty to dress up when the woman she was visiting, her mother, was dying.

Since she decided to put on sneakers instead of sandals, she caught to the woman in white easily as she was heading toward a room, only to hear her let out a piercing scream.

'What's wrong?!'

Nana came behind the nurse and touched her shoulder before she could even think about the potential danger.

The nurse was hysterical, and it took Nana several seconds to realize there was also a doctor inside the room shouting at them, 'Don't just stand there! Call the police immediately! There's a suspicious man that just ran out of here!'

It took both the nurse and Nana far too long to comprehend what he was saying. The nurse finally took a step back ready to rush out, which was when the raven-haired teenager noticed the two people lying on the ground bleeding.

For a moment, Nana felt paralyzed by just looking at the excessive amount of blood covering the floor and the two bodies. Even with everything she witnessed during the Dark Tournament, to see something like this here in the normal world, in the hospital, nevertheless, felt so gruesome it took her several heartbeats to come to terms and calm down enough to realize who was on the ground.

'Kido-san!'

---

The kitsune knew rationally it made all sense and could be taken as nothing more than a mere coincidence or rather a natural turn of events. After all, Nana's mother was a troubled person most of her life. Given what they learned over the years about her substance use and in general reckless way of living. It shouldn't come as a surprise she ended up in a hospital in a serious condition. And despite having a daughter at a very young age, she often left Nana with her grandma for weeks and months, yet she never seemed to have moved too far, always remaining close by, so it also shouldn't have been all that strange that she ended up near their hometown in Mushiyori City. Also, he and Hiei made a point to alter her mind so she wouldn't bring problems to Nana and Inko, but if her intentions truly were to make amends with them when she was ill, then it also wasn't like there was anything stopping her. Not to mention it was the hospital that contacted Inko, not Izumi herself.

And yet…

Kurama couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness at it all. Suspicion or rather distrust was the former thief's trait for as long as he could remember. It came as naturally to him as breathing did to others, and so he couldn't fight against the feeling that there was more to Hinata Izumi. Something more, something troublesome. Something that would in the end hurt his beloved human as that pesky woman managed over and over again.

The sole two things that the redhead ever thought the woman did right were giving birth to Nana and leaving her with Inko, and it seemed both of those decisions weren't entirely on the woman's shoulders. Everything else only ever served to cause Nana grief from her mother. Since he had long since stopped considering murder as a means to an end to his problems as well as physically hurting any humans, he had to protect people he considered close another way.

Despite being uneasy about it, there wasn't much he could do to change Nana's mind about visiting her mother or going on her own. Of course, Kurama would prefer she didn't go at all or at a more favorable time, but it seemed it couldn't be helped. He held no sentiment for Hinata Izumi in his heart, but he understood that Nana needed closure regardless of how her mother might act toward her again. If Inko-san and his mother were correct and the woman was truly in a dire condition it would be better for Nana to speak with her sooner rather than later.

As if now, the situation in Mushiyori City was certainly alarming, but still not as pressing as it could be. However, that could change at any moment. After all, during the lesson orchestrated by Master Genkai, they still believed to have months only for them to end up with three weeks.

While walking alongside Kuwabara, Botan and his classmate Kaito Yuu, he recalled Lord Koenma's words about the four phases and their completion necessary in the opening of the boundary tunnel between Ningenkai and Makai.

The first phase the Human Realm becomes stagnant and lower life forms from the Makai flourish.

Given how the place was infested with Makai bugs it was obvious they were long since passed that stage. There were so many of them, some of which he already noticed slipping into their hometown as well. It seemed they were rather harmless so to speak mainly focusing on feeding on a person's depression, bad habits, and thoughts. They might have been a problem in the long run but right now there were far more pressing matters.

In the second phase, those who possess special abilities begin appearing among humans.

Kaito Yuu, Kido Asato, and Yanagisawa Mitsunari who joined their team for this case were clear products of the second phase. Despite Master Genkai mentioning 30 people who approached her in the last month regarding new abilities, Kurama felt a lot of reiki around them as they passed people on the streets. It wouldn't be farfetched to assume there were far more people who gained powers. Some of which would most likely be dangerous.

In the third phase, yokai of class D and lower begin thriving in the Ningenkai.

Fortunately, it seemed so far, such yokai either did not appear yet or remained at a great distance from them because Kurama couldn't sense any.

The redhead frowned a bit knowing that could change quickly as bad situations had a tendency to escalate when one least expects it. As a pragmatic it was only natural, he expected such an outcome as well as other ones.

At last, the fourth, final phase, it becomes possible for C-class yokai and B-class yokai to come and go on Earth.

That itself would be a horrific outcome. After all such yokai were the ones he and the others fought in the Dark Tournament and he knew plenty of such in Makai. None of which would be interested in living peacefully among humans. However, despite the famous powerful sealed periphery field that held the subspace forming a boundary between Makai and Ningenkai, and the unlikely possibility of the worst-case scenario. Kurama couldn't help but feel something like a premonition. If A-class and S-class yokai did in fact enter the Human Realm…

A shiver ran across his body only to come to a hold as suddenly Nana's lovely and smiling face appeared in his mind.

No, he couldn't think depressingly just yet, but he also couldn't help but be cautious. It also didn't help that every few moments his mind slipped back to Nana and her meeting with her mother. He trusted Nana completely, but the same couldn't be said about Izumi. With everything going on, it wouldn't be completely biased to expect trouble from the woman.

Kurama wasn't a trustful fool after all, and he knew better than to trust someone who repeatedly hurt Nana over the years. From the first time he saw the woman even before he gained his full consciousness, he didn't hold any care or sympathy for her. He recalled the way she spoke to Nana back then, under the disguise of childlike carefree nature yet mocking and belittling her own daughter only to in the next breath insult Inko-san. No, from those first moments alone, Kurama knew Hinata Izumi would never be someone he would consider his, the way he did his mother, Nana or Inko-san back then.

He looked ahead and they were almost at the field.

Pushing thoughts of Nana and her mother once again aside, Kurama did his best to focus on the current situation. After all, family disputes could wait, while survival of the Human Realm took priority.

This, however, caused the kitsune to frown even more. The hole was supposed to be 1.3 kilometers at the moment yet there was nothing there. No hole and no spellcaster. No one to fight. No one to stop.

'But,' he heard Kuwabara speak beside him confused, 'This is just an ordinary field, isn't it?' he was unsure since as if now, the boy still did not obtain his reiki back.

'I don't see any spellcaster distorting space, or anything like a hideout either.'

Kurama felt uneasy about this. It should have been here, yet it wasn't. Given what little time they were working on it, it was rather unfortunate if they needed to waste it on a hide-and-seek game, 'When distortion is created in space, it's certain to be circular in shape. And there is sure to be a powerful spellcaster at the center of it,' he explained all the while looking around, but there was no mistake, 'It doesn't add up. I cannot think of any other place it could be besides around here.'

Besides him, Kaito took a step forward.

His private feelings toward the boy were still rather sour and cold due to his treatment of Nana, but a crisis did make up for some strange bedmates. And after all Kurama wasn't one to let his personal feelings affect his work or goals. Despite how intense they could be when his precious girlfriend was involved.

He glanced at him seeing his line of vision.

'If they're not above the ground…'

He didn't need to finish, all four of them glanced to the ground at once immediately thinking the same thing as Kuwabara spoke, 'So it's below, huh?'

Kurama narrowed his eyes.

It was clever. Out here their opponent would be too open, risking not only to be easily caught by Reikai's passing ferry girls but also unbeknown civilians. But below, he could act freely to pursue his interest and work on opening the hole further. It didn't come as a surprise they were dealing with someone whose threat went beyond being powerful. Despite the situation proving to be more difficult for him, a small part of the kitsune thrived at the idea of a challenge. Even if just a little.

Suddenly, the kitsune's alertness skyrocketed when he felt three pairs of eyes on him and the others watching them.

Without wasting time, he ran in the direction he could sense their presence behind a nearby building, but it proved to be in vain. The enemy either hid their presence or were faster than him. But he was sure they were being spied on, and it would be absurd to think it would be anyone else than those who were working against them.

He mentally cursed at such an outcome.

'Kurama, what happened?' asked Kuwabara as he and the others rushed after him.

'Someone was watching us from here,' he explained coldly personally displeased that he couldn't sense where they disappeared to. It couldn't have been far, but they seemed to have hidden themselves far too well if his keen senses couldn't find any traces of them.

He heard Botan gasp at the new information, while Kaito spoke, 'So the enemy already sensed that we're moving against them?'

'I didn't sense anything,' argued Kuwabara stepping forward and looking around, 'Are you sure you didn't just imagine them?'

'Your spiritual sensitivity is still weak, you know,' reminded him Botan

'Well, sorry! I'll recover soon enough!'

The two started to bicker, which Kurama quickly attempted to shoot down all the while still searching the immediate area with his kitsune senses. Unfortunately, the attempts still came out fruitless.

A powerful and clever foal indeed.

'In any event, it looks like we should join up with Yusuke and the others for the time being.'

They spent a short moment informing Lord Koenma, and then they started to head toward their rendezvouspoint. It didn't bring Kurama any sense of relief, but he supposed that would come later when they would discuss what to do next and gather more intel. However, deep down he was certain even then he would be on alert until he met up with Nana.

---

She immediately kneeled beside the boy. She was shocked that he was there even more so that he was lying on the ground motionless and bleeding from his wrist.

'Kido-san! What happened?' she asked while trying to see if she could touch Kido without hurting him to try and wake him up. She couldn't figure out what was going on, but if Kido was here there was a good chance and so were the others. Had their investigation brought them here? Why?

'Please, please, don't be dead! Is he alright? Can you help him?' she asked looking up before she returned her worried gaze back to the boy on the ground.

He seemed to be awake, but from the look of horror behind his eyes, she could tell he couldn't move. The look felt like a drop of cold water on Nana's naked back reminding her of how she must have looked when she woke up from her nightmares. She didn't know Kido for very long and unfortunately, only got to interact with him during her and Yusuke's kidnapping, but even so, she would never wish for him to meet such a cruel fate at such a young age.

Moments passed and even if Kido didn't move, Nana could see he was breathing, and she let out a sigh of small relief, 'Thank goodness.'

Without thinking she reached for a handkerchief from the pocket of her jacket and pressed it against his bleeding wrist. It probably wouldn't do a lot, but she figured it was better than nothing.

It was only then that out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the doctor who was kneeling beside her raise his arm. For a split-second, she couldn't help but have this weird thought that he was about to strike her, but before his arm would come back down, she heard a male's voice call out from behind her.

'Kamiya! What's going on?! Eiki-san said there's an imposter in the hospital!'

Nana fully turned to the doctor in front of her as the other one came to her side just as another doctor and nurse came into the room. She now realized it was the doctor who approached her in the hallway on her way to visit Izumi. She completely forgot about that encounter until now.

The doctor in front of her remained kneeling carefully, lowering his arm now once again making the girl wonder if he wasn't really trying to hit her a moment ago. But why? Was she just imagining it?

But still, why was he just there? Why didn't he try to stop Kido's bleeding or help him somehow? Wasn't that strange?

Nana's heartbeat sped up as she couldn't really explain it but felt the doctor was angry with her. Just as before in the hallway, she was sure his behavior before was a mask. She thought he was just an overworked doctor who didn't like his job. Many people had reason to fake politeness after all, but now, it felt like there was something far more sinister in place.

'Young lady, do you know this young man?' asked the second doctor who entered as more doctors and nurses started to arrive, and started to help Kido taking her place in covering his wrist.

'Yes! He's a friend of mine. I- don't know what happened though,' Nana confessed since she really did not know and therefore wasn't sure how should she cover for this situation. For now, standard avoidance of revealing the supernatural world should be enough.

'Please, please, help him,' she begged them just as she heard someone pushing their way through the door.

'Hey! Move it!' Nana immediately recognized the voice, 'Yusuke-kun!'

The dark-haired boy pushed through the nurses and doctors. Nana could see the moment he saw her and Kido as his eyes widened and he snapped, 'What the hell happened here?'

'It looks like a man with a rather sharp blade attacked the nurse and your friend before running away,' explained one of the doctors who spoke with Doctor Kamiya while the other one assured them, 'There's no need to worry about the young man. We found him soon enough.'

'Thank goodness,' said Nana and Yusuke at the same time and shared a look.

The dark-haired boy leaned closer to her, and she slowly stood up so they could exchange words without anyone else hearing too much, 'Did you see anything?'

She shook her head, 'No, no, I got here too late, and Kido-san is paralyzed. He cannot talk, but…'

She didn't finish unsure how to continue, and if she should, even with Kido the main focus at the moment and without looking anywhere else but at Yusuke, Nana could still feel the doctor with glasses, Kamiya looking at her. Glaring.

'Alert the building!' called out suddenly one of the doctors, 'The culprit may still be inside!'

Several nurses rushed off to follow through with the order leaving only a handful of doctors pressed.

'Then it wasn't a doctor from this hospital?' asked Yusuke and turned around. Nana could see his train of thoughts as clear as day and without wasting time, she quickly snapped onto his wrist just as his feet were about to bolt for the door to try and look for whoever hurt Kido.

Yusuke looked at her confused, 'Hey, what-?'

She didn't say anything but moved her eyes in the direction of the doctor who was no doubt watching the exchange because Nana could feel his eyes burning into her back.

Her stomach dropped. She wasn't sure why, but she feared if she revealed her suspicion out loud, the doctor might do something to hurt everyone in this room, and she wasn't sure Yusuke would be able to protect everyone.

She squeezed his wrist all the while looking with her eyes to the left hoping the boy would catch on.

'What in the world?!' they heard suddenly one of the doctors shout, and everyone turned to look.

There, on the ground, to everyone's disbelief, Kido's shadow was slowly writing kanji letters with his own blood much to the astonishment of everyone around including Nana's.

'Kido-san,' she mumbled as she realized he must have been using his reiki and territory to make this happen.

She let Yusuke go, and he stepped closer while Nana turned to look at the doctor.

He was also looking at the shadow writing letters before he lifted his eyes, and his angry gaze met her scared one. Just then when she saw pure anger and madness in his eyes, Nana knew, she just knew, he was about to attack and screamed, 'Yusuke-kun, look out!'

She snatched the boy's shoulders and pulled him backward his back hitting her chest as the doctor stood up and made such fast moves with his arms Nana could barely see them. In the next moment, all the innocent doctors around them let out groans and screams as blood started to splash from their bodies.

The girl didn't even have time to scream or cover her mouth at the pure horror of the situation.

'Nana, get back!' shouted Yusuke and pushed her further behind him. Luckily, despite the boy being younger than her, Nana's short frame was easily hidden with his body while he snapped at the doctor responsible for all of this, 'So it's you, huh?'

'I see I'm in need of a change of plans,' said the man sounding angry only to slip into a rather pleased voice, 'I'll just kill every person in this hospital!'

Nana couldn't see him very well hiding behind Yusuke, but when he suddenly snatched her by the arms and jumped away with her, she let out a startled cry realizing the doctor must have tried to attack them again.

Kill them? Kill everyone? Why would he wish to kill everyone here? Even if she would never approve of it, she could understand some people wish to kill those who hurt them or wronged them in some way but to kill innocent people. Why? Why would anyone do such a thing? Had they no conscious? No heart?

Kamiya carried on, 'I wanted to play the gentle Kamiya-sensei for a little while longer.'

Yusuke was griping Nana around her arms hard enough to leave bruises, but even so, the girl was grateful he was there. He kept himself between the mad doctor and her while the man rambled on, 'But once my identity was revealed to you, Urameshi Yusuke, and your friends, I had no choice.'

Yusuke stood up signaling for Nana to remain kneeling behind him, 'You know me?'

Nana knew the boy was never one to back down or show fear, so it didn't surprise her he faced the doctor with bravery and feet steadily on the ground.

'Yes,' said the doctor with a smile, 'I heard about you from Dark Angel. He said you guys would come to stand in our way and spoil our dreams.'

His words didn't make much sense to Nana, but she didn't have a lot of time to dwell on them as in the next moment, she felt something like a mosquito bite into her neck.

She yelped and slapped a hand against the hurt spot before she could really think about what she was doing. A second later, her body was hit with an ice-freezing cold. It wasn't just her skin; it was under her skin as well.

When she and Kurama were children, back when he was Shuichi, they often played in the snow for hours diving into it like into a pool in the summer. They were always wet and cold by the end of the day shaking inside her or his house while granny or Shiori-san helped them strip from the wet clothes and run them baths to warm up. Back then it was the coldest Nana ever felt, and she couldn't have imagined ever feeling colder.

However, in that very moment after getting bitten she felt like someone took her and dipped her into the Arctic Ocean in the middle of a horrible storm. She felt every single organ and cell inside her body was freezing. She recalled how her cheeks and nose would sometimes hurt if she was out in the cold for too long, but at that moment it felt everything inside her was hurting like that. It was like there were invisible billions of little icy needles stabbing into every one of her body parts.

She couldn't understand or explain it and just hugged herself tightly.

'Aah!' she let out weakly doing her best yet failing to endure to pain more.

'Nana!' she heard Yusuke call out and grab her arms again.

She must have started to slide further onto the floor. She didn't even realize it, but everything was becoming too painful to bear. She never felt a pain like that. She never felt sick like this.

'Nana! Nana!' she heard Yusuke scream at her shaking her a bit.

She opened her eyes. She didn't even realize she closed them only to see the doctor run away from the room. No doubt, he used her getting hurt as a distraction to escape.

'G-go,' she whispered weakly knowing it was important they didn't let Kamiya get away with it, 'G-go…get him.'

She closed her eyes again and hugged herself tighter. Usually, she could gain some warmth that way, but now it seemed it wasn't working either.

'Damn it!' cursed Yusuke, and slowly lowered her back to the ground, 'Don't worry! I'll get him! If I beat him, he wouldn't be able to keep you in his territory.'

Nana tried to nod, but she probably didn't. Everything hurt so badly, she simply remained motionless on the ground hearing Yusuke rush out. She was scared, terrified, but it was hard to stay focused on her emotions and thoughts as the pain was taking over everything inside her body and mind.

She shifted into a fetal position hugging herself as tight as she could hoping it would bring her some relief or at least comfort before whispering weakly even if no one else could hear her, 'Kurama.'

---

Everyone stopped to a halt all of a sudden when they saw and felt the amount of familiar spiritual energy shot through the sky.

'That's Yusuke's Rei-gun!' confirmed Botan what Kurama already knew. His mind began to race as it became clear that the source of the trouble was centered in Daikyo Hospital where Nana was currently visiting her mother.

In the privacy of his own thoughts, the kitsune cursed. It was always a small possibility that his human girl could end up in danger when she came to the city, but he still falsely predicted the risk would be lower.

'There's no doubt about it. Yusuke and the others must be in the hospital!'

'Nana-chan,' gasped Botan as she must have remembered her too.

Without wasting time Kurama and the others ran toward the building. It was immediately clear something was going on. There were no ambulances rushing in and out, and no patients or visitors coming through the door. The place looked unnervingly quiet as if everyone inside was asleep or worse. There was no denying it. The hospital had to have become someone's territory. Despite Yusuke's attack there seemed to have been no patrol cars or even an audience to gather around to see the commotion.

Also, no Nana.

There was still some time to when they agreed to meet, but this meant, she failed to make it out of the hospital before whatever happened broke loose.

This didn't sit well with the kitsune at all, and after stopping Kuwabara from hastily and unwisely entering through the main door, he decided it would be only best if he went alone. Kaito's ability was too specific and hard to aid in actual combat should a fight occur and given that their friend was forced to use his Rei-gun there was no doubt a fight was taking place. Botan and Kuwabara were of course out of the question as well.

'Anyhow, you all wait here,' he said and started to run toward the building. It wouldn't win them any favors to wait. There was a fight but beyond that, every sense inside him told him something truly horrific was happening in the hospital. He would go and help regardless, but knowing Nana was inside defenseless to whatever was happening made it the only option.

Not knowing what lay behind the main entrance, it would be foolish to enter through the front.

When Kurama got close, he quickly pulled a rose from his hair and transformed it into his whip with his yoki. He tossed it toward the top fence. The whip easily circled around it giving him enough momentum that he could jump through the roof of the entrance all the way to the top of the building.

Glancing at the rooms while flying through the sky, he could see patients lying in their beds, but he moved too fast to see what was wrong.

Still, as he landed it occurred to him, that it was odd all the patients were lying when it wouldn't be too strange for some to walk around or even go around. He didn't have time to analyze this further though.

The moment his feet touched the ground he felt the familiar sensation of entering someone's territory. But whose? And what were their abilities? It didn't feel logical to go inside without any indication of what to expect, but it couldn't be helped. It would still be incredibly risky if all caution went out the wind when Nana's safety was involved, so Kurama did his best to approach the roof door as stealthy as possible in order to avoid any potential traps. After all, their misfortunate meeting with Kaito and the others served as a small lecture on territories and how they could be anything from a single ability like coping with oneself to complex several ones like creating games to steal one's soul.

The inside of the hospital was just as silent as it was outside. It was truly concerning and unnerving in its own way. Back when his mother was ill, even if it should be a quiet place for the patients to rest, he spent most of the nights listening to doctors and nurses attending patients and the patients themselves snoring or groaning and suffering from their illness.

Morphing into his old thief persona, he started to quietly make his way to the lower grounds, which was when he heard it.

Buzzing

Fainted groans of pain

Carefully, he glanced around the corner, and his green eyes widened slightly although he didn't let his shock fully take over his face and posture as he found several nurses, doctors, and patients on the ground.

He crouched and approached the closest nurse laying on the ground checking her pulse all the while hearing her moan in pain, 'Cold.'

Despite her words, she was feverish. Unnaturally so.

Kurama's keen sense of smell was hit with massive waves of stink he could easily pinpoint as illness. It wasn't just those lying on the ground barely conscious, it seemed to be coming from every part of the hospital.

He gently let the nurse back down. He couldn't help her more than to try and find the source of what was causing her and others to suffer.

'Please, hold on a bit longer. We're here to help,' he assured her quietly, but it seemed she wasn't even aware he was there in the first place.

Is everyone infected with this illness? Kurama wondered looking around. He could still hear the faint sound of buzzing and a lot of it. Even more than he had outside which didn't make sense. Could it be there were even more Makai bugs here than outside? Whatever was going on, he had to move quickly, since everyone seemed very unwell and slowly losing consciousness.

It didn't come as a surprise that the kitsune felt genuine concern at the thought that somewhere around here, Nana was going through the same fate.

Keeping to his cautious and stealthy way, he quickly rushed through the corridor trying to catch her familiar scent in the mixture of illness or at least Yusuke's to help him deal with the enemy. Passing each floor, he found more and more victims of the illness. The smell was almost insufferable, irritating his nose.

He memorized the number of Nana's mother's room, but before he could reach it, he found Shizuru and Keiko getting attacked by a massive cloud of the most bizarre bugs he had ever seen before here or in Makai.

He quickly took care of them with his whip. Despite obviously being responsible for spreading the virus that caused this unknown horrible illness, it seemed they were rather weak. The only strength they possessed was in numbers.

'What kind of bugs are these?' he questioned as Shizuru slowly got up pulling Keiko into her arms. It seemed the taller woman managed to avoid getting stung completely. Although it wasn't much, Kurama found himself relief that at least a few of his friends weren't harmed.

He kneeled toward the lying girl as well checking her forehead noting Yusuke's Puu was also present. It wasn't hard to deduce that the little flying spirit beast led the two oblivious women into the heart of danger like this. He was certain the Spirit Detective would not be too pleased to learn this.

'She's burning up like the rest of them,' he commented not able to hide his anger upon seeing just how much the illness was affecting Keiko, and knowing Nana was probably suffering the same was maddening. He needed to find her fast. He didn't think he would be able to settle otherwise. He didn't want to settle at all.

'Did any of you see Nana around here?' he asked looking at Shizuru whose eyes widened in shock, 'Nana-chan is here too?'

So, they hadn't seen them.

He was torn now. The decision was impossible to make. Seeing the state Keiko was in and how Shizuru was easy prey, he felt a sense of responsibility to protect them. He couldn't just leave them like this, but he couldn't just stay here and let Nana to her own devices either. Especially, since he knew she was suffering the same fate.

He needed to think. Taking Keiko with them when she was in such a state would be too much of a hassle. He needed to see this through. His emotions couldn't get the best of him.

'Hey,' said Shizuru suddenly and put her hand on his shoulder cutting through his train of thoughts, 'It's alright. Go find Nana-chan. We managed until now. We'll survive this.'

His frown deepened. That was highly unlikely to be true. After all more and more bugs were heading their way, and they had no hiding place anymore. 'Nonsense. I cannot in good conscious do that,' his mind worked through a solution, and he pulled out a few seeds from his hair tossing them to the ground around them.

'We'll try something.'

Immediately, he used his yoki to go use and made a meter and half high Makai plants resembling the carnivorous plant just as a few bugs were heading their ways.

'They're coming!' gasped Shizuru, and Kurama quickly pushed her and Keiko behind him blocking them from the bugs in case the plants failed to detect the insects.

Fortunately, the plants acted at rapid speed devouring the insects upon close proximity.

Kurama waited to see or sense any change. After all, these weren't Makai bugs, and with no prior experience, he didn't know what the outcome of them eating something with a deadly illness would be, but by the looks of it, they would be able to consume a large number of the bugs before they would become ill and rot.

'This will do. Stay with your backs against the wall under their heads and don't allow Puu to fly close to them. I cannot guarantee they wouldn't attempt to bite him too.'

'Alright, go already!' urged him the older Kuwabara, and he nodded quickly rushing to the next floor in search of Nana all the while killing any bugs that spotted him. It felt almost overwhelming with how many there were around and more seemed to have been coming. Whoever was in control of them was in possession of a truly strong ability such that even Kurama had to admit was troubling to deal with.

Finally, he made it to the fifth floor only to stop on the track.

Blood

Far more than his nose caught on any other floor up until now. Only someone incompetent wouldn't go searching for the source, especially in this current situation.

He rushed into the room he sensed the smell coming from only to freeze in the doorway.

Nana

There, on the floor, motionless and covered by a similar greenish color all the victims seemed to obtain upon getting infected was his human girl looking like she wasn't even breathing.

A second passed. Then another, and another before finally all at once the realization of what was going on and his senses hit him all at once.

'NANA!' he yelled and rushed into the room immediately cradling her feverish body in his arms and taking hold of her face. She was hot and sweaty, even more so than the others. Was she one of the first injected? His mind was racing and the body part that acted in place of his human heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird's wings.

'Nana! NANA!' he repeated over and over again gently shaking the girl all the while stroking her cheek. It felt like forever until her eyelids fluttered and cracked enough for Kurama to spot those soft brown irises he adored so much.

The relief was microscopic, 'Nana, Nana, I'm here.'

The girl closed her eyes again, but she let out a soft sound like she understood and felt comfort from his presence alone. She was slack in his arms like a ragdoll. If he was to let her go, which he would never, surely, she would fall to the ground again.

Mentally, Kurama cursed the absurdity of the situation. How could this be? He was the Legendary Thief, he competed in the Dark Tournament and won against so many skilled opponents and came on top of so many situations, yet once again, when someone dear to him, when someone he cared for, loved so much he couldn't even imagine it was possible for a yokai, needed him the most, he was completely powerless. He hated feeling this weak. This useless. He felt this was when his mother was ill. When he couldn't protect Nana from Karasu. And now again? How was it that those he grew to care for were so easily threatened by illnesses?

He pulled Nana's face closer to his and pressed his forehead against her temple. The smell of the virus felt disgusting now. His mind still recalled when he could smell his mother's illness. His senses weren't back to their full strength back then, now it seemed infinitely times worse. Both because it involved Nana and because her beautiful scent, the scent of spices, her granny's kitchen, his precious happy childhood, and his own was stained with the smell of some unstoppable illness he couldn't defeat on his own. It wasn't a puzzle to solve or a plan to hatch. There was no weak spot to exploit. There was just nothing. Utterly, soul-crushingly, nothing he could do for her other than hold her in his arms.

Every second that passed was agonizing, but he couldn't bring himself to let her go. He couldn't just leave her there. He just had to hope that Yusuke would defeat the enemy in time. The thought felt like poison in his mouth, but it couldn't be fought. He couldn't even bring himself to let her go, how would he be able to leave her alone here again?

He squeezed her tighter feeling her breathing becoming slower and uneven, 'Hold on. Just a little bit longer, Nana. Please, hold on. Just for a little bit.' It was a lie. A horribly pathetic lie, Kurama would never think he would feed the poor girl with. If Nana was coherent, she would see through it right away and call him a liar. He didn't know how long it would take. He didn't know what Yusuke was doing or if he was close to defeating the enemy.

He cleared his mind. It was no use; he couldn't allow this to make him go mad. He needed to be patient; Nana would be alright. This couldn't be the end of things. Not like this.

Then, while he was still torn and attempting to gain control over himself Kurama felt a surge of reiki he recognized as Master Genkai's, and the hospital was released from the territory.

It happened suddenly and all at once, but just as Kurama leaned away from the girl, she opened her eyes. The scent of illness was gone. Not just from her body, but from the whole hospital almost like it was never there in the first place. A brief hint of it, however, remained in Kurama's nostrils and would surely stay somewhere in the back of his mind for years to follow if only because Nana had it at one point.

'Kurama,' she said and smiled happily immediately pulling him into a tight embrace by throwing her arms around his neck. It caught him off guard, but he didn't waste time, he did the same squeezing his eyes shut and breathing in her hair, her neck, her healthy and beautiful scent, 'Nana,' he whispered into her hair, 'Thank goodness, you're alright.'

He held her tighter; he couldn't help it; it felt necessary to hold her as close as possible erasing the memory of the disease that plagued her body. He felt himself calm down and restore his sanity solely by keeping her close.

She felt warm safe and healthy. He wasn't one to take those things for granted, to begin with, but he found so much more new appreciation for them now.

'Yusuke-kun must have knocked the doctor out,' she mumbled against his shoulder after a while and then pushed herself back to look at him. She seemed relieved, but only for a second before her eyes widened, and she tried to break free of his hold, 'Kido-san!'

Kurama followed her line of vision only now noticing Kido and the doctors on the ground. Upon finding Nana's motionless body his mind tuned out the source of blood he came to investigate in the first place. It turned out everything else in the world except for Nana and her well-being. It wasn't the first time, he threw cautiously out of the wind when it came to her safety, and it surely wouldn't be the last. Perhaps, he should work on that in the future if only so that the next time he rushed into a room to her, he wouldn't be surprised by the enemy.

He let Nana go and both quickly rushed to the boy.

The redhead checked his pulse, 'He's alive. They stopped the bleeding in time.'

'What a relief,' said the girl and touched Kido's back with care as she always held for people around her. It was one of the many things that made him proud to have fallen in love with this girl.

Kurama checked the doctors on the ground while Nana in rushed words explained what had happened when she came into the room. Some were in better shape, some in worse, but more and more nurses and doctors started to come into the room to take care of them.

During the commotion, Kurama took Nana's hand and quickly led her out, 'We should probably head to meet with the others before authorities come over.'

'Can we stop by my mother's room? I was supposed to find her a nurse. I don't know if she got injected too or not. She…she's really in bad shape, Kurama,' confessed the girl looking at the ground as they walked through the corridor in hasty steps.

The redhead nodded. They could spare a moment to check on Izumi if that was Nana wished to do. He had no objections. If nothing else, he could at least meet with the woman face to face and try to analyze her for a moment.

When they got close to the room, they noticed a doctor and nurse rushing inside.

'Oh no,' whispered Nana beside him probably not even aware she did, and the two immediately ran toward Hinata Izumi's room.

Upon arrival they found the doctor and nurse kneeling by another nurse that was lying on the ground.

The only person missing was Nana's mother. With the hospital no longer inside the doctor's territory, and with air clear of his virus, Kurama's nose could pick on all sorts of other things. Standard hospital sterileness, blood, medicine, but also other illnesses.

'Excuse me? Where's the woman who was supposed to be staying here? Where's Hinata Izumi?' asked Nana just as Kurama's sense of smell caught it. The strong scent of illness was one he would likely associate with alcoholics and addicts. One he would assume was coming from Nana's mother based on what little his own mother told him and the reckless way Izumi lived her life. However, the scent wasn't coming from Izumi. The woman wasn't even in the room or the corridor for that matter. Perhaps not even in the hospital. No, the smell of dying organs caused by addiction was coming from the nurse on the ground.

'We don't know. Megumi-san came to check on her, but we found like this,' said the doctor before he ordered the other nurse to go and get others so they could lift and exam the woman all the while Kurama's eyes widened with the horrible realization of what must have happened here.

---

'So how did it go with the police? Did they give you guys any trouble?' asked Yusuke through the phone when Kurama took a moment to call him. They arrived at Nana's house first. She wanted to talk to her grandmother personally. The train was packed, so the walk home was the time Kurama spared in doing his best to coach her into what to tell the older woman without revealing anything supernatural. Nana wasn't a good liar, but she was getting better and better in small misdirections.

'Fortunately, the whole ordeal with Doctor Kamiya took most of their attention,' said Kurama with a hint of gratitude. They were truly lucky the situation was so serious that it seemed the policeman didn't really have time for a missing patient. Luckily, no one made any connection between Izumi's disappearance and the poor nurse's condition. He doubted even if they did, they would believe it.

'They did seem interested in speaking to Nana again, however. But I'm sure they won't accuse her of anything.'

'Well, at least that's a relief. Still,' the detective paused for a moment before he asked, 'You think her mom got mixed up with those guys? Think she could be one of the seven?'

Kurama's mind went back to what the Reader, Murota, learned for Yusuke and the others.

We'll dig a grave for all people. The seven of us will dig the hole. Dark Angel, Gatekeeper, Sniper, Gourmet, Gamemaster, Doctor, and Seaman.

Kurama's face remained collected, but on the inside, he felt wary about the situation. The hole was expanding by the minute, and they were no closer to its location, it seemed the enemy had the upper hand on them by knowing far more about them but not vice versa.

'There's a grand probably it could be true. However, it's also possible Izumi simply gained abilities while staying in the epicenter for too long like the others. At the moment with what little we know; no options can be ruled out.'

'Shit,' cursed Yusuke and then sighed, 'Wished we knew more. Feels like we're sitting ducks here or something. These guys don't play around.'

'Indeed,' agreed Kurama, 'Perhaps for the time being it would be better to act in groups. If one of us gets attacked it would be easier to send for help if needed.'

'Afraid you won't be able to take them on?' teased Yusuke.

'I would never be as foolish to presume anything,' Kurama replied amused with a small smile underlining his own confidence in the matter. It was true he would never presume, but he would also never be shy about his own strength and abilities.

'Cocky kitsune. Alright, go take care of your girlfriend. We can talk tomorrow.'

'Thank you, good night, Yusuke.'

They ended the call, and Kurama walked toward Nana's room. He still heard her, and her grandmother speak in the kitchen.

After many years of visiting the place, he gained a sense of domesticity which led him to sit down on her bed. After all, he often came to stay in it as well when Inko-san was asleep if only to help Nana with her nightmares and bring her comfort.

Kurama looked around the room. It was late, and he didn't bother turning on the light, but his eyes could still see the place clearly. Nana's room didn't change much from the time, they were children.

She still kept her toys on high shelves and above her wardrobes.

The plant he gifted her which spread small doses of his yoki around enough to mix with her scent was still placed in the same spot he originally placed it when he brought it for her.

Her old comforter made of wool was nicely tugged by the edge of her bed. She had it since he first met her. If he snooped around surely, he would find more mementos from their time as children than he even remembered. Nana wasn't a hoarder per se, but she enjoyed keeping things she deemed held great memories or meaning to her.

Her desk was a bit messy filled with books which Kurama knew even without looking would turn out to be cooking books or notebooks with recipes rather than any study material for her classes.

The realization made him smile.

No, his previous girl didn't change a bit.

He heard her leave the kitchen and appear several moments later.

He opened his mouth to warn her he was there but stopped since he realized it would be pointless, Nana would get startled either way. Still, it wouldn't be completely true, if he didn't admit, he liked that about her. A bit too much at times. Which was why he liked to surprise her so often by sneaking up on her.

Quickly and as quietly as possible, Kurama rushed to her side, and just as she turned on the light and let out a startled sound, he hid most of it by covering her mouth all the while using his free one to circle around her waist and pushed her chest into his.

Their eyes met, and he grinned feeling the familiar thrill and delight he managed to surprise her yet again. He loved getting her heartbeat to speed up just a little bit. He found great enjoyment in the sound after all, 'No need for that. It's just me.'

Nana's brown eyes closed, and he felt her let out a small breath, her heartbeat calming down immediately.

Kurama put his hand away from her mouth, and the girl wasted no time in an annoyed complaint, 'Kurama, we talked about this. Over and over again. Don't do that.'

He didn't bother hiding his amusement at her reaction, 'But there was no way to do so without scaring you.'

She narrowed her eyes a bit like she didn't believe him which he found fair and with his arm around her waist guided her to her bed. As much as he preferred this friendly moment. There were things they needed to discuss, 'Did you speak with Inko-san?'

Nana sat down and nodded smoothing her features, 'She took it well?' she said unsure, 'She's shocked, but she didn't ask a lot of questions,' she looked like she was thinking about something before she spoke, 'Do you think she could have spiritual awareness or she…has some abilities too? My mother said she was always so mysterious even when she was younger.'

Given that Kurama didn't know what Nana and her mother spoke, it shouldn't surprise him if they discussed Nana's grandma's odd behavior, but it still did. There wasn't enough time or place to talk about it in the hospital with the police present or on a packed train. Now, they could do so freely.

'Can you tell me what happened? The whole uncut version?' he asked and took a seat next to her on her bed again.

Nana sighed and began to explain everything that happened in the hospital, filling in the things she couldn't mention when talking to the police. This version was longer and far more concerning leaving a bitter taste inside Kurama's mouth at the idea of what could have happened to Nana.

His hand held hers tighter when she stopped speaking and looked up at him with a clear as day question behind her beautiful eyes, 'Do you think…do you think she did that to that nurse?'

Kurama nodded, there was no need for hesitation or speculations, 'I'm certain of it. Even if we were in the room only briefly the smell was unmistakable. It's hard to explain. It's decay and illness. Something I can often sense when we pass drunken men or places where addicts meet. Those who use a lot ruined their bodies and the natural health smell humans possess,' he explained recalling how the smell hit him immediately as they entered the room. The woman's organs were obviously in bad shape.

The girl nodded. She already knew so much but needed him to confirm it. He could understand why.

She glanced down at her other hand and asked, 'She wanted to do it to me too, right?'

That part made the kitsune's blood boil.

He would rather she didn't know, but he was never one to lie to her, at least not since he told her who he was, so he coldly confirmed it, 'Yes. I believe it was her malicious intention from the start. She was desperate to lure you to visit her so she could steal your organs and replace them with hers. If she's truly as since as the nurse she left there, they're slowly shutting down.'

He decided to soften his voice after that for her sake. She shouldn't think he was angry with her. He wasn't. He was simply angry with the whole situation. It was bad enough she got infected by the Doctor's virus, but at least they managed to reverse that. There would be no telling if they would be able to find Izumi and save Nana if she went through with her plan and stole her organs.

'How did she do it?'

'I believe that her time in Mushiyori City resulted in a development of abilities as it did for Kaito and the others. When you entered the room, you felt something was off?'

Nana's eyes narrowed a bit while she thought for a moment, 'I can't say it was a feeling, but like an idea that I shouldn't close the door,' she looked at him again and raised her knees to sit on them, 'Do you think that was how her territory worked?'

He nodded, 'It could be. I believe she needed you to take her right hand in order for her to be able to replace the organs. I cannot say if she could do this with other things or only with organs. At the moment we know very little about her, her abilities, or her involvement.'

The girl blinked surprised when he said this, 'You think she still might be with the Doctor and the others? But she warned me about them.'

'Yes, that's odd,' agreed Kurama. It wasn't unheard of that someone would get remorse. Especially a human and a mother no matter how bad she was before, 'and she also changed her plan at the last moment and didn't try and hurt you. Perhaps, while talking to you, she recalled quite a bit about your time together and that she was still your mother and cared for you at least a little bit. When you offered to cook for her. I believe that was the moment she felt remorse.'

'Yeah, you have a point,' she glanced at her open hand before she clenched it into a fists. It wasn't enough though. It wasn't enough to know that Izumi changed her mind. She lured Nana there with every intention of harming her or robbing her. A primal fury took over at the idea that someone would try and steal anything from his Nana. It was as if they would try to steal from him, and he was never kind to those who went through with such mad attempts.

'But why not try and get organs from someone else sooner? Why wait for me?' questioned Nana, and Kurama did his best to push his personal vendetta aside, 'To be completely honest, I think it's because you weren't her only option.'

He saw that this surprised the girl, 'How come?'

'I might be wrong, but I believe Izumi needed organs that would fit so they would work properly. Since she knew it would work at all because she tried to get you to take her hand, I think she already tried to take someone else's organs and realized she needed a match.'

'Aha, like a donor transplant match?'

'Correct,' he nodded, 'It would make sense. She figured it had to be someone who perhaps had the same blood type or was a relative. Although Inko-san is celebrating good health, she's old, and there's no telling how long her organs would work for Izumi, so I supposed she figured yours were her best option,' he managed to get the words out without damning the woman to the deepest parts of Makai, but on the inside, he felt angrier the longer he spoke. She planned it perfectly, and he was a naïve fool for not suspecting anything. He thought the worst she could do to hurt Nana was with her words. How wrong he had been. Perhaps, Hiei was right. To some extent, he lost his edge, or maybe he always deemed humans as someone below him when it came to danger. That they simply couldn't pose a real threat to him. To Nana. He wouldn't make such a mistake ever again.

Nana's hand suddenly moved from his hold and she guided his fingers between the spaces of his, 'It's alright. I'm fine.'

Kurama blinked dumbfounded before he understood and smiled a little bit. Of course, his human girl noticed his internal struggle. She always had a knack for reading him when no one else could.

A few moments had passed in silence before the kitsune saw her brown eyes starting to water and felt her body start to shake.

'Sorry,' she said without thinking most likely before she sighed, 'It sucks. I know…I know she's not a good mother or a good person in general…but to do something like that…That nurse is an innocent woman. She was just doing her job. She has a life, friends, and family, and Izumi just…took from her leaving her there on the ground,' she said, but her voice broke by the end, and it came out like a whisper while a single tear dropped from her eyes, 'I mean…maybe I should be happy that she picked someone else, that in the end, I mattered to her enough not to hurt me, but I still….I can't believe she would do something like that. If that woman doesn't have someone who can donate she'll die, right? She essentially caused her death and-'

Immediately, he took hold of her face and made her look at him, 'That is in no way, shape or form your fault, Nana.'

'I know,' she said quietly, yet averted her eyes, and Kurama immediately knew she was lying to him and herself, 'No, beloved,' he brushed her cheeks, 'Don't you dare go around thinking this happened because you somehow melted her heart enough not to harm you. This happened solely because she is a wicked person who only thought of herself as she did for a very long time. Please, look at me,' he urged her softly seeing her gaze until finally she looked up to meet him, 'Tell me you believe me. Tell me you won't let that woman toy with your sense of guilt and kind heart another moment. Tell me you trust my words enough to believe them.'

Nana sighed and closed her eyes when she opened them again and nodded and said, 'I believe you.'

'Clever girl,' he said and leaned forward kissing her forehead, 'Everyone makes their choices, Nana. You cannot be responsible for those that were made by others.'

Nana finally nodded and rushed to her pocket to pick up a handkerchief only to gasp, 'Oh, I forgot to soak this. I used it to press against Kido-san's wound.'

She hurriedly got up and rushed toward the bathroom leaving Kurama to watch her go and listen to her movements. She wasn't crying anymore, and she seemed to be in a better mood, or at least a much improved one. He would hate for Hinata Izumi to ruin an additional day for Nana. Especially after today.

He closed his eyes and tried to clear his head. It would be beneficial for him to stop thinking about the awful woman as well if only to focus more on Nana.

By gods, how he adored this human girl.

Perhaps too much.

The thought crossed his mind before he could push it back. He wasn't the type to deny or oppose himself. What use would it be to lie to yourself after all? But he couldn't help but wish he hadn't let the thought exist in the first place.

'Are you alright?' asked Nana suddenly when she returned to the room. He had no idea what could possibly give him away so easily to her at times. How wonderful and insufferable to have someone who could read him so well, 'Back in the hospital you seemed bothered by something. Even before we learned about Izumi.'

'Hm, I was just worried,' he said and brushed her cheek with great care, 'Seeing you on the floor like that was truly frightening. From now on, if you must be around trouble always stick to others, promise?'

'Yes,' she said with a grin, and he smiled back at her before leaning to kiss her, 'Good girl.' He felt her shiver right before he claimed her lips. He could have elaborated. If they were merely friends like they used to be, he probably would have pushed himself or Nana would go on and express his worries with more and clearer words, but why when kissing Nana's mouth was far more delightful? Not to mention distracting enough for her not to ask more questions and for him not to think about it.

Shyly, Nana lifted her palms and put them against his face.

The thousand-year-old kitsune knew an invitation when he saw one.

He leaned in and brushed his mouth against hers.

Nana's lips were soft and pliant, and despite how often they did this, Kurama couldn't help but feel a sense of thrill. Before he would think it was impossible to surprise him, yet his human girl liked to prove him wrong over and over again, and he couldn't say he minded.

Their mouths found a steady rhythm but even so, his mind automatically imagined them on her skin.

But then Nana's tongue brushed against the seam of his mouth, and he felt a sense of delight rush through him. He immediately parted to let her in. It was rare for her to be bold enough to take the lead. He didn't mind it. He adored her innocence and loved to tease her shyness. Not to mention, he took pride in control. Still having her take the lead on the kiss fascinated and aroused him.

Her hands spilled from his face toward his jacket and curled in the front of my shirt.

He didn't waste time and pulled her against him. This close, he was once again struck by feeling how fragile the human was compared to him. At times, especially today her vulnerability frightened him, but he didn't want to think about that.

Kurama rather focused on her tongue touching his, quickly forgetting all about her fragility. Need rushes through him, and he tentatively flicks his tongue against hers. She tasted like the matcha tea, she must have shared with Inko-san, but like he would always imagine a sunflower would. Sweet and delicious.

For a moment they remained in peaceful harmony, kissing as they had many times before, before the yokai's mischief side got the best of him, and he snatched her thighs pulling her under him in a matter of seconds.

A soft sound of surprise passed from her delicious mouth, but Nana didn't pull away which pleased him dearly.

Her hand moved to his cheek, and she caressed his jaw, all the while they continued to kiss on her bed. He moved his hand above her head so he wouldn't crush her but rather cage her. He couldn't recall if he was ever interested in kissing as he was in the activity when he could do it with Nana. He had lovers, of course, but there was never any love between them. There was no need for intimacy. Makai didn't view such things as favorable. That all changed with Nana. Everything changed with Nana. Kissing her felt like a promise of what having her would be like. He would never push her, but he couldn't help wanting her all the same. She was his beautiful human girl. It always felt incredible and amazing. Unlike anything he could remember. He couldn't bring himself to stop kissing her, she was too addictive, and kissing her was his personal favorite human activity.

When he sensed she needed to breathe he broke the kiss to move to her cheek and lower to her neck.

Her breaths were shallow, and her chest kept rising higher and going lower proving how much the motion was affecting her. How much he was affecting her. He took great pride in that fact as he would in a properly nurtured plant.

When his lips appeared on her neck, he couldn't help but imagine marking it with his teeth. Just a little bit. Not enough to hurt her or make her bleed, but enough to leave an impression on her.

He opened his mouth and began the toy with the spot.

His touch there must have been too much for Nana who suddenly moaned loudly. Perhaps too loud and quickly slapped her hand against her mouth. It was too late of course.

Kurama couldn't help but chuckle and lifted his head to look at her again. She looked properly frightened that she might have been heard, but the kitsune could only smile at her. She was rather adorable like this.

She didn't appreciate his amusement though since she shoved him off her.

He let her toss him to his back on top of her bed, 'My apologies.'

'Somehow I don't believe you,' she said breathless knowing him far too well to be fooled. Hearing her sound like that only increased his good mood. He wished all their moments could be this carefree and filled with affection.

There was a beautiful red color covering her cheeks which Kurama always found alluring, but at the moment what he felt was even more divine was the red mark painted across her neck. Very red and visible. If he couldn't bite her, this would certainly do.

He smirked and no remorse whatsoever commented, 'Ah, I'm not sure if you'll forgive me.'

The raven-haired girl blinked before she carefully lifted her hand and placed it against the side of her neck where he left the mark, 'Why?'

Her eyes then widened when the realization came to her, 'Did you leave a hickey?! Kurama, I have school tomorrow-!'

She tried to rush out of the bed to go check in the mirror on her wardrobe, but he easily stopped her by snatching her wrist and pulling her against his chest, 'Good, at least everyone will know you're taken.'

She hit his chest hard, which surprisingly did feel discomfort enough for him to groan a little, 'Jerk! Everyone already knows.'

She didn't fight him though, and let him pull her back against his chest and cross her arms over hers properly trapping her, 'Do they now? Do you talk about me often?'

Nana pouted, 'You know I have like one friend at school, and she's not really into romantic stuff.'

'Pity. I tend to remind my classmates of you daily,' he said. It was actually true, but only because of how still from time to time he received unwanted confessions or attention from his female classmates.

Nana laughed openly warming his soul, 'That's because you need to avoid your fangirls.'

Their good mood lasted a few more moments before he heard his beautiful human sigh content, 'Thank you.' He knew this was as much a distraction for her as it was for him.

'Of course,' he said and kissed her temple again as his own way of thanking her. They spent the rest of the evening talking about what happened and then meaningless things. It felt natural. It felt no different from the times, they did so when they were merely friends, and yet each time between those chats they would touch or kiss changing the air around them and making it spark.

Ultimately, as usual, Nana fell asleep, while Kurama passed the time counting her eyelashes and the moles on her face. He counts her heartbeats, her breaths, the minuscule twitches of her fingers. He wouldn't think it could be as interesting to watch Nana sleep as it was to engage with life with her, but he had to admit, he felt captivated by everything she did and was. He would never grow tired of this.

Yet, he couldn't help but return with his thoughts back to what happened. Back to what he purposely distracted Nana from asking him.

When he saw her there on the ground, he froze.

Him!

The Legendary Thief

Yoko Kurama

He froze.

There was no other way to explain or to try and deny it, it just happened. It wasn't just a momentary weak moment when an opponent got a lucky shot, he remained still just looking at her body as if she had already passed and there was nothing he could do. It made him angry all over again. So much for being cold and collected in control of his emotions. When it came to Nana he slipped up just as easily as anyone else. How could he not reach her immediately? How could he not rush to her and pick her up into his arms the moment he saw her? How could he just freeze and leave her there? She held such a great part-no, she held all of his soul. Every part, every fraction of it, it all belonged to her. It would make sense that the death of someone like that would destroy him, but it still shook him to learn how much just the possibility of it could do the same. Just a simple false alarm and it completely clouded his judgment.

Then there was that smell.

He frowned despite himself.

That horrible, rotting smell. Illness created by the Doctor's abilities. He shouldn't dwell on it. Nana was alright now after all. They faced deadly foals often and always managed to come out victorious. There was no point in dwelling on those they had already defeated, they should only look forward and come up with strategies to take down new enemies.

However, it was hard to shake away the feeling of uselessness he felt while holding Nana's weak body. He wasn't one to forget things. He still recalled how he hated the feeling when he was visiting his mother in the hospital trying to come up with a solution to cure her. But she had been well for a while now, and so much had happened in such a short time, that he didn't return to those hateful thoughts and feelings often. Today, he was forced yet again to experience them, and he despised them just as much.

He clenched his palms into a fist against his knee. It shook a bit as he thought about it. About how weak she was. Sick and dying slowly, and how all he could do was to hold her. All that power and what of it in the end? Nothing. Utterly nothing.

It might not be the last time she'll look like that.

His whole body stopped moving almost as if he turned into a statue. In fact, he might as well have stopped breathing as he allowed that thought to appear and take place in his mind.

On the bed, Fuku lifted himself into a sitting position and glanced at him although he only felt this. Instead, his green eyes moved to Nana's peacefully sleeping face. Her beautiful young face. The face that was getting older every year, every month, every week, and every day. The face that wouldn't be the same in ten years, or twenty years, or thirty years, or forty. Would they even have that much?

Kurama wasn't naïve enough to never think about such things. This body. This somewhat human body that grew and got older was merely a vessel, a convenience for living in this human world. If he chose to return to Makai, he could keep it young or find a way to return to his former self. He was strong enough now to do so. He was always cunning and clever enough to find a way. But he already made his choice to stay for his mother, for Nana, for Inko-san. He made a lot more friends, but it would always be the first three that made him feel human enough to remain among them. Those first three women in his life made him feel like he belonged among them even if he couldn't probably belong in the human world. Even before he knew why.

When he decided to stay for them, he knew.

He knew he would stay until their inevitable demise. They were human after all. He was a yokai, and he knew even he wouldn't live forever, just far more longer than them. He would outlive them. Every single one of them.

It was already admirable; he managed to keep Inko-san in his life for so long. There was no telling how much longer she would have. As for Nana and his mother, he could perhaps keep them longer. But illness, supernaturally caused or not, they could all so cruelly and easily take them both away.

She could be gone. Today, tomorrow. In a heartbeat. A single missed breath.

Suddenly, his cold thoughts were interrupted by Fuku who chose that moment to come and rubbed his head against his arms while purring softly.

Kurama blinked. He almost forgot he was there even. He quietly started to scratch its head behind the ears while he found balance among his thoughts.

Even in the darkness of Nana's room, his eyes landed on the green ribbon tied around his wrist. He never took it off, but sometimes it would slip or get lost so he needed to tie it tighter again and again. He didn't mind. It was his shared promise with Nana after all.

To always stay connected. To always make it home back to each other.

His gaze returned to his sleeping girl, and the cold thoughts that took hold of his mind and chest before melted a bit. They couldn't be pushed back, but they could be rearranged.

He leaned forward and kissed Nana's cheek. She took in a deeper inhale, but otherwise didn't move or wake up. She was already deeply asleep.

How unfair? How unfair that he found the one treasure he would never be able to keep forever? How unfair was it to love something that could die-?

Someone would perhaps see the irony of it, but not Kurama. At least not when it involved Nana. Perhaps, he was also a fool who lied to himself. Because he couldn't bring himself to think about it any longer.

One day, some day even, but not tonight, and not tomorrow.

Whispering a quiet goodbye, he snuck out of her window and left toward the direction of his home.

He would come back to check on her later, but for now, he should visit his own mother and discuss what happened with Izumi. He also needed to think about everything Yusuke told him about the Doctor and the Seven. He couldn't help but feel there was something going on in the background he was missing. Something to do with the Reikai.

Humans, who were willing to let the rest of humanity die. Not to mention themselves. How bizarre and malice. Who exactly was their enemy? The redhead couldn't help but feel like he was lacking a great deal of information, and the only source where he could obtain it was purposely keeping it to themselves.

'Shuichi-kun, welcome home!' called his mother spotting him in the hallways, and he offered her a kind smile. Regardless of his worries, it was always good to see her, 'Hello. Forgive me for coming so late.'

'It's not a problem. How did things go with Nana's mother? Did they meet?' she asked, and Kurama's smile fell a bit. It seemed he would have to deal with his human life a bit before he could go seek answers with Lord Keonma.

'Actually, something happened, please let's go sit and talk. Is Hatanaka-san present?'

---

It had been two days since their unlucky visit to Mushiyori City. Before the visit, Nana wasn't overly hopeful about it. She didn't expect an apology or anything like that. Her mother proved a lot of times she wasn't a good person. At least not since Nana was born. However, after their conversation, the raven-haired girl was inclined to if nothing else see a future where she could forgive her or make some sort of amends to rest her soul and heal her own.

Now, though, Nana was certain, she would never forgive the woman, and if she never saw her again for the rest of her life, she would die happy.

She still shivered at the thought that she was so close to ending up sick. So unbelievably close to losing her organs. She didn't even bother trying to deny it or come up with a better explanation. How could she? It was obvious Izumi only lured her to the hospital so she could use her. Again.

Nana sighed while dressing herself. Still, the fact that she decided not to do was…something. She would never call it an act of motherly love because how could someone be selfish and yet motherly? How could they steal health from an innocent woman only to live longer after messing with their own body?

But the fact that for once Izumi didn't throw her under the bus was definitely something.

She finished putting on her pants and buttoning up her blouse before she slapped both of her cheeks and squeezed her fists, 'Okay, no more of that!'

After all, what good would it bring her to play guessing games about what her mother might be thinking? She always sucked at those anyway. Kurama could write a book on how many different games he beat the poor girl growing up. She wasn't a sour loser. It would be hard to be one if you lost at every type of every single game. Sure, there were times she won, but she didn't count those since she knew for a fact, Kurama let her win because he took pity on her.

Kurama

Nana's eyes fell on her ribbon. If she was to play guessing games on what someone might be thinking it would be her yokai boyfriend. It wasn't like he did anything out of the ordinary. He obviously had a lot to think about when dealing with their new case and trying to stop humanity from getting destroyed again, and yet somewhere in the back of Nana's mind, there was this nagging little voice telling her there was something going on with him. Something she was missing or missed, and he didn't tell her about.

She did her best not to fall into the rabbit hole of self-doubt. After all, if she really wanted to know, she could always ask him. But with everything going on, she much rather he didn't get distracted by her.

Well-

Her cheeks caught on fire as she recalled a few instances when they very much did get distracted. Far more than should be allowed when you were trying to save the world. The red mark that caught so many of her classmates' gazes today was proof enough of that distraction. She almost died from embarrassment, but luckily being friends with Mina, who was known for beating girls up, meant no one dared to say or even whisper anything behind her back too loudly.

The phone rang bringing Nana out of her thoughts while she tried to pull her collar as high as possible to hide the mark, 'Moshi-moshi?'

'Hey, it's Yusuke. Kurama around?' asked the familiar voice, 'Couldn't reach anyone at his house.'

'Hi, Yusuke-kun,' she greeted the boy cheerfully before she sighed, 'No. He stopped by earlier to tell me he would be gone for a bit and that I should stay out of trouble. I think Shiori-san and Hatanaka-san went on a date,' she explained and started to play with the curly telephone line.

'No idea where he went?' asked the younger boy with an overly dramatic and annoyed sigh.

'Well, if I had to guess, he went to get more information on those guys. Kurama is the type to have his resources after all. And he likes to know a bit about the opponent before making his own move.' Nana got to witness to what extent that was true during his fights when he purposely allowed his opponents to strike him or use their abilities just to learn their weaknesses.

'I guess,' agreed Yusuke before he paused, 'Doesn't it bother you he doesn't tell you stuff? Keiko's always on my ass wanting to know every little thing.'

Nana chuckled. It was true. Keiko was a nice girl, and her dear friend, but she could be really harsh to Yusuke. It was their own special way to show love though, 'That's because you don't tell her anything. If you told her sometimes that you were about to work a case, I'm sure she wouldn't be so nosy all the time,' said Nana as a matter of fact.

'Doubt it. You're just mellow like that.'

She made a face, but it wasn't like he was totally wrong. Even growing up when she knew Kurama was hiding something, she never pressured him to give her answers, she knew he would be honest with her when he could and to what extent he could. Besides, after he finally revealed himself to her, he never once kept any secret from her, so it was fine either way. She might not know where he headed off to, but she was sure he would tell her when he could. It wasn't like she could assist him much with the spiritual business. She couldn't even sense anything.

She smiled. That's right. It didn't matter if there was something on his mind weighing him down. She was sure he would tell her when he would tell her and that was enough for her. For now.

'Maybe, but you like that Keiko's stubborn and strong like that. You wouldn't like someone mellow,' she teased him hearing the slight choke he made before he snapped, 'S-shut up!'

Nana giggled, 'Anyway, I'll leave him a message here and at home, so he knows to find you as soon as he shows up,' she thought of something, 'Hey, will you be home in half an hour? Botan told me you'll have a meeting and that you begged me to cook.'

'Huh?! That little-'

The raven-haired girl tuned out most of his insults. It wasn't hard to assume Botan lied to get Nana to come and cook for them because she wanted her food.

'It's alright, I've already bought stuff. We can make ramen. You wanted me to show you how to make Shio ramen.'

Yusuke stopped cursing, 'Yeah? Right!' he said as he must have remembered, 'I can't get the taste right without miso and soy sauce. It always lacks flavor in the end.'

Nana smiled. She always liked talking about food with Yusuke. She wasn't sure why. She liked talking about cooking in general and adored it when someone complimented her cooking skills, but with Yusuke it felt like they were on the same brain wave when it came to this stuff. It was nice, 'No worries. Mine used to too before I finally got it right. So, you'll be home?'

'Yeah, I'll buzz you in. You got everything you need?'

They ended the call, and Nana went to the kitchen to leave a note for Kurama and take her bag. She was tempted to put a scarf around her neck, but every time she did in an attempt to cover the red mark that was strategically placed there by her boyfriend, she felt like she was only drawing more attention to it. Not to mention, a tiny little part of her that blushed either way actually kinda liked it there.

'If you're heading out take an umbrella,' said her granny suddenly from the living room. She was in the process of watching her TV shows, so Nana didn't plan to bother her, but now that she spoke, she felt it was safe to come see her, 'It's going to rain?'

She glanced outside from the living room's window, and truly. The sky was really grey. Surely, rain was coming.

'Alright, thank you,' she went over and pressed a kiss against her granny's cheeks, 'Remember if Izumi shows up.'

'I know, I know. Don't let her in and call the police. You know, I was usually the one who told you that,' reminded her granny, and Nana smiled despite the situation, 'You're right seemed we can't escape trouble when it comes to her.'

'Seems we cannot,' agreed her granny, 'But if we didn't have her, we wouldn't meet. There's always a silver lining.'

They shared a goodbye, and Nana walked out of the house. Yusuke didn't live that far from her if she went by train, so she managed to be there in less than thirty minutes. The sky still looked like it would rain at any moment, but she managed to avoid it completely for the time being.

She searched for his name and pressed the doorbell only to all of a sudden remember something.

She must have been young. Maybe four or three years old before she went to live with granny before she met Kurama.

She was on the beach running all wet and laughing until she got to Izumi who was sunbathing on the yellow blanket. She looked different. Young, radiant, beautiful.

Happy

She was happy. She spread her arms and Nana jumped into them while babbling happily, 'Sero-san taught me how to swim. I can swim now, mommy.'

'You can? That's amazing! You're wonderful!' cheered Izumi raising her above her head despite how slim she was and how heavy Nana must have been at that age. All of a sudden the woman started to fall backwards into the sand with Nana but she made sure the girl stayed on top of her through the whole ordeal.

She could still hear Izumi's laughter. So cheerful and free as she hugged a giggling Nana closer.

'YO! ANYONE THERE?!'

Nana flinched as she heard Yusuke's angry voice come from the intercom and quickly called out, 'I'm here! It's Nana!'

'Ugh! The doorbell must be breaking. I couldn't hear you at all before,' complained the boy, while Nana's mind was racing. She barely managed to open the door before the buzzing sound stopped and pulled them open.

She didn't recall that memory before. Was it because she and Izumi talked about it? But why did she think about it now?

A sudden shiver rushed through Nana's body, and she glanced outside. She didn't see anyone suspicious and why would Izumi follow her if she already stole the body parts from the nurse? Did she realize they wouldn't fit and wanted Nana's after all?

No, this…doesn't feel ominous, thought Nana and started to walk toward the elevator. It really didn't. Before she couldn't help but feel guarded with caution, but now it felt sad. For some reason, now she felt sad while thinking about Izumi and their time on the beach. Was it because she could have been a good mother but wasn't? Was it because she was sad about what happened to the nurse? What happened to Izumi and what she became of her?

Nana didn't know, and so she continued to walk into the elevator hoping cooking, her most favorite activity in the world, would take her mind off things before Kurama returned.

---

Hi there! I know it's been forever since I updated, but I got really stuck and didn't feel like writing this part. I'm still unsure about how it turned out. I hope it still feels authentic to the story. After all, it was such a long time since I last posted. Anyway, I will do my best to update a new chapter in the next 2-3 months. The chapters are LONG, and I have a baby now, so finding any time to write, watch episodes, read old chapters, and revise is a real struggle. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do. I hope to finish this one by the end of this year though. Anyway, thank you for reading, stay safe and have a lovely day.