Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ The Strangest Bedfellows ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: Ah well… I wasn't going to post this until Monday, but it started getting too long… -rubs head and laughs- Ah well, I was torturing poor Sylvannastar a bit too much to make her wait longer too, and after she's been so nice in listening to me ramble from time to time.

As always, to my beautiful reviewers… -bows and blows kisses- You're all wonderful and it's tons of fun to hear that you're enjoying the story, but also as always, I'm aware that you'd rather just get to reading. So, enjoy! ^___~

~*~*~*~

By Any Other Name

~The Strangest Bedfellows~

There was a moment of silence on the other line, and Keiko frowned in concern, opening her mouth to check if they'd been disconnected when the flat demand carried through, "What?"

"She… said she was a miko," Keiko repeated, not quite sure why that one piece of information had changed his tone so dramatically.

She pulled the phone away from her ear in surprise when she heard a scuffle interspersed with Yuusuke swearing profusely and the sound of… well, something hitting a wall or a floor fairly hard, she couldn't be certain only hearing the heavy crash and clatter through the tiny speaker. "Yuusuke?" she called into it louder, hoping to get some kind of response to explain why telling them had started what sounded like a war in her kitchen. "Yuusuke!"

"Get the fuck offa me!" she heard her husband's voice from somewhere away from the receiver just before it was replaced with the honey-smooth tones she had come to recognize so well over the years.

"Say that again please, Keiko?" Kurama was trying his damnedest to sound calm, keeping an eye on where Hiei was more or less standing on Yuusuke's chest to keep him away so the kitsune could ask the "right" questions.

"I… I said she was a miko," Keiko glanced around the platform, blushing a bit at the curious stares and backing away to the far end for privacy.

"A miko," Kurama repeated, shooting Hiei a disbelieving glance. There's no way in all the hells that this is coincidental, his hand tightened on the receiver.

No shit, he rolled his eyes, digging his heel into Yuusuke's stomach and letting a grin cross his lips when that started a new string of curses and rather impressively creative threats against his equally unimpressed person.

"Actually… she said that was what they called her," Keiko corrected with a slight frown, trying to recall the details of the conversation at the pretty obvious indication of the situation's severity with Kurama's attention. "She said she didn't make a very good miko."

Now he was the one frowning, "What do you mean? You spoke with her?"

`A very nice present for her birthday, Kurama,' Youko made the mental note, his voice filled with eager delight at hearing his chosen lover had been located and was lacking one possessive youkai enough for Keiko to have carried on a proper conversation with her. `We can go looking through our collection for an appropriate thank you as soon as we've picked up our lover and stuffed her in a closet.'

That'll convince her to stick around, Kurama sighed, shushing him to hear Keiko over the racket Yuusuke was making.

"Of course! She works at the temple I was in," Keiko instinctively glanced back in that direction, even knowing there was no way she could see the building from her current spot. "She said that she didn't start training until she was fifteen, but that there wasn't much call for mikos anymore, so it didn't matter much."

What temple? Hiei tossed around the idea of hitting Yuusuke over the head and knocking him out for a moment, but given the much more amusing potential of just pissing him off this way, he decided it wasn't worth it.

"Where are you?" Kurama tried to keep Youko out of it, but the slightly sharper edge to his voice warned him that he hadn't been entirely successful. Back off, Youko, you're the one who insists that rushing makes mistakes.

`We've been this close to having her and being done with this damn celibacy and baby problem, Kurama, I want her and I want her now,' Youko growled back, refusing to settle despite his best efforts. `Keiko saw her and spoke to her longer than we did… that means she's in the open and she's fair game. An inu would have locked her up where she was under his hand at all times if they were exclusively intimate. They're paranoid that way, and I don't want to give him time to correct the oversight.'

Like planning to stuff her in your closet is any less paranoid? Hiei taunted, kicking Yuusuke's wrist when he managed to catch hold of an ankle.

`Only for a little while, until I'm the only youkai she dreams about at night,' Youko's voice was pure innocence, and Kurama couldn't help but make a face at just how disturbing it sounded coming with the pictures his `alter-ego' was putting in his head.

"I'm at the station," Keiko shrugged, starting to get worried. "Kurama, what's going on? Why am I talking to you and not to Yuusuke? Why do you want to find this girl so badly?"

`Don't tell her.'

Do I look like a complete idiot? Kurama scoffed at the idea, shooting Hiei a glare to stop him from adding in any smartass comments. "We think she might be able to help out with a mission," he lied seamlessly, perching on the edge of the kitchen counter with a calmness he was far from feeling. "Scrolls about a miko in early eras that we'd like an expert opinion on."

"Oh," Keiko digested that bit of information, chewing her lip and leaning back against one of the concrete supports dotting the mostly empty platform. "I'm sure she'd help if you asked… I mean, I was just trying not to sound suspicious but when I told her I'd like someone to look at the boys and read their auras, she offered to come over herself and give it a shot."

`Too easy for her to be followed, and then we wouldn't have a temporary hiding spot,' Youko denied that possibility. `If we take her from the temple, or her home, we can use the woods to cover our trail and-`

One step at a time, Youko! We still don't know where she's at, remember? And if she comes to us, she'll be less on guard, Kurama hissed out at him impatiently for the interruption, ignoring the laughter ringing in his head from the hybrid doing his best to crack a few of their leader's ribs unobtrusively.

`We'd better know by the time Yuusuke's wife hangs up that phone, or I swear to the gods, Kurama, we're going hunting,' Youko promised him darkly. `Nothing gets away from me when I decide I want it.'

Don't come crying to me when your ass gets purified, Kurama, Hiei felt obligated to point out at the way Youko was growling in their head, sending out waves of restless irritability the longer the silence on the other end continued. You can't steal a miko and hide her with your stash, so you may as well give up on making this one your lover.

She said "not a very good miko," Hiei, that means she's probably untrained and just sensitive, like Kurabara, Kurama defended, unwilling to back down even with Youko's odd behavior. He was taking this a little too personally, and while he was grateful for the change in pursuing an appropriate girl, he didn't want to scare her to death and ruin his chances. Humans just didn't generally respond very well to the way youkai behaved when it came to relationships and attachments, shying away from the absolute intensity of their focus and emotions.

Still a miko, he reminded him sharply. Don't let Youko's carryover fetish make you careless enough to make mistakes that could get your soul ripped out.

`I do not have a fetish,' Youko protested in a particularly affronted tone. `Well… not the one he's talking about anyway. It was just a curiosity back then.'

"Kurama?" Keiko prodded, reminding him that he was the one encouraging the lack of conversation.

"Sorry, Keiko, I was… distracted," he cleared his throat, sitting up straighter to get back to business. "Where did you say you were?"

"The station we use to go to the café with the chairs Yuusuke hates so much," she turned the wrist of her free hand up to check her watch, making sure she had time until the next train. "It's about a block away, but I don't ever remember seeing it when we walked down that street. Isn't that weird?"

I don't remember it either, Hiei observed with a note of suspicion.

You can't feel her, Hiei, this may just be a side effect to whatever makes her that way, Kurama absently ran a hand through his hair again, grazing the seeds with his fingertips habitually. Or it may have something to do with the youkai who kidnapped her… although, it doesn't sound like she's acting kidnapped.

Mind alteration? Hiei suggested. Erasing her memories?

We'll have to wait and see when we pick her up, Kurama nodded decisively. If she does remember…

Then she can tell us what the hell youkai are doing in Ningenkai, and what they have to do with her, Hiei finished with a faint hint of a satisfied smirk. And how in the fuck she feels empty.

`He's letting that bother him too much,' Youko murmured softly, for Kurama's ears alone. `Although… I wonder if she notices that she feels empty? That would make it so much easier to-`

"I guess I've been distracted too, but she was there teaching her brother and someone else who has to be related to her," Keiko's nervous laugh cut off the wandering thought before it could blossom into another all-out fantasy.

"How do you know they were related?" his brows lowered in contemplation, silently thanking whatever gods had picked that moment for Keiko to perk Youko's interest as well.

"Same eyes," she sighed and shook her head. "In a way, I'm jealous. Their eyes are even more amazing up close, almost like they're glowing sometimes, but not… Mou, I hope she didn't think I was staring. And then temples seem to stay in family's don't they?"

"Yes, they usually do," he heard himself agreeing with her distractedly, mind already racing on how long it would take to reach that neighborhood and the preparations that needed to be made for a proper heist, especially one where the prize was a living, breathing, sort-of miko who'd been kidnapped by youkai once before. There were bound to be traps and at least one youkai hanging around if his instincts were correct.

`As much as I hate to say it, we should wait until it gets dark,' Youko drawled out thoughtfully. `We can avoid any humans completely, and any youkai can get distracted by a well-placed illusion or a nice surprise.'

We should wait until Keiko convinces her to come to us, Hiei folded his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow at the kitsune. As much as I don't want to wait any longer for answers, it's the intelligent thing to do.

`And give that fucking dog more time to figure out what we're planning for her?' Youko let out a snort of derision. `What if she is better acquainted with him than we think and she tells him about coming here? He'd never let her anywhere near this house if he knew.'

If he knows we're here, Hiei reminded him pointedly. And if he stops her, then we'll know he has something to do with that Takeharuka person, since that is the only youkai who knows where we're staying.

That answers one question, but makes it harder for us to steal her from him if it's true, Kurama frowned sharply at the thought, turning the possibilities over in his head. We can figure out a way to do both, but… I'd rather not make it next to impossible for myself if I can help it.

`We could always get the woods to hide us when we know she's coming,' Youko suggested, sitting back as he tapped at his lips to start his own planning on the alternate scenario. `If he can't feel us watching her then he might leave her unprotected long enough for us to voice our intentions and shift her loyalties. After all, Keiko and her sons would hardly seem a threatening presence to a youkai.'

"She said she would speak with Shinju-sama about accepting students outside the family," Keiko continued, completely unaware of the silent plotting the two youkai on the other end had become engrossed in. "She's going to call me tomorrow and let me know, but either way, she said she would come and have a look at the boys."

Shinju?! Kurama's eyes widened.

The driver of the car, Hiei swore at the proof of at least that connection. And she said they're all related?

That doesn't make sense though, Kurama gritted his teeth. If they're related, why would they kidnap her off the street?

`Why else? To keep her away from us,' Youko shrugged as if that should have been obvious. `But still, the brother didn't know-`

He stopped at the street… when he heard the name, Hiei's eyes narrowed as he went back over the encounter, waves of frustration coming off the hybrid in almost tangible waves.

Dammit, how twisted is this puzzle going to get?! Kurama fumed.

And how much influence do these youkai have on a family from a temple? Hiei added that question. Why would monks and mikos be familiar enough with those kinds of creatures to be involved in such a complex plot like that?

`More importantly,' Youko interrupted their questions softly, his voice perfectly serious. `What does this particular temple family have to do with Koenma's latest bout of paranoia? Doesn't it seem suspicious that we only recently noticed this girl and this family when we discovered youkai living in Ningenkai? While that Rekai brat is reading ancient myths and searching for youkai directly involved with such things?'

Kurama and Hiei shared a long look before the kitsune turned his attention back to the phone, "Keiko, was there anything strange about this temple?"

Aside from never seeing it before when it's supposedly such a prominent structure? Hiei's voice took on a particularly sardonic edge.

Shut up, Hiei, Kurama glared at him, responding to Keiko's own request for clarification, "Were there worshippers? Tourists?"

"Oh… no… nothing like that," Keiko shook her head, not thinking that he couldn't see the automatic motion. "But it was still a bit early, they may have just not opened to the public yet."

I doubt that, Hiei snorted. But I don't like the uncertainty of this, Kurama. It'll be safer if she's here on Yuusuke's property when we confront her instead of on her own grounds. Safer for us in case she's better than she thinks she is.

`I still don't like the idea of waiting,' Youko protested. `A lot can happen in twenty-four hours, especially with humans.'

But Kurabara told Yuusuke that Takeharuka was in meetings with his higher-ups, Kurama chewed his lip in an uncharacteristic motion of nervousness. If he's a youkai, then such meetings would keep him occupied long enough for her to come to us without his escort.

`But not without an escort,' Youko observed. `If she's important to him, he'll be having her watched at all times that she's out of arm's reach.'

Then all the better to bring her here where it can be all three of us, Hiei ground his heel into Yuusuke's abdomen harder when the human took a swing at him again, grateful that he'd at least stopped the ineffective swearing. It would look too suspicious if we all took Keiko and her sons instead of only Yuusuke. They'd be on their guard or maybe even try to take off with her again.

`I still don't like this,' Youko pouted, giving Kurama the clear impression of stubbornly folding his arms and kicking his chin up stubbornly. `I want to go get her now.'

You'd be weaker in the temple, baka, Hiei warned him. An old temple will have enough power to make us uncomfortable no matter how much the bloodlines may have thinned with time. Be patient, Fox, let her come to us.

`I don't want to be patient.'

You're acting like a spoiled child, Hiei pinned him with a superior frown. You're an old bastard who knows how to wait for the right time, so start acting like it. Another day won't kill you.

`Another night could,' he retorted slyly. `Care to-?'

No.

`You're no fun at all sometimes,' Youko sighed regretfully. `You sexually repressed crossbreed.'

You're not winning any points for yourself, you perverted little parasite.

`Don't be jealous because I'm so much bigger than you are, chibi size-queen.'

Why you fucking-!

"Oh! There's the train!" Keiko's voice cut in again. "Tell Yuusuke I'm going to pick the boys up from classes after I go to the market and then I'll be home, all right, Kurama?"

"I'll tell him," Kurama rubbed his aching head, trying in vain to shut out the increasingly lewd insults being traded back and forth. "Please be careful coming home, Keiko."

"You're such a sweetheart, Kurama," he could hear her smiling. "Don't let them kill each other, okay?"

"I'll try to restrain them," he turned scowl at where Hiei and Yuusuke were starting their awkward push and shove to fight for who was in control. She didn't say anything about me killing you two.

She thinks you're too sweet for that, Hiei taunted snidely.

You're dead as soon as I hang up this phone, Hiei.

Try me.

"I'll see you soon then," Keiko hung up and moved to get a good spot before the doors opened, blissfully unaware of the promised war about to break loose in her own kitchen.

~*~*~*~

"I'm positive you wouldn't want us taking on other students just yet, but I did promise her I would feel out her sons," Kagome hopped up to sit on the counter beside the fridge, leaning around to make sure Shippou wasn't going to try and pull rank over what channel to watch before she settled in for what was bound to be a long conversation.

"And why did you promise such a thing?"

She leaned her head to hold the receiver firmly between her ear and shoulder, leaving her hands free to pick at the Chinese takeout the kitsune had been craving for dinner, "It's a couple of kids from the area, Sesshoumaru, and if they really do have heightened awareness, I figured that you would want to know about it now."

"I'm not sure if it's more annoying when you're being foolish or when you're actually making sense," his voice had a weary note that made her smile. "And I would prefer it if you waited until I could be there to supervise the visit."

"You're in council though," she reminded him, gesticulating with her chopsticks out of habit. "The lords would be offended if you up and left them to watch over a miko reading children's auras."

"I have decided that it is more annoying when you're making sense."

"She found the temple, and whether the barrier just wasn't properly recreated after your visit or it's something in her blood that let her through, we need to know," she ignored that to try and make him understand her point of view.

"If the barrier was poorly constructed in such a fashion, miko, I intend to re-instruct as to what is acceptable and what is not," Sesshoumaru rose to his feet, pacing back to the massive windows that took up the greater portion of the west wall of his penthouse.

Kagome chuckled, jamming the utensils into her leftover noodles to stand them up and get a hand free to hold the phone up in a more comfortable position, "The thought is annoying, isn't it? Look, I don't know, Sesshoumaru, we were a bit distracted. But if you're just worried about me being alone, I'll take Shippou with me. I didn't feel any corruption in her soul though."

"If you think I would permit you to go an outing to read auras without Takashima's escort, you spent too much time absorbing my brother's stupidity," he resisted the urge to take the phone away from his ear and glare at it in her absence. "The slightest hiccup in power, miko, and you're to let him get you out of there as fast as possible, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru," she made a face, switching sides with the phone and setting the remainder of her dinner in the sink.

"Don't recite an agreement you don't mean," his voice hardened, easily reading into her weaknesses and bringing them into the open to force her to acknowledge them as well. "Even if children are involved, I will be displeased should I find that you have endangered yourself unnecessarily."

Kagome leaned back against the refrigerator and sighed heavily, instinct warring with reason until she nodded, "I understand."

"There are plenty of youkai with children for you to tend to within the family if you are feeling the need to kill your eardrums," his voice softened just enough for her to relax and smile at his guarded concern. "I have no wish to isolate you, and I cannot change the past, but you must be protected."

Kagome stared down at her hand, turning it over to let her eyes roam the faint circular scar across her palm, "You already know I would fight you."

"Indeed," she could hear a faint rustle as he shifted to a more comfortable position to watch the sunlight fading from the sky and giving way to the sporadic twinkle of stars. "And as I have no desire to waste our time in such a pointless action…"

She grinned, closing her hand into a fist and watching the tracers of pale violet energy curl around it in graceful wisps, "Let's not and say we did?"

"You are starved for attention to be behaving this way," Sesshoumaru frowned at the phone, changing his focus to view his reflection rather than the sky. "What is going through that head of yours?"

"Sometimes it's disturbing the way you do that," her voice lowered softly, tucking her knees to her chest and wrapping an arm around them. "I still feel like I'm going to wake up alone in my bed, at the shrine and missing everyone… not having any idea if any youkai survived to this time."

Sesshoumaru didn't bother mentioning how telling it was that her nightmares took her to that point in her life rather than even further, to back before she had even become involved in the past.

"It's probably just because I've been feeling strange lately, like there's something in the air… Waiting," she continued uncertainly.

Sesshoumaru stayed silent another moment as he digested that, "Threatening?"

"Sometimes," Kagome nodded and closed her eyes. "But I was with you the first time I felt it, so I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"Do not insult my intelligence, miko, you did not find it worth mentioning because you knew I would not have allowed you to leave the compound," he could almost taste her blush through the phone, hearing her fidget before she answered him.

"It comes and goes, but there's something else…" Kagome began hesitantly, willing to get herself a different kind of trouble if only to turn his attention away from that stalking sensation.

Damn, Sesshoumaru's hand clenched ever so slightly when he heard the wistful note creep into her voice.

"You're not going to want to hear it either," Kagome pushed off the counter, grateful to the inventor of the cordless phone as she stepped away from the possibility of curious ears and out the door to the backyard garden.

"You are thinking of that kitsune who was so inappropriately forward with you," Sesshoumaru stated, lifting his hand to watch dispassionately as the green glow of poison seeped out to reflect back on his features in stark relief.

Kagome slowed down before she could walk out of the reception range, not really surprised to find herself already lifting a hand to idly trace her fingertip over one of Shinju's roses thoughtfully, "I can't… I can't get his eyes out of my head."

"You have seen the most beautiful of youkai, miko, and now you are going to tell me that you've been dazzled by a pretty face?" his voice filled with disapproval. "That isn't like you."

"He is beautiful, but that's not what I mean," she looked up at the sky, feeling strangely like a little girl explaining a bad crush to an unenthusiastic parent and muttering a few choice remarks about her own mind for supplying her with that mental image.

"Explain it then."

"They were just so…" hungry, "expressive," she tried for more diplomacy out loud, well aware of what her knee-jerk description would get her. "Like he wanted me to see into his soul." He wanted me to admire him… and to want him.

"I find this information unsettling," he finally spoke after a long, contemplative silence. "Unknown kitsunes do not appear on the street from nowhere wanting human girls to `see into their souls' or bare their offspring."

"But where did he come from if you don't know him?" Kagome wondered curiously. "You told me that most youkai stay in their own realm since that giant barrier was made to split the worlds."

"They do," Sesshoumaru watched the stripes fade in on the pale skin of his forearm, allowing his claws to form as he mentally tortured the creature daring to encroach where he was not welcomed. "And the ones who do are generally removed by beings of exceptional powers that are found and employed by the Rekai level… if I do not kill them first."

Kagome smirked at his own wistful tone, "You miss the days when we could just kill the things that were threatening without having to keep up appearances."

"This Sesshoumaru has little patience for creatures who are too foolish to realize that they are begging for their own death," the timbre of his voice changed, practically dripping with the arrogance he displayed so expertly.

"So do I," she admitted reluctantly, sitting down in the grass beside the rose bush and trying to ignore the buildings blocking her view of the sky. "I'm not a very good human to say that, am I?"

"If it settles your mind, miko, you were not a very good human to begin with."

Kagome blinked and started to laugh helplessly, "I guess not. Still, I didn't use to be the type of person who thought that killing can be a perfectly acceptable answer to a problem."

"You adapted your mind and soul to your environment in a way that very few humans in your position could have accomplished, to living in wild times," Sesshoumaru reminded her matter-of-factly. "It is hardly a shameful thing that you learned how to survive your constant battles and near deaths."

"I'm not going to fit in with real humans again, am I?" Kagome's voice softened so much that even he had a hard time catching it, swallowing hard against the pang of regret and loss. I've seen men look at me that way since I got back… they've asked me out… and I didn't feel a thing. But two seconds with a kitsune holding my hands…

Sesshoumaru frowned at the thought of how many times she had to have sat up at night and entertained such matters without the aid of their influence to soften the blow. In his experience, the miko thrived in groups, in a family setting where she felt she had a place and while not necessarily humans, others that she could care about. These future humans had no such thing for her and they both knew it.

"No."

Kagome nodded, grateful for how bluntly he spoke and yet again turning her eyes skyward to peer through the city's haze, "I'm sorry I tried to purify myself."

"You are forgiven so long as that stubborn brain of yours accepts that while these humans may hold no place for you anymore, your home is among us," Sesshoumaru tried to sound as gentle as he could manage with as tasteless as he found that emotion. "You are above the petty fools who populate this era with their lack of concern with anything beyond their selfish desires."

She pulled the phone away from her ear to stare at it in amazement at the uncharacteristic but certainly not unwelcome effort to cheer her up, licking her lips before she settled it at her ear again and murmured, "I have to admit that I never thought I would be in this position, talking to you and hearing you speak like this, I mean, when I first stared you down across Tetsusaiga. But then again, it took forever for that life to feel real to me."

"Do you regret, miko?"

There was a note of genuine curiosity in his question that gave her pause, well aware that Sesshoumaru's patience would hold until she was ready to answer, "When I first realized I was back, I tried… I thought it might be easier, but… no."

"You find the troubles and concerns of these humans as pointless as we do," he completed the thought for her, voicing what she couldn't or wouldn't say.

Kagome nodded and sighed, "It seems so empty. When I look back on the past before the well, I can't help but think of how much I changed my entire family just by becoming what I did."

"We all have places in our pasts that seem so," he willed the poison to vanish when he noticed the hiss of the carpet melting at his feet and turned to look at his left arm with a faint smile. "But then again, miko, would you give up the self you are now in exchange for that emptiness returning?"

"No," she smiled with more conviction.

"Then do not allow your soul to be tainted with such thoughts of your former self," he instructed patiently. "Your late husband and friends torture themselves enough with misguided regrets over the loss of your naiveté."

Kagome chuckled and shook her head at the memory, "Don't I know it."

"And do not feel troubled by finding yourself displaced in this human society," he continued crisply now that he knew she was actually absorbing his instructions. "You will learn to play a part for them when necessary just as we all have learned to do, but behind that façade you will be free to be yourself at home."

"A youkai home?" she arched an eyebrow, lying back in the grass with a sigh.

"Yes, miko, a youkai home," Sesshoumaru cracked a hint of a smile. "You belong to another life now, one that understands the deeper existence that lurks beneath their peaceful surface, and the concept of having to fight for one's survival."

"In other words, being among more people who wish times were as simple as life and death again too?" she shifted when she felt the familiar ache in the center of her back.

"Among beings that will not hesitate to kill if the need should arise," he reworded her observation. "I will not have you in a position where there is no one to protect you should things get out of hand."

"I don't think that's going to happen," she rolled her eyes. "Comparatively speaking… you're in danger of coddling me, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"This Sesshoumaru does not `coddle,' miko, this Sesshoumaru protects the things and persons that belong to him."

Kagome bit back a snicker, fully able to picture his rigid stance at such an accusation of what he perceived as a weakness, "Have it your way. So was it on your orders that Shippou crawls in bed with me at night, or is that all him?"

"Kitsune are most effectively comforted and reassured by physical contact," Sesshoumaru reached up to press a fingertip to the thick glass in front of him as the very last hint of pink faded from the dusky sky. "That was his place of choice in the past, was it not?"

"Unless I was with Miroku," she raked a hand through her hair. "That reminds me… is it normal for him to be so… ah-?"

"Childish?"

"I was going to say silly-"

"And you would have meant childish."

"Oh fine," she shrugged that off in favor of actually getting the answer she wanted. "Either way, is it normal?"

"Unfortunately," he let out a long-suffering sigh. "The breed is playful by nature, miko, and age not have the usual mellowing effect as it has with other youkai. Adult kitsune simply become smarter and more cunning. They believe that they refine and perfect their methods of gaining personal amusements."

"There's a disturbing thought," Kagome remarked absently, recalling some of Shippou's more impressive pranks from childhood.

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru managed to convey his frustration and annoyance without a single inflection. "Their saving grace is that they do have a strong sense of their ideas of honor and family. They also take great pride in excelling with the areas they feel they are specialized in, and as Takashima lives to impress and protect you, it has made his presence somewhat bearable."

"Oh my gods… you're venting because I convinced you to watch out for Shippou!" Kagome accused him in open disbelief.

"This Sesshoumaru does not vent."

"You are!" she sat up and giggled at the very idea. "You're lecturing me about kitsune because you want an apology!"

"They also have no shame."

Kagome's laughter rang out across the courtyard, echoing off the trees and bouncing back to her at the absolute disgust coloring the taiyoukai's voice, "Oh! Oh damn-!"

"Your perverted husband's `help' was also not appreciated," he added blandly as soon as she got herself under control.

"Stop!" she choked out, trying hard not to picture the stoic-faced youkai dealing with what he was insinuating and failing miserably. "I can't breathe, Sesshoumaru!"

"I refuse to handle any more of such behavior," Sesshoumaru informed her loftily. "He is your younger brother and as such, you are now responsible for answering any future questions of that nature."

"Yes, Sesshoumaru," she bit her lip hard in an effort to stave off more laughter.

"You will also not share the asked questions with me."

"No?"

"Don't think yourself above punishment, miko," the slightest growl snuck into his voice, entertaining her to no end.

"All right," she promised reluctantly.

"Good. I will be in the Makai to hunt until tomorrow evening while you visit this neighbor and her children," he switched back to his `business' voice seamlessly. "Takashima will accompany you, and you will-?"

"Leave if anything that could be dangerous sets off my senses even a little bit," Kagome recited obediently.

"This includes the attractive kitsune you cannot remove from your thoughts and are attempting to make me forget," Sesshoumaru made that distinction in a particularly cool voice.

"But he's not a threatening presence-" Kagome started to protest.

"I am not aware of his existence through direct introduction."

"I could get you that introduction, or at least information of who he is and where he came from!"

"If I were the one escorting you, it would be different," Sesshoumaru turned away from the window to lean back against it, soaking in the cool feel of the glass through the thin dress shirt. "However, I am not, and I do not trust his intentions."

Kagome rolled her eyes, "I can handle one kitsune."

"Regardless, Kagome," he pushed away from the window to return to his desk, scowling at the images spread out across the immaculate surface. "I do not want you confronting him. Stay away from this youkai."

"You're being paranoid," Kagome scolded.

"I am meticulous and careful as I have always been where you are too trusting and unsuspicious," he retorted. "You are lucky to have this Sesshoumaru to prevent you from falling victims to such flaws."

Kagome smiled affectionately into the phone, finally letting out a sigh as she nodded, "All right, Sesshoumaru, I'll do my best to avoid running into him." Can't promise I won't think about him though.

"Good," he nodded in approval. "I will call you tomorrow evening for your report, miko."

"Yes, sir," she put a mock militant tone to her voice, but ruined it a moment later by giggling more. "C'mon, it's a couple of kids. It won't be much of a report."

"This Sesshoumaru has learned not to underestimate your singular ability to attract the most unexpected circumstances."

"Nice to know I keep you safe from boredom."

"That was not a compliment."

Kagome grinned again and looked back up at the brightening stars, "Admit it, Sesshoumaru-sama, you like having me around even if I do attract trouble."

"I expect you to be asleep at a decent hour if you're intending to use your magic in public tomorrow," he ignored her sly remark to make that order clear. "Do not overextend yourself and do not expand your search beyond human auras."

"Kill joy."

"I will begin retraining you at the end of the council since you seem so eager to begin," Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow, despite being inwardly pleased at the changed note in her voice, the genuine happiness coloring those dulcet tones.

Kagome made a face, "I can hardly wait."

"It is good to see you are appropriately grateful this Sesshoumaru is so concerned with your personal instruction," he smirked into the phone.

"Grateful like a-"

"Go to sleep, Kagome," Sesshoumaru chuckled and abruptly set his phone back in its cradle before she could finish what was no doubt going to be a highly disrespectful remark.

~*~

On the other end of the call, Kagome pulled the receiver away from her ear and stuck her tongue out at it when the dial tone cut through the stillness of the night, sighing as she turned it off and started to put it down. Just before she could, her brows drew together and she changed her mind, turning it back on as she dug into her pocket for the number she wanted.

Kagome stretched her legs out in front of her, kicking off her sandals to feel the grass against her skin while she listened to the ring and waited for a response.

"Urameshi residence," Kagome's brows rose at the clipped tones and she had to quickly bite back the urge to gasp out the name of a certain hanyou she could easily picture on the other end of that type of response.

Still, she had to blink and reset her thoughts to resist the urge before she spoke, "Ah! Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for Urameshi Keiko?"

"That's my wife, she's outside."

Kagome's lips twitched and she knew he could probably hear how close she was to laughing when she spoke again, "This is Higurashi Kagome, Urameshi-san… I met your wife this morning and she asked me to see your sons?"

The line on the other end went almost eerily silent, and Kagome frowned in confusion, tilting her head and prodding, "Urameshi-san?"

"Yeah, yeah!" he nearly yelled into the phone, making her jump in surprise when she heard a crash and a snarled curse before the noises were muffled by something. Even then she could hear the hiss, "No! Fuck you! My house, my phone!"

Now Kagome was really laughing despite all her best efforts, "Is this a bad time, Urameshi-san?"

"What? No, no!" he protested in a rush, the sounds becoming clearer to her again as he pulled it back to his mouth. "Sorry, Higurashi, but I've got an unwelcome houseguest who's being a bit of a bastar-OW!"

"Yuusuke, you do not speak like that on the phone to a miko!" Kagome recognized the female voice as Keiko and quickly covered her mouth to try and keep them from being offended by her continued amusement. "And why in the world are you standing on Hiei?!"

"He started it."

Oh my sweet gods, I'm going to die right here, Kagome hunched her shoulders, taking a deep breath to get her voice somewhat normal enough to speak. "I can call back," she offered.

"No! Ah-! I mean, no… really, it's a good time to call, Higurashi," the identified Yuusuke sounded a bit nervous, but she shrugged it off given that earlier "ow" that had accompanied Keiko's censure. "I'm sorry, it's just that my friend has recently discovered a… weird obsession with phones."

Hiei glared up at Yuusuke from the floor, unwilling to let that comment slide, That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you use as an excuse.

"Shut the hell up."

"Excuse me?" Kagome blinked in surprise, not quite sure she'd heard right.

"Give me that," there was a scuffle for a moment and a jumble of voices before it quieted again and Kagome found herself listening to Keiko's familiar voice. "I'm so sorry, Kagome-sama, but my husband is… well-"

"It's all right, Urameshi-san, I don't mind it," Kagome waved that off, glancing back at the house and crossing her fingers that Shippou wouldn't do anything silly when they visited after hearing how similar some of the arguing was to their own in the past. "I know I said I would call tomorrow, but my day opened up and I was wondering if you wanted me to drop by on such short notice?"

Keiko pressed the phone to her throat and glared sharply at her hovering audience when she saw them start to step forward again, "Back off or I'll tell her that we're busy!" Satisfied when they had moved away, she cleared her throat and smiled, "It's not too soon, Kagome-sama."

"You're sure?"

Keiko glanced at the expressions around her and remarked dryly into the phone, "Trust me, Kagome-sama."