Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Bet the Red ( Chapter 33 )

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

A/N: -chuckle- Goodness… I certainly seemed to open up a can of worms with that last chapter. Yes, yes… Our dear beloved Kouga opened his mouth and gave those two all sorts of new hints to start putting together what they want to know. But, there's still an awful lot that doesn't fit, isn't there? -innocent sparkling- Now don't get ahead of yourselves on trying to guess out parts of the plot, but feel free to keep sharing with me. -snicker- You have no idea how much I love hearing all that good stuff, and yes, it's getting serious, but you'll just have to wait and see how much. Just remember… it ain't over yet, and poor Kurama's a lot farther from his goal than he wants to be right now. Something's gotta stir the pot, ne?

As always, my beautiful, darling junkies, reviewers, and readers, you are fabulous and I love the feedback telling me what you're thinking and liking (and even worried about) with the story. You're wonderful and completely uber to hear from and talk to, but I know you're starting to get antsy for more answers, even with the quick chapters, so have at it! -bows and blows kisses-

<~*~*~*~>

By Any Other Name

~Bet the Red~

"I did try to warn you," Kagome winced, gliding the soft-bristled brush with painstaking care and gentleness through the silken strands under her fingers, trying to calm the faint vibration she knew to be a very deep, and potentially deadly growl. "And I promise not to argue with you for a whole week if you don't yell at her for it or kill Jii-chan."

"This Sesshoumaru believed your words to be an exaggeration," Sesshoumaru sat with his eyes closed, jaw tightly clenched and arms folded over his chest to keep his hands restrained, focusing on Kagome's grooming of his abused hair and tail to soothe his anger. "And you will not be arguing with my directives for a month for suffering these extreme indignities to my person without punishing those responsible in the fullest level of violence and torture that they deserve."

"I told you I could get the glue out without damaging your hair," she reminded him, trailing her fingers down over his tail and feeling the youki crackle and tug at her palm to bring it closer. "I had all that practice with Inuyasha before the well closed after Jii-chan decided he liked seeing that he could irritate a hanyou like that without getting his head taken off."

"The calming effect you hold over youkai would be disturbing if it was not a talent I held control of," he snorted, tilting his head back reflexively when her hands moved up into his hair.

Lovely… I get to deal with his supreme and most Royal Highness in all his irritated and domineering glory, Kagome sighed, but refrained from arguing that arrogant remark in favor a few more moments of peace. It was just his personality to get particularly stuffy and regal whenever his annoyance with something around him raised past a certain level, and she had to admit that having her mother basically assault his tail while her grandfather slapped his worthless ofuda onto Sesshoumaru's unmoved frame counted pretty high up on his ladder.

"I'm sure you understand why I said Shippou should have come along," her lips quirked in amusement she tried to suppress. "He could have distracted Mama and Jii-chan from `attacking' you."

"Takashima will accompany us next time," Sesshoumaru informed her in his stereotypical bland tone, pausing before he sighed and added. "You may also introduce your surrogate children to their extended family. Perhaps they will provide an adequate buffer to further insults against my body."

Kagome smiled gently at his wording, thinking back to their entrance and his subsequent display of his true self, and the predicted response from her mother and grandfather. She'd barely managed to grab his hands and stop him before he instinctively lashed out against the creatures that dared to behave with such disrespect, putting herself between the taiyoukai and her family to introduce them to each other formally and smooth over those first tense minutes.

"How did such powerless things create you or your brother, miko?" Sesshoumaru's tone suggested this was a question he had been turning over in his mind for some time before he'd decided he had the wording exactly as he wanted it to be. "The aura of the house comes from the land, and the Goshinboku when it does not give me an echo of you. Your brother's ki is also familiar to me, but this-" he lifted one hand to make an elegant gesture around the house. "They are human without a hint of the magic that poured through you from the beginning."

Kagome's hands stilled in his hair, tilting her head to one side as she considered how to answer and finally let out a sigh as she resumed grooming her most admired head of hair, "I don't know. Perhaps they had it when they were young and gave all of it into their children, into Souta and me. For all Jii-chan has the magic power of a brick, his knowledge of legends and such were extremely accurate once I came back and started taking things seriously enough to really talk to him."

There was a comfortable moment of silence, sounds drifting to their sensitive ears from the kitchen where Souta was chattering eagerly about his training and the temple to his attentively listening elders. While the clink and tap of metal and wood from their mother cooking dinner punctuated the sound of sizzling and running water.

"Or… maybe I sucked it out of them," she finally voiced softly, the words halting and uncertain as one hand moved to press over the still-prominent scar from the Shikon's brutal removal from her body. "Everyone always said my aura was so strong…"

"Perhaps," Sesshoumaru pondered that explanation. "But if that were so, it was not something you held control of. It had fifteen years to lie in peace within you before it was separated from the nest it had chosen for itself, whatever it decided to do in that time was without your understanding."

Kagome blinked, her head tilting to one side, "I never thought to word it that way."

Sesshoumaru glanced back at her over his shoulder, one eyebrow arched high in silent chiding for her oversight, "The jewel has always cried to return to you, miko, why do you think it called to your soul alone across the distances you could sense it? It was only obvious that it would discern some method to find its way back to the place it called home."

"You think the wish would have involved me no matter who spoke it," Kagome's voice lowered, even knowing that no one within the house could possibly hear them.

"If this Sesshoumaru had cared enough of such pathetic things to make inquiries sooner I would have reached this conclusion," he nodded, following her arm with his eyes to look pointedly at where it rested. "It continued to beat within you even while outside you, did it not? You were the only creature able to shatter it, while in addition, your strength increased when fighting those who corrupted its pieces, and the brush of your fingers healed any taint, regardless of it potency. The evil of the souls inside is quelled by you like a child by its mother, growing angry and violent when you are taken away, but calm and settled when it has you close in hand. Yes, miko, you and the jewel have always been deeply bonded to each other, and it proved that it was willing to take extreme measures to keep you for itself."

Kagome's eyes slanted away from him, "We were at fault, Sesshoumaru."

"The jewel is a selfish thing, miko," he rose to his feet with silent grace, turning and making a motion with his head that had her nodding and leading him carefully down the hallway to the front door, leading them out into the unlit courtyard. "Do not make excuses for the consequences you suffered in the hanyou's wishes."

"Miroku thinks I may have called it back," she admitted, closing her eyes for a moment to draw in the energy humming through the sacred grounds before padding towards the well house on bare feet.

"I am more inclined to believe that the jewel was biding its time to hear words that could be twisted to its advantage," Sesshoumaru's claws brushed across her shoulder blades in a speaking gesture. "Humans may pretend all they like that they fully understand the workings of magic and all its intricacies, but the truth remains that their knowledge is simply what such magics wish them to know and nothing more."

Kagome sighed and nodded, reaching out to lightly grasp the familiar door and push it open on well-oiled tracks before stepping aside to watch him duck enough to enter ahead of her, "I understand that now."

"Of course you do, miko, you have become more integral to the core of the some of the most powerful magic any of my kind or yours have ever encountered," he rested one hand lightly on the lip of the infamous well, leaning slightly to peer down into the silent, empty depths. "Even time opened itself to you."

"Not that I asked it to," she wrinkled her nose, hopping up to seat herself on the edge and let her legs dangle over as though preparing to jump in. Even after all this time of knowing the portal was forever lost to her, old habits died hard, "And it opened for Inuyasha too."

Sesshoumaru's chuckle was low and without any real humor, "Miko, surely you do not think the jewel was willing to take chances in losing your presence entirely? This Sesshoumaru believes the path was opened for the hanyou to insure there would be no way for you to leave it trapped so far from you. It knew my half-brother's desire for the jewel and your guilt, and used both to its advantage in returning you time and again."

Kagome blinked up at him for a moment before she chuckled and shook her head, offering him a rueful smile, "You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Your humility never fails to astound me," Kagome bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing outright at the bluntness of his agreement.

"Humility is for creatures who are too weak to back their opinions against others," Sesshoumaru responded without even pausing for consideration, reaching out and resting his hand on the top of her head to feel her aura warm and twine around his. "This Sesshoumaru has no need to pretend he is unable to do so."

"I guess in a way that's true," Kagome leaned into his hand rather like a puppy to its owner, lips parting as the air around her heated under the rush of youki sparking along her own power. "But I should have known I could trust you to say it like that."

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru slowly withdrew his hand when he felt a stronger ripple pass up her aura and more actively search his. Turning aside her attention, he let his arms hang casually at his sides and focused on the ancient wood, "This was the portal?"

"This is it," Kagome sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as she brought the shiver of craving back under control. "Doesn't look like much, does it?"

"Appearances are generally deceiving," he snorted, bringing his hand up to rest on the hilt of Tensaiga and then giving her a more pointed look. "The smallest of artifacts can give birth to unspeakable evils, and things that appear delicate and harmless can bring an end to it all."

"Just like the prettiest youkai can be the ones that can take off the heads of everything in a five mile radius before you can blink?" she teased with another small chuckle.

"This Sesshoumaru is not `pretty,'" he emphasized his distaste on the choice of words.

"You should just accept it, you know, it hasn't changed since the day I met you," Kagome grinned at the scowl he sent her before she sighed and looked back down into the darkness of the well. "I wonder what it was like for them… after I left, I mean."

Sesshoumaru left her to her brooding, listening to the sounds of the night outside the small hut before he offered in a resigned tone, "Your sons made it easier for them to continue, and the taijiya named their only daughter after you."

This time her smile was wistful, "I wish I could have seen her face when she finally got pregnant. She wanted it so much…"

"The monk said that the mingling of his blood and yours in your sons was what provided the healing aura to her body," Sesshoumaru lowered himself fluidly to seat himself beside her, facing the opposite direction. "Whether this is true or not, however, this Sesshoumaru is unable to verify. Your books did not offer enough insight into human physiology at that time."

Kagome shook her head, leaning back on the wood and staring up at the ceiling, "Those were high-school text books, but I'm sure you would have been ecstatic if I'd had a few college ones in there."

"Advanced works would have been appreciated, yet even those you left in my care were welcome," he nodded once, the action almost painfully regal. "And were you not the one concerned with leaving this Sesshoumaru with too much knowledge, miko?"

"You might have gotten bored and changed something important," she defended, folding her arms over her chest.

"The idea was tempting."

"I know the feeling," Kagome smiled wryly. Funny… I had the chance to change the past and Sesshoumaru could have changed the future.

One of the things she had come to appreciate about Sesshoumaru since they first began the awkward alliance in the past was the taiyoukai's easy acceptance of thoughtful silence, and his ability to sit perfectly still in a way that only Miroku had ever come close to mimicking. The almost meditative air soothed her jarred nerves in the face of finally showing him the pathway that had taken her to his world, and indirectly led them to hers when the others were rounded up and banished to another realm. Not to mention the vibration of his youki always ready and available to reach out and wrap around herself with the aching hum of her own aura became too much to bear, a buffer against the events of the past that had left her scarred and broken.

But also alert to draw away before it became too much.

"Your soul is restless more often lately," Sesshoumaru's deep voice blended with the night around them, mixing in rather than disrupting as speech so often did in nature.

"Silly thoughts," Kagome shrugged and tried to brush it aside, her fingers lifting to stroke the sleeping vine around her throat.

Sesshoumaru slanted her a look to show that he wasn't going to be appeased so easily as that, "The kitsune avatar."

"He's not as bad as you and Shippou think he is," she sighed, ducking her head to hide the way her cheeks had gone pink. "He's just… just-"

"A kitsune."

Kagome winced and nodded, "You know how they are."

"Unfortunately."

"And he did pick me over the jewel," Kagome finally murmured quietly under his unrelenting stare.

"Youko Kurama is a thief of considerable skill, miko, it is possible that he simply believes he can have both," Sesshoumaru turned to stare out the open door towards the shrine grounds. "And while this Sesshoumaru is not against seeing his death at your hands were he to make an attempt, you would undoubtedly be upset by such a thing after I have seen how… fond you are of him already. It would be far more productive were you to forget him and force yourself from his thoughts."

"Safer, you mean," Kagome tucked her knees up to her chest and wound her arms around them. But… it'd be boring… without him… And when he's near me, I feel alive again.

"There is an ominous wind in the air recently," he intoned gravely. "I dislike the coincidence that it was not present until he came into our circles."

Kagome turned to look at him, her own expression slowly changing until it was just as calm and somber as his own, "If he were the source I would know. He's like any other kitsune, Sesshoumaru, not evil. He's intense, possibly malicious, and not anything that you could call `good,' but then… neither are we. In that, he's harmless."

"And his companions?" Sesshoumaru inquired patiently, slanting her a look to see her eyes turn inward, pupils fading as she called up her soul's impressions.

"I don't have to tell you that Urameshi and Kurabara are nothing to fear," she lifted a hand to press against her chest. "The other… he's complicated. I told you he's a crossbreed, fire and ice, but this evening I felt something new. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't something he was born with."

"Dangerous?"

"Probably, but no more than any other youkai," Kagome shook her head. "He's more tangled than anyone I've felt in a long time, and his capacity for cruelty is close to your own, just less refined. He has control of himself, though, a very, very honed control, and he is not corrupted."

Sesshoumaru digested that information and finally nodded, "Very well."

"They both like puzzles, Sesshoumaru, they're thieves," she blinked, lifting a hand to her head as she pulled her concentration back out to the present. "If we give them too little, they'll see it as a challenge, I know you know that. Shippou told me you were making inquiries in Makai to find out about them."

"I will be leaving to gather what my sources have found once this affair is over," he gestured expansively to their surroundings, answering that is a roundabout way. "Takashima intends to take you on a hunt in my absence to appease your soul."

"Are you sure that's safe?" Kagome frowned and turned to look at him in confusion. "What if something happens? Or if the Reikai hunters feel the same things we're hunting and come to exterminate them?"

"It is a calculated risk," he rose to his feet silently, waiting for her to stand as well before exiting this cursed structure and make his way to the familiar form of the Goshinboku. "You are no more a peaceful creature than we are, miko. You need to feel it or you will suffer the ill effects more intensely."

"I suck at hunting," she reminded him, clasping her hands behind her back and looking up at the stars as they walked.

"There is no creature alive more skilled in attracting trouble than you," Sesshoumaru returned archly, chuckling at the look on her face. "Call them to you if you do not wish to search yourself, you know they will come."

"They always do," she muttered under her breath.

"Lesser fodder are unable to deny the call of the Shikon-no-Tama's power, miko," he paused at the ancient tree, looking up at the perpetually worn spot that marked where his brother had once been sealed. "Use your advantages as this Sesshoumaru has taught you, but if there is any serious danger, summon me."

"You always say the same thing when I'm going to be killing things," Kagome stepped around him, reaching up to reverently place her palm against that same spot and shivering at the ki rising in answer to her touch. "If I'm in that much trouble, I don't have to say a word."

Sesshoumaru glanced off at something in the woods, absently expanding his own aura to be certain lesser creatures did not disturb them, "This Sesshoumaru will be listening."

"When are you not?" she smiled back at him.

"Prevention is less time-consuming than cleanup."

"True," she reluctantly stepped away from the tree. "And if Reikai sends their own cleanup?"

Sesshoumaru looked back at her, his face as stoic as ever, "Kill them."

<::………::>

That idiot she married…

Lived long enough to meet…

The words were still ringing loud and clear in his head, echoing over and over as the shadows of night slowly peeled away under the relentless approach of the new dawn. Words spoken in such careless passing, not a thought given to releasing them into the open air, and not a thought given to the chaos of new questions and unsure emotions they had set loose within his racing mind as the speaker vanished with a speed even Hiei was impressed by.

She's a widow, Kurama wasn't sure how many times he'd repeated that in the last long hours since the wolf lord had granted them that discovery, but he was still unable to keep the awed confusion from his voice.

`A lot of females have lost mates and lovers before ours, Kurama. It is not so strange a thing,' Youko pointed out, for once his voice a soothing, steady presence, his usual taunting foregone as they tried to decipher what they were feeling. `It had to have been in her past… her eyes don't hold the shadows of one suffering a recent loss of such size, and she would probably have fought us more seriously if she were mourning. Our lover is the loyal type, we've seen that.'

Would it have made a difference to us? Kurama let out a bitter laugh, rolling onto his back and staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Youko cocked his head, thinking about it seriously before he shrugged, `We would have approached her differently, but no. We've made up our mind to have her, but this will change certain ways that we should pursue her now that we know.'

What do you mean? Kurama could feel the frown cross his lips, folding his arms absently behind his head.

`We have been treating her the way we would a young human without experience, but she has already been in love once and had it taken away,' Youko stretched out in an identical position in their mind, ears twitching as he rolled the words around on his tongue before letting them escape. `Our lover needs something special…'

I'm half afraid to ask you what you mean by that, his eyes closed on a sigh.

Youko clucked his tongue in disapproval, `If you were not being stubborn again, you would know. Kagome is surrounded by creatures, human and youkai both who care for her and protect her, but she is not intimate with them. How does our body feel if we have neglected to give ourselves pleasure for a long period of time?'

Kurama's brows drew together, You aren't actually suggesting-?

There was a whisper of fingers passing over his skin, caressing him deep inside as Youko languidly readjusted to sink deeper into them and wind his arms around their soul with his blatant sensuality as he continued to speak, `Kagome is hungry. I've tried to tell you before that she craved us, but I didn't understand just how true that was. She is a passionate person, even you can feel how much she gives of herself to us when only her lips are opening for ours and letting us inside her… a soul like that burns to have a lover she can give everything to and have given back in return. For the kind of attention we can give her. Imagine how much she will give to us when we show her that.'

She's too young to be as intense as you think she is, he tried to tell himself, shaking his head as his mind retraced his favorite images of her, images of her eyes catching the light and shining up into his, or those moments when she flashed a smile that was all for him. His breath came out low and deep when those changed, bringing back how she had looked under him when Youko had drawn her into the dreaming spell, with her hair fanned out in stark contrast to the futon beneath her, skin glistening, and her entire body seeming to reach out for them.

Youko chuckled dryly, pulling him out of those thoughts and drawling out, `Really?'

Maybe a little intense, Kurama admitted and cleared his throat, shifting restlessly under the blankets in reaction to his thoughts.

`You really should listen to our instincts about her more,' Youko tsked and shook his head. `Have I ever been wrong about something important like this? I'm telling you, Kurama, she's like us and we should treat her that way.'

Like a perverted, reborn kitsune soul escaped from Makai?

`Don't be a smartass, you know what I mean,' Youko made a face of irritation.

Hiei's right, you're going to get our ass fried, Kurama covered his eyes with one hand and tried to block out his tumultuous thoughts enough to try and get a little sleep, even though he knew it would be impossible now.

`I will not,' Youko turned his nose up in arrogant outrage. `She needs us as much as we need her, Kurama, and I'll prove it to you.'

Blinking suspiciously, he pulled his hand away from his face and frowned, What do you mean, you'll prove it to me?

`I mean I'll prove it to you,' he shrugged and kept the answer deliberately vague just to irritate his more human half. `You don't want to open yourself up to all our secrets, so you'll just have to trust me.'

Forgive me if I find that statement inspires a deep and abiding fear in my soul, Kurama rolled his eyes and gave up on sleeping with Youko showing all the signs of working himself into a hyper mood, sitting up as he stared at the neglected bed against the opposite wall.

`Well someone's in a weird mood,' Youko scoffed, twitching his tail back and forth in a mild pique.

Kurama nearly fell over, catching himself and turning a scowl inward, You are not one to talk! You're always in a mood!

`I take offense to that,' Youko made a show of turning his back. `I'm only "in a mood" because you're being difficult. Where's our coat?'

What-? Kurama jerked back a bit from that unexpected, jolting change of topic.

`Our coat, where is it?' Youko repeated slower, grinning widely when Kurama let out a low growl. `Ooh, you're getting better! A few more months and you're going to sound perfect!'

He reached up to rub the ache developing behind his temples, reaching out a hand to accept the coat one of his vines brought to him absently and praying it would be enough to distract Youko, My life does not revolve around pleasing you.

`It would be more fun if it did,' Youko slid his arms down to take over their hands, patting down the material until he found the slight bulge and drew it out. `Oh good! He didn't notice!'

What? Kurama's brows snapped together. Youko, what did you-?

`I didn't do anything,' he held up a finger to stop him, fishing around in the pocket and withdrawing the simple leather wallet with all the conceited presentation he could summon up. `This is a gift from Hiei.'

A gift or a gift, Youko? Kurama questioned suspiciously.

`I'm insulted by the insinuation that-`

So Hiei stole it and then you stole it from him? Kurama cut him off blandly, trying not to sigh when Youko drew a circle in front of himself with a toe and peeked up through his bangs with a wicked grin. Oh good gods, you are shameless.

`If you aren't curious I can look at it without you,' Youko shrugged and flipped the cover open to stare at the student card inside, twisting it to face the right direction.

Right, I'd love to see you attempt that one, Kurama propped his chin up in his palm while letting Youko keep hold of the other hand to spill out the contents belonging in the wallet of one Higurashi Souta.

`It'd be worth it to annoy you,' Youko stuck out his tongue.

You're the oldest child I know, Youko.

`Why thank you… it's good to know I'll be young and fun while you get wrinkles from frowning over stupid things,' he retorted smartly, flipping a familiar looking card from one of the sleeves and letting out a triumphant sound. `Well, well… what do we have here?'

Sesshoumaru's card? Kurama turned it over, blinking when he saw the hand-written numbers scrawled over the blank side. That's-

`Our lover's private number,' Youko purred in satisfaction, instantly committing the list to memory and going back to dig through the other pockets. `We should call it and say good-morning. Invite ourselves over to… ah, here's their mother's address! And a shrine, even… Neighbors shouldn't be much of an issue then.'

We knew it was a shrine already, Kurama reminded him, turning to look down at the other cards and sort through them to find anything more of importance.

`Hm… that's weird,' Youko was suddenly frowning, drawing Kurama's attention faster than any words could.

What is it?

Youko shook his head, `Nothing… at least… hmm.'

Stop that and spit it out already, Youko, you know I hate it when you do that.

The kitsune flicked a hand in an impatient, dismissive gesture, `It seems familiar, but I'm not sure where I've heard it before. We haven't exactly been temple-hopping in Ningenkai.'

For obvious reasons, Kurama poked at him.

`They can't hurt us like this, it's just not something that interested me,' he defended loftily.

You're sure it's familiar? Kurama let it go and looked back at the address curiously before moving on to a plastic insert stuffed with pictures.

`Positive… I'll just have to think about it to remember where I saw it before,' Youko nodded, folding his arms as he leaned back to brood over that until the pictures caught his eye and he perked up. `What have you got?'

Nothing special, he shook his head, flipping through pictures of the boy with other humans his age and pausing at the boy looking winded and holding a trophy. Although now I see how he was keeping pace… he's a runner.

Youko made a few affirmative sounds in his throat, suspecting that and making a motion to keep flipping through the stack until they reached a picture of a much younger Souta sitting on an equally younger Kagome's back, both his small hands yanking back on her hair and looking like he was whining at her while she tried to focus on a textbook open on the ground in front of her. He couldn't hold back his chuckle as they reached out and lightly touched a fingertip to the edge of the image, `That's cute.'

You're saying that because you're imagining something besides Souta in that position, Kurama accused him, but couldn't stop his own smile as he continued through, mildly surprised by the number of pictures the boy kept of his sister in his wallet.

`You were doing it too,' Youko shot right back. `It's not hard… silver-hair, ears, tail-`

He might have my coloring, Youko, Kurama shook his head in annoyance.

`Nah.'

Thanks for the split second of consideration there, his eyebrow twitched, but he stubbornly refused to rise to the bait as Youko snickered in amusement. I've never seen any brother idolize their sister this much.

Youko blinked and looked back at the pictures, frowning and making Kurama stop when he reached one that was taken with a less than professional hand, and at a distance. Still, it was easy to make out Kagome in a middle-school uniform, holding a bow in perfect stance with a grim expression as she focused on a target slung against one of the smaller trees around the shrine, `Where did she get those, I wonder…'

Kurama tilted his head to one side, pausing and looking for what the kitsune could see until his eyes narrowed and he pulled it closer to make out the healing injuries crisscrossing her legs, and the purpling across her face that was nearly hidden in her hair, She was hurt.

`Pretty badly too,' Youko's voice had lowered to a serious pitch, the growl slowly building in his throat as he took in all the subtleties of the image. `A hanyou saved her life, she said… This must have been after she was attacked then. I can't imagine these youkai taking her being injured lightly.'

There are pictures missing, Kurama frowned after sorting through the stack a second time to double check his suspicion, setting them down and spreading them out to look at each more critically. Look…

Youko leaned forward, arching an eyebrow as he reached up to rest a finger against this jaw thoughtfully, `The age jump? I see what you mean. For a boy who has so many pictures of his sister, suddenly there's nothing, and they start up again and she looks like she does now.'

And do you see anything that resembles a boyfriend? he poured over the images and shook his head. Much less a husband?

`No,' his head cocked to one side. `Strange…'

There's nothing even suggesting Kagome existed during this gap, Kurama pointed between the collection of younger pictures, to the ones that were so obviously older. This had to be when she was married.

`Maybe they had the images destroyed out of respect,' Youko rubbed his chin. `Too bad… I wanted to get a look at him, and I wanted to see her eyes when she looked at him-'

We need to see Kagome, Kurama reached down into his jacket to dig out his own cell phone, climbing out of bed and walking to the closet to yank a clean set of pants off their hanger in a rough, edgy motion. I want to watch her eyes now that we know this… we can look for something that will tell us how to turn this serious.

Youko was grinning broadly, fanning his excitement with his own, `That's more like it! Finally, you're over the widow thing!'

I'm not over it, Youko, but you're right that we've been going about this wrong, Kurama managed to dial and get his jeans fastened at the same time, letting Youko be the one to find a shirt as he pulled the phone to his ear and listened to the other line ring. If we want her to take us seriously for a relationship, we need to get her to play with us and have fun, not just be dazzled into bed. She knows about that side of the coin, so let's try the other one.

`We're still going to be kissing, right?' Youko frowned suspiciously at the thought. `This isn't some asinine plan that involves not touching, is it? Because if it is, you can blow it out your-'

We're still going to be kissing, Kurama cut him off impatiently, his own thoughts racing as he went over his plans and tried to will Kagome to pick up the phone. We're going to be spontaneous. She likes to play, we've seen it… so let's show her she can be that way around us too. She'll trust us more if she knows that we don't need her to be a miko to want her.

`And you couldn't think of this before, why?'

You were too busy thinking of ways to dazzle her into bed, Kurama returned in a smug taunt. We need her, Youko, let's let her see it. She knows about kitsune, I don't think we'll scare her away by being ourselves.

`We're going to push her against the wall and kiss her until she says yes?' Youko drawled out, being deliberately obtuse just to hear Kurama swear again as he shrugged into the dark, long-sleeved shirt awkwardly around the phone. `What? You said be myself.'

Playful, but charming, Kurama instructed crisply. Dammit, Youko, don't be difficult right now, this is important. We'll try it on her today and see how it works, he cut off when he heard grumbling through the phone, followed by Kagome's particular brand of creative threats and took a deep breath of relief that she had answered.

`I guess it couldn't hurt to try this way,' Youko grudgingly offered, sitting back and letting a smile curve his lips at hearing her speak. `And I do want to play with our sexy lover…'

Then get off your ass and let's go.

<::………::>

"Who in their right mind would call at this time of the morning," Kagome muttered when she caught the numbers flashing on the digital clock, rolling over onto her stomach to fumble around with her discarded jacket until she managed to find the cell phone Sesshoumaru and Shippou insisted she carry. Frowning at the unfamiliar number and flipping it open, she sighed wearily into the phone as she brought it to her ear and shifted onto her back, "Unless someone is bleeding and on fire, I'm going to strangle you with whatever random item finds its way into my other hand for calling right now."

The low chuckle on the other end had her reflexively jerking to a sitting position even as those honeyed tones purred out, "You are still very sexy when you're being threatening, Kagome."

"Kurama?" her brows snapped together in confusion, shaking her head and looking around the room for something to set her gaze on as her thoughts came out in jumbling speech. "What are-? Why did-? How did you get this number?"

"Hiei says your brother dropped his wallet," he informed her with perfectly feigned innocence as he carefully gathered up the scattered items and stuffed them back into their original pockets. "I found it on a card inside and decided it would be polite to call and arrange to return it to him."

Kagome blinked and rolled her eyes, leaning back against her headboard and reaching up to rub her hand across her brow, "Did you actually think I would believe that story?"

"Honest truth," he affirmed, flipping through the rest of the pictures as he began to piece together this boy's personality from the images in front of him, just in case.

"So he's a dessert thief and a pickpocket," Kagome retorted dryly. "I should tell Sesshoumaru you're bending the rules. He won't appreciate it, you know, he's very rigid."

"I believe if your dog becomes any more rigid he would be cast from granite," Kurama informed her with a faint smile, glancing down at the pictures once more before letting out a reluctant sigh and replacing them as well. "And I don't think you actually want to tell on me, do you?"

Kagome stuck her tongue out at the phone.

"I saw that."

"Saw what?" Kagome's brows lifted, trying to make herself sound harmless to the chuckling kitsune. Even his laugh is compelling… damn, this isn't fair.

"I'd say I either got a tongue or a finger… but I'm torn over which I want to imagine because either one is going to be fun to bite for revenge," he drew out the retort with expert care, throwing open his window once he had tucked the wallet safely into his front pocket and leapt down to the grass.

Her mouth opened, heart stuttering for a moment as it displayed it's own less than offended surprise at the suggestive response before she swallowed and tried to sound unaffected, "I bite back."

"I hope so."

Kagome blinked, leaning back and staring at the phone in confusion for a second before tentatively bringing it to her ear and observing, "You're… being more blatant."

"Am I? I hadn't noticed," he crouched, darting through the trees to take advantage of the early hour and stretch his legs a little. Hear that?

`Yes, yes… she's confused, but is it the good kind?' Youko chided him, not wanting to get ahead of themselves.

Don't be a pessimist, you'll see, he was nearly preening as he let Youko draw in the ki around them to rejuvenate their energy after the sleepless night. She already started joining in.

Okay… this is getting strange, why is he being so… so-, "I'm going to hang up and go back to sleep now, Kura-"

"Let's go to breakfast," Kurama suggested, cutting her off before she could bring the call to an end.

Kagome frowned at the decidedly smug note that entered his voice, "Breakfast? Today?"

"Of course!"

"When?"

"Now. Just the two of us," he cajoled, lowering his voice to a purposefully appealing timbre to skate along her senses the way he had learned worked so well against her in their dream. "A real date."

Blinking in confusion, she ran her hand through her hair, "Kurama, it's five in the morning, I haven't been up this early since I was in school and you think we should go on a date? It's dark outside!"

"We'll get something to go and watch the sunrise at a park," Kurama could hear the note of indecision in her voice, gently pushing at the obvious weakness to get his way.

`Oh, good offer,' Youko purred in approval. `She likes what we can do to grass, we can make her comfortable and see that impressed look on her face, and relax her without doing a thing but healing the ground. I like this idea.'

I thought you would.

`Remember to get something that will get on her face,' Youko rubbed his hands together. `That way we'll have an excuse to touch her to get it off and then she'll look at us and we can-`

"I don't know, Kurama, it's really early," Kagome chewed on her lip, not bothering to examine why exactly she was already pushing aside the blankets and headed to her closet.

"I'll make it worth your while, I promise," he assured her with a widening smirk when he heard the clack of plastic behind rustling fabric, knowing he'd won. "Say yes, Kagome. Let me take you out without the others to bother us and make it awkward. I want to show you we can have fun going out together."

Considering I already have my jeans on, Kagome made a face at herself in the mirror as she dug into her drawer for a bra and made her voice as grudging as possible, "Just this once, I'm saying yes-"

"Great! I'll be waiting as soon as you're ready," Kurama silently celebrated the victory, not giving her a chance to renege on her agreement while Youko let out a throaty chuckle of his own at the success of their tactics.

"Hang on, where?" Kagome hurried to stop him when she felt the impending disconnection. "Where do you want to meet?

"I'm on the porch," he informed her casually, hanging up the phone and stuffing it back in his pocket before she could react and answer that little gem of information, smiling even wider when his ears picked up the sound of muttering from deep within the otherwise-quiet shrine house.

Something that sounded an awful lot like Kagome's voice saying, "Damn kitsunes."