143Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho
Prologue
…
He was lost.
But he wasn't going to admit that, especially not out loud.
Kuronue had been wandering around in the many forests of Demon World for a few hours now. He had been searching for his partner in crime, Youko Kurama who had led their thieving band of men off to some other direction. Right now though, Kuronue didn't even know where he was, never mind Youko. If he did, then he could have gone back to the hideout, where that damned silver haired fox was probably already waiting for him to get his winged ass back.
He looked around him once more, seeing the tree he had marked an hour ago, indicating that he had gone in a circle. When he saw it he cursed loudly, wanting to break something, preferably Yomi. Yomi. Kuronue cursed the demon and his hot headedness in the back of his mind.
Yomi, Youko's second in command, had completely disregarded the fox's plan and ended up fucking up the last part of the raid, which was the part where they all escaped with the treasure, the enemy not even knowing they had taken what they were assigned to protect. In the end, after much bloodshed and the loss of a few men they still got the treasure, but instead of a quiet escape there were pursuers hot on their trail, if they continued to follow them they would have been followed all the way to their hideout. So, Kuronue, dashing, noble and kind bat demon he was, offered to stay behind and lead them away. Youko had readily agreed and advised him to be cautious as he led the rest of the men off in some unknown direction.
So, here he was.
Flying around in circles.
At first, he was against Youko's soon to be set in motion plan of getting rid of his second in command along with some of his best men. He said they were a necessary sacrifice for his goals. But, now, Kuronue wanted that brash demon gone. NOW. He'd gladly be the one to push him to his death.
There was a thick fog in the air that prevented him from seeing too far ahead and no matter how much he walked or flew he couldn't seem to get out of the mist. He had never been to this part of Demon World and the unknown terrors of what could pop out at him at any given moment kept him on edge. His senses alert and ready to strike at the sight of possible danger.
"So it was a bat demon wandering around."
His head snapped to the side at the voice as his body tensed and he instinctively got into a fighting stance at the possible threat. He only saw three sets of eyes, the sight had his grip tightening, but then his vision suddenly cleared, and there, stood a light haired vixen shrouded slightly by the mist wearing a loosely tied kimono that showed too much off for it to be considered proper. She was flanked by two younger dog demons that looked freakishly alike, they stood in front of her, ready to strike in case he attacked. They looked like the perfect little guard dogs, Kuronue mused in his mind.
The bat stood straight, spinning his necklace around his finger out of habit as he regarded the woman carefully. She didn't seem to want to hurt him and when he loosened his stance, so did her two dogs. The demon before him was a woman, -in every sense of the word- but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to kill him if he wasn't careful. This was the Demon World. Appearances weren't everything. His mind began racing at all the possibilities of her origin. Was she some kind of kitsune royalty? Why did she have guard dogs? Though she didn't look it with her loosely tied kimono, but she was probably valuable since she had guards. His thieving mind kicked in, maybe he could swipe something from her or take her from under her little guards' noses and use her as a ransom.
"I heard your irritated cursing a mile away." She mused in that way all fox demons did. She had eerie pale gray eyes that sparked in amusement at him. He didn't know what she found so amusing though. "And it made me curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat." He said, trying to determine the power levels of the trio in front of him.
"I'm a fox." Came the reply, she placed a careful hand on one of the dog demons' head. "And you, bat, are in the Forest of Tears."
His eyes widened for a split second. The Forest of Tears was just outside the territory of King Raizen, a dense forest where all those who entered were forever lost, the rumors said it was because Raizen's guards patrolled the area. But, now that he was here, the reason those demons were lost was because of this god forsaken mist. He was somewhat disappointed at the discovery.
Wait.
Was this woman affiliated with Raizen by any chance? What was she doing so close to his borders? It wouldn't be good if she deemed him a threat. He couldn't just kill her off either, not if he wanted one of Demon World's Kings after him. But he was getting ahead of himself here, the vixen could have just gotten lost like him.
"So I am." He said, playing it smooth. He'd rather be on the safe side and keep things good between them. "Do you know the exit?"
She brought a hand up, repeatedly rubbing her thumb against the balls of her fingers in a gesture he knew all too well. "That information costs money." She said.
What was wrong with her?
Fishing out a gold coin from his pocket, he tossed it to her. She caught it in her hand and gave him that smirk all cunning kitsune seemed to possess. Her eyes practically shone at the sight of the gold coin. "Gold." She said, eyeing it in her hand carefully. Inspecting every inch of the little thing. "This was gold taken from the guarded towers in the Forest of Anguish up North." She grinned in a toothy manner, "Demons have such an angst filled way of naming things don't you agree?"
He didn't answer her question and instead stiffened at her words, how could she know something like that? Gold was gold. The same wherever one went. How could she know the exact place he had stolen that, when he had only pocketed a handful from the vaults of those towers a few hours ago.
"Who are you?" He said dangerously, fingers twitching to go into his fighting stance again. But he didn't trust the two demons by her side, they were watching his every move. A fierce urge to kill shining in their eyes even though they were probably centuries younger than him and their vixen master.
She held her hand up in that manner again and he reluctantly tossed her another gold coin.
"Kuronue." She said in a whisper and his eyes widened when he heard her call his name.
"Ho—"
The bat was interrupted as she placed a hand on each boys head as she introduced, "This one is Emiya, and this one is Eriya." She knocked the two young demons heads together and they gasped at her in surprise, yelling complaints and giving the vixen a pout that had them looking more their age. They looked eighty, maybe a hundred in his eyes. Nothing more than children. Their race was the kind that aged slow and not many lived long enough to completely develop, but demon dogs after maturing completely were forces to be reckoned with.
He was about to open his mouth once more to demand how she knew his name, but she interrupted him.
"I deal in information." She said with a cryptic grin, "And I've been dying to meet you."
A/N: I just wanted you all to know that I understand that Youko is not his name and is referring to the type of demon Kurama is. But I am using it as his name here so that it will be much easier to tell the difference between Youko Kurama and (red head) Kurama once this story reaches the anime.
Anyway, here's a dual chappie release for my new story! Read the bio on my profile for more information regarding progress and other things.
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
