Kurama gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "I got careless." He admitted. "I was caught and mortally wounded by a hunter. However, rather than die gracefully, I managed to escape to the human realm and my soul took refuge in a human fetus. A few years down the road, here I still am." He explained quickly, gesturing vaguely to himself. "What happened to you, after...." He couldn't finish the sentence and looked away from his old friend again. 'After I left you to die.' He thought in self-loathing.

Hiei watched the change come over Akira with some interest. It seemed that unlocking her memories had also brought out the chimera's personality. He wondered if the shift was permanent or if the two were even really ever separate at all.

Akira listened intently to the fox's brief summary of how he had come to be a red head and she nodded. After a while she turned her head towards the ceiling at the question. "Now let's see, after I told you to run, which you did, thank you very much... I was basically waiting for the end, which I sorta knew would happen. After I actually died, I was pulled into Spirit World where stupid toddler boy told me they had no place to put me. That was damn fun." She said. "Anyway, after several hundreds of years of waiting, I was told I could have a new life, but they could have made sure I would at least still be, you know, male, when I came back." She said and sighed. "You know, I'm glad that you ran when I told you to. So don't you dare put yourself down for it." She said firmly as she looked carefully at Kurama. With her newly restored memories, it wasn't all too hard to read Kurama's emotions unless he really didn't want them being seen.

Hiei was thought about leaving to give the two old friends time to catch up, but a small jealous spark inside him wouldn't let him. He still wasn't sure whether the fox had been more than friends with the chimera. For Hiei, who had never had anyone else to claim as his own, it was impossible to walk away and leave his fox alone with someone who could prove to be a rival for the redhead's affection. He tried not to let it show but his shoulders were tense and his eyes kept darting back into the room, despite his decision to strictly ignore the conversation behind him.

Kurama looked back up at the girl in surprise. "I guess I really have gotten soft, for you to read me so easily." He laughed again, but it was a much relieved sound. Kuronue really wasn't upset with him. The redhead noted Hiei's discomfort and guessed that it stemmed from the shorter demon's deeply buried insecurities. He smiled and walked over to the dark haired demon and draped himself around the tense shoulders. Kuronue knew him well enough that the action wouldn't shock the chimera and Hiei needed the reassurance. "Allow me to properly introduce you two." Kurama said sweetly. "Hiei, this is my old friend and partner Kuronue. Kuronue, this is Hiei, my mate." That might actually shock the now human chimera. Kurama had taken many lovers, but never a mate. His affairs had always been superficial, short, and generally satisfying to all parties involved. With Hiei it was different, they hadn't even made love yet and they had been together longer than almost any of Kurama's previous relationships.

Hiei froze and his eyes went wide as he looked back over his shoulder at the grinning redhead. Kurama had never called him that in front of anyone before. He had thought the fox wouldn't want their relationship known. It would hardly be good for the legendary youko's reputation to be tied to the forbidden child in that way. Being announced as someone's mate was as close to an official marriage as things got in the Makai. It was also very rare among most species of demon, especially promiscuous kitsunes.

Akira laughed gently at the comment the fox made and watched as he walked over to the fire demon. It wasn't strange at all to see him so close to another, but the announcement did come as a little bit of a shock. She let out a louder laugh and smirked. "Well, good for you. And here neither of us had ever thought it would happen." She said as she turned her attention a bit more onto Hiei. "It's nice to meet you, Hiei." She said with a slight bow of her head. "Things really change when you die, don't they?" It wasn't really a question, even if it was phrased that way and she smiled.

Hiei nodded back after a moment of shock. He was still processing the fact that Kurama was willing to tell people about their relationship. The redhead hadn't said anything to Yusuke or the oaf and, since Hiei had left the decision up to Kurama, they still didn't know.

Kurama smiled and nodded. "Indeed. In ways I never would have imagined." He said slowly, thinking of his mother and giving Hiei a squeeze. He was a bit surprised the fire demon hadn't squirmed loose yet. Hiei wasn't a big fan of public affection. "I think in my case it was for the better though." He admitted a bit ruefully.

Kuwabara had been about to enter the room to let them know supper was ready when Kurama's introductions filtered through the closed door. He stood there in dumbfounded shock for a long minute as his poor brain tried to process the words. 'Kurama....Hiei....mate....' The large boy finally snapped out of his stunned silence and yanked open the door to his room. "The shrimp is your WHAT?!" He screeched in horror, spotting the redhead holding the fire demon close. Not that he had any problem with them being gay...love was the most powerful thing in the world and he could respect it in all it's forms. 'But it's HIEI a-and Kurama...' Guys he had known for years who had never shown any sign of being more than close friends.

Kurama shot upright guiltily at the same moment that Hiei vanished from his arms. He half expected the fire demon to leave him to explain alone but Hiei stopped just a couple of feet away, leaning against the wall and glaring at the orange haired human with his arms crossed stubbornly across his chest.

Akira looked towards the door, a slightly surprised look on her face, but she still had a smile. Surely the human would notice her change in demeanor. She had shown up as a normal, shy sort of human, and now it would proabably seem as if she fit into the scene. She wasn't about to say anything about the current situation and she knew it wasn't her place. She looked over at Kurama and at Hiei and wondered what they were going to do now that the orange haired oaf had learned of their relationship.

Kurama forced a smile. 'No sense denying it now.' He thought in resignation. "Hiei and I are mates." He said slowly, not certain how the human would feel about the idea. "In the Makai, that is the equivalent of being married."

Kuwabara was thinking...hard. 'They are always together...and Hiei does stay at Kurama's house a lot....and Kurama's always taking up for the shrimp and explaining him to us....and they always seem to get really upset when the other one gets hurt....why didn't I see this?' His face was scrunched in concentration.

"I think you may have destroyed the few braincells he had left, Kurama." Hiei said snidely. "It really isn't so hard to comprehend, oaf."

Kuwabara snapped out of his thoughts and advanced on the smirking demon angrily. "I'm just trying to figure out how I missed it for so long!" He shouted before he took a deep breath and continued in a more thoughtful voice. "I mean, Kurama is kind of girly. I should have expected this...."

Kurama gasped in shock and outrage. "I am not girly!" He sputtered. He knew he was beautiful....but girly?! His fingers itched to summon some of his more menacing plants and teach the idiot a lesson.

Hiei snickered at the fox's expression and wondered if he was going to have to restrain the redhead to keep him from maiming the oaf.

Kuwabara suddenly seemed to be struck by a new thought. "Who else knows?" He asked with an odd expression. He always seemed to be the one they were keeping secrets from. He still thought there was something they weren't telling him about Yukina.

Kurama blinked, derailed from his thoughts of violence by the sudden question. "Just you and Akira over there." He gestured at the girl.

"Who? Oh her..." Kuwabara glanced at her, something seemed different about her but before he could put his finger on it the redhead's words sank in. "Urameshi doesn't know!!?" He squealed happily. He almost never got to know anything before the dark haired delinquent. He forced a calmer, more manly voice. "Are you going to tell him?"

Kurama shrugged. "I see know reason not to. The only reason we didn't tell anyone sooner was because humans tend to frown on gay relationships."

Kuwabara rubbed his hands together in glee. "Can I be there when you tell him? Ican't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out you told me first!" He had already pushed aside the fact that they hadn't really intentionally told him anything. It was immaterial at this point. Finally he shifted his attention back to the girl. His spiritual senses drawn to her despite his distraction. "Uh, guys...wasn't the girl you came in with a human? What did you do to her?" He looked accusingly at Hiei as he asked the last question.

Akira laughed softly at the oaf's accusation that Hiei had 'done something to her' and she stood up. "Oh, you can rest easy, he didn't do anything aside from awaken me to my true memories." She walked over to him, an inquisitive look in her eyes and after a moment she sighed. She turned to look at Kurama. "I suppose I have to get used to the idea of you having some human friends. That and my apparent change in gender." Akira said with mild disappointment as she tugged at the skirt.

Kurama laughed lightly. "Kuwabara is hardly a normal human. His spiritual awareness rivals my own." He looked at his old friend's new form critically. "As for the rest, you could have done far worse. At least you aren't an unattractive young woman." He shrugged, the form wasn't to his taste but she was pretty enough. "Besides, you've obviously been female for years, it shouldn't be too hard to adapt to the idea."

Kuwabara was pleased at Kurama's small compliment but looked utterly confused by Akira's words. "Huh? You're really a guy? And a demon?" He scratched his head thoughtfully and looked closely at the suddenly perplexing girl in his room. He blushed when he realized how hard he was staring at certain parts of her and looked away sheepishly.


Hiei had been a bit shocked that the oaf had dealt with the news about Kurama and himself so maturely. Maybe there was hope for the oaf yet. Then the idiot spoke up again and Hiei reaffirmed his previous opinion. 'Baka.'

Akira looked back at the human and nodded. "That's interesting." She said with a smile as she noticed him staring. Unlike her previous attitude, where she probably would have smacked him for the attention, she actually seemed to enjoy it. "Well, I guess it won't be that bad." She said, a perfectly mischievous grin on her face. "So, what's next?" She asked Kurama, turning to look at him. So far, she had not gotten the chance to look at herself in a mirror, so she didn't really know how attractive she really was.

Kurama frowned. "Well, first I suppose we need to know what you prefer to be called. Are you Akira now, or do you prefer Kuronue?" He asked slowly, just because he would answer to any of his names didn't mean his old friend would be as laid back about his identity.

Kuwabara recognized the name with a start. "Kuronue? Hey, wasn't he the guy that that one demon impersonated to mess with you, Kurama?" He asked, confusing himself with the twisted sentence. "The one you killed with a forest of bamboo?"

Kurama grimaced at the memory but nodded stiffly, hoping the likeness of that punishment to Kuronue's own violent death wouldn't upset the chimera.

Akira listened to the oaf and basically heard the story, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, what a way to go." She said almost doubling over in her laughter. "Really, an imposter? That must have been reeaaal fun." She said rolling her eyes as she finally composed herself. "On a more serious note, I think I'd prefer... Akira. I just don't feel like my real name fits this body too well." She sighed.

Kurama scowled. "No, it wasn't." He said darkly. Then he shook the unpleasant memory off and smiled. "Well, at least it is really you this time, ne Akira-chan?" He said with a laugh in his voice.

Akira smiled back easily and sighed. "Yeah, I'm pretty damn sure it's me in here. I mean, I may have just got my memories back, but I hardly feel like I never had them." She said as she began twirling the pendant in circles just in front of herself.

"So..." Kurama began, watching the spinning pendant thoughtfully. "What will you do, now that you know who you are?" He wasn't sure how she felt about her human life. She might choose to disappear back into the Makai once she had given her powers a chance to develop a bit further. Much as he had originally planned to do, before his mother changed him.

Akira looked up at the ceiling in thought as she sorted out her memories, rather, her human memories. "Well, from what I know from my human memories, I don't really like my family too much. Not really sure what I'll do, guess I'll have to give it a little time to figure out what I want now." She turned to look at Kurama. She grabbed hold of the pendant as it was circling around and sighed. She wasn't sure what else there was to say as she sat back down on the chair.

Kurama nodded. "I see, no need to rush the decision of course." He glanced at his watch and frowned. "We should go. I have homework to do and my mother will worry if I don't check in soon." He smiled apologetically. "Would you like us to walk you home?"

Just then Shizuru violently shoved her brother aside and leaned in the door frame. "I already called Shiori-san and told her you were having supper with us. I cooked enough for five already so now you've gotta help eat it so my idiot brother doesn't make himself sick." Her tone was insistent as usual and she turned and headed back towards the kitchen with only a vague gesture for them to follow.

Kurama blinked, slightly amused but unsurprised by Shizuru's actions. "Well, I guess we're eating here then...Akira-chan, will that be okay? Do you need to call and let anyone know where you are?"

Hiei snorted and followed Shizuru to the dining room, taking a seat and crossing his arms across his chest as he waited for the others. He wasn't overly eager to share a meal with the oaf, but at least with his sister there to thump him Kuwabara was slightly more bearable. If only the woman were around more often. Hiei pondered that idea and then internally shook his head. Nope...better that she wasn't, she might start treating them all the way she did her brother.

Kuwabara popped up from the floor and rubbed his head as he headed to the kitchen table as well. "Sis! You could've just told me to move!"

Akira looked over just as Shizuru appeared in the doorway and couldn't help but smile when she shoved Kuwabara out of the way. After a moment though she turned to Kurama and shook her head. "No, I don't think my family will notice I'm gone. And even if they do, I always have an excuse, even if it is a lie." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. She got back up from the chair and followed the others into the other room.

Kurama followed Akira and sat down next to Hiei. It had been a very odd day and the full ramifications of it were still working through his mind. Kuronue was alive, sort of. He and Hiei had come out to Kuwabara and promised to tell Yusuke as well. 'Now, if I can get up the nerve to tell my mother that will be one less secret to worry about.' He thought dryly.

'Whenever you are ready, Fox.' Hiei shot back silently, having caught the stray thought.

Kurama smiled at the fire demon and caught his hand under the table, giving it a brief squeeze. "This looks wonderful, Shizuru-san. Thank you for having us. I do hope we aren't imposing." He went through the pleasantries politely, as if the human woman hadn't shanghaied them into staying for the meal. Sometimes he got the impression that Shizuru got lonely with only her brother for company. Kurama had never pried into why the two siblings lived alone but he had often wondered.

Shizuru grinned back. "Thanks. Even if you are lying, it's nice to hear someone praise my efforts for a change." She glared affectionately at her brother. "Alright, dig in folks. We don't stand on ceremony in this house." She started filling the rice bowls from the rice cooker on the counter and passing them out. The rest of the simple meal was already on the table.

Kurama did as he was told, knowing better than to argue. The fish was a little over cooked but not too bad and the rice was good. The stir-fried vegetables were a bit soggy and he didn't care much for leeks but he was able to pick around them. Shizuru was too volatile to be a very good cook but she managed a decent meal.

Hiei ate his food without complaint. Food was food and he'd eaten much worse while he was growing up. At least he was fairly certain the human wasn't using the meal to drug him or poison him. That alone made it better than some of the meals he'd had in his lifetime.

Kuwabara inhaled his food without bothering to really chew or taste it. He'd long since discovered that that was the best way to enjoy his sister's cooking.

Akira started eating and despite the fact that some of the food was over cooked or not cooked enough, it really wasn't that bad at all. "This is really very good." She said truthfully as she tasted it, it was better than the nasty tasting fancy meals she always ate at the manor. "It feels a lot more home made than anything I've ever eaten, and the taste is better than anything I eat at home." She said as she took another bite.

Shizuru blinked, feeling the honesty in the girl's words. "Thanks. Feel free to stop by for supper anytime." She offered sincerely, feeling a bit sympathetic towards the girl. What kind of slop did she get at home? "So you just found out you're a demon, ne Akira-chan?" She wasn't ashamed to have been eavesdropping. She had allowed a girl with strange youki into her home, some caution was only natural and any demon would understand it. Heck, most demons wouldn't respect you at all if you were too trusting. Shizuru sometimes wondered if her baby brother had any idea how much she had learned from Master Genkai. She doubted it, Kazuma was hopelessly thick some times.

Akira smiled at Shizuru. "Yeah. The strangest part is that I probablly never would have found out if my Dad hadn't been promoted. If we hadn't moved here, I would probably go on not knowing." She seemed to shudder at the thought, a reaction brought on by her demon memories, now that she had them.

Shizuru shrugged, "Things like that have a way of working out the way they need to, one way or another you would have found a trigger to bring those memories back." She leaned back from her empty plate and lit a cigarette.

Kurama smiled cheerfully at Akira. "I, for one, am certainly glad things have worked out this way. I have missed you very much, old friend." He glanced at his watch. "Thank you for the meal, Shizuru-san. I'm sorry to say that I really must go now. I have a mountain of homework and some very delicate plants in my room that need my attention." 'Among other things.' He added silently, thinking of going ahead and telling his mother about his relationship with Hiei. It had been such a relief to tell Kuwabara. How much more freeing would it be to not have to sneak around like a....well, like a teenager (which he sort of was but that was beside the point) in his own home.

Hiei stood and nodded his thanks to Shizuru before flitting out of the apartment without further ado. He paused on the street below to wait for Kurama to catch up.

Kuwabara scowled. "Man, that guy can be so rude sometimes. Heck....make that all the time. He makes me want to bash some manners into his pointy haired skull..." He continued to mutter until his sister thwapped him soundly on the head.

Kurama laughed and stood. "That was actually fairly polite by Makai standards." He didn't elaborate, instead changing the subject. "Akira, are you ready to go?"

Akira nodded to Kurama as she got up from the chair. "Thank you very much for the meal." She said sincerely to Shizuru with a smile. She ignored Kuwabara a little bit only because she still was unsure about how she felt about the human. She paused when she realized she still didn't know her way around the little apartment and she turned to Kurama. "After you, my friend." She said with a small grin.

Kurama smiled and led his old friend out of the apartment.

Kuwabara followed them as far as the door. "It was really nice meeting you, Akira-chan. Come by anytime." He grinned in his usual genuinely friendly manner. He then shifted his attention to his longtime friend and turned very serious. "So Kurama, you and the shri....uh Hiei, are really....?" He said slowly, wanting confirmation that it wasn't some sort of joke.

Kurama smiled and nodded. "Yes, Kuwabara. No joke." He could understand the boy's reluctance to take the information at face value. They had played crueler jokes in the past, though not without a good reason usually. "We'll see you in a couple of days when we tell Yusuke, okay?" He slipped his shoes on and left the apartment, not surprised to find Hiei waiting for him just outside the building.