((Yeah, no kidding... I have four weeks of school left, including my finals. Oi...))

Aleron sighed, though she looked rather amusedly exasperated as she watched him trotting back. And now he was dirty. Naturally.

"Oh, definitely not," she said, grabbing one end of the stick and holding it up, making as if to throw it again. "I'm going to wear him down first and then give him a bath."

Kurama snickered, tempted to laugh outright at his friend, but he didn't. He sat primly on Yue's lap, looking down at the two. Luckily he had no inclination to chase sticks. But it was really funny to watch Yusuke pelt after them. And it gave him teasing ammunition for later, too.

{Orz... Finals are a pain... I got placement testing tomorrow, and I gotta wake up really early in the morning because it's a really long drive to campus.... poo....}

Yusuke barked indignantly at the thought of a bath. "I ain't goin' near a friggin' bath!" he yipped, jumping for the stick regardless, "I'll end up smelling like girly flowers or somethin'!" He might have been a dog, but he was still a man- he had dignity! And his reputation as the biggest, baddest punk of the neighborhood!

Yue couldn't help but giggle a bit at Yusuke's antics- though she stopped quickly and looked innocent when the pup threw a dirty look in her direction. "Oh I do wish I could understand him." She said after a moment, petting Kurama absentmindly as she watched the puppy dash around, "From my viewpoint he looks like he's having some sort of extremely noisy panic attack!" She paused for a moment, then added thoughtfully, "Though I suppose if he were, someone would have called a doctor and I'd not be here..."

((Yuck. That sucks.))

Aleron rolled her eyes at him, figuring he was complaining about something. Probably the bath. Figures. He would complain about that. Then she waited for him to bring the stick back, grinning. This was amusing.

Kurama snickered to himself, thoroughly enjoying his moments in the spotlight. He wouldn't mind a bath, but he was a very clean person. Oh well.

He leaned out just a little to watch Yusuke before he spotted something shiny in the grass. He kept his gaze on it, his ears up. Ooooo, shiny.

{Sorry I didn't post all day O-o I'm always busy on the weekends... Orz.}

Yue continued to watch Yusuke's antics with high amusement until she felt Kurama become very still, then her attention shifted; she followed his gaze, eventually making out something shiny on the ground after a couple of moments. "You have marvelous eyes." She said with a swish of her tail- she wouldn't have noticed it at all if he hadn't.

Being a creature of curiosity, Yue decided to satiate both her and the fox's desire to get a closer look. She flew down and put the fox on the ground, letting him lead the way.

Yusuke meanwhile barked at them for getting in between him and his stick- he didn't like having to run around them to get it; in the end though, he was so distracted looking at them that he stumbled and ended up rolling in more dirt.
"Dammit." He jumped to his feet and shook himself, "This is starting to bother my fur!"

((It's ok. I had a lot going on today too ^^))

Kurama took off as soon as his paws touched the ground, running over to the shiny little thing to investigate. He nosed at the little gold button, looking up at Yue curiously.

Of course, now that he'd found it, he had no hands with which to pick it up. So he had to rely on Yue to do the investigating for him, which he'd like. Oh well. He'd just have to wait for the verdict and then see if he could acquire the shiny thing.

Aleron laughed quietly as she watched him shake off. "A bath would help with that," she called to him teasingly. "But since you refuse to take one I guess you'll be staying outside all night."

She got up and dusted herself off, grinning. She probably wouldn't leave him outside, but she was pretty sure he'd cave and accept a bath anyway.

Yusuke's ears drooped. He knew he had lost this one; staying outside the whole night didn't appeal to him, but neither did getting a bath and spending the rest of his time as a dog smelling like flowers. He tried again to shake off his fur in vain, then heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Fine." He growled, slouching over with his tail between his legs, "But I'm not going to make it easy on you!" He shook some dirt onto her shoes to emphasize what he meant, giving his tail a mischievous wag before plopping down and admitting defeat.

Yue knelt down next to the fox, lifting up the object and holding it up to the light so she could see better; at first she'd thought it looked like a button, or some sort of coin, but seeing it firsthand revealed that it a pendant. The part that went around the neck was a simple ribbon, but the pendant itself was gold, with a strange inscription on it written in a language she couldn't read....

"How strange..." She said after a moment, holding it down so Kurama could get a closer look too, "I wonder where it came from?" She half hoped that he could read what it said, but realized that even if he could he wouldn't be able to tell her anyways.
She decided to shrug it off and not think about it too much- the fox was sure to do more than enough of that; instead she carefully took the ribbon and tied it around his neck. "Well, I believe this is yours since you found it." She made sure that it was loose enough so that he could get it off if he wanted to, but tight enough that it wouldn't fall off easily. Then she surveyed the finished result with a smile.
"It suits you." She said happily, scratching his ears, "It makes your eyes look very pretty!"

Aleron rolled her eyes at Yusuke and shook her head. "So, do you want to play more, or shall I give you a bath now?" She looked down at him, picking up the stick again. She was prepared to stay out there and play for a while longer, if he wanted.

She glanced over at the other two. "Find something interesting?" she called to Yue, curious. She couldn't see very well, she could just see the glinting of gold.

Kurama looked at the pendant for a few moments before she fastened it around his neck. Then he yipped and licked her hands, his tail wagging just a little.

He glanced over at the other two and snorted. "Oh honestly, Yusuke," he called. "You are ridiculous." That he certainly believed.

Of course, now that he was thinking about it again, a bath kinda sounded good. Hmm. Maybe he'd get one later, somehow convey to Yue that he'd like a bath.

Yue laughed when the fox licked her hands, then she picked him up and carried him over to Aleron to show off his new treasure. "He found it on the ground-" she explained, "Normally I'd think picking things up off the ground was a bad thing considering all you humans keep on your ground, but this is very pretty... Have you ever seen it before?" She swished her tail, then looked at Yusuke when he yipped impatiently.

"Perhaps you should give him a bath now." She said uncertainly after a moment, "Yusuke does not seem like the sort of human who thinks for long, and puppies have very small attention spans... I imagine that the combination must put a lot of stress on his mental state." She spoke matter of factually, failing to realize the insult carried in her words- which made it all the more amusing when the puppy growled at her indignantly. Her point was simply that it was probably best not to give him enough time to change his mind about taking a bath.

Kurama snickered. Yup, that sounded about right. Yusuke normally didn't have the biggest attention span to begin with. Being a puppy as well... well, really, you couldn't expect too much from him.

He stayed nestled in Yue's arms quiet happily, his tail wagging lazily.

Aleron laughed, tipping her head back. "True," she said with a grin. "I see your point. Alright, come on." She picked up Yusuke easily, since his paws were all dirty, and carried him inside.

"We'll be in my bathroom if you need anything, Yue," she said as she headed for the staircase. Then she jumped up them two at a time to her bathroom and started running the water so it would get warm, and she allowed a few inches to sit in the bottom of the tub.

Luckily for Yusuke, she had unscented soap, which she got out to use on him, after setting him in the tub.

Yusuke splashed around a lot the moment he was in the tub- that short attention span of his was kicking in and his first thought was to amuse himself with the water; as a result the water quickly became dirty and many things around him got wet.
He shook himself off, only making the situation worse, then stood still, wagging his tail and smiling mischievously as he waited for a now equally soaked Aleron to get to work with the soap.

Yue couldn't help but laugh as the sound of splashing reached her ears- apparently the puppy's short attention span was really causing trouble... That or he was intentionally being bad... Either way the situation sounded like it wasn't going well.

"Maybe I should go offer my assistance..." She said after a moment, sounding uncertain as to whether it was safe. She took the stairs slowly, but stopped outside the bathroom and carefully placed Kurama down. "You can go inside if you like... But you'll probably end up needing a bath too!" His fur was almost white- it was certain to pick up dirt much more easily than Yusuke's dark coat would. She didn't want to make the fox risk that unless he wanted to.

She leaned in the door and spoke to Aleron, "Do you need.... anything?"

Aleron sighed, having already resigned herself to the fact that she'd need a shower after this, and waited for him to stop. "You happy now?" she asked, looking at the puppy. "I swear if you start shaking after you're soapy I'm going to leave you in here all night."

She glanced over at Yue. "No, I think I'm okay for the time being. I've got a couple towels, so I should be okay. Hey, did you want to give Kurama a bath after this?"

Kurama trotted into the bathroom and sat down, looking at the two and letting out a bark of laughter.

"She knows how to threaten you, Yusuke," he said teasingly, with a big grin.

"Really now?" Yusuke growled sarcastically, "And here I thought she was flirting!" He splashed some muddy water in Kurama's direction, "If only she was good at shutting nosy foxes up!" He'd have to put it on his to do list to devise a way to get the fox back for this... Right now he was a bit busy.

Yue snatched Kurama up when Yusuke splashed the water, narrowly avoiding him getting soaked.
"So long as he doesn't handle baths as.... messily.... as Yusuke..." She said after a moment, addressing Aleron's question, "I will if he'd like to..."

Kurama grinned in a foxy way, quite content now, and leaned against Yue. He nosed her neck in thanks, still amused at Yusuke.

"Well, if she was flirting, somehow I think you'd enjoy that more as a human than a puppy," he pointed out reasonably.

Aleron narrowed her eyes at Yusuke and got some soap on her hands, starting to wash him. "Yeah, I doubt he'll be anywhere near as messy as this one." Sighing, she got his ears, rubbing them gently to get them clean.

"I'll let you know as soon as I'm done, 'kay? Unless you'd like to stay and watch."

"If she was capable of being girly enough to flirt I might agree." Yusuke retorted sarcastically. He wasn't about to admit that Kurama was right... Even if he was.... And he wasn't in the mood to argue, getting a bath was distracting enough, and with his ears getting washed it was harder to hear.

Yue looked back and forth from Kurama to Yusuke as they argued. "I suppose I'll leave you two be..." She finally said in response to Aleron after a moment, then she played with Kurama's ears teasingly as she added, "I believe that a certain fox is causing trouble."

She turned and left the room, speaking again only when they were a safe distance away, "Maybe you're not such a good fox after all." She said, "Instigating him like that- he has the attention span of a flea at this point- he probably can't comprehend your insults very well!" She didn't sound angry though, nor did she realize the insult her words carried yet again.

Aleron made sure Yusuke was nice and clean, washing him off and scrubbing him down again. He seemed to like the attention, and she didn't mind. Besides, she wanted to be sure that he was very clean, especially if he was going to be sleeping on her bed again.

Finally, she rinsed him off again, made sure there was no soap left on him, and then she threw a towel over him and picked him up, starting to rub him down to get him dry.

Kurama snorted and nosed at her neck again. Hey, he'd never claimed to be good. He managed to wiggle around enough to get his paws up on one of her shoulders, enjoying the view.

Plus, you know, he wasn't a good fox. He was in it for the fun.

Yusuke wagged his tail excitedly when the bath was over, it wasn't that the ordeal had been a bad one... All in all he'd actually enjoyed it. His fur felt better to say the least, but once Aleron had thrown the towel over him and tried him off his fur stuck out every which way.

"I feel like a puffball." He grumbled, resting his head on her shoulder once his head was free. But he didn't really have any complaints, it hadn't been as bad as he expected... And now he was tired.

Yue heaved a sigh, Kurama had caused trouble for Yusuke a lot when he was a human, but being a fox seemed to be making his sly side a lot worse... "I suppose now I know why humans coined the phrase 'sly fox'" She'd originally thought that humans were just being silly calling each other animals, but now it seemed to make much more sense.

"I think Aleron is done." She added after another moment- she didn't hear Yusuke splashing anymore anyways. "Did you want a bath or not?" She supposed he didn't need one, but baths were nice, so she figured she'd ask.

Aleron chuckled and kept hold of Yusuke, carrying him back up to her room. "Alright, you. Stay here, okay? I need to take a shower now." She set him on her bed, stretching out briefly. She had a small bathroom of her own, but she only had a shower in there, which is why she'd used the other bathroom for Yusuke.

Grabbing a nightshirt and sweatpants, she went into her bathrrom and took a very quick shower. She emerged toweling her hair dry and checked to make sure Yusuke hadn't vanished on her or anything.

Kurama yipped once. A bath did sound nice. And he'd even behave for her.

He waited patiently for her to get into the bathroom, and then he sat in the bathtub, watching her. Ah, bathtime!

Yusuke yawned when Aleron placed him on the bed; normally he'd have done something stupid just to be troublesome, but being a puppy was tiring, man. He spent so much energy just running around like an idiot that he didn't have enough left to do something mischievous. He just climbed atop her pillow, closed his eyes and dozed, the sound of running water in the other room soothing him to sleep.

Yue took a moment to figure out how to work the water; Aleron had shown her a lot of times, but she was still very unfamiliar with how to work human things. It was a good thing the fox was patient enough to wait for her to figure it out, because it took a little while before she'd managed to fill up the tub a little ways with warm water- despite this, she looked very satisfied with herself for having done so.

"Uum... What soap do you want...?" There were a lot of different kinds, and Yue didn't know heads or tails of what was what; she hoped the fox would pick something that was good for him because she wasn't sure if something would be bad for his fur or not. "I know one of them smells like flowers-" She added after a moment, "When you're a human you usually smell like flowers you know." Though she supposed that was because he spent so much time around plants- particularly roses.

Aleron sighed in amusement when she saw him on her pillow, but she gently shooed him off and shut off the lights, settling down. "My pillow, you brat," she mumbled, settling down on her side to sleep. She was tired. She hardly even moved when Loki jumped up to lay at the foot of her bed.

Kurama nosed the unscented bottled that Aleron had used with Yusuke. That seemed like the best idea for now, at least until he was human again.

Then he helped her out, moving so it would be easier for her to wash him off, and he didn't try to get her wet or anything. Hey, he was getting a bath like he wanted.

Yusuke grumbled when Aleron moved him, and he climbed back up on the pillow to sleep next to her head just out of spite; but he was too tired to really do more and just went out like a light again. He didn't even notice when Loki showed up... Not that he would have done much other than make a sarcastic comment if he had.

Yue was relieved that Kurama was going easy on her- if he'd decided to pull a Yusuke she wouldn't have stood a chance, but he was very cooperative in helping him lather up his fur and get it good and clean, and she in turn was very careful not to pull on his fur and hurt him. Even when she rinsed him off she took care not to get anything in his eyes or ears- because she hated water in her own ears and he probably wouldn't like it much either.

When the job was done the fox was so soaked he looked like he'd almost drowned, but he seemed happy enough, and Yue was surprised at how much whiter and sleeker his fur seemed. She grabbed a towel from where she'd seen Aleron grab hers and scooped him out of the tub carefully after she'd drained the water and cleaned everything up- hopefully he wouldn't drip too much on the floor.

Kurama had shaken himself off before Yue picked him up, getting rid of some of the water in his coat. Then he rubbed against the towel, so there would be even less chance of dripping.

As soon as she set him down again, he rolled over on the towel, effectively drying himself off, at least somewhat. It was getting late, and he was getting tired, but there was no way he was going to sleep all wet.

He could be a very picky little fox.

Yue couldn't help but laugh at Kurama's antics of getting dry- it was odd to see an animal be so thorough, but after a moment she helped him out and it wasn't long before his fur was sticking out at all sorts of odd angles... but it was dry at least, and after Yue had gotten over her fit of giggles at the sight of his puffball appearance, it didn't take long to smooth it all back into place.
Then she led the fox back to her room and let him get comfortable on the bed, making sure he was settled in before going to take a shower herself; she hadn't taken one that day and since everyone else had it seemed fair to do so herself. Plus it was fresh in her mind how to work the water- since she normally had to ask for help- so it was a good idea to do it before she forgot again.

She was quick though, since she didn't know what half the stuff in the bathroom was she only used what Aleron had told her was safe to use, and she was half afraid she'd break something if she meddled with human things for too long.... So after drying off her hair thoroughly she went back to the room, having only been gone a short while.
"It's been a long while since I've had my hair down." She realized as she carefully sat down on a corner of the bed and meticulously combed her hair, "I suppose I need to get it cut..." It had grown a lot and was quite long when it wasn't up.
She laid down, taking care not to disturb anything. Haircuts were something she'd consider later, because at that point in time she was tired.

Kurama looked up, watching her while she settled in, before he settled in to sleep as well.

He got up the next morning, yawning and stretching himself out before he jumped down lightly from the bed. Yue wasn't awake yet, so he thought he'd go look around some, maybe find something to amuse himself with.

He made it down the stairs easily and then settled on the couch, managing to slip off the pendant around his neck, starting to examine it as best he could. It was a little mystery, and he was curious.

Aleron yawned as she got up, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Then she got up, dressed swiftly, and brushed her hair, leaving it loose for the time being.

"Okay guys, time to get up. If you want breakfast anyway." She grinned as Loki got up, jumping down off her bed easily. She waited for Yusuke to see if he was going to get up so she could carry him downstairs. Although it would be funny to watch him slide down the stairs...

Yusuke grumbled when Aleron got out of bed and jostled him, but when she mentioned food he woke up quickly, jumping into her arms and yipping excitedly. Being a puppy made food taste better- it was one of the things he'd miss... but damn was he looking forward to having thumbs again.... and legs that were long enough to make it down the stairs.

At least as it was he was small enough that Aleron could safely carry him, and when they reached the bottom of the stairs he squirmed out of her arms and took off for the kitchen on his own, skidding to a halt on the hard floor and sitting near the stove expectantly.

Yue woke up when the sunlight peered through the window enough to get into her eyes, she wasn't surprised to see that Kurama had already gotten up- foxes seemed to be early risers... Or perhaps it was just him.
She climbed out of bed and stretched, spreading her wings out as far as they could go without knocking anything over, it helped get the blood flowing and wake her up a bit more, so that she could put her hair back up without any mistakes. She normally didn't mind too much wearing her hair down, but with how long it had become it got in her way, so putting it up just made things easier.

Following the sounds of her friends, Yue made her way down the stairs, but she didn't see Kurama in the kitchen... but then again he wasn't as obsessed with food as Yusuke was.
A little investigation revealed the fox to be on the couch in the living room, inspecting the pendant he'd found the night before. She stood and watched him stare for a moment, practically hearing the gears in his head turning.
"You shouldn't try so hard to figure it out." She finally said with a smile, "If you try to understand everything right away you'll wear out the part of your mind that figures things out and then you won't be able to understand the simplest of concepts." Of course, she was curious about the pendant too, but she didn't want him stressing out over it too much.

Aleron rolled her eyes and got out more ground beef, mixing it with some vegetables and cooking them quickly in the frying pan. She made Yusuke wait for a minute though, to cool the food off some before she put it on a plate for him.

"Okay, there you go. Don't make a mess." Then she put the frying pan in the sink to wash later, getting herself a bowl of cereal. She knew it would take her longer to eat than Yusuke, but she didn't really mind. She'd kick him outside if he started bugging her.

Kurama looked up when he heard her, and he managed to slip the pendant back on around his neck. He tilted his head to the side, considering her words, before he shrugged and moved over to her, resting his head on the couch.

Then he sniffed when he smelled food, getting up. Now that he could smell it, he was kinda hungry. Naturally.