((Oh I'm getting lots of rest. In between cleaning the house DX

Ack! Thirteen and a half hours is WAAAAY too long. That's a normal shift and a half, if normal is eight hours like it is here. That's insane!

And a brawl sounds absolutely fun! It's way too fun to get them into trouble, after all.))

Aleron snorted when she heard the excitement in his voice. Yup, he was definitely a brawler. Although she'd figured that much, it didn't surprise her to get more confirmation of it. He wanted to go find Kurama and Yue on the off chance they got into a fight. Naturally.

Men.

"We can go," Aleron replied, smiling just a little. "You can head out now if you want. I'm just going to round up Loki." He was good to have in a fight, after all. He was very big on the intimidation scale.

"Not exactly," Kurama replied carefully. He'd noticed the humans following them, too. The new street gang, or something. Naturally. Murphy's law was still in full effect: anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And it had gone wrong.

Oh well. They weren't exactly defenseless, at least. These humans would be very surprised to get into a fight with them.

"I suspect they think they can take our money," he said, his voice cool and calm, as always. "Just remember they are human. We're not allowed to kill them." It was as much a note to himself as it was to her. He was feeling a little more... wild after being a fox for a few days. Great way to get in touch with his Youko side, apparently.

{Well... I the thirteen hour shift was originally supposed to be an eight hour one.... but then the guy who came in and was supposed to replace me cut his hand open and it wouldn't stop bleeding no matter what we did... And of course everyone we called made up an excuse not to come in, so he'd have had to stay- and then his hand woulda gotten infected or something, so I told him that I'd stay and cover for him.... Which wasn't so bad, overall... Except I didn't get a break during those thirteen hours... Is that legal?

ewww cleaning... I clean when I can, but I'm definately no neat freak. XD But don't overexert yourself or anything. o-o That dust can really mess with ya!}

Although he wanted to run off then and there, Yusuke waited impatiently for Aleron to give the okay, and when she did he took off out the door with quite a bit of energy.... Apparently being a puppy had some aftereffects.... He didn't remember having so much energy to waste recklessly before.... and he'd run around for a little bit before finally realizing he had no idea where to go.... And upon realizing this, he took the time to consider it... And realized he really sucked when it came to sensing energy.... Which meant he had no means to figure out where to go either.

"Well that's a real kick in the groin." The detective made a face, and trudged back to Aleron's house.... He figured.... Or hoped... That Loki would be able to lead the way, what with his nose and all.... Because it'd really suck if he missed out on a good fight over being late to the punch.... He was really looking forward to punching in some human faces instead of demon ones for once. Most demons didn't have asses to kick, but all humans did, and Yusuke knew where they were.

------------

Yue blinked when Kurama mentioned that the humans would be after money. "But.... What could possibly be the point in beating people up for paper?" She asked after a moment, obviously not being able to wrap her head around the idea at all.... She'd seen money once when Aleron had tried to explain it to her, but the demon hadn't really understood the concept.... And so she coudln't fathom why, of all things to steal...they would choose paper.... Well, humans were odd... She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised.

At the mention of killing Yue glanced at her hands, the thought finally occuring to her that she wouldn't be able to use her claws in that battle.... In fact, she couldn't fight as she normally would at all against humans....Oh dear... She wasn't very adept at waving her fists around like Yusuke was.... And here she'd thought his method of fighting was a waste of energy, what with the unessary shouting and exertion and all... But apparently it was useful when it came to fighting other humans....
"I very much doubt I'd be able to kill anyone using.... people.... methods-" She avoided the word 'human' again, "But I am not so worried that I will not be able to give them a couple bruises-" She smiled innocently, but there was just a trace of mischief in it.... Then she blinked and quickly asked, "-I can do that right?" she'd learned from the strange little box called 'television' that killing people was a really bad thing in human world, and she didn't very much like the idea of getting caught up wiht human authorities... Though humans were so silly.... Creatures naturally attuned to violence, trying to outlaw their own nature.... Ah, how little sense they made.

((No, that's not legal. You have to have a fifteen minute break every four hours, at least in the state of California. It doesn't matter if you do one half-hour break or two littler breaks on an eight-hour shift, but you have to have the time off.

And I know. The dust is already bothering me, and we're nowhere near done with what we're going to do. >.<))

Aleron pulled on her shoes and made sure her hair was secure before she and Loki followed Yusuke out the door. He couldn't have gotten too far, she reasoned, starting to search around for him.

Loki found him, unerringly accurate as always. He sat in front of Yusuke and let out a little woof, his tail wagging back and forth a little. Aleron followed him and stopped, looking at Yusuke. She couldn't resist teasing him a little.

"Need some help finding them?" she asked with a grin. Loki was already sniffing around, searching, and after a moment he trotted off after them.

Kurama shrugged. "Humans do not always make sense," he conceded. "However, money is their currency. It is how they get things like food and shelter. This world is very different from the demon realm." He couldn't help but smile a little at that. He didn't think he'd ever heard of two more different realms.

He glanced back discretely and found the boys still following them. There were six or seven of them. Not a problem, then. "Yes, you are allowed to give them bruises. I usually try to knock them out quickly. Less trouble that way." He turned down another alley way, and the group followed. Oh well.

{Awwww.... Good luck! o-o Dust is horrible- it makes your throat and nose feel terrible!

Ohhh o-o So it's not legal.... Hrrrm.... Well, I'm not familiar with the working laws in my state, but I'm pretty sure the place I work at isn't very legal at all... They do a lot of stuff like that to their workers. Like scheduling you to work on days when you put it on your application that you weren't availible.. making you write down how many tips you got that week so they can take it out of your next paycheck... making you work 40+ hours and not giving overtime.... calling you in on your days off even if you haven't had one in a couple of weeks....

I always just assumed they treated us like crap cuz it's the fast food business and never really thought too much on it though...}

Yusuke had been pacing restlessly while waiting for Aleron and Loki.... Man, Aleron might have been different, but she was definately a girl.... She took forever.... Or maybe it just felt that way because he was so excited.... Still, he didn't overlook Aleron's comment.
"Well..." He said with a snicker, watching Loki sniff around and find a good scent to follow"Sometimes I have to screw up so that you're not intimidated by how awesome I am in general." Anticipation for battle tended to bring out his more egotistical side- what could he say? So maybe his nose wasn't as good as it had been when he was a puppy, it didn't change the fact that he'd still be able to kick some butt.... At least, he assumed so, since it seemed that Loki had found a scent and began trotting off.... He couldn't help but think as they followed the dog that, with such a large pet in tow on top of the fact that they were prepared for battle... well... they looked a bit like a delinquent gang too.

------------

"If the human world were anything like my home, I believe I'd understand it much much more." Yue said with a sigh and small smile, "But it seems to me that humans spend an awful lot of time trying to make things seem like they are not." She understood the concept of currency, but paper....? If only humans were to just be more straightforward, they would make more sense in general.

She was about to say something to this effect when some more of the rather creepy humans showed up on the other side of the alley and blocked them off. There were a couple smaller passageways they could take, but for the most part they were surrounded.... So insead she said, "I do not very much like being the center of attention...." The humans seemed pretty confident, some holding baseball bats, others cracking their knuckles and smirking menacingly... But Yue found herself restraining a laugh, and with difficulty- as she did not think it would be suitable in the situation- refrained from asking how it was that creatures with such small amounts of energy planned to fight.... She supposed that most humans were like that in terms of energy.... It was just that the ones she knew were special...

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of them stepped forward menacingly and demanded money.... Just like Kurama had said.... Goodness... And here she thought he wasn't serious! Once again she had to refrain herself from speaking... She'd gotten better at human affairs.... But perhaps in this situation it was best to let Kurama do the talking.

((O.o yea, not legal. If you really wanted to you could probably get them in lots of trouble for that.

And sorry for taking so long to reply! Cleaning and painting and home improvement stuff. Not fun.))

Aleron had to laugh at that, shaking her head a little. "Sure. Of course." She grinned and followed Loki, still amused. No wonder she put up with so much from him. No one else amused her this much. Not to mention he could be nice, when he put some effort into it. And they had a lot in common. And they both liked hunting things.

Okay, so maybe there was more than just one reason she liked him. She'd contemplate that later, eventually. Probably. She let Yusuke take the lead, and soon a low growl emanated from the big dog. They must have been getting close.

Kurama held his hands up placatingly. He didn't like fighting humans; he had to hold back too much on them, and he had to make sure he didn't do any serious damage. Otherwise he got in trouble. And he was nothing if not good at keeping his own hide smooth. "Sorry, we don't have any on us," he said with a little smile.

"Wrong answer." One of them cracked his knuckles and advanced, trying to be menacing. Kurama simply found it rather amusing, if anything. They thought they were tough, but if they'd seen half of what he'd seen, just in his human existance, they'd probably run away screaming.

"Well," Aleron drawled, looking at the group massed around Kurama and Yue. "Looks like we're interrupting a party. How rude of us." She kept one hand on Yusuke's shoulder so he wouldn't just go running in.

"Oh, not at all," Kurama said pleasantly. "In fact you're just in time."

One of the thugs looked between them, confused, until someone said "Hey, that looks like Urameshi!" Then the group split in two: half to take care of Yusuke and Aleron, and half to shake down Kurama and Yue. Then Aleron let go of Yusuke with a grin and a "Have fun."

{Okay... So I haven't been on in forever.... and a couple days.... Cuz my life was pretty crazy for the past two weeks or so o-o I fell behind in all my roleplays!

Aaanyways.... the point is, I'm sorry for poofing without warning and I haven't abandoned you! Things are calmer now, and once I get out of work today I should be able to post!}

As they followed Loki to the scene, it was clear that Yusuke was becoming more and more reckless; he kept muttering to himself and trying to move ahead of the canine.... Which didn't work so well as the dog was the only one who knew where they were going. By and by however, the tension of battle filled the air, and the detective knew that they were in the right place- he was raring to go by the time they entered the alleyway where Yue and Kurama were surrounded by thugs.

Now if Yusuke bothered to use his brain very much during battle he'd have perhaps realized that being surrounded by bad guys wasn't the most ideal situation to be in... But as it was he just counted the enemy's numbers excitedly, wondering why it was that they were still at a standstill.... Then shouts filled the air as people recognized who he was and divided to conquer... Well, try to conquer- they were going to get their asses whipped.

"Looks like I'm a hot commodity." He snickered as half of the group moved in on him and Aleron; then he smirked viciously and nailed the closest guy in the face- jump starting the battle and letting chaos ensue.
"Alright, listen up! Here's what we're gonna do-" He easily dodged some incoming attacks in his direction, "-I'm gonna throw some blistering blows and you catch 'em!" He then nailed another guy as an example, "Real easy eh?"
Aw damn, they were already looking intimidated... He hoped they made things last a bit.

---------------------------------------

Yue smiled when she saw Aleron and Yusuke, they would certainly make things a lot easier; though she tilted her head at Aleron's remark, and looked around as she said, "Is this what human parties are like? I thought there was cake at such events..." Well, she'd certainly have to reevaluate that concept...

An incoming attack snapped her back to reality, and Yue dodged with more ease than she expected to- those humans were really slow; she'd been initially a bit nervous, because without her abilities her physical strength wasn't much to count for... but she was able to move much faster than these humans, and was able to use their own strength against them fairly easily- because they did not think very much before they moved.... Perhaps Yusuke was more normal a human than she thought.... Yue shook her head- she had to stay on topic.
As the battle ensued she quickly became more at ease with the situation; although she didn't throw many punches, she easily maneuvered around her foes and herded them into accidentally attacking each other... Although she normally did not very much like the fights their team got into, she found the sheer fact that this strategy so easily worked horribly amusing. Even though she stifled her giggles, the look on her face showed how she percieved the situation.

{Sorry again that it's so late >_< I was eaten alive by life.}

((It's fine. I totally know how that feels. Life has been freaking CRAZY busy around here too. I kind of want to just sleep for like a week. @.@ ))

Aleron snorted and let Yusuke do most of the work. She just punched out the few guys that went for her or Loki, and Loki laid down on one of them guys when he tried to get up again. Aleron was definitely amused at this point.

"Hey, Yusuke, remember not to kill any of them," she called with a grin, watching as two or three of them paled, already intimidated by him. "Don't want to have to bail your ass out again."

One of them went running, and Loki leapt after him, dragging him back and knocking him over in front of Aleron. Then he looked up at her, wagging his tail.

"Good boy, Loki!" she praised, rubbing his ears enthusiastically. "Such a good boy! Yes, you're so good at catching the runners, aren't you sweetie?" Loki chuffed and looked over at Yusuke, settling back to watch and wait.

Kurama, too, had very little trouble with the humans, avoiding their attacks easily and causing them to crash into each other. He wasn't much of a fistfighter, that much was obvious, but he was very good at strategy. And if he threw the occasional rock at someone, well... As long as no one knew, he couldn't get in trouble.

The humans glanced between each other, starting to get nervous. Obviously, they had expected something much easier than this, and Kurama almost wants to laugh. Almost. But he doesn't quite actually laugh.

Instead, he moves next to Yue easily, watching as they try to reorganize themselves, pulling some of their stunned comrades to their feet.

"This was not difficult," Kurama said with a little smile, amusement dancing in his eyes.

{Yeah, you can say that again, I feel like I haven't slept since the beginning of July XD}

"Awww, I'm not gonna kill 'em!" Yusuke exclaimed indignantly at Aleron's comment, cracking his knuckles, "I'm just gonna seriously injure them!" In fact, he was still amusing himself pounding in faces for a good long while after the enemy seemed to have lost the will to fight... But he did remember to hold back... The last thing he needed was to be in Aleron's debt again.... So he just punched some people, leaving the ones he knocked out where they were and, with difficulty, let the ones who tried to escape get away.

"Dammit!" The one who appeared to be the leader glared at their group, "This isn't the end!" Then he called his men to leave, and the ones who were still standing took off after him. They left as quickly as they had come.

Watching them leave, Yue blinked. "Well of course it isn't the end." She stated matter of factly, "We made an effort not to kill them!"

She then glanced at Kurama and gave a friendly smile, more or less a hidden thanks for watching her back; she didn't think she'd have needed it just then, but it was nice to know he was there for when she did need it.
Then she patted Loki in greeting before looking at Yusuke and Aleron, "Do humans have the ability to sense violence as I do?" She finally asked, wondering how they'd both known about the fight coming- or if it was just luck, "Because I do believe you should have told me of this strange human ability earlier!"

((I know the feeling, dear. Hopefully soon things will calm down and we can both sleep for about a week XD))

Aleron laughed and shook her head, walking over to check on all the ones on the ground. None of them were dead, mostly just passed out or too wimpy to get up again.

"Nah," she said easily. "Yusuke was just feeling rather antsy so I had to take him for a walk." She shot him a smirk, knowing he was still feeling rather riled up. Hey, maybe a good spar would do both of them some good.

Kurama smiled a little and shook his head, amused. "I see," he said quietly, looking at Yue again. "Well, we would have been fine on our own, but thank you for the assistance anyway."

"No problemo, fox-boy. I got some free entertainment out of it, and chuckles here got himself even more riled up than he was before." She couldn't help but grin. "I think it's his naptime now. Give him a snack and put him to bed."

Kurama started laughing at that; he really couldn't help it. Oh, Yusuke would be so indignant... He looked over at Yue to see if she caught the humor in it, decided she probably wouldn't, and explained to her quietly through the inevitable bickering.

"Human children require a lot of sleep," he said quietly. "Normally, as very small children, their parents give them a snack or a drink and give them a nap. After reaching the age of five or six, they usually don't take naps anymore."

Yusuke made a face at Aleron, obviously debating on what to say; he opened his mouth once, then closed it. Then he let out a long string of cusses before exclaiming, "I'll show you a baby! I'll show you a dang baby till you're black and blue all over! And then you'll be doing the napping!" He'd apparently settled on picking a fight- which was his normal reaction when he couldn't think of a comeback. Having just gotten out of a fight already, he was obviously pretty riled up, and that meant he was ready to fight... well, just about anything- he'd probably have started trash talking an actual baby if there was one nearby.

Yue hadn't gotten the joke until Kurama explained it to her, but Yusuke's reaction to it made her laugh more than the joke itself. "If he were to take a nap, I believe he would be less grumpy!" She pointed out after a moment, which earned her a glare from the detective, who promptly turned away, grumbling incohrently.
She decided around then it would probably be best to stop laughing, and stifled it with a cough and a change of topic.

"Ah, I am eating a human dinner over at Kurama's-" She suddenly remembered that the reason for their detour had been to tell Aleron that so she wouldn't worry... much... "-So I will be back later at your house." She then twiddled her thumbs as she added, "... If that is okay.... I do not believe it pertinent of me to get on the bad side of the one who I am living with, after all."

Aleron snickered. "You want to try? Bring it on, Detective." She smirked, all challenge and bluster. She'd spar with him for real once they got back to her house, but she could get rid of some of his energy in the meantime. A nice, light run back to her house ought to do the trick.

Then she turned her attention to Yue and smiled. "Oh, sweetie, that's fine. I'm sure you'll have a good time. Just remember to try a little of everything." She grinned and gave her a friend a thumbs-up.

"Kurama, let me know if you want me to come pick her up tonight, or in the morning or whatever."

Kurama's eyebrow raised a bit, but he could see that she didn't mean any sexual innuendos by it about Yue staying the night, and he nodded. "I will. Good luck with Yusuke." He couldn't help but smile when she nearly cackled, turning on the detective again.

"Well, shall we start back for my house?" he asked Yue quietly, smiling at her again.

Aleron had begun to walk away after speaking with Kurama, and as Yusuke opened his mouth to make a retort in her direction before she got too far away, Yue shoved many of the bangles that she normally wore into his open hands.
"I do not believe I would be able to explain the markings very well." She explained a bit sheepishly, "But they remind me of home- so do not lose them or you will not sleep very well in the future!" The smile on her face never left as she spoke, and her demeanor remained as innocent as ever, but there was a trace in her tone that said she would most certainly do something rash if the detective didn't take care of them... And since there was no way to fathom through her body language how silly or serious her 'revenge' would be, it was perhaps more unnerving than if it had been an outward threat.

In fact, Yusuke was rather surprised by the assertion, and he glanced at the bangles, obviously seeing them in a new light, before grumbling, "Aw, c'mon... First the baby comments, now sticking me with jewelery?!" He made a face, "This is borderline racism." Then he glanced over his shoulder and realized that Aleron wasn't bothering to wait for him, and took off after her, shouting something about how he knew she was too chicken to fight him- but he didn't sound too serious about it... So hopefully he didn't get beat up too bad.

"Ah yes!" Yue finally responded to Kurama's previous remark, "We can go now!"

As soon as Aleron heard him gaining on her, she and Loki broke into an easy, loping run. "Come on, Urameshi!" she called, a teasing lilt to her voice. "Can't even keep up with one measly girl?" She let out a bark of laughter and kept up the pace. This would wear him down some, at least, so he wouldn't be quite so jangled by the time they got to the actual sparring.

Then she snickered. Jangled. Ha! He was even carrying the bangles for Yue! Oh, she cracked herself up sometimes.

Not that she was going to tell Yusuke any of this, of course. Unless he needed a boost during their match.

Kurama smiled and nodded, starting to lead the way back to his house. It wasn't dinner time yet, and he knew his mother wouldn't have started cooking just yet. He wanted to be sure to tell her before she started cooking, so she wouldn't be inconvenienced at all.

It didn't take too long to get back to his house, and then he toed his shoes off, motioning for Yue to mimick him. "Mother?" he called to the house. "I'm home."

"Oh, Shuichi, dear," his mother called from the kitchen. "Did you have a nice camping trip?"

Kurama hid his grimace. He hated lying to his mother. "Yes, Mother, I did. I hope I didn't worry you."

"Of course not, dear," Shiori said, a smile clear in her voice.

{Fun story time XD
I went to an anime convention in my area a couple weeks ago, and long story short, ended up with a really expensive wig for just $5- it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.... But once I had the wig, I hadn't the faintest idea of what to do with it. So one of my friends, who's been in search of a wig for awhile, asked me to style it like Kurama for her.... So I spent many hours laboring over it... Lots of snipping and bobby pinning and wefting and such involved... and it came out good... It could be thicker, but the only way to make it accurately thick was if I had two wigs to essentially put together- it came out good otherwise.... then my friend ended up getting her own wig, so now I have a Kurama wig sitting my room, all lonely. XD

And now I'm fiercely debating on selling it for more money than I spent on it, or keeping it and cosplaying him.... But I doubt I could pull off a male cosplay easily for obvious reasons.... ^^;

End of story. XD}

The main reason that Yusuke had been running slow was because the jangling was embarrassing; when fish girl wore the damn things the sound seemed very natural- kinda fitting with the whole demonic look. Dark but girly.... But on the biggest baddest badass around, it wasn't so fitting. And putting the things in his pocket or simply carrying them didn't make the sound any quieter.... That fish girl could be quiet as a mouse when she wanted to be though! how the hell did she do that?!

Asking only would have been more embarrassing.

Of course, his thoughts on appearance were blown away by Aleron's challenge. So he couldn't keep up with a girl in terms of fashion, but in a race? Well dammit he wasn't about to be shown up so easily!

"Oh I'm sorry!" He retorted sarcastically, "I didn't consider running against a 'measly girl' a race!" As he spoke he picked up his pace and closed the gap between him and Aleron, but the jangling was thus louder, and made it impossible to take him seriously... The detective couldn't even take himself seriously.

He swore loudly. "I don't care how ignorant fishy is of humans- she did this on purpose!"

------------------

Yue had spent the majority of the trip back to Kurama's in silence, she was a bit nervous as she had little experience with humans other than the unnatural kind, and she'd spent the majority of her life in isolation, so the situation, while at first seemed like a curious idea, now seemed a very intimidating concept. She did her best not to let her nerves show, as it probably was not something a normal human would do; instead she distracted herself by rubbing her arms- as they felt rather bare without the bangles she always wore.... But then it occurred to her that that was not a very natural thing to do either, and so she replaced that action with a lot of fidgeting.

When they arrived however, she did not have to be told twice to take off her shoes- as she preferred being barefoot anyways, and being nervous only made her feel more awkward in human attire.
She listened to the conversation between Kurama... Shuichi- she had to remember to call him that here.... And his mother with a sense of curiosity. The woman's words alone had a very very warm and calming energy, and that very same warmth seemed to permeate the energy of the entire house. She wondered if most human mothers had such a nice feel to them- they must have been wonderful creatures if it were so.
And concentrating on that warm energy and taking a deep breath, Yue was able to calm herself.... a bit.... At the very least she stopped fidgeting, but she still felt nervous.

And so she stood there, feeling nervous, as she did not wish to go further into the house uninvited, and wondered what it was that she should do... But all that ran through her head were things she knew she shouldn't do, and she started fidgeting again.

((Oooooo nice! Yeah, you could probably sell it for quite a bit of money, I'd expect. Especially around convention time, or if you have a convention in your area every year. That could be pretty awesome ^^

My friend went to Comic-Con this past weekend. I'm so jealous!! I could about strangle her. She got signatures from two of my favorite authors, AND two more were there that I didn't get to see. It was kind of maddening and very frustrating.

Maybe I'll get to go next year...))

Aleron laughed when she heard him getting closer, the jingling getting louder. She really couldn't help but laugh at that; it was too easy. Not to mention he sounded ridiculoud, jangling along as he was.

"Hey, at least now I know how to keep track of you!" she yelled back, tauntingly, grinning broadly. "Just attach a bell to you and you give yourself away!"

She ran faster, Loki keeping pace with her easily, grinning. She was half-expecting him to try and tackle her for that comment.

Kurama sent Yue a quick, reassuring smile. Then he motioned for her to follow, giving her a quick once-over. Her human appearance was holding very well, and he had to admit he was impressed.

"Mother," he said, "there's someone I want you to meet. She's a friend of mine."

Shiori turned and smiled warmly at the both of them as they entered the kitchen. "Hello," she greeted. "I'm Shiori. It's always a delight to meet a friend of my son's."

Kurama smiled a little at that, staying next to Yue in case she needed the moral support. But he'd known his mother wouldn't mind her being here.

{I always wanted to go to comic con... but it's so far away from me XD The equivilant over on this side of the U.S is anime boston- and even though that's only two hours or so away, I didn't get to go this year.... My brother and his friend went without me....and I was so mad.... They got to meet so many of my favorite voice actors and artists..... The knew that I was gonna eat them though, so they got me posters while there....

And I ended up going to connecticon without them... And I got to meet team 4star... Whom they love....So it evened out XD}

Yusuke glared daggers at the back of Aleron's head at her comments, even though he could barely hear them over the dang jangling they were still frustrating. "Oh I'll show ya bells!" He shouted, running faster and making a much bigger effort to close the gap, "By the time I'm done with you all you'll hear is damn bells!" Dammit, who the heck did she think she was talking to- saying she was gonna stick bells on him?! And... And why the hell was she sucessfully getting away with it!?

In fact... She picked on him a lot and got away with it.... And the more Yusuke thought about it, the more frustrated he got- not because she got away with it so often, but because he didn't really care- even liked being around her because she was so ready to challenge him.... How narcissistic was that?!
"Good god-" And he didn't mean Koenma, "I'm getting soft!" The thought hit him pretty hard.... What was he doing getting soft when he spent his days fighting demons?... And why didn't the thought bother him more?

Damn... The worst thing about women was that they could mess with your head so much without even trying. Yusuke didn't even know what to think about Aleron, but she was definately doing something to him....

-----------------------------------------

Yue followed Kurama when he motioned for her to do so, fidgeting the whole time; she kept right on twiddling her fingers when he introduced her too, even though she was certain it made her look silly.... but when Shiori spoke that warm energy radiated off of her again, and Yue felt a bit better. She still hesitated a bit, but she wasn't fidgeting incessantly or twiddling her fingers as she bowed politely and replied, "My name is Yue." She smiled a bit, shyly, but close to the usual bright look she normally had on her face, "And it is very nice to meet you too- I have heard many many nice things about you."

She tried very hard to keep her attention on the woman's face while she spoke, but gradually the curiosity to look at what Shiori was doing with her hands got the better of her, and Yue watched with obvious interest as she worked. She wondered for a moment if that seemed strange... but it was very hard not to be curious about human food.... There was just so much work put into it...
"I come from far away." She explained after a moment, "So I am unfamiliar with many things..."

((Oooo nice. Yeah, my friend didn't get me anything from Comic Con. Just told me about the people she saw and put up a bunch of pictures online. I'm still kinda pissed off at her for that.))

Aleron laughed at his threats, still running back towards her house. It wasn't far away now, and then they could go into the back and have a nice little sparring session to work off his energy, if he needed it after this. If not, they could always go collapse on the couch with a couple of cold drinks.

She glanced back once and shot him a grin before she turned the corner and pelted up the street towards her house. After nearly running into the door, she unlocked it and left it open, instead going straight back into the backyard and leaving the sliding glass door open.

There she stood, waiting for Yusuke, panting lightly to get herself a good supply of oxygen. And she was grinning like the cat that ate the canary, drank the cream, and stole the softest pillow to nap on.

"Oh," Shiori said, her eyes widening briefly. "You mean like from another country?"

"Yes, Mother," Kurama interrupted before Yue could get too confused. "From Europe."

"Well, your Japanese is exceptional, dear," Shiori said with a soft smile for Yue. "It's okay if you don't like something. You can eat whatever you want." And she patted Yue's hand. "Now, why don't you two go get washed up for dinner? Everything should be ready soon."

Kurama nodded and led Yue up the stairs to the bathroom he used, turning to smile at her. "See? It's not that hard. And she likes you." He seemed very pleased with that. His mother hadn't met many of his friends, only Yusuke and Kuwabara, and he always liked having her approval, even if he didn't need it.

{I don't blame you o-o I'd be mad too if my friends did that to me! I'd EAT 'EM ALIIIIVE!}

Yusuke followed Aleron through the house and out the back door; he was so in the zone of 'racing' and catching up to her that he blew through the house, knocking a couple things over without realizing it and out the back door, only to stand there wondering what to do next since Aleron was standing still waiting for him. It was like a dog that had caught a car that it'd been chasing and now had no idea what to do with it....
Aleron meanwhile looked quite delighted with getting him all riled up and frustrated out of his wits.... Which sucessfully frustrated him even more.

"Damn you're annoying as heck sometimes!' He exclaimed through his panting for breath; he didn't sound particularly angry though, more or less mocking- teasing. "Must be a girl thing." He added after a moment, glancing down at the bangles he still held... He'd forgotten to put them down when he ran through the house... And now here he was, most likely about to spar, sure as hell not about to back down, with a crapload of jewelery he had to protect.... He coulda sworn from the look on Aleron's face that she had planned the whole dang thing.... which wasn't possible, but boy, it sure seemed like it...
"Well screw jewelery!" He threw the bangles in his pocket and decided to hope for the best, "I'll still win!"

------------

Yue blinked when Kurama mentioned she was from 'your rope'.... Humans had strange names for countries.... She refrained from asking about it though, as it wouldn't have been pertinent.... Still, lying like that about where she was from- even if she didn't fully understand the lie, made her stomach twinge guiltily. She was a horrible liar as it was, nevermind to someone who had such nice energy and felt so warm.

Then came the pat on the head and the comment about her Japanese, which only led to more questions- did humans from different places speak different languages? What a strange concept that was! How in the world did so many countries coincide if they couldn't understand each other?
By the time that Kurama led her up the stairs to get cleaned up, she was having a rather difficult time not asking questions... And he said it wasn't so hard! Either she was doing a better job than she thought not letting her face show her questions, or he had more faith in her than she felt she deserved.

"I like her too." Yue said with a smile after a moment, "She has an... incredible energy... not powerful like you or I... but... something amazingly warm and powerful in a different way." She obviously wasn't entirely sure how to explain it, but it was something she had immediately felt and immediately liked about the woman- maybe that was a human mother thing, like Kurama had mentioned. "And she smells just like you." She added thoughtfully, as if it was relevant, "That makes her much easier to talk to."

((O.O OMG I'm so sorry I haven't posted!! I had family over that I had to help take care of, and then I went on a little mini vacation, and now I feel horrible for not posting... T.T))

Aleron outright laughed at him. "Oh, yes, I'm sure," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I'll just be able to hear you coming from a mile away."

She started circling him, slowly, like a predator watching a particularly tasty prey animal. She even had the smirk to go with it, her eyes bright as she watched him, waiting for him to make the first move. She could be patient and wait. She could even goad him into attacking her.

But she'd just circle and watch and see what he did. She almost wanted to make him squirm. Almost.

Well. Maybe she would, later. That would be fun.

Kurama smiled. "I understand," he said quietly. "Her energy is unique, I think. I haven't met another human quite like her." And that was saying something, since he'd met a lot of humans through the years.

Then he chuckled quietly. "She probably smells like me because she is related to me, this body at least," he said, his lips twitching. "And I do live here." He turned on the water in the bathroom he used, washing his hands before moving aside so she could get to the sink easily.

"Oh, I'll answer your questions later. I know you must have a few by now, so try to remember them and I'll answer the ones I can after dinner."

{O-o HAha, we keep apologizing to each other whenever we get busy.... Well, in my case, I just got an apartment in the city close to school and have been real busy moving into that.... And I got a new laptop, so I lost all my websites and stuff.... and blah.... Sorry if there's a crapload of typos in this post! And sorry I'm not more consistent and reliable >_<}

Yusuke watched as Aleron circled around her like a vulture waiting to swoop in on a meal... except she looked a lot smarter than a vulture- a lot more conniving.... damn, that must have been what girl vultures were like.... She was just waiting for him to make a move- even Yusuke wasn't dumb enough to overlook that.... But unfortunately, he wasn't very patient either, so he knew he wouldn't last in trying to wait her out.... Oh well, the best way to get rid of a trap sometimes is to spring it....

"You'll be able to hear the sound of your defeat, that's what you'll hear!" He finally shouted in retort to her previous statement while he lunged; now of course, he knew that he shouldn't have held back... and really, he wasn't, but the thought of trying to sock Aleron in the face just didn't appeal to him.... because he doubted he'd hit anyways, and on the off chance he did, he'd definitely regret it. So while he lunged at her, he aimed a spiritually charged punch at the ground, hoping the crater he created would knock her off balance.... and hoping she didn't make him clean it up later...

-----------------

Yue washed her hands with a sheepish smile on her face, Kurama always read her like an open book when it came to questions.... But at least he answered them with more patience most people did- she knew she asked an awful lot, and most of them were probably things that seemed awfully silly to humans.... But most of the things that humans considered normal were awfully silly to her, so perhaps it was a moot point....
"I pity you when that time comes!" She finally said with a laugh- she was going to have an awful lot of questions for him to answer. "I am fairly good at remembering things, especially questions."

They made their way downstairs again, and by that point the food was starting to smell wonderful; Yue was used to Aleron's cooking, but she didn't think that her friend had ever cooked such a thing- whatever it was.... or at least not in the same way if she had.... The smell was unfamiliar anyways.... but it was good. She was starting to have a difficult time not asking what was being cooked.