Naomi got up as well.

"I may as well go with you," she said. "Make sure you don't get lost or anything and end up being eaten or something." Not that it was all that likely, in this stretch of the woods, but even still. It was possible.

"Eaten?!" Al yelped. "By what?!" Naomi shrugged.

"Never know," she said. "There are certainly human-eaters out there, and the occasional animal-based demon who has a taste for humans. Certain plants, maybe, but they usually don't grow in the human world."

"And Genkai would say it's good for you to sleep outside," Kurama replied promptly. The little bit of retribution for Yusuke's teasing felt good.

"I doubt anything could eat us," Ed said. He wasn't just being cocky. He'd been in his fair share of fights, and he knew what he could do. Besides, he had a record for ass-kicking.

He stepped outside anyway, just standing in the sunshine for a moment. It felt nice after the chill of the house.

Yusuke glared at Kurama. "And she's an insane old hag," he complained. "Besides, I don't see you sleeping outside."

Al followed his brother outside, relaxing once he was out in the sun. It felt good to be out in the warm again.

"Say that again when something is spitting flesh-melting acid at your face," Naomi replied. Pulling a hair tie out of her pocket, she pulled her hair back and went outside with them. It was much warmer outside than in the house, especially now that the sun was out. It was still decently cool, though, maybe only sixty-five degrees or so, seventy at the most. Not too hot, but not cold, either, though still very warm for Naomi.

Kurama shrugged slightly.

"I've done so in the past," he said. "It isn't something I particularly enjoy."

Ed just shrugged and started looking around without walking anywhere. He wanted to get a better feeling for the place before he went off tromping anywhere. After all, this place was apparently dangerous.

"Ha! See?!" Yusuke grinned.

"Moron," Hiei said from behind Yusuke. Then he turned his gaze to Kurama. "You've gotten soft, fox."

Osanna blinked, getting confused now.

Naomi followed the brothers, just keeping an eye on them. Inwardly, though, (and she would never admit it aloud) she was kind of enjoying the nice weather. She hadn't been lying when she said she needed actual warmth once in a while.

"Perhaps," Kurama acknowledged. "But I also didn't hear you complain about having shelter for the night, Hiei."

Ed looked over at her. "Alright. Tell me about this place. You mentioned there's lots of demons. How do I know when I see one?"

"Only because it was easier to stay in here than out there and have you two come looking for me," Hiei said. "You've done it before."

Osanna wasn't quite brave enough to interrupt, so she just watched for now, very confused.

"You didn't before," Naomi pointed out, teasing him just a little. "Really, it's just practice and intuition." She threw out her senses a little, to see if there were any demons around. "There's nothing around here, though," she said after a moment. "Just Osanna and those other three." She gestured off to the right. "There's usually a water sprite who lives in the pond out that way, but she leaves for the winter and hasn't gotten back yet."

"There was a time when that wouldn't have stopped you," Kurama pointed out.

Ed nodded. "So they look like normal people. Got it." He frowned as he looked around. "Shouldn't there be more people around?"

Hiei shrugged. "Like I said. This was easier."

"Out here?" Naomi asked. She shook her head. "This is the edge of town, hardly anyone lives out here." After a moment, she added, "There are ways you can tell if someone's human or not. They aren't foolproof, mind you, but it makes it easier sometimes."

"If you say so," Kurama replied, letting the conversation drop.

Ed looked over at her. "Like what?" He was curious, and it might help him, so he would be nice. For the moment.

Hiei looked at Osanna and snorted before he walked away. Osanna was holding her whiteboard in front of her with I'm lost... written on it.

Yusuke snickered when he saw. "You two have fun. Go play with some plants or somethng," he said as he retreated.

"The more obvious things, I guess," Naomi replied. "Pointed ears, maybe sharper teeth, hair and eye colors that would be unnatural on a human..." She paused. "Well, not including contacts and hair dye, but dye jobs tend to look fake." She absently reached up and ran her fingers through the blue stripe in her own hair as she spoke.

Kurama rolled his eyes a little. Typical.

"Ignore them," he said to Osanna. "They have been my friends for a long time, so they sometimes take great pleasure in teasing me."

Ed nodded. "Yeah, I can tell." He frowned as he looked around again. "Anything else I'll need to watch out for?" At least he was getting some forewarning...

Osanna nodded and started writing again. How come Yusuke's lumping us together? Are you like me? She could tell he was a full demon; he had way more power than she did. But he had come to look at her plants.

Naomi blinked.

"What, this?" she said, tugging at the blue hair. "No, this isn't dye. This is actually natural." Tugging out a strand of hair, she held it up so he could see that the root was the same color as the rest of the strand. "Courtesy of my father and all that."

"I wouldn't say we're exactly the same," Kurama replied. "But we're similar enough."

Ed nodded. "It doesn't have the same kind of color that dye would," he agreed, looking at the strand for a few moments. "We won't be getting any surprise visits from your father, will we?"

Osanna nodded, content with that answer. She wiped the whiteboard clean and set it aside before she watered a couple of the plants in there, checking them all again absently. She knew there was something going on this week, she just couldn't quite remember what or when...

Naomi shook her head.

"No, it's way too warm around here," she said. "Especially now that the weather is warming up even more. The only one in my family who would ever show up here is my mother."

"How big is your family?" Al asked, curious.

"Not really," Naomi said. "Just me and my mom... My father lives elsewhere, with my half-siblings."

Kurama just watched her as she went about taking care of the plants.

Ed nodded. "Well at least we don't have to worry about that. I assume your mom is human."

Osanna suddenly stopped, looking like she'd eaten a live worm. She managed to put the watering can down instead of dropping it and bolted into the kitchen, starting to look around and pulling things out quickly.

"Hey, what'd you do to her?" Yusuke asked from his place in the living room, having seen her run out of the office.

Naomi nodded.

"Yeah, she is," she replied. "She lives a bit further south, where it stays warmer longer. I visit her every so often, so she doesn't have to come up here and deal with the cold."

"That's nice of you," Al commented.

Kurama looked just as bewildered as he walked out of the office.

"I didn't do anything," he replied.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. So, what about them?" He nodded to Osanna's house. "Is she like you?"

Yusuke blinked as Osanna started putting things aside, rummaging through seemingly every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen before she was satisfied. Then she started scribbling quickly before shoving the notebook at Kurama.

My grandfather's coming for dinner. I completely forgot. You might be safer over at Naomi's house.

"Osanna?" Naomi shook her head. "No, she's descended from an animal-spirit. One of her grandparents is a fox, I believe. She isn't element-based like I am."

Kurama handed the notebook over to Yusuke once he had read it.

"It seems we're about to change venues," he said.

Ed nodded. "Okay. So what can she do? Since we know you form frost and ice, and you make rooms colder."

"And miss out on all the free food? Damn." Yusuke shrugged. "What's so scary about your grandpa anyway?"

Osanna scribbled a quick reply in between preparing food. He's one of the last known full-blooded Blood Foxes left, and he's powerful. Has lots of connections. He can be scary.

"She likes plants," Naomi replied. "I try to stay away from her plants. They either try to eat my fingers, or they die."

Kurama nodded and started to push Yusuke towards the door.

"We will stay out of your way," he said to Osanna.

Ed couldn't help but laugh at that. "Funny. I never would have figured her for the violent type." He grinned, his mood improving now that he was in the sun doing something at least somewhat useful.

Hiei vanished. He'd rather stay outside than go have a battle of wills over the room temperature with the halfling again. So he found a nice tree and sat there.

"Hey Kurama, what's a Blood Fox and why d'you think she practically pushed us out the door?" Yusuke looked over at Kurama, walking with his hands in his pockets.

"She's quiet, that doesn't mean she's spineless," Naomi said. "She's actually pretty bold." She paused when she sensed the other three getting closer to her house. "That's strange... Osanna isn't with them..." She wasn't looking forward to dealing with the one in black again. He made her uncomfortable.

"They aren't common," Kurama replied as they walked. "At all. I've never met one myself, which tells you just how uncommon they are. They're like any other fox... but there is something special about their blood, hence the name."

Ed looked over at them, his eyes narrowing a bit. He didn't much like any of them. "So what? Field trip time for them now?"

Yusuke nodded. "Okay. Any idea how powerful they get?" Just in case. It never hurt to know these things.

"I think we should go back and see what's going on," Naomi replied. "It must be something if Osanna isn't with them."

"It varies amongst individuals, as with all demons," Kurama replied. "I'm not sure where they top out."