To Be Me

Chapter Sixteen

"You wanna get back together?" He took a seat at the table and she did the same.

"Well I thought about it. I can understand why you wanna be with your friends so much. They are just like you, so you feel comfortable with them. I realized that if I want to be with you I have to accept who and what you are." She took his hand, squeezing gently.

Taree was walking around in the living room searching for her shoes, so she heard every word. She was going for a walk, some Me Time was definitely needed. She wanted to go in there and smack the girl but decided against it. She seemed like a nice person and it wasn't Taree's place. But she so wanted to go in there. Not to go tell her that Yusuke and she had just kissed. Taree guessed some people thought and felt different than herself. She didn't understand how Keiko could say that but Yusuke seemed to be buying it. If Keiko wanted to be with Yusuke it shouldn't be because she accepts him for who and what he is. It should be because she loves him for who and what he is. Big difference in her opinion but they say opinions are like assholes. Not wanting to interrupt their reconciliation she snuck out the front door.

"So are you saying you aren't going to get mad when I have to go a mission or hang out with my friends?" He asked.

"I'm saying I'm going to try and accept it."

"Good because Koenma just rehired me. I gotta stay here with Kurama and the others. You might get mad but those three girls are staying also." He saw her eyebrow twitch in anger.

"So there's going to be three females staying with you, alone."

"It's not like that Keiko. Two of them are in danger and Koenma wants us to keep an eye on them. The only one I'll be sharing a bed with is Hiei." Okay, so he'd just kissed one of them but him and Keiko hadn't been back together yet.

"So, how are we suppose to spend time together tonight if you are here?"

"Hell, I don't know. I don't think Kurama will care if you hung out here." He opened his mouth and started to insert his foot.

"Really?"

"Hang out here if you want, like I said there's three girls here I'm sure you'll get along with atleast one of them." He just hoped Taree wouldn't go running her mouth about the kiss. Not like he could blame it on her since he was the one to kiss her.

"Great."


Mai had all three suitcases packed and three carry-on bags. She hoped she wasn't forgetting anything important. Kurama came into the room and helped her grab everything. Mr. Sinato was going to drive them all to the apartment, the kids wanted to see Kagome and Tar.

"Is that everything?" Kurama took the luggage from her. "I hope so, I'm not sure we will have room for all this."

"Sorry, oh I need something out the dojo." She placed the luggage she was holding and placed it on the porch. She opened the wooden doors and walked inside. She found what she was looking for. Two bows were sitting in the corner, along with the quivers. She opened the chest on the floor and stuffed as many of the arrows Kagome had bought into each. Who would have thought that they'd one day come in handy.

"Bows?" Kurama asked. "What do you plan to do with them?"

"They aren't mine but the other two will want them."

"Okay, ready?" They got everything in the small bus along with the kids. Mai was forced to sit in Kurama's lap, since none of the children would give up their seat and Sinato was driving.

Mai settled down on his legs trying to put some distance between them, it wasn't easy. His hands came to rest on her waist, she jerked at the contact. She could swear he was laughing at her. She could also swear Mr. Sinato was hitting every pothole on purpose causing her to bounce in his lap. They were halfway there when she noticed someone walking. "Is that Taree?"

"Yes, it is." Kurama scanned around, he didn't sense anyone else near her. Where were the others?

She looked up to see the van coming towards her and waved. They pulled up beside her. "Hey, can I get a lift back?"

Mai opened the door, "Get in! What are you doing out here by yourself?" She moved over and Tar climbed on his other leg. "You okay with this?"

"Sure," Kurama wasn't going to complain. The small girl weighed almost nothing. Though he wondered why Hiei and Yusuke had let her leave all by herself. "What are you doing walking?"

"Oh, I'm not sure where Hiei and Kagome are but Yusuke was busy so I decided to go for a walk."

"Busy doing what?" Mai asked.

"Oh, his girlfriend came by to spend sometime with him. I needed to get some fresh air and I didn't want to interrupt them so I left." Tar informed them, she left the part about running away from the scene.

Kurama was going to give them both a piece of his mind when they got back. Their main concern was Tar, yet both of them had been too preoccupied to notice she'd left. It nagged at him, Hiei was with Kagome which was one of their charges so he could be forgiven. But even if Keiko was there, Yusuke still shouldn't have let her leave the house without him. The closer they got to the house something was nagging him.

"Stop here, now." Tar shouted. "Something is at the apartment, do you feel that?" The van came to a complete stop. "Mai, did you grab them?"

"Yeah, by Aiko's feet." The little kids passed the bows and quivers up front, handing them to Mai. The three climbed out the vehicle. "Stay here when it's safe we will come back." The older man nodded.

Kurama was already running towards his apartment, Mai kept one of the weapons and handed the other to Tar. They ran to catch up to the fox.

Yusuke slugged the closest youkai as Hiei cut through another. He was thankful for the fire youkai's timing. Yusuke didn't know where the two had been nor did her care. Him and Keiko had decided to take a seat on the couch to finish talking. She had leaned over to kiss him when they'd been interrupted. Now, him and Hiei were fighting off youkai after youkai outside in the damn street of all places. It was a good thing the place was located in a remote neighborhood, so far only an elderly lady had come outside. Everyone else was either at work or not home. Needless to say the old lady ran back inside screaming about monsters. Keiko and Kagome were standing inside the doorway, watching them.

Yusuke turned in time to see a youkai heading straight for him long claws raise.

"Rose whip," It fell to the ground as Kurama landed beside him. He looked around to see the two girls were okay. "What is going on here?"

"How the hell should I know. We just suddenly started to get attacked for some reason. Don't ask me where the hell they are all coming from." Yusuke punched another that came within range.

Kagome couldn't believe all the youkai coming out of thin air. It reminded her of Naraku's attacks but worse. They weren't rushing at them from a distance, they were just suddenly appearing out of thin air. Keiko was standing behind her watching them fight. Kagome felt her heart drop when a large horse youkai appeared only ten feet in front of her and Keiko sword raised. "Shit."

"Get down," Mai shouted.

Tar released the arrow hoping it would be strong enough. It caught the demon as he came down, slicing him in half. "Got him." They ran over to the two girls, the men were all busy fighting the others.

Kagome took the bow and quiver Mai offered. "Thanks, great timing. We gotta help them, Mai can you stay with her?"

"Yep, be careful you two." She stepped in front of the scared girl.

Kagome grabbed Taree's hand and they ran a few feet away from the battle. A good view point was needed to find the source.

"Yusuke!" Keiko screamed as he was knocked down by some type of bird. He fell on his back to avoid the sharp claws.

"Got it," Tar let the arrow go, striking the bird in the head. "Find the source Kagome while I keep them at bay." She notched another arrow looking around. Hiei seemed to be doing fine, he was easily cutting through the youkai as they appeared. Kurama was the same. Another charged Mai and Keiko but Mai took care of it, she burnt the damn thing to a cinder before it got close.

Kagome was looking around but couldn't see anything. "Hiei, what's causing them?"

The fire demon heard her yell and looked over. "Top of the building." He was trying to make his way over but was being constantly piled by youkai.

She looked up then saw it, some type of oval doorway. A red light was emitting from it, pulsing as each youkai was sent in. "Think I should shoot inside it?"

"Yeah, go for it. The most that will happen is we all blow up."

"Thanks Tar, I feel so confident now."

"Shut up and shoot the damn thing already." She released another arrow taking down one coming for them.

Kagome notched her arrow, focusing on the target. "Please hit." She released it, the arrow flew across the distance in a bright blue light. It collided with the portal, trying to work it's way in. "Dammit, one isn't enough."

"Let's see how it handles four. On the count of three." Tar notched two arrows and waited for Kagome to do the same. "Hiei keep them off please." The fire youkai landed in front of them, not sure how they thought they could close it. "One, Two, Three." Both girls released, all four streaked across the distance.

A loud cracking sound was heard as each one impacted. There was a loud popping sound as the portal closed. Kurama and Hiei tore through the rest of the youkai while Yusuke ran over to check on Keiko. He didn't see the spider youkai charge him into he was suddenly pinned beneath it.

Yusuke grabbed the thing by the legs and brought his foot up to kick it off. It skidded to a halt several feet away, quickly getting back on its feet. He was about to charge it when it suddenly was torn in half by an arrow. He turned to see Tar nod at him and smile. For some reason the smile tugged at his heart and it pissed him off. "I didn't need your damn help, I could have killed it."

"Bite me asshole." Next time she'd let the spider eat his balls.

"Thank you, for the help." Kurama walked up to them. "Despite what he says, Yusuke appreciates it also."

"Yeah right." Taree walked past him and towards Mai, which meant towards Keiko and Yusuke. Hiei decided to get rid of the mess, so he burnt all the corpses within seconds.

"Mai, I think me and you should go get your things. I don't think it safe for the others to come here." Kurama started walking down the street to collect the luggage.


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