Author's Note: Hello! This little story was written for the YYHBB Project on tumblr (yyhbb . tumblr . com), and it was such a fun project! The artist for this story was MaijiMary Huang (maiji . tumblr . com), and the art she created for this story can be found on my tumblr page (tv-writes-ff . tumblr. com) so go take a look! I highly recommend checking out her other artwork as well, because all of her artwork is amazing!

Etched Into Skin Like Scars

Present: January 6, 2042

"If you don't wake up in the next thirty seconds, I'm gonna release the little beasts and give them free reign." Yusuke groaned at the sound of the low voice hissing in his ear and tried to roll over, but a surprisingly strong grip stopped him and kept him on his back. He said surprisingly strong because the hand was small and the fingers were thin, but it only took a single hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving.

"You're bluffing," Yusuke mumbled without opening his eyes. He was tired and didn't want to wake up, but he also didn't want the "little beasts" to start crawling all over him. They were adorable, sure, but they had sharp knees and elbows.

"When have I ever bluffed?" Damn, she had him there. Yusuke struggled to open one eye, finally succeeded, and then worked on opening the second eye. A few moments later, he took in the sight of shaggy auburn hair and bright aqua eyes. Ugh, it was too early for that manic grin to be aimed at him.

"Why?" he asked her. He managed to get his palms pressed flat against the mattress and hefted himself up, and he grunted a little as his back hit against his headboard. It was progress at least.

"Because you've got a full day ahead of you, remember? Policy renewals with Hokushin after breakfast, meetings with some clan heads after lunch, and then we have to keep preparing for the Anniversary Celebration next month. So get your lazy ass up!" Koto yelled and yanked at his blanket. Yusuke yelped as he tried to grab it back, but Koto had a strong grip. The blanket was completely removed and tossed to the ground, and Yusuke crossed his arms as he glared at Koto.

"Worst assistant ever," he grumbled as Koto started pulling on his ankle.

"You take that back right now! I am the best assistant ever!" She gave a really strong pull to his ankle, and Yusuke didn't have time to make a sound before he was pulled over the edge of the mattress. His back hit the hard ground a second later, and large aqua eyes appeared over his face a moment later. "Shower, now!"

"I'm filing a complaint!" He pointed a finger up at her, close enough to her face that he was nearly tapping the end of her nose, and he watched as her eyes crossed for a moment. Then she pulled back and lightly kicked at his arm.

"Duly noted. On your feet, Urameshi!" Koto grabbed his upper arms and pulled him up, and Yusuke weaved a little on his feet. Then Koto was pushing against the center of his back to steer him towards the bathroom. He'd just stumbled inside when Koto yelled his name again, and he turned around just in time to catch the bundle of clothes she'd thrown at him.

"A really long complaint!" he shouted as the bathroom door slammed closed. He could hear Koto cackling in the other room, and he rolled his eyes as he shuffled over to the shower. The clothes got tossed onto the sink counter, and he waited a minute for the water to heat up before stepping into the shower.

His assistant…He may complain about Koto constantly, but he would be pretty useless without her. Which did hurt him to admit, and that was why he only admitted it to himself. He had a sinking suspicion that Koto knew though. It was a weird arrangement, especially considering how they first met, but it worked for them now. Koto had been working for him since the end of the Demon World Rebellion, or whatever they were calling it now, so for nearly ten years now. It'd taken some getting used to in the early years, but it worked now. Koto kept track of all the shit he had to deal with, and Tourin ran a little more smoothly with her helping him.

"Did you drown?!" Yusuke cut off the shower and stepped out, and he quickly scrubbed a towel over his hair and body.

"I'm almost done!" he shouted and started yanking on clothes. Most of the mirror in the bathroom was foggy, but he could see a little bit of his reflection. It'd been fifty years since his second death and then resurrection as a half-demon, but he still looked sixteen most days. It was frustrating.

"You're such a diva, Urameshi. We could already be eating if you didn't have to gel your hair," Koto said as he walked back into his bedroom. She was sitting on the bench that stretched across the foot of the bed, and he saw that his bed had been perfectly made while he was in the shower. That wasn't one of Koto's jobs, but he'd learned over the years that cleanliness was one of her quirks. She loved violence and bloodshed, but she didn't like little messes. It didn't make any sense to him, but he wasn't about to argue with it either.

"No one told you to wait around for me," he pointed out. Koto huffed and crossed her arms, and Yusuke stopped in front of her.

"If I leave you to your own devices, the whole kingdom will burn. Now start moving! I'm hungry," Koto declared and surged to her feet. She grabbed his wrist before marching out of the room, and Yusuke let her drag him along. There was no point in fighting her; she usually won in the end, and he had learned that it was easier to just go along with her.

"Urameshi! What's takin' you so long?!" Kuwabara yelled from the ground floor.

"He was still getting his beauty sleep!" Koto called down. Yusuke heard Kuwabara make some kind of snorting sound before walking off, and he narrowed his eyes at the back of Koto's head.

"Who am I meeting with today?" Yusuke asked her instead of arguing about her beauty sleep comment. It was still too early for him to argue properly.

"Fox and Panther Clans. Something about the panthers moving in on fox territory. Don't worry, Kurama is in Gandara for the next couple of weeks so there shouldn't be any problems there and—"

"Kurama has problems with the Fox Clan? Or the Panther Clan?" Yusuke interrupted. He wasn't the best ruler, he kept forgetting the details of the small politics, but that was what made Koto so good to have around. She remembered everything about everyone.

"The Fox Clan has problems with Kurama. Remember how he used to be ruthless and stole from everybody? That includes the Lords and Ladies of the Fox Clan." Yusuke thought that over and realized that it made some sense. Koto was always telling him that demons had really long memories and could hold grudges for centuries, and he believed her on that one.

"Okay, you can continue." Koto sighed and pulled sharply on his wrist, and Yusuke stumbled over a step. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"I will also be out of the room during the meeting." Yusuke felt his brows furrowing at that, because Koto always stuck around for the meetings. She took notes and made sure that he didn't forget anything important.

"Why?"

"The Fox Clan doesn't like me very much either." She must have felt his curious look, because she looked over her shoulder at him and then pursed her lips. "Half fox and half cat? My mixed species technically shouldn't be possible, but here I am. The fox purists don't like me very much, so the meeting will go a little easier if I'm not there."

"That's dumb. That's like when that one giant spider thing told me I was an abomination for only being half-demon," Yusuke said with a roll of his eyes. Koto had her faults, sure, but none of those faults had anything to do with her species.

"Did ya kill him?" Koto asked as they finally reached the ground floor.

"Of course," Yusuke answered. Koto was still laughing as she pulled him into the dining room, but his laughter had died off by the time she pushed him into his seat. He wound up sitting next to Torio, Kuwabara and Yukina's six year old son, and a pair of bright red eyes looked up at him. He looked to his other side to see a pair of identical bright red eyes, because Torio's twin sister Taji was sitting on his other side.

"Good morning, Uncle Urameshi!" the twins yelled. Yusuke reached up to ruffle their mint green hair, which made both of them laugh. Yusuke liked the twins. They were both kind like their mother, but they had their father's stubbornness.

The dining room table filled up pretty quickly, and Yusuke relaxed back in his chair as he listened to everyone talking. Tourin was usually packed full of people, so it was a good thing that Yusuke lived in a castle-looking thing instead of those weird cylinders that Raizen lived in. Kuwabara and Yukina always lived in Tourin, with the twins. Jin and Touya were usually in Tourin, when they weren't traveling around. Chu and Natsume stayed in Tourin most of the time, along with Rinku and Sasuga. Juri and Suzuka had decided to make Tourin their home, and Kujou and Shishiwakamaru were around more than they weren't. Then there was Hokushin and Ruka, along with their little hellion. Yasuo was only five, but the kid was impossible to control. He had Ruka's bright red hair and dark brown eyes, but he was as diplomatic as Hokushin and could talk his way out of anything. Others dropped in from time to time, but those were the only constants.

"Guess what we're talking about today, Uncle Urameshi!" Taji yelled and looked up at him with wide eyes. Yusuke quickly swallowed the food in his mouth and then looked down at the six year old.

"Um, your colors?" The little girl started to giggle, but Yusuke wasn't sure why. He didn't know what six year old demons learned in school.

"We're talking about the War!" Torio yelled. Yusuke could see a few people around the table tense, but he kept smiling down at the twins.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yesterday, we learned that the War was a rebellion that started at the end of the second Demon World Tournament. Emperor Enki called for the three former Kings to aid him in the rebellion. That means you, right, Uncle Urameshi?" Taji asked and looked up at him.

"Yeah, I was one of the former Kings," Yusuke said slowly. And he was now one of the current Kings of Demon World, alongside Mukuro and Yomi. They were reinstated at the end of the War and given their previous territories.

"So you fought in the War?" Torio asked from his other side. Most of the people sitting at the table had fought in the War, in one way or another, and Yusuke shifted in his seat a little.

"You'll have to go to school today and find out," Yusuke settled on. The twins pouted, but he wasn't going to change his answer. They eventually turned back to their food, and Yusuke realized that everyone else was quieter than usual as they ate.

Around thirty minutes later, the table started to empty. The kids were taken to school, which was located close to the palace, and everyone else moved off to do whatever they did during the day. Yusuke nodded to Hokushin before the Earth demon left the room, to let him know that they'd meet up soon, and then the dining room was practically empty. Demons were coming in to clear off the table, and Yusuke realized only one other person was left sitting at the table. Koto. She was finishing up her breakfast, and Yusuke watched as she daintily wiped at her mouth. Her chair barely made any noise as she got to her feet, and Yusuke slumped in his chair as she walked over to him. She propped her arms along the back of his chair and looked down at him, and he turned sideways in his chair so that he could look up at her.

"Does talking about the War bother you?" Koto's eyes never moved from his as she asked it, because Koto's always been a direct person.

"Parts of it," he answered honestly. The War lasted for thirty-seven years, and Yusuke was there for all of it. Some parts were pretty straight-forward; he fought against demons, and he won. Other parts were a little more difficult; there were things he saw off the battlefield that stuck with him, and there were some things that he wished he could forget. "Does thinking about the War bother you?"

"Parts of it," Koto answered with a small smile.

"Probably true for everyone."

"Mhmm. Now, enough of memory lane! You've got policies to renew!" Koto yelled and clapped her hands. Yusuke rolled his eyes before rolling to his feet, and he looked down at Koto once he was standing.

"Are you coming?" he asked her.

"Not today. I have to get the meeting room prepared for the Clan meeting. I'll leave some notes in your chair." Koto reached up to ruffle his hair, which was a big stretch for her, and she danced away before he could retaliate. He briefly thought about running after her but decided against it in the end. The last thing he needed was Hokushin tracking him down and dragging him across the palace while lecturing him on his kingly duties. Again.

.xXx.

"Does thinking about the War bother you?"

"What kind of question was that anyway? Of course it does! And he knows that it does! Or is he really that dense?" Koto grumbled to herself while she set up a little snack table. Yusuke probably just wasn't thinking clearly. He normally didn't start to think coherently until after lunch, so she couldn't really hold that question against him. She only asked him that question because she saw his face when the twins started talking about the War, and she'd been curious. They don't really talk about the War; Yusuke and Koto don't talk about it to each other, and the others avoid the subject too.

Maybe she shouldn't have asked him that. Koto knew, firsthand, that some parts of the War were very dark. Whole cities and towns were destroyed, and some nights she couldn't get the stench of decaying bodies out of her nose. She loved violence, loved watching fights, but that…the things she saw during the War were deplorable. She'd never seen so much death and decay, and she hoped to never see that much again. She was even okay with there being no more tournaments. These days, she actually preferred working as a King's assistant. Even if that King was Yusuke Urameshi. (Oh, who was she kidding? She owed Yusuke, and she'd rather work for him than any of the others.)

"Are you alright, Koto? You're grumbling angrily to yourself again." Koto looked up as Ruka walked into the main meeting room, and she rolled her eyes where the redhead could see.

"Just preparing for the Clan meeting this afternoon," she sighed. It was her job to escort the Clan heads into the palace and then back out of it, and she wasn't looking forward to it. The Panther Clan didn't have anything against her specifically, but the Fox Clan wasn't her biggest fan. The feeling was mutual.

"Are you writing down notes for our fearless king?" Ruka asked with a quiet laugh. Koto and Ruka were friends, they had been ever since the first Demon World Tournament, but the redhead was always surprising Koto. Like when she settled down with Hokushin. That was a pairing that Koto hadn't seen coming, but they worked together. Their little boy was adorable too, even if he was a tiny hellion.

"If I don't, he'll say something to insult someone. Then again, he'll probably do that anyway." Koto was sitting in the chair that Yusuke would use, and she was scribbling down as many notes as she could remember. It was mostly little things, nothing too important, but sometimes it was the little things that kept an alliance strong. The different canine and feline clans were spread throughout Tourin, and it was important to keep everyone happy. Or as happy as possible.

"He'll be fine. All of the clan heads are too afraid of him to do anything if he did insult them," Ruka said as she sat down next to her. That was the chair that Hokushin would sit in.

"That's comforting actually. Thanks," Koto said with a wide grin. She needed to stop thinking about the past. Thinking about the past wouldn't do anything to help her or anyone else, so what was the point?

"And if one of the clan heads says anything really insensitive, just tell Yusuke and let him take care of it," Ruka said with a wave of her hand.

"Like Urameshi would risk angering an entire clan just to defend my honor?" Koto asked her friend. She could hear the disbelief in her voice, but Ruka was already laughing.

"We both know that Yusuke would happily fight to defend your honor. He's done it before," Ruka said with a pointed look.

"What? When?" Koto couldn't remember Yusuke fighting to defend her honor…he'd fought to protect her on a few occasions, like during the War, but that wasn't the same as him defending her honor.

"Remember when Sachi was born? Enki and Kokou threw a giant celebration about a week after she was born, and they invited the entire kingdom? Day four of the celebration, when that wolf guy kept pulling on you to get you to dance? Remember that?" Koto looked down at her lap as she thought back, and she nearly groaned aloud when she finally remembered.

Right, Sachi's birth celebration. Sachi was born nearly one year after the end of the War, and she was still Enki and Kokou's only child. Enki and Kokou celebrated her birth for nearly two weeks, it was a truly great celebration, and Koto did remember day four of the celebration. The wolf that had asked her to dance had been cute, but she'd wanted to dance on her own. So she'd turned him down, not that it had stopped him. She remembered yelling at him when he started pulling on her arm, and that was around the time that Yusuke had shown up. He'd knocked the wolf halfway across the field and then stood next to Koto while she danced with a menacing look on his face for the rest of the night.

"Okay, you may have a point," Koto conceded and leaned back in the chair. Still, she wouldn't tell Yusuke if either of the clan heads said anything. The last thing any of them needed was some kind of fight, and she could handle a few mean words.

"Do you need any help?" Ruka asked her after a moment.

"No, I'm almost done." Koto scribbled down a few more little reminders and then left the piece of paper on the seat of the chair. Hopefully, Yusuke would see it before sitting down. If not…well, she tried.

.xXx.

-At the end, make small talk! I know you hate it, but it's important! Just ask Lord Jaylen how his family is doing or something

Yusuke quickly read over the last instruction Koto had left for him and sighed. The end of the meeting was finally over, and he'd somehow found a way to appease both lords. The territory dispute was over, and Lord Mairu from the Panther Clan was talking quietly with his attendant or whatever over by the snack table. Lord Jaylen was sitting by himself, so Yusuke squared his shoulders and then rocked up onto his feet. All of Koto's other instructions had helped out, and he couldn't think of a good reason to ignore the last one. He walked over to the couch that Lord Jaylen was sitting on and slowly lowered himself down.

"Lord Jaylen, how is your family?" Yusuke asked as nicely as he could manage. He wasn't a fan of the clan heads, or the nobles as some of the others called them, but he knew he had to try to be nice to them to keep the peace.

"They are doing quite well. Thank you for asking, King Urameshi. I am considering bringing my eldest, Chiyo, to the Emperor's Celebration next month," the fox said and looked over at him. He was giving him some kind of pointed look, but Yusuke couldn't figure out what the other demon was trying to say.

"You should! It's supposed to be a good time," Yusuke said and smiled. The first day of the celebration would probably be very formal, to make the clan heads happy. After that? It was probably just going to be a big mixture of drinking, dancing, and fighting.

"Would you save a dance for my Chiyo on the opening night of the celebration?" Oh. So that was what the pointed look was all about. This wasn't the first time that some clan head had tried to push a daughter off on Yusuke, and it probably wouldn't be the last. All because he was a king too, because he knew that the clan heads didn't like his personality.

"Yeah, I can do that," Yusuke said as his smile started to feel a little more strained. He didn't want to upset Lord Jaylen.

"Lord Mairu, Lord Jaylen. Your transportations are here," Koto called out quietly. It was a little eerie, because he was used to Koto yelling as loudly as possible. Yusuke heard Lord Jaylen mutter something under his breath, but Yusuke couldn't hear clearly enough to hear exactly what he said. Yusuke stood up as Lord Jaylen did, and he walked with the fox over to where Koto was standing.

"We will see you at the Emperor's celebration," Lord Jaylen said and bowed. Lord Mairu bowed as well but didn't say anything, and Yusuke didn't say or do anything. He wasn't supposed to bow to the lords; he was only required to bow to Enki, but he rarely did that either. Koto raised a brow at him while the lords weren't looking, but Yusuke couldn't say anything with them still in the room. Once they straightened up, Koto turned on her heel and started to lead them out of the room. Yusuke counted to five and then quietly followed after them.

The hallways were entirely quiet as Koto led the lords through the palace, even the attendants were silent, and it was weird to hear Koto go so long without saying a word. They finally reached the front door of the palace, and Koto was the one who opened the large double doors. She stepped outside after the two lords, and Lord Mairu's transportation was already waiting at the bottom of the steps. Lord Mairu and his attendants walked down the stairs, and Koto stayed standing next to Lord Jaylen. Yusuke was standing just inside the palace, out of their sight, but he could still hear and peek around the corner enough to see.

"You have certainly moved up in the world, Koto. Your mother would be proud," Lord Jaylen said after a beat of silence. Yusuke watched as Koto tensed and her hands fisted at her sides, and Lord Jaylen looked over at her.

"Yes, I'm sure she would be if the Fox Clan hadn't executed her for disobeying their laws. I mean, disobeying your laws," Koto said and lifted her chin as she looked over at the lord. Wait, what?! Koto's mother was executed?

"That was before I was Lord of the Fox Clan," Lord Jaylen said.

"You were still on the ruling committee. Unless I was misinformed?" Lord Jaylen didn't say anything after that, and Koto turned to look forward as Lord Jaylen's transportation arrived. The fox straightened up and looked ahead, and Yusuke thought that was the end of it.

"Parents or not, you have risen far above your station. Be proud of all that you have accomplished, paulo ancilla." Lord Jaylen walked down the steps after that, and Yusuke realized that Koto was so tense that she was starting to shake. Yusuke waited until the lord's transportation was out of sight before walking outside, and he heard Koto sigh as he stopped next to her.

"You heard all of that, didn't you?" Koto's question was quiet, and it sounded like she already knew the answer.

"What's paulo ancilla mean?" he asked instead of answering. Koto turned to look up at him, wide aqua eyes were looking right up at him, but he wasn't going to take the question back. He honestly wanted to know.

"It means little maid. After my parents were executed by their respective clans, I was raised by the Lord of the Fox Clan's maid. I was trained to be their maid, until I ran away when I was ten. The demons on the streets were nicer than the nobles." Koto finished with a quiet laugh, but it sounded sad to Yusuke. Which made sense, now that he was thinking about it. Both parents executed and she ran away when she was ten? No wonder she was so tough.

"Want me to go beat him up?" The lord had clearly insulted her with that parting jab, and Yusuke knew that he could easily catch up to the carriage looking thing that Lord Jaylen was traveling in.

"Urameshi!" This time Koto's laugh was loud and sounded a bit more genuine, and he didn't even yell at her when she smacked his arm. "No starting fights with nobles! It's ancient history anyway. Water under the bridge."

"I don't care! If he says one more thing like that, I'm gonna lay him out!" Yusuke decided. Koto reached up to grab his earlobe, and Yusuke yelped as she started to drag him inside by pulling on his ear.

"We're about to celebrate ten years of peace, and you want to start a fight over some name calling! That is just the stupidest thing I have ever heard! I ought to put you in a timeout!" Koto yelled as she dragged him. Yusuke was nearly completely doubled over as they marched through the hallways, but Koto wasn't letting up. She didn't let him go until they were back in the meeting room, and Yusuke spent a few moments rubbing his burning ear while Koto started to clean.

"I was just being nice," Yusuke grumbled and started to clear off the snack table. Koto dropped the plates she'd been stacking on top of the table, and she propped her hands on her hips as she turned to look at him.

"Thank you for the offer, Urameshi, but I don't need your help. Not with those idiots. If some demon wants to punch my face in, feel free to jump in. But a few dumb words? I'm tougher than that," Koto said and grinned wide enough to flash her fangs.

"I guess I can agree to that," he sighed after a moment. Koto hummed a little and spun back around to finish cleaning, and Yusuke slowly started to help. He still might have a word with Lord Jaylen the next time he saw him though. Nothing mean or insulting though. (Maybe.)

.xXx.

"It's been over six weeks, Koto," Ruka said and crossed her arms.

"It's been over twenty years, Ruka," Koto said and mirrored the other woman's stance.

"Wounds like yours take several decades to heal properly," Yukina said quietly. Koto relaxed her stance a little, because she could never say anything mean to Yukina. The ice demon was just too nice. Koto sighed as the other two women in her bedroom continued to stare at her, until she finally gave in.

"I really am okay," Koto said as she turned her back on her guests. Her bedroom door was already closed, so she carefully peeled her shirt off and then moved to lay on her stomach on her bed. The air in her room was cool, and she felt her skin prickle as Yukina walked over to stand at her bedside. Ruka moved up onto the bed to sit next to her, and Koto didn't fight as Ruka gently held one of her hands.

"Please, let me know if you need a break," Yukina said before settling her hands on the center of Koto's back.

"They're looking much better," Ruka said quietly a few minutes later. Koto's teeth were locked together as Yukina worked, so she just made a quiet sound in her throat. She knew that her body was still a mess, even twenty years later. No, nearly fifty years later, if she wanted to get technical about it.

"And the winner is, Norikata!" Koto announced. The second Demon World Tournament was officially over, and Koto was standing next to the winner. A tall eagle demon by the name of Norikata was the winner this time. Despite fighting in the tournament, Norikata barely seemed damaged. Maybe it was because the former kings had decided not to fight this year; Yusuke was in the Human World, and only Yomi and Enki were mixed in with the crowd somewhere.

"My people! Attack now and bring this disgraced world into chaos!" Norikata yelled. Koto turned to make a run for it, and she cried out as three sharp points of pain cut across her back. She pushed a last burst of strength into her legs to jump away from the crazed eagle demon, and her shredded back skidded across the ground before she finally came to a stop.

"Koto! Come on! Get up! We have to get out of here!" Juri yelled and pulled on her wrists. Her friend managed to get her on her feet, and Koto did her best to ignore the pain in her back as they fought their way through the fighting mass of demons.

Three sharp talons had left deep grooves along the width of her back, and she never really found time to tend to them during the War. The cuts were reopened more times than she could count, and some demons used her previous injury against her. When Yusuke found her, about ten years before the end of the War, a demon with sharp claws had reopened the three large slashes for what felt like the hundredth time. The talon marks hadn't been properly healed until Yusuke brought her to Yukina, but Yukina said that too much damage had already been done. In the beginning, Yukina had to tend to her about once a week. It had been a decade since the end of the War, but Yukina still had to heal Koto's back at least once a month. Koto kept trying to stretch it out, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. Healing hurt though.

"Still hurts," Koto slurred. Yukina's healing had a strange effect on her. To start with, it was just pain. Towards the end, her body went kind of numb.

"It looks better," Yukina said as Ruka slipped off the bed.

"I'll bring you something to eat early in the morning," Ruka said. Koto saw her blanket out of the corner of her eye, which meant that Ruka had covered her up. That was good, because she didn't feel like moving. She was also glad that Ruka was going to bring her something; she was always starving the morning after being healed, and she had a feeling that it had something to do with her having to skip dinner. If she ate dinner, she just got nauseas during the healing.

"Night, night," Koto mumbled and rubbed her cheek against her pillow.

.xXx.

"It's okay, Kazuma, I've got them," Yusuke heard Yukina say as he walked down the stairs.

"But you just got done healing Koto. I can take them," Kuwabara said next. Healing Koto? Was her back still giving her trouble? Yusuke heard the unmistakable sound of children crying, and that had to be Torio and Taji.

"Just come up later, after I get them settled." Yusuke paused at the top of the last staircase as Yukina passed him, but the ice demon didn't pay him any mind. She had a twin on each hip, and they were both crying against the sides of her neck. Yusuke waited until they were gone to finish walking down the stairs, he was late for dinner again, but he stopped next to Kuwabara at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's wrong with the little ones?" Yusuke asked him. Kuwabara was looking up the staircase, even though Yukina and the twins were completely out of sight now. At Yusuke's question, Kuwabara looked over at him and then crossed his arms.

"History lesson in school," Kuwabara ground out.

"More war stories?" Yusuke guessed. Maybe they shouldn't teach the War so early on; demon kids were still kids, right?

"The Death of the Kuwabaras."

"Oh shit," was Yusuke's first thought. When some demons started trying to break into the Human World during the War, Kuwabara and Shizuru both decided to join the fight. Shizuru had started learning how to use her own spirit energy, and they were both good fighters. Two years after they joined the War, the Kuwabaras sacrificed themselves to kill hundreds of demons in one blow. If they hadn't, Yusuke and some of the others would probably be dead. After their sacrifice, Koenma made them Pilots of the River Styx and sent them back in.

"That's messed up. I guess the kids didn't take it too well?" Kuwabara glared over at him, but Yusuke didn't argue with the look like he normally would. Clearly the kids didn't take hearing that their dad had died too well. Yeah, he came back a few years later after getting the hang of being a Reaper, but he'd still died. So had Shizuru. They were both back now, but the years they were gone weren't easy.

"They looked at me and started crying. I'm gonna have a talk with their teacher tomorrow," Kuwabara said and looked up the staircase again.

"Go see them. I'll have someone bring all of you something to eat for dinner." Kuwabara looked shocked for a second but then he smiled a little.

"Thanks, man." Kuwabara slapped a hand against his shoulder and then started running up the stairs, and Yusuke shook his head a little. He moved into the dining room and managed to catch one of the demons that worked in the kitchen, and he arranged for a meal to be sent up to the Kuwabara family. With that taken care of, he joined the others at the dinner table.

Dinner went by quickly, and it was louder than breakfast had been. Everyone was yelling and laughing, and it was a good way to end the day. Yusuke couldn't help but to notice the absences though. Yasuo was quieter without the twins around, Ruka and Yukina weren't talking quietly to each other, Kuwabara wasn't yelling at Rinku or vice versa, and Koto wasn't yelling at him to eat with something resembling table manners. Everyone broke up after the meal and started to go their separate ways, and Yusuke waved off Chu and Jin. Fighting was a good way to tire himself out before bed, but he didn't feel like fighting them tonight. Instead he jogged up the stairs to the very top floor, because their hierarchy was stupid and had his room on the top floor, but his room wasn't the only one at the very top. Yusuke knocked on the door across from his, and he slowly opened the door when he didn't hear an answer.

"Koto? You still up?" he asked as quietly as possible.

"Go 'way, 'meshi," came from somewhere to his left. He walked farther into the room until he could see Koto's bed, but he couldn't see too much because she only had a lamp on. He made his way to the side of the bed that she was laying on, and he knelt down until he was at eye-level with Koto.

"You feeling okay?" he asked. She was laying on her stomach, so he could only see one hazy aqua eye. Her blanket was pulled halfway up her back, and he made the mistake of looking at her bare back.

"Looks bad. I know," she slurred out. He could only see the scar that cut across her shoulder blades, and it only looked a few weeks old instead of a few decades. The cut had been deep, so that it looked like Koto's flesh had just been scooped out. He knew that she had two other cuts, one across the center of her back and another one across her lower back, and he'd bet money that they looked the same as the top one.

"Nah, it looks better than the first time I saw it," he told her. The first time he'd seen her back, it was right after some demon had reopened all three cuts. She'd been pouring blood and snarling, had nearly taken his head off before she realized who he was, and Yusuke would have felt sorry for the demon she was fighting if he hadn't cut her up so bad. Yusuke had finished the demon off before asking Koto to go with him, and she'd been by his side pretty much ever since.

"Pretty words," she whispered and then groaned. He saw her shoulders and arms start to shake, so he reached forward and pulled the blanket up higher. She settled down a little after that, and Yusuke sighed as he got to his feet.

"See you in the morning, Koto," he said and reached over to turn her lamp off.

"Night, Urameshi," he heard before he closed her bedroom door. Yusuke moved across the hall into his own room, and he quickly stripped down so that he could fall down into his bed.

"I'm so glad today's over…and I hope I get to sleep in tomorrow," were his last thoughts before falling asleep.

Past: June 2000

"Keiko! Hey, Keiko!" Yusuke yelled and started waving his arms around. There was a large crowd of people around him, since he was at a college university, but Yusuke ignored the strange looks he was getting. "Yo! Keiko!"

"Yusuke!" He caught a glimpse of long brown hair and big brown eyes before he was tackled to the ground, and he was laughing after he got his breath back. Keiko was sitting up next to him with a little pink in her cheeks, but she was still smiling down at him.

Ten minutes later, they were sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree. It was a little more private, and Yusuke felt better knowing that some nosy student wouldn't be able to overhear them. Especially considering what he was there to talk about. For the moment though, he enjoyed just sitting next to Keiko. It'd been five years since Botan showed up and told him about the rebellion that started after the end of the second Demon World Tournament, and he hadn't seen Keiko at all since he left. They were able to pass messages, mostly through Botan, but it wasn't the same. He noticed the way Keiko kept looking at him, like she was seeing him for the first time, and he raised a brow at her.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" he asked and wiped at his cheek. There'd been a lull in the fighting, which was why he was able to leave, and he took two separate showers before coming to meet Keiko.

"No! It's just, uh, you hit a growth spurt," Keiko explained and swept her eyes over the length of him. Oh, yeah, he almost forgot about that. He managed to grow a couple of inches during one of the earlier battles, so he was right under six feet now. Hokushin told him that he was the same height that Raizen had been now. "But that's not important. Is the war over?"

"Not really," he answered honestly. The fighting had died down some, but both sides were just taking a break to gather more energy. They'd even caught a few demons trying to sneak into the Human World, probably to find some people to eat to increase their strength. Botan was talking to Kuwabara today to see if he could watch the portal on this side.

"Oh." Keiko's smile dimmed a little, and she shifted so that she was looking forward instead of over at him.

"But I don't think it'll last too much longer," Yusuke said quickly. He didn't really believe that though. Some of the older demons, like Kokou and Souketsu, kept saying that they wouldn't be surprised if the War lasted for a century. Or longer.

"You're not here to stay though, are you?" Keiko glanced over at him, and Yusuke sighed as he leaned forward. He let his elbows rest against his knees, and he looked at Keiko through his bangs. (There was no time for hair gel during a war.)

"No." He saw Keiko nod her head while biting her lip, and he hated disappointing her. When Botan told him that Enki was asking for his help, he thought he'd be back in no time at all. A couple of weeks, tops. Not years.

"That's probably for the best." Keiko turned to sit sideways so that she could look right at him, and Yusuke felt something in his stomach drop. "Yusuke, my Words appeared."

"But I haven't been here," he heard himself say. It sounded like he was underwater, and he had to remind himself to breathe.

"His name is—" Yusuke could see Keiko's lips moving and he stored everything she was saying somewhere in the back of his mind, but he could barely believe what he was hearing. He'd always had Keiko; she was the only person he could ever see himself being with, but she didn't have his Words.

Present: January 7, 2042

Yusuke woke up his on his own, for once, and he slowly stretched his arms over his head after sitting up on the side of the bed. He absently scratched at his right wrist, and he looked down when he felt something bumpy. No, wait, not bumps. Lines. They were too faint for him to read, but those were definitely his Words trying to come through. He passed a thumb over the raised lines and tried to imagine what they would say, or who would say them. When would they be said? Words were different for everyone; they might start showing today but not be said for years, and he wouldn't know what they were until they were said. That was how it worked.

Nearly everyone had Words appear on them at some point. The Words only fully appeared once they'd been said by the right person, and that was how people knew. That was how they found the person that the universe or whatever had decided was their perfect balance. (Some people said the Words revealed a person's soulmate, but Yusuke was a little iffy on that one.) Not everyone decided to be with the person who said their Words, and people rarely immediately jumped into a relationship with whoever said their Words.

Some people accepted it and eased into it like it was the most natural thing in the world. (Like Yomi and Shizuru, after Shizuru returned as a Reaper. They said their Words less than a day after Shizuru returned, and they just seemed to fit together.) Others fought against it at first. (Like Hiei and Raisa, a fire demon that appeared halfway through the War to fight with them. They refused to even acknowledge each other for the first couple of years, but they were together now. Possibly happily together. It was hard to tell with Hiei.) Then there were people who took the middle road and built up a friendship with the person who said their Words before trying to start a relationship. (Like Kurama and Botan, right before the War started. They were close friends for nearly twenty years before deciding to become more, and their relationship was all the stronger because of it.)

Keiko's Words appeared a couple of months before Yusuke was able to visit her, but she didn't tell the guy who said them. She didn't want to say anything until she'd heard from Yusuke, so it was a good thing that the guy's Words hadn't appeared at the same time. (Words didn't have to appear on both people at the same time. Most people believed that the Words were a turning point; they appeared when someone said something meaningful, something that would change things between two people, and it wasn't always at the same time for those two people. Everyone was different.) Keiko was twenty-five and working on a doctorate degree when her Words appeared, and Yusuke knew that he couldn't ask her to turn down her soulmate and wait for him. She was already living her life, without him, so they'd said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Now, forty years later, Yusuke's Words were trying to make an appearance. He wasn't ready to deal with the thought of soulmates or fate or any of that other bullshit, so he pulled on a wristband to cover up the faint lines. He'd worry about them later, like when someone actually said the Words, and not before.

.xXx.

"What's with the face, Urameshi?" Koto poked his cheek, and Yusuke reached up to swat her hand away. She was too quick though and pulled back before he could make contact, and Yusuke glared over at her. They were sitting on his balcony eating lunch, and it was relaxing before Koto opened her mouth.

"It's just my face," Yusuke huffed and leaned back in his chair.

"Nope, that's your thinking face. Your brows are pulled down, and you look like you're in pain. Does thinking hurt you?" Koto looked concerned, but Yusuke could tell that she was fighting down a smile. Possibly laughter. Yusuke grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms, but Koto wouldn't stop staring at him. It was annoying.

"It's nothing," he finally said.

"Uhuh, if you say so." Koto finally looked away from him and returned to her food, and Yusuke dropped his head back against his chair.

He'd actually gotten a letter today, from Lord Who-Cares of the Wolf Clan, asking him to save a dance for his eldest daughter at Enki's upcoming celebration. He'd just told Lord Jaylen the day before that he'd dance with his daughter, because he was attempting to be polite, and now another lord was asking him for the same thing? How fast did news spread between the nobles? And did that mean he was going to be receiving more letters? This was what he got for being the only single king. Then again, maybe he was overreacting. Maybe no one else would send him a letter and try to push a daughter at him.

"Hey, Urameshi?" Yusuke let his head roll back against the chair so that he was facing Koto, and her wide aqua eyes looked actually concerned this time. Her overall expression was more serious, which worried Yusuke a little.

"Yeah?"

"You know if something is wrong, you can tell me. You know that, right?"

"I know," Yusuke said and forced himself to smile. Koto relaxed in her seat and turned back to her food, and Yusuke just kept looking at her instead of turning his head.

Koto was loud and took every opportunity to tell him he was doing something wrong, but he'd learned that she was a good listener too. In the last few years of the War, the only way he could fall asleep was after talking to Koto first. He'd just keep talking until he finally passed out, about anything and everything, and Koto would stay awake to guard him. Over that time, he told her everything about his life. She was probably the only person who knew every little thing about him, but she never used any of that knowledge against him. Sometimes it freaked him out whenever he remembered that Koto knew enough to say things that could actually hurt him, but he knew that she never would. That's just not who she was.

He was starting to realize that he didn't know nearly as much about her as she knew about him though. He knew that she was an orphan; she told him that she didn't have any family after he found her, but he didn't know that her parents had been executed. He understood why she never brought it up, but he'd told her things that weren't easy to talk about. All he really knew about her was that she loved yelling and watching people fight. (But she didn't like the kind of violence that they all saw during the War.) He knew that she wasn't particularly strong, but she could hold her own if she was angry enough. He knew that she was loyal; she hadn't left his side since he found her about ten years before the end of the War, and she was always going out of her way to help him out. To help Tourin.

"You'll never guess what Ruka told me earlier." Koto's voice cut across his thoughts, and Yusuke focused his eyes. She was done eating now, and she was looking at him with a small gleam in her eyes. That was rarely a good sign.

"What?" If anything happened in the palace, Koto knew about it. Yusuke wasn't sure how she heard all of the gossip before anyone else, and he'd stopped trying to figure it out. He was just glad that she told him first.

"Ruka's thinking about having another baby." Yusuke groaned while Koto laughed, but he wasn't really upset. Yeah, Yasuo was a handful and possibly a little evil, but the little guy was adorable. Hokushin loved him and smiled whenever his son was nearby, so the kid wasn't all bad. Yusuke was hoping that Yasuo would be a little older before getting a brother or sister though. Maybe they'll get lucky and the second kid will be a little less troublesome.

"Maybe we'll get lucky with the next one." Koto snorted at that, but Yusuke's holding onto that hope.

"Doubt it. So, ready to get back to it?" More policies to review…he couldn't wait.

Past: April 2020

Koto rolled across the ground and managed to get to her feet, and she shifted on bent knees as she bared her teeth. The large raccoon demon standing across from her flicked the blood off his claws, her blood, and took a single step forward. Koto's back felt like it was on fire because the raccoon had reopened all three barely healed cuts that went across her back, and her eyesight was getting a little hazy from the blood loss. She had several other cuts across her body from the raccoon, mostly on her arms and legs, but none of them were as deep as the marks on her back.

She heard movement behind her, someone had stepped on a piece of wood that had probably made up a house at some point, and Koto twisted around to flash her fangs at the demon creeping up behind her. She was careful not to completely turn her back on the raccoon, and she saw an arm extending towards her. She darted forwards and took a swipe at the second demon, who quickly jumped back out of her range.

"Dammit, Koto! Cut it out! It's Yusuke! Urameshi!" The words didn't make sense at first, her head was swimming, and she tried to take in a deep breath instead of panting.

Urameshi. The human who won the Dark Tournament. No, not a human. Half-human. Half-demon. His ancestor was Raizen, and he proposed the Demon World Tournament as a way to stop the Three Kings from fighting for ultimate control. Urameshi. He tracked her down after Yomi and Mukuro agreed to the new tournament and asked her to host. Said that she was the only one who he trusted to do the job right. If she had said no, he didn't have a second option. Her or nobody. Which wasn't practical, but it had made her laugh. Urameshi. He should have died during the Dark Tournament. No human should have been able to survive that, but he just kept getting stronger. His team just kept winning. He was rude and brash, but he saved the lives of everyone in that arena when he defeated Toguro. She could trust him.

"Urameshi?" She had enough thinking ability left to raise an arm to cover her chest, because her shirt was barely hanging on at this point. Too many slashes from the raccoon's claws. She thought she saw Yusuke nod, but she could see the raccoon charging from the other side. Her arm dropped as she prepared for him to come at her again, but the raccoon never made contact. A rush of energy shot past her, and the raccoon just…disappeared.

"Hey, easy!" Hands grabbed her upper arms just as her knees hit the ground, and her body sagged forwards. Her face pressed against Yusuke's chest, and she felt his fingers carefully moving the scraps of her shirt away from her back.

"Can't seem to keep those closed," she groaned out. Her back had been a mess for a little over twenty-five years, but the cuts had never been reopened this much. She was feeling lightheaded from the blood loss.

"I'll take you to Yukina, and she'll patch you up," Yusuke said and gently grabbed her shoulders. He pushed her body into an upright position, and Koto struggled to open her eyes and look up at him. "Hold yourself up just for a minute, okay?"

"Okay," she repeated. Once Yusuke was sure that she wasn't going to fall over, he reached down and quickly pulled off the tee shirt he was wearing. He passed it to Koto without saying a word, and she had to give herself a quick pep-talk about not crying. She hissed and cursed as she struggled to take off what remained of her shirt, while Yusuke knelt in front of her with his eyes closed, and she sighed in relief once she had Yusuke's shirt on.

"You decent?" he asked her when she went quiet.

"Never." She was grinning despite the pain when Yusuke opened his eyes, and he quickly looked down to make sure that she was completely covered. The yellow shirt hung down past the dark blue shorts she was wearing, and she had a feeling that the back of it was already stained.

"Alright, get on." Yusuke had turned around so that she was looking at his bare back, and it took Koto a moment to figure out what he was talking about. She shuffled forward on her knees until she could wrap her arms around his neck, and she had to take a deep breath before maneuvering her legs around his middle. Yusuke gripped her legs above her knees as he stood up, and Koto tightened her arms around his neck.

"I lost Ruka and Juri. We split up so that I could distract some demons, and I got away from most of them. Except that one," she tried to explain. She was tired and achy, and all she wanted to do was sleep for about a week. Bathing was optional at this point. Sleep was what she really wanted.

"We'll keep an eye out for them," Yusuke said as he kept walking. Koto wasn't sure where they were going, but she had a feeling that it was closer to the front lines of the War. Where else would Yusuke Urameshi go?

"Hey, Urameshi?"

"Yeah?" He looked over so that their eyes could meet, and Koto decided that she was going to try and stay awake. She didn't want to make things harder on him, not after he rescued her.

"Are we going to win?" She didn't remember his eyes being so dark, but it'd been years since she'd seen him. Maybe he'd changed since then.

"You doubting me?" He should have died; he had died, according to the rumors, and only to come back even stronger than before.

"Never," she answered with a small grin. Yusuke smiled back at her, and she thought his eyes looked a little lighter. Maybe he hadn't changed that much after all.

Present: January 10, 2042

"Please tell me that I can take tomorrow off," Yusuke groaned and flopped into a chair. Koto didn't even jump at the sudden noise; she just kept scribbling at her desk, and Yusuke leaned over to try and see what she was doing. Oh, she was paying the demons that worked in the palace. (Yusuke didn't like calling them servants. It sounded too demeaning, but he hadn't come up with a better title yet.)

"Yes, Yusuke, you can take tomorrow off," Koto sighed and continued to work. Since Yusuke was sitting on the opposite side of the desk, he stretched his arms out and let his hands fall down against Koto's. She made a quiet, high-pitched, sound of frustration in the back of her throat and snapped her head up to glare at him.

"I think you should take tomorrow off too," Yusuke said as seriously as possible. Koto was…different. Kuwabara was Yusuke's closest friend, and he was still close to Kurama and Hiei. He'd grown close to Hokushin and Enki over the years, but Koto felt like more than that most of the time. She was one of his closest friends, she knew more about him than anyone else, and he liked being around her. Even if she did just normally yell at him for being moronic.

"I can't. I have too much work to do." She easily shook his hands off and started writing again, and Yusuke groaned as he slumped back in his chair.

"Come on, Koto! The big boss is telling you to relax, and aren't you supposed to do whatever I say anyway?" Wide aqua eyes stared at him, unblinking, for so long that Yusuke actually started to squirm in his chair. Just when he was getting ready to explode and start yelling, Koto tossed her head back and started laughing. Really loud laughter too. Her entire body was shaking, and the loud sound echoed in the room. "I didn't hear anything funny!"

"Really? 'Cause I sure did," Koto managed to get out between a few lingering giggles. She reached up to wipe at her eyes, and she was still grinning as she dropped her arms on top of the desk.

"Oh yeah? Wanna elaborate?" he asked when she just kept smiling at him. It was starting to freak him out.

"That's a big word, Urameshi. I see that word calendar I got you for your birthday is really paying off." Yusuke let out a fake laugh, but he actually did like the word calendar. It had been interesting, and he kinda missed it. She'd bought it about three birthdays ago. Maybe he should get one for this year?

"You're evading," he said and drug out the second word. Koto made an exaggerated surprised face, but she could only hold it for a few seconds before she started laughing again. The laughing fit didn't last as long this time, and she propped her cheek against her fist as she looked across the desk at him.

"Tell me the truth. Who's the big boss of Tourin?" Koto raised a brow as she asked it, and Yusuke crossed his arms.

"Me?" He meant for that to come out as a statement, something that sounded confident, but it sounded more like a question. Koto stood up a little so that she could reach across the desk and lightly pat his shoulder, and Yusuke looked over at the small area she'd touched and then looked at her as she continued to look at him while leaning over the desk.

"You poor thing. You've gone absolutely delusional."

"But I'm the king," he pointed out. Koto fell back into her chair and kicked her feet up on the desk, and Yusuke squinted at her bare wiggling toes.

"You've got the brute strength, I'll give you that. But everyone knows that behind every strong king, there's a smart advisor that's really running things," Koto said with a proud smile. Her words were more teasing than mean, so Yusuke didn't take offense. (She was probably right anyway. Tourin would probably fall apart without her.)

"Good point." He slowly nodded after saying that, and he saw the way that Koto seemed to relax. Perfect. He uncrossed his arms and dropped an elbow onto the table, and he pointed a finger at Koto's face. "Counterpoint."

Yusuke moved before Koto knew what he had planned, and he easily caught her crossed ankles in one hand. He heard loud screeching as he moved his other hand to start tickling the bottom of her feet, and he had to put her legs in an arm-lock to keep her from squirming away. The room was filled with shrill laughter as Koto tried to pull away, but his hold was too secure. Once the laughter had turned into silent wheezing and tears streaked down her cheeks, Yusuke slowed to a stop and then tapped the center of the bottom of one foot.

"I'll never give in!" Koto's voice had been breathless, so Yusuke wasn't prepared for her to suddenly vault over the table. He let go of her legs in surprise, and he heard himself yell out as Koto's body collided against his. The chair he was in toppled backwards, and Koto let out a war cry right before the chair hit the floor. They landed in a heap on the ground, and Koto immediately moved so that she was sitting on Yusuke's stomach. "I win!"

"Ha!" Yusuke moved to reverse their positions, but they just kept rolling across the floor. Until they eventually hit against the desk and caused papers to rain down on top of them. Koto was back on top and had been sitting on Yusuke's stomach while poking his ribs, but she ducked down to cover her head as papers and some books fell down onto them.

"I think the desk won," Koto said as she peeked up at him. Her chin was resting on the bottom of his chest, and most of her papers were spread out across her back. One sheet was barely perched on top of her head, and Yusuke reached up to push it off.

"I can agree to that." Koto smiled wide enough that her top canines dented her bottom lip, and Yusuke grunted as she slapped her palms against his chest and pushed herself up into a standing position.

"Now! Let's clean this up!" Yusuke groaned as he closed his eyes, and he felt Koto's foot nudging against his ribs. He could run faster than Koto, but she'd probably just nag him to death if he ran out on a cleanup job. There was only thing that he could do…and that was help her clean.

"I'm definitely taking tomorrow off."

January 12, 2042

"Hey, Koto?"

"Shh. Don't ruin quiet time." She listened to the long drawn-out sigh and let her head roll against the ground, and she wasn't even a little surprised to see large brown eyes already looking over at her. Why was he always ruining her quiet moments? "What is it this time, Urameshi?"

"Do you ever think about your Words?" Koto didn't mean to laugh, because it sounded like a serious question. She couldn't help herself though. She laughed as she turned to look away from Yusuke, but the laughter quickly died off once she was looking up at the night sky again.

They came outside to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of nature…At least, that's what Yusuke said when he came to drag her out of her office. A break had sounded nice, so she hadn't fought him off. Laying behind Tourin's palace and looking up at the darkened sky was very relaxing, but she should have known that the peace and quiet wouldn't last. Then again, she wasn't too annoyed. She normally enjoyed her conversations with Yusuke. He was smarter than he gave himself credit for; he was smarter than most people gave him credit for, but that was probably because he had an annoying habit of winning with pure dumb luck. Wait, she was getting off topic. He asked her about her Words.

"No, not really," she said as she watched a streak of lightning to the west.

"Really? I thought all girls daydreamed about their Words," Yusuke said and snorted a little at the end. Oh yeah, Tourin's king was such a romantic. He also had a poor memory.

"My parents were soulmates and executed after I was born, I was raised to be a maid for the person who had my mother executed, and then I ran away to live on my own when I was ten. I knew when I was five that the last thing I wanted was a soulmate," she said and rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see. A soulmate? There was no way that she'd actually want someone to be tied to her, forever. Her parents had been soulmates, and look at how that had turned out. No, Koto had never daydreamed about the day her Words appeared. At least, not happily.

"When I was five, I already knew who my soulmate was." When Koto looked over, Yusuke was looking up at the sky. She could only see half of his face, but that was enough. He was smiling just a little, something small and real instead of his usual overly cocky grin, and it made him look…soft. And young.

"Keiko." It wasn't easy for her to say the name, and she noticed the way that Yusuke's breathing paused for a moment. It wasn't long, barely even noticeable, but she was pretty attuned to everything Yusuke-related by now. She remembered the human girl, vaguely, from the Dark Tournament. She mostly knew Keiko because of the stories that Yusuke told her during the War. How they first met, what she had meant to him, and about how Keiko's Words appeared while Yusuke was fighting in a war.

"Yeah." Yusuke let his head roll to the side so that they were eye-to-eye, and Koto raised a brow at him. He had some kind of look on his face that she couldn't readily identify, and she thought she knew all of Yusuke's facial expressions by now. "Do you think I'm stupid? For thinking that I'd be with her forever?"

"No," Koto answered quickly. Her fingers scrambled in the dirt for a moment before she found Yusuke's hand, and she made sure her grip was tight.

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better," he said with a quiet laugh. He really could be an idiot sometimes, but not for thinking that.

"I heard what you said at the Dark Tournament, you know. To Toguro. About how you looked forward to growing old with her? Nearly swooned because of how sweet it was, but I was facing imminent death and managed to stay upright. Like a professional." That got Yusuke to crack a real smile, and the muscles in Koto's arm relaxed as her grip on Yusuke's hand shifted. Instead of holding onto him like she was drowning, she loosely laced their fingers together and kept looking over at him. She had a feeling that he wasn't done talking yet.

"I worry about it sometimes. What if my Words show up, and I think about her?" Yusuke loved Keiko; Koto had a feeling that Yusuke would always love the human girl, and that was one of the things that made Yusuke special. In Koto's eyes, at least. He was stubborn and horribly repressed, but when he did love? It was all or nothing.

"I'm sure whoever says your Words will understand. They'll have to in order to deserve you." Yusuke blinked as he took that in, and Koto smiled as he started laughing. She'd hoped that would be his reaction, even though they both knew that she was right.

"Gonna fight to defend my honor?" Yusuke asked her after calming down.

"I supposed I could fight a few undeserving demons for you," she said as flippantly as possible. She felt Yusuke slightly squeeze her hand, and she moved to look up at the dark sky again.

January 27, 2042

"I can't take this anymore!" Koto jumped in her seat and then scrambled to catch a stack of ledgers before they could fall over, and she glared across her desk at her king once everything was right. King or not, she wouldn't hesitate to kick his ass if he messed up her perfect filing system.

"Take what anymore?" she asked when Yusuke just continued to sulk in his seat. He'd let himself into her office and slammed the door shut behind him, and he was sprawled in one of the chairs in front of her desk now. Couldn't he sit up straight just once?

"I keep getting letters from clan heads asking me to dance with their daughters! I don't wanna dance with them!" Oh, that was just…priceless. Koto clutched at her sides as she doubled over in laughter, and she could hear Yusuke grumbling. It wasn't easy to do, but she managed to get herself under control and then looked across the desk once again.

"Well, stop pouting and figure out a solution," she told him. She pulled her most recent ledger back in front of her to get back to work, but working was difficult with a king staring at her. She wasn't even sure if he was blinking at this point.

"Kurama told me I could decline them all if I had an official date," Yusuke said quietly.

"Go find one of those then," Koto said and continued down her checklist. They were leaving for Enki's palace in less than a week, and she wanted to make sure that everything was in order before she left. When she felt eyes on her, still, she sat her pen down and slowly looked up.

"Koto—"

"No!" she quickly interrupted.

"Oh, come on! You're the only woman I know that isn't in a relationship!" Yusuke yelled and quickly moved to his feet. Koto's head tipped back as she stared up at him, and he couldn't actually be serious?

"Gee, how flattering," she drawled. Yusuke rolled his eyes before moving around the desk, and Koto clenched her jaw shut as he grabbed the back of her chair and spun her to face him. His brown eyes were wide and pleading, and his bottom lip was even poked out just a little bit.

"Please, Koto? Please be my official date for Enki's celebration?" He'd said please. Twice! Koto blinked as she continued to stare up at him, and her jaw came unhinged as Yusuke reached down to grab her hands. Something in Koto's chest felt tight, and she had the sudden urge to yank her hands away from him. She fought that urge though because Yusuke had always made her feel safe. She had no reason to pull away from him.

"Really don't think that's a good idea." Her throat felt dry, and her words sounded a little strangled. Yusuke rolled his eyes as he tightened his grip on her hands, and he ducked down a little so that their eyes were completely locked.

"Come on, Koto. You know you're the only one I'd have any real fun with." She couldn't think of a good reason to turn him down, because he had a point. They normally had fun together at celebrations. They sat away from everyone and poked fun at the nobles, and they took turns trying to make the other laugh loudly enough for someone to glare over at them. So far, Koto was winning.

"You're such an idiot," she groaned out as he kept looking at her with that kicked puppy expression. Yusuke narrowed his eyes like he wanted to argue with her, but he held it in. The angry look faded into something more serious and genuine, and that strange feeling was back in Koto's chest. Like she couldn't take a full breath.

"Be my official date. Make fun of everyone with me. Stand by my side." Something hot licked across Koto's left ribcage, but she clenched her teeth against the sudden pain. Nothing must have showed on her face, because Yusuke's expression didn't change.

"Fine! You win! Now get out so I can work!" She knew that she had to get Yusuke out of the room, and the quickest way to do that was to just let him win. Yusuke whooped at her words and bent over to smack a kiss against the top of her head, and she heard him laughing even after her office door closed behind him.

That had been…strange. Very strange. Not Yusuke running out of her office laughing. That was actually pretty common. The kiss hadn't even been all that strange. It was something that Yusuke had done often during the War, it was one of the few ways to calm her down after a nightmare, and he'd kissed the top of her head to tell her goodnight a few times over the years. So that hadn't been strange. The feeling in her chest, the sudden pain on her ribcage, and the urge to get Yusuke far away from her? Those were strange, for her.

Once Koto was sure that Yusuke was gone and wouldn't be popping into her office again anytime soon, she reached down and lightly pulled on the bottom of her shirt. After a solid five minutes of debating with herself, she pulled her shirt up. She immediately twisted around so that she could look halfway up her left ribcage, and she felt her eyes widen as she took in the stark black lines that looped over her ribs. Her fingers were actually shaking as she reached over to touch the lines, and they were indented instead of raised like she originally thought. Like the words themselves had been etched deep into her skin. Like a scar.

As far as Words go, it was pretty simple. Black lines, black letters. Thin, not bulky. Four words in all.

stand by my side

This was not going to end well.

February 4, 2042

"Welcome, friends!"

The entire ballroom fell still and quiet at the sound of Enki's loud booming voice, and Yusuke listened to their Emperor talk with half of an ear. Honestly, he was having a few problems concentrating. All of the kings, seconds, and their soulmates were spread throughout the ballroom. They were mixed in with nobles and other powerful demons, and Yusuke knew that he should pay attention to make sure that he didn't miss anything important. This was the big Ten Year Anniversary of their victory in the War; they were celebrating ten years of peace, and Yusuke was proud of all of them for keeping things so peaceful for so long. It wasn't something that was easy to do in Demon World. Still, he kept getting distracted. By Koto.

She was standing next to him, her left arm looped through his right, and she was looking up at the small platform that Enki and Kokou were standing on. She looked like she was giving Enki all of her attention, so Yusuke could look at her without feeling like a total creep. Then again, Koto was his official date for the night. She wasn't even dressed up all that specially! She was wearing a plain dark blue dress that left her arms and some of her chest bare, but he noticed that she made sure her back was completely covered. She was also wearing a thin red bowtie necklace, and it reminded him of the Dark Tournament. Just a little. It might actually be the one from the Dark Tournament.

So she didn't look much different that she usually did. Yusuke couldn't explain why he couldn't look away from her, but he couldn't. He kept getting stuck on the weirdest things too. Like how much lighter her cat ears were than her auburn hair. Or how her hair looked soft where it curled against her cheek. Her aqua eyes seemed bright under the ballroom lights as she looked up at Enki. The hand that was tucked into his elbow was warm; he could feel the heat of her skin even through the material of the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing, and she kept lightly rubbing her thumb against his bicep. He didn't think she even knew that she was doing it. He even caught himself thinking about her scent at one point; she smelled like…home, like the gardens of Tourin and the crisp paper smell that was always in her office.

"Would you quit spacing out?" Koto had hissed it out of the corner of her mouth, and Yusuke forced his eyes to focus. Yeah, she was definitely glaring over at him.

"Speeches are boring," he whispered. It sounded like Enki was winding down though, possibly. Several minutes later, the opening speech was over and music filled the air. Koto spun on her toes, because she was wearing flat shoes instead of heels, and grinned up at him.

"We're gonna dance, and you are not going to complain," she said as she started rearranging his arms. The music was for one of the more formal dances, and Yusuke had to force down his groan of disapproval. He hated dancing.

"We can dance, but I'll complain all I want," he said as she started to lead. It was better for her to lead, because she actually knew all of the steps.

"Not a peep, Urameshi." Koto was nearly a foot shorter than him, but she fit against him pretty well. She was warm and soft against him as they started to follow the music, and she moved forward so that her cheek pressed against his chest. It meant that the tip of one of her ears brushed his chin, and the only thing he could smell was her scent. In a room full of demons, not all who cared about semi-regular hygiene, that was a good thing.

"Just this once," he huffed. Koto easily moved them around with a quiet laugh, and Yusuke realized that holding onto her felt…easy. Felt almost right.

.xXx.

Koto sucked in a deep breath after stepping outside, and she was a little surprised that she was the only one who had escaped out onto a balcony. The ballroom was full of demons, and she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. It helped that Yusuke hadn't left her side in the past few hours, but she had a feeling that he needed a breather. Even if he didn't, she did. She loved spending time with Yusuke, she always did, but things had been a little tense for the past week. At least on her part.

Every time Yusuke got within touching distance, the Words on her left ribcage burned. It was like the Words were reacting to his presence, and she had to constantly tell herself not to reach for him. When she was alone, she caught herself absently tracing her Words against her desk with a finger or idly rubbing the spot on her ribcage where the Words were. It was unnerving, because she didn't like not being in control of her own body. There was also the fact that she had to deal with the idea of Yusuke being her soulmate. It was something that she had never wanted. She'd never pictured herself with a soulmate, because who would want her? She wasn't particularly powerful or exotically beautiful, and she wasn't submissive or quiet like the female soulmates had been in the Fox Clan when she was growing up.

Now, though, she couldn't stop thinking about having a soulmate. Yusuke, particularly. She already knew that he didn't care about being with someone strong, or beautiful, or perfect in any way. Honestly, she didn't think Yusuke cared about being with anyone at all. He hadn't let himself think of anyone since things fell through with Keiko, and Koto could respect that. It didn't help that she understood how Yusuke thought most of the time. All of her worries and excuses? He wouldn't care about any of them. Every time they were alone together, she had to resist blurting out the truth.

"Lost in thought?" Koto startled at the sound of the sudden voice, and she suddenly realized that she had one hand braced against her left ribcage. Right over her Words. She dropped her hand as she felt her cheeks heating up, and a pair of ice blue eyes watched the movement with curiosity.

"Raisa! I didn't see, or hear, you come up," Koto said with a nervous laugh.

"No, you wouldn't have," the slightly shorter demon said with a wide smile. Most days, Koto liked Hiei's soulmate. Raisa came off as a little strange sometimes, but she was usually fun to talk to. Koto liked her because she never held back, which was something that Koto appreciated.

"Where's Hiei?" Normally, the two were attached at the hip. Or something close to that. They weren't always touching when they were around other people, but they did seem to gravitate towards each other. (Koto thought it was sweet, whenever she thought that Hiei wouldn't be able to hear her thoughts.)

"Probably hiding. He hates parties." That sounded like Hiei.

"Well, I should probably get back to Yusuke before he comes looking for me. Such a worrier, that one." Koto heard some more nervous laughter escape her as she started to move around Raisa, but she froze when the other woman lightly grabbed her left wrist. Raisa was looking down at Koto's ribcage when Koto looked over, and it felt like every hair on her tail was standing straight up.

"Can I offer you some advice?" Raisa looked completely serious, and Koto heard her dry throat clicking as she tried to swallow.

"Sure," she forced out.

"Don't fight it. I know it seems ridiculous to let magically appearing words dictate your entire future, but you'll be happier if you accept it. Fighting just brings misery, and who wants that?" Raisa's lips twitched into a small smile, and Koto felt like she was going to fall over for a moment.

"But it's…hmm." She trailed off at the end, because she wasn't sure if she could say it out loud.

"I think you and Yusuke are perfect for each other." Koto felt her mouth drop open, and Raisa tipped her head back in a loud laugh.

"How did you?" Koto asked once Raisa was looking at her again.

"Because some people are just meant to be," Raisa shrugged. Then the other woman was pushing her away from the balcony and back towards the crowd of demons, and Koto looked over her shoulder once she had regained her footing. Raisa was long gone though, so Koto started weaving her way through the crowd.

"Koto!" She squealed as arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her into the air, but she was laughing as she was spun around. A few spins later, she was carefully sat back on her feet and wide brown eyes moved to cover her vision.

"Miss me, Urameshi?" He made some kind of loud snorting sound, but he moved forward to start dancing with her again. For someone who claimed to hate dancing, he sure did dance a lot. At least, he was dancing a lot tonight. With her. He was even letting her lead!

"The party got boring after you disappeared," Yusuke quietly admitted about halfway through the song. Koto lifted her cheek off his chest so that she could look up at him, and it almost looked like the mighty king was blushing. Koto hummed as they spun around, and she was startled to see a pair of bright green eyes narrowed at her in a glare.

"So, uh, did you get bored and piss off a fox demon?" she asked. Yusuke turned them so that he could see who she was looking at, and she heard him huff as he pulled her even closer. They were practically plastered against each other now, and Koto had to balance her toes on top of Yusuke's shoes.

"That's Chiyo, Lord Jaylen's oldest daughter. She asked me to dance, but I told her that I wasn't going to dance with anyone but my date out of respect. Then she told me that it was totally okay to break tradition, because my date wasn't a real lady! So I might have said a few choice words that might have pissed her off." Huh…that was a lot to process.

"You defended my honor?" she asked him.

"Well, yeah." Koto was just getting ready to tell him that he didn't have to do stuff like that, because Lord Jaylen's daughter wasn't exactly wrong, but Yusuke kept talking. "Besides, you're much better than she is!"

"I am, huh?" she teased. Yusuke's smile was more genuine than she'd been expecting, and the Words on her ribs were slowly getting warmer.

"Shut up and dance, Koto." She raised a hand to salute him and then smiled at his exaggerated eye roll, and she dropped her cheek back to his chest. It was easier than looking up into his eyes.

.xXx.

The first night of the celebration finally came to an end, and Yusuke and Koto were nearly falling over each other in laughter as they walked down the hallways of Enki's palace. The always had the same rooms whenever they visited Enki's, rooms that were side-by-side, and they knew their way there pretty well by now. So they didn't really have to pay attention as they stumbled along. The hallway they were in was currently empty, and Yusuke listened as Koto nearly snorted in laughter as she fell back against the door to her room.

"That was…priceless! Raisa should get Hiei drunk more often," Koto said between giggles.

"He'd burn all of Demon World down!" Yusuke yelled in between his own laughter. Enki's ballroom would never truly be the same, but it was worth it for the scandalized looks on the noble's faces.

"Worth it," Koto hummed. Their laughter slowly trailed off, and Yusuke realized that he was standing in front of Koto instead of moving over to his own door. Koto must have realized it too, because she straightened up and smiled as she tipped her head back to look at him. "Goodnight, Urameshi."

"Night." He stepped back and then to the side, and he'd just placed his hand on the doorknob to his room when Koto called his name. Yusuke turned his head to look at her, and she reached up to push some auburn hair out of her eyes.

"I really had a good time, as your date, despite my earlier misgivings," she said and smiled to let him know that she was just teasing.

"Yeah, yeah," he said and waved dismissively. He started to open his door again, but Koto's voice stopped him. Again. He looked over into wide aqua eyes, and Koto almost looked nervous as she looked over at him.

"Really, Yusuke. Thank you for tonight." Koto turned away after that, and Yusuke felt his right wrist burning. The same place where he'd noticed his Words trying to come through, and he quickly pushed his right sleeve up. There, written across the inside of his right wrist, were four simple words: thank you for tonight.

"Koto?" Her eyes looked panicked this time when she looked over, and her fangs were biting into her lower lip. She had one hand braced against her side, and he knew it wasn't because she was injured. When he just kept looking at her, she released her bottom lip and blew out a small sigh.

"Stand by my side. That's all it says," she said and shrugged. Yusuke thought over all of their recent conversations, and he nearly smacked himself when he remembered saying those specific words.

"That was a week ago!" Koto propped her fists on her hips as she glared up at him, and Yusuke leaned back away from the suddenly angry look.

"Hey! This has been a big adjustment for me! It's not like I expected my best friend to be my soulmate! And maybe, just maybe, I wasn't ready to be compared to Keiko! Or to list all of the reasons that we would never work! Or to—Mmph!"

Yusuke had been careful to be gentle when he cupped the sides of Koto's face, but the kiss he used to shut her up wasn't gentle. At first. He felt her gasp as his lips pressed hard against hers, and her hands moved up to hold onto his shoulders. Once he realized that she was pulling him closer, not pushing him away, he gentled the kiss. He made the kiss lighter as her toes braced on top of his shoes, and he stumbled forward so that Koto's back was pressed against her bedroom door. She made a low sound in her throat as he bent down a little and parted her lips to taste her, and nails lightly bit into the back of his neck.

Pulling away wasn't easy. Yusuke's lips skimmed down Koto's cheek and across her jaw, and her fingers reached up to pull at his hair a little. All he wanted to do was move back and kiss her until they both forgot about everything, but he knew that they needed to actually talk first. He groaned as he finally pulled back enough to look down at her face, and Koto's eyes slowly opened to meet his. Her aqua eyes were hazy, and her bottom lip was a darker pink than usual and a little swollen.

"I only thought about you," Yusuke said honestly. Koto was the only thing he'd been able to think about all night; she was the only person he'd thought about at all for the past few years, if he was being brutally honest.

"That was so cheesy and perfect that I don't even care about how insanely difficult this is going to be. Because you know what? I think we can make it work." He laughed a little as he bent down to press his forehead against hers, and he felt Koto's quick and short breaths against his chin. The skin of his right wrist, where his Words were, pressed against the outside of her dress over her left ribcage as she returned the laugh. "You doubting me?"

"Never."

Ending Note: This was originally broken down into three chapters when I first wrote it, but I decided to post it all in one go! I really enjoyed writing this, so I might expand on it someday. Who knows? If there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them! I'd also love to know your thoughts! This was my first time writing a Soulmate AU, so I'm curious to see if I did it right.

Thank you for reading! Also, don't forget to check out the artwork for this story! Because it is astounding and may have made me cry.