A/N: I am so incredibly sorry this has taken so long to get posted, but I hope you all like this chapter. :)

And thank you for so much for hanging in there despite my long and many absences.

-SugarLandBabyGirl

Chapter Seven:

What's In a Name

Faline cautiously peaked around the corner of the doorway as her eyes searched for any movement and her ears strained for the softest whisper of sound. When she concluded that the coast was clear the silent teen tiptoed across the hall and silently slipped out the front door unnoticed by her godmother who was snoozing comfortably on the living room couch. Faline didn't breathe a sigh of relief until she was a block away from Aika's house, but when she did a soft smile curved on her lips and she inhaled the fresh evening air. Fortunately only Aika was there today, instead of all three of her guardians so Faline's escape plan worked out. Yuukan and Seiki were absent due to Yuukan having to go out of town with her parents for a few hours and Seiki had more chores, but Faline was relieved. All three of them stuck to her like paper to glue and stuck in the house for four stifling days and after a while she couldn't take it anymore.

Faline strolled around the city streets for a while with no real destination in mind, until she came upon a hauntingly familiar place by pure coincidence. A cold chill shot straight down her spine and she paled, as her heart began to hammer painfully in her chest. The dark skid marks were still visible on the road, but other than that all evidence of her near death experience had vanished. Her memories were still a muddled mess that she couldn't make much sense of. Stunned she slowly sank to the ground to catch her breath and regain her bearings, uncaring that she was perched on the rough sidewalk and so very close to the passing vehicles. She sat there for almost fifteen full minutes, her eyes wide and her breathing ragged and speedy. At long last Faline's head dropped, her chin resting on her cloth covered breastbone as tears of realization and forlornness fell silently from her eyes.

'Is crying all that I can do? It's all I ever do anymore… no wonder everyone treats me like glass… maybe this is why she left, because she couldn't mourn without me getting in the way, needing to comfort me all the time when she was hurting just as much… I'm sorry, momma.' Faline finally moved. Her motions slow as she stood to her feet and brushed her bangs away from her puffy and watery eyes with her unbroken arm. This time she looked both ways and waited until the coast was clear before she crossed the street in the opposite direction of her house. Her destination was someplace else but it was just as peaceful and nostalgic. It was a short ten minute walk from the crossing to her destination: a relatively small but beautiful park. Faline had many fond memories of her childhood playing at the park. Her father was a professional landscaper and had helped decorate the park before she was born, but afterwards he took her and her mother there almost every day.

With a sad smile Faline eased herself down onto a swing and began to slowly swing back and forth. The motion was soothing and the air cooled her flushed and damp face. It was quiet there, but not as peaceful as she thought it would be. Something was amiss, but she couldn't understand why. After a few moments of watching a pair of small passerine birds fly around each other playfully she realized that despite her initial desire for freedom and fresh air, she was lonely. With a defeated sigh, Faline slumped against the cool metal chain holding the swing up and closed her eyes. A warm gentle wind began to blow, as the songbirds sang their cheery tunes from flowery branches in the surrounding trees. Faline inhaled the sweet scent of nature's summer perfume and instantly a strange, but not unwelcome calming sensation befell upon her confused mind and stressed body.

Kurama blinked slowly, lost in his own thoughts as he passed several amorous young couples. His distracted thoughts were fixated on the one thing they had been on since he had first set eyes on her. 'Faline,' Kurama's bright emerald eyes flickered upwards as her name passed through his thoughts. Despite all the odds stacked against him he had miraculously managed to keep his distance from her, though not without consequence. Yoko had stopped bombarding him with threats and pain, and instead had gone completely silent, which concerned the redhead more than the fox's fury. With the silver-haired fox subdued, he had managed to get a much needed and appreciated full night's sleep, and didn't look as bad as he had only the day before. The dark circles were now faint and almost gone, and much to his delight his calm temperament had returned to normal, as he had been slightly irritable the last few days thanks to the fox.

As much as he had pondered over the strangeness of the mute girl, he was still unable to figure out what was happening to him, or even why. Not knowing anything was frustrating, but what was worse was the connection they had. He often heard snippets of her private thoughts run through his mind. They were usually, but not always accompanied by slivers of what she was feeling at the time. More often than not he was bombarded by her emotions only, though only a few were so strong that he couldn't ignore them no matter how hard he tried. The strongest, most tangible of them was fear, accompanied by a large dose of sorrow. Almost half an hour ago she had been highly apprehensive and fairly excited, for what reasons he did not know, but her rollercoaster emotions shifted not long afterwards, and now he felt nothing from her, it was as if she had dropped off the face of the planet. Despite his more rational feelings, restlessness and a twinge of fear reared its head at the loss of contact, but he had other priorities and couldn't search her out like he badly wanted to.

"… So, Keiko totally freaked out on me and kicked me out of the house when I told her that I had to go back to demon world for a while. I can't figure out why she's so angry. The last time this happened she was mostly alright with it." Yusuke's heavily disgruntled tone broke Kurama out of his reverie. The dark haired boy looked as disgruntled as he sounded and Kurama sudden remembered that he was supposed to be in the middle of a conversation instead of daydreaming about Faline. "Is that why you wanted us to meet?" Kurama asked as an amused smirk twitched at the corners of his lips. The dark haired male grunted with a reluctant nod. "I'm not supposed to go back until the day after tomorrow, but Keiko took all of the spare keys… so I was wondering if you'd let me stay with you?" Yusuke asked gruffly, but Kurama could see the pleading in his brown eyes as they slid to watch for his reaction.

Normally Kurama wouldn't have hesitated to agree as he owed Yusuke a great debt even now, but considering his instability to properly maintain his human guise and personality as of late he had to seriously think about it. "C'mon Kurama," Yusuke's tone turned beseeching and Kurama knew the ex-spirit detective was going to try to bribe him in some form or fashion. "I'll treat ya today and buy my own food, heck I'll even sleep on the sofa!" Kurama had to crack a smile regardless of how desperately he wanted his problem to stay secret. 'Surely he won't notice anything suspicious in two days.' Kurama mused to himself and the quiet fox that unsurprisingly made not reply. With an internal sigh, Kurama turned to the anxious Yusuke, gave him a small smile and agreed to something that he felt might come to regret sooner rather than later. Yusuke couldn't have been happier as he whooped loudly, before he suddenly pulled the momentarily stunned redhead into a wild side hug. Kurama laughed heartily at Yusuke's antics and pulled away from him before any of the spectators could assume something completely false. Unfortunately that had happened more than once.

"Thanks Kurama, I really owe you one for this." Yusuke grinned. Kurama just nodded his head, wondering if he really made the right decision, even though he couldn't take it back now. "For helping me out what do ya say to me buying dinner tonight?" The brown eyed male asked with a close eyed grin. Kurama opened his mouth to reply when a sudden, heavy emotion slammed into his consciousness causing Yoko to once again stir restlessly. 'Little fawn…' "Ah, that would be fine Yusuke," Kurama forced himself to remain calm on the outside while it felt as if he was being torn to pieces on the inside. "If you wouldn't mind, I have someplace else I need to be and I'm afraid I might run a bit late." Kurama told Yusuke with a half-hearted apologetic smile. "Sure, no problem," The younger male shrugged. "Go do whatever it is you gotta do, I'll see you later." He returned with a slight wave of his hand. Kurama thanked him, before Yusuke disappeared around the corner bend of the street. Kurama watched him leave and habitually made sure that he wasn't going to be followed before he turned around and let his instincts guide him to his distressed fawn.

It didn't take long to reach her, but to Kurama it seemed to take a lifetime as he had to walk there so as to not seem suspicious to any he passed. With little to no care of his current location Kurama silently walked into the park, noticing that was exactly what it was upon seeing the various playground equipment spread around the grassy field. Her intoxicating scent was particularly strong on the breeze and blended well with nature's own. Yōko purred softly and Kurama felt a pleasant shiver race down his spine. Kurama knew that he wasn't the only one wishing to willingly get lost in that scent; it was just so incredibly addictive. He already felt his heart start to race from anticipation. He didn't know how to feel. He was almost giddy at the prospect of seeing her awake and well and so close-up, yet at the same time he was nervous to see her in such a state as he might have to speak to her and was strangely at a loss for words. When he finally spotted her his who body froze up and he saw, heard, and smelled nothing but her. He was completely enraptured by her.

He watched as her loose hair floated behind her in the breeze, as she swung gently back and forth on the swing. Her striking light aqua eyes were hidden and her dark lashes delicately brushed against her soft skin, fluttering slightly every once in a while. She was dressed as he had never seen her before, save for in his dreams. She wore a multi-colored dress-like top, with spaghetti straps, the hem fell to mid-thigh and she was wearing light blue roll-up Capri jeans with white ballet flats. It wasn't exactly what he pictured in his dreams, but it seemed to fit her just as well as the dress from his dream had. The only thing wrong with her appearance was the bulky cast upon her arm. It simply didn't belong there, and yet it didn't take away from her beauty. At the shortened distance her unknowingly output loneliness was oppressive. His fingers twitched and he balled his hands into fists to keep them steady and to collect his wits, before he forced himself to move forward and towards the mysterious object of his and Yoko's obsession.

His footsteps were light and habitually cautious as he neared her. She didn't seem aware of his presence, yet, and on some level he was thankful for it. He was so close now; her scent enveloped him in a light blanket of aromas that had him wanting more. He stopped a polite distance away from her, not wanting to seem intrusive or scare her as his heart thumped violently in his chest threatening to steal his breath. Now that he was so close he was at a loss of what to say to her. Would she remember them, or even want to see them, he wondered with a frown, completely unaware that he was starting to think in terms of him and Yōko and not just one or the other. Yōko growled angrily in protest. 'Of course she does. How could she forget the ones who saved her life and the dreams? She's the one calling to us, she wants us, needs us.' Kurama blinked forcing the gold to recede from taking over his emerald eyes, before he opened his mouth and spoke. "May I sit by you?" He questioned politely, yet he hated the husky, breathy undertone he was certain she would notice. It sounded so deprived to his ears.

Light aqua eyes snapped open upon hearing his voice. Kurama watched with subdued awe as the glowing orbs widened and a soft pink blush dusted her pale cheeks. She bit her bottom lip and gave him an embarrassed smile, before she nodded her head in silent reply. He returned her smile with his own as he sat down next to her. After a moment of silence, her turned to her and introduced himself. "I'm Minamino Shuichi." Faline's eyes flickered over his face and he saw a look of recognition flash across her face that made the fox in him purr in delight. 'I know you… you're the one who helped me the other day.' She signed with a shy, thankful smile. 'Thank you, Minamino-san. I'm Kazuhiro Faline and it's nice to meet you.' Kurama smiled. At such a close proximity he could hear her thoughts clearly and understand the meaning of her signing even though it was hindered by the cast. "You're welcome, and it's nice to officially meet you, Faline." He replied hoping that she didn't take offence at the lack of honorific; he just couldn't bring himself to use one, as 'chan' seemed too diminutive, and 'san' was just too polite.

Faline paused noticing his over formality and stared at him for a moment, before she gave a shy grin of acceptance. Kurama silently debated with himself, before he spoke next. The words left his lips, cleverly disguised as a suggestion. "You can use my nickname, Kurama if you like, without an honorific, if it doesn't bother you." Faline once again worried her bottom lip as she thought about his suggestion, unknowing that it was more of a plea. He wanted to hear that name come from her, even if it couldn't roll off her tongue, just hearing it from her thoughts would be pleasing enough. 'Only if it's alright with you…' She paused, hesitant to be so familiar with a stranger but compelled by reasons unknown to accept it. '… Kurama,' Kurama suppressed a quiver as her soft voice, muted only to those with ears, echoed through his mind bringing sensations one usually never experienced from such innocent things. Even Yōko was momentarily placated, despite it not being his name spoken, instead it was their name. It was at that moment that Kurama realized just how deep their connection was and for the life of him he couldn't have cared less that it was a suspicious occurrence.