Hey y'all! This is a story that I wrote for the fanfic contest at Anime Detour (which was amazing). It didn't win anything but I thought you might wanna read it. Enjoy

The room was quiet except for the occasional crackling of the fire. Golden flames mirrored the color of the eyes looking into it.

'How long has it been?' Youko Kurama wondered. He absentmindedly toyed with a large gem in his hands. His molten eyes shifted downwards to fall on the precious stone. It was a good, heavy weight, thus increasing its value. Smooth facets allowed the flame's reflection to dance across the stone's surface. He had "acquired" it earlier in the evening from a pompous demon that had thought that his treasure was safe from the sticky fingers of the Spirit Fox Youko. He was sadly mistaken and Youko had found it much to easy. When he had first laid eyes on the jewel, it was not the size that had caught his attention It was the color. It was a brilliant saturated red. The purest form of red. Just like the pendent that his late friend had carried and died for.

'How long has it been?' he wondered again, 'Since that day when the pull of that pendant became to strong?' One year? Five years? 100? He had forgotten much to his dismay. He let a quick puff of air escape his lungs, causing a few silver strands of hair to become airborne before falling back into place in front of his eyes. He found himself turning the gem over and over in his hands, taking in the smoothness with his fingers. Before he knew it, he found himself taking a trip down memory lane. Back to when he first met Kuronue.

* * *

He lied patiently waiting. It was dark and quiet in the forest that he was using for cover. On the surf ace, he was the picture of calmness and determination. But on the inside, adrenaline and excitement was singing in his veins. A few shadows of doubt would occasionally cross his mind but they were easily brushed aside. When he had decided that it was safe as it was ever going to get for someone in his position, he left the cover of the shadows and crept towards his target.

He hadn't been playing this dangerous game for very long. Maybe a few months at the most. But every time he got wind of some immensely valuable treasure and how heavily it was guarded, the very idea of taking the item from the owner and having it all to himself simply made his fingers twitch.

He quietly stole across the lawn until he reached the outer wall. He quickly accessed the height before sinking into a crouch. His muscles tightened and if you blinked, you would have missed the fox demon launch over the wall and land silently on the other side.

After getting past a mess of guards with relative ease, Youko found himself inside the castle. He was faced with a choice of corridors. He remained still for a few moments as he debated on which way to go.

'I didn't think this through as well as I'd hoped.' He mused. He finally went with his gut instinct and chose a downward sloping corridor on the left. It would only be logical that the item he was after would be in the lowest room in a vault or something.

It was slow going. The darkness of the passageway made it hard to see and the numerous guards skulking around didn't help either. Youko also noticed that the number of guards seemed to increase the farther he went. He was definitely heading in the right direction. After killing the last guard that he could sense, he finally reached the end of the passageway. He was faced with a large iron door with a complex lock. He hunched down to inspect it closer.

"Tricky. Very tricky." He murmured with a smirk. One wrong move would most likely set off an alarm of some kind. He reached into his hair and pulled a single seed out. He looked for a hole, a crack, any kind of opening so that he could command the vines to do their work. He found it in the form of a hairline crack in the iron casing. He held the small seed in the flat plane of his palm and held it close to the tiny fissure. With a little demon energy, the seed began to sprout hair-thin vines, grappling for something to hold onto. A gentle nudge with a little more energy sent them in the right direction, through the tiny crack, and into the lock.

The sounds of levers clicking and wheels turning filled the air as the vines worked at finding the correct method. It was tedious and slow going, but Youko was able to get it done. The lock let loose a small pillar of steam before finally unlocking and allowing Youko easy entry. The fox demon slowly pushed open the door, secretly hoping that he didn't waste all that time and energy to break into the wrong room. He waited for a few tense moments outside to listen for any alarms, booby traps, or guards and the like. No sign whatsoever. With that, he cautiously stepped into the darkened room.

There it was. The fist-sized sapphire seemed to have a glow around it thanks in part to the single tiny light on the ceiling. The Stone of Kibou. It is said that whoever possesses it would benefit from the amplification of their powers by ten fold. Another tale suggested that it would grant the owner immortality. Youko highly doubted the immortality tale and found the first one much more probable. He walked to the pedestal it was on and reached out to remove the glass casing. His ear suddenly twitched backwards, catching a faint clinking sound that was quickly heading his way. He took action and nimbly jumped out of the way just as a curved blade attached to a silver cord passed through the space where his head had just been. The blade swung around, aiming for him again. He dodged again. The blade did not return this time but instead returned to its master.

'I let my guard down.' Youko thought bitterly as he turned to look at the demon.

"Yo." The demon greeted, "Forgive me for interrupting but that there stone is mine." Youko was silent as he observed the demon with critical eyes. He was tall with large black wings protruding from his back.

'Bat demon.' Youko labeled. The demon wore a purple vest, showing a large portion of his chest. He also wore a strange white skirt over black pants and boots. He had bandages wound up to his elbow while black leather straps wound all the way up his arms. He had long black hair tied up in a high ponytail that peeked through a topless, tattered purple hat that had seen better days. Though he wore a cocky grin, the indigo eyes that peered out from underneath the brim of the hat were menacing.

"Did you hear me?" the demon joked. Youko finally decided to speak up.

"Awfully cowardly to strike from behind." The bat demon gave a cheeky grin and shrugged.

"Thief." Was all he said. They were both thieves and both after the same item. How ironic. Youko smirked as he cast his attention back to the gem.

"I see. Well I can't let you steal this bat." Youko replied. A faint humming filled the air and Youko turned to see the bat demon was twirling something rapidly in his hand. It looked like a red pendent.

"Oh? And why is that?" the bat asked casually.

"Because I'm going to steal it first." Youko said as he reached to remove the glass. The bat demon quickly whipped his sickle towards Youko. The fox demon was ready and quickly pulled a rose out of his hair, transformed it into Rose Whip, and parried the assault.

"Well it looks like we'll be having a fight to the death." The bat demon smirked as he sank into a battle ready stance. Youko answered with a smirk of his own.

"It appears so. What is your name demon?"

"Its polite to introduce yourself before asking another's."

'Everything is like a joke to him.' Youko thought. Though he didn't completely agree with the bat's casual attitude, he had to admit that it did make things more interesting.

"I am known as Youko Kurama."

"Kuronue." The bat demon replied bluntly. After the introductions had finished, the mood changed. The air was filled with adrenaline, determination, and the pure excitement of a good fight. The combatants tried to stare each other down. Then as if reading each other's minds, they charged towards each other.

The fight was intense, as both fighters seemed evenly matched.

'He's skilled.' Youko thought to himself. The same thing was going through Kuronue's head.

"I gotta say that this is the most fun I've had during a fight." Kuronue panted as he swung the sickle. Youko was able to dodge before answering.

"I agree." He sent his Rose Whip in a deadly circle while he remained in the center of it. Kuronue gave his sickle a quick flick with his wrist and sent it crashing into Youko's Rose Whip. The force of the weapons colliding caused a brief spark to appear and the Rose Whip to be pushed back. In a momentary loss of control, Youko's whip was thrown back and struck the protective case around the jewel. The case spider webbed before falling to the floor in thousands of tiny shards. Both combatants paused before looking at the jewel, which was doing a most peculiar thing. It was melting! They only had a moment to question it before a shrill alarm began to sound. Kuronue quickly covered his ears while Youko flattened his back. It did little to help.

"It was a fake." Kuronue yelled above the alarm.

"Clever." Youko replied with a nod as he watched the fake gem ooze to the floor, "The case and pedestal must have been linked somehow." They heard the footsteps of guards approaching the room.

"We'll have to continue this another day because I really must dash!" Kuronue said with a cheeky grin. He quickly wound the sickle and cord before safely storing it. Before he completely disappeared out the door, he glanced back over his shoulder.

"I'll remember your name Youko Kurama."

"As will I Kuronue." Youko smirked.

"Don't die!" Kuronue said with a wave before bolting out the door.

'An unusual demon.' Youko thought before he too left the scene of the crime.

There was a large swath of fallen demons showing the direction Kuronue had gone. Youko barely acknowledged it as he went back out the way he came and into the safety of the forest.

* * *

Youko blinked slowly. A few days after the failed attempt, he had gone back to hopefully find the real gem. Ironically, the bat demon happened to be there as well, trying to accomplish the same task as Youko. A battle between the two commenced almost the moment they saw each other. They were separated soon after by a barrage of various lower class demon attacks. After quite a bit of quick thinking on his part, Youko was able to set a carnivorous plant as a distraction and infiltrate the castle. In the end, Youko was able to walk away with the prize.

The next couple of raids, he had been shocked to see Kuronue at every one of them, gunning for the same treasure. At first, there was a lot of tension between the two. A few times, they ended up battling each other as well as the guards. He remembered that they were both caught the seventh time they saw each other. That was when Kuronue hatched the plan that they should join up as a team. Youko had not answered right away. Infract, he was quite reluctant with the idea as he had always been a solitary thief. When asked the question, Youko used a seed to pick the lock of the cell that held him captive and left Kuronue to find his own way out.

He was asked the question again when they met an eighth time. When he declined, Kuronue laid it on thick. After heavy persuasion from Kuronue, he reluctantly agreed, not sure if he would regret the decision.

'I'm glad I took that chance.' He smirked as he turned the large gem over in his hands. Kuronue's deep friendship was worth its weight its gold.