FINDING MY WAY HOME

Well, this didn’t come out exactly like I planned, but it’ll do. Don’t worry though, it’s not the end. I’ve got a bit more drama planned for our boys yet. I hope you’re all enjoying this and keep sending those wonderful reviews I love so much.

Chapter 13

Stepping out of the shower, I quickly towel myself dry. Disappointed the shower hadn’t relieved the nagging headache I’d woken with, I head to the closet for clothes. Black slacks and a nice shirt should be fine for the meeting I’m heading to. Though winter hadn’t settled in, it was still cold in the morning so I grab a sports coat before going to the bedroom. Leaning over the bed, I gently kiss Hiei’s cheek and whisper. “This shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours my love.”

Sleepily, he made a grab for me. “Call and cancel Fox, then you can come back to bed with me.”

Smiling, I easily evade his grasp. “Sorry Koi, no can do. Go back to sleep and I’ll see you soon.”

Closing the bedroom door behind me, I check the time and realize I’d better hurry if I don’t want to be late. As I pick up my keys and wallet I glance back at the living room wondering when Hiei moved the chairs. Shrugging it off, I set the alarm and lock the door. A few minutes later I’m in the car zipping through traffic with a smile. Damn I love this car.

At city hall, I slip into one of the VIP parking spaces. As I get out of the car, I can’t help but notice how warm it is. After sprinting up the steps to the second floor, I smile at the Mayor’s secretary. “Good morning Hanna. Is the Mayor in yet?”

The lovely girl looked up and smiled. “Good morning Mr. Minamino. What a lovely surprise. No, I’m sorry, he and Mr. Kuwabara went over to Mr. Yamato’s office almost an hour ago.”

Confused I frown. “Didn’t we have an appointment this morning?”

It’s her turn to frown. “No sir, not that I know of. Would you like me to make you one?”

I just shake my head and start to turn away. The headache that was almost gone, has returned. As an afterthought, I call over my shoulder. “Thank you Hanna.”

Descending the stairs, I avoid the people in the main lobby and step out into the sunshine. Feeling like something isn’t right, I see nothing out of the ordinary except that it’s much warmer than it should be this time of year. Pulling off my sports coat, I fold it over my arm. The sudden ringing of my cell phone almost makes me jump. “Minamino.”

“Hey Kurama, is that you down there?”

Looking up at the building across from the Mayor’s office, I see Kuwabara watching me through the window of Mr. Yamato’s office and wave. “Hello Kuwabara.”

“Wait up, I’ll be right down.”

Within five minutes Kuwabara sprints across the street to join me. “What brings you downtown this morning Kurama?”

I wonder if my confusion shows on my face. “I’m not sure Kuwa. I thought I had a meeting this morning, but I must have it wrong. Kuwabara, I’ve got this odd feeling today. Does anything seem off to you?”

Kuwabara frowned. “No man. Everything seems fine to me. Is there something I should be worried about?”

Pushing the thought aside, I shake my head. “No, it must be me. Oh well, since I’ve got some free time, I guess I’ll head over to see my mother.”

He smiled. “Would you like some company? My meeting finished early and we’re all not supposed to meet for lunch for a couple of hours.”

Not remembering the lunch date he mentioned, I just nod. “Sure, why not. My car’s over here.”

When we get to the car, I can’t help but smile as the big man tries to fold himself into my little sports car. “Your car is really cool Kurama, but damn it’s small.”

I laugh as I pull out into traffic. “Maybe my car is just right and it’s you that’s too big.”

Fifteen minutes later we pull up at my mother’s. As we approach the front door it suddenly opens and my stepfather came out. “Shuuichi, Kuwabara, hi. I was just on my way out. What are you doing here? I thought you’d still be at the brunch your mother’s new club is hosting. Weren’t you supposed to speak at it this morning?”

Stunned by his words I almost stammered. “He… her new club?”

My father frowned as Kuwabara explained. “Yeah Kurama, remember the mayor started a new committee for the special education needs of interspecies children. Since she raised the most famous half demon kid, he put your mom in charge. Your mom even recruited mine and Keiko’s moms since our kids are all half human, half demon.”


My father nodded. “Since you were a demon raised and educated in the human world, I know she was planning on asking you to speak today. Maybe she made other arrangements.”

That feeling that something was off was back two fold. So was my headache. “I hope she did and I didn’t just miss it. We won’t keep you Father. Tell Mother I’ll call her later.”

Not even waiting for a response, or Kuwabara, I hurry to my car. Behind me Kuwabara is calling for me to wait. As the engine roars to life, Kuwabara climbs in. “Kurama?”

I’m not sure if the concern in Kuwabara’s voice is for me or my driving as I weave through traffic. “Something is wrong Kuwa. I need Hiei.”

Not questioning me, Kuwabara pulled out his phone and dialed. After a moment he closed it and looked at me. “Hiei’s not picking up Kurama, but that’s not unusual. I’m going to try Yusuke.”

Watching the road, I hear him on the phone. “Urameshi! Are you with Hiei?... Cause something is freaking Kurama out and we’re headed to their apartment… Alright, we’ll see you there.”

Frustrated with traffic, I sigh as I’m forced to stop at a light. “It’s alright Kurama, we’re almost there. Yusuke was already at the ramen shop, but he’s headed to your place now.”

When the light changed and I pressed the accelerator, the big man braced his hands on the dash. “Okay! Um, let’s find something else to talk about. What about the spring festival at the botanical gardens next week? Are you entering again this year? You blew them all away with those flaming flowery things you entered last year.”

Screeching around the corner into the parking garage, I spun the Z into my parking space and turned on him. “What do you mean next week? That festival is months away at the end of March!”

Kuwabara frowned. “Kurama, that’s next week.”

He had it right a moment ago on the phone, I am freaking out. Jumping from the car, I run to the elevator. By the time the doors open, Kuwabara catches up with me. “Damn it Kurama, what the hell?”

As the doors close I whisper. “It’s not March.”

Kuwabara just stares at me. Expecting the elevator to zip to the top floor, I growl in frustration when it stops at the lobby. When the doors open, Yusuke hops in. “Alright guys, what’s up?”

When I don’t answer, Kuwabara shrugs. “I don’t know man, but Kurama keeps saying something feels off and now he says it’s not March.”

Yusuke got an odd look in his eyes. “Kurama, if it’s not March, then when do you think it is?”

Almost afraid to answer I whisper again. “September.”

The look my friend’s exchange confirms I have a reason to be freaking out, but the elevator doors open on my floor before I can question them. Pulling out my keys, I unlock the door and rush in. “Hiei!”

Seeing him come in from the patio, I rush into his arms. The moment they are around me I know everything will be alright. Even the throbbing of my headache doesn’t seem as bad. After holding me a moment, he pulls back to look at me. “Kurama, what’s wrong.”

Before I can answer, I hear Yusuke. “Hiei, he remembered.”

When Hiei’s eyes widen knowingly, I can’t hold back any longer. “Damn it Dragon, what the hell is going on? I just went to an appointment I didn’t have, I missed one I didn’t know I had. My mother is on some committee I’ve never heard of. Kuwabara thinks it’s March when I know it’s September. And why the hell did you move all the furniture?”

I jump when Hiei takes my face in his hands, forcing me to look right at him. “What did you call me?”

With everything I just said, that’s what he wants to know? “Dragon. Hiei, I always call you Dragon.”

Suddenly Hiei’s kissing me as if he’s starved for me. Again the familiar feeling of being safe washes over me and I return his kiss whole heartedly. When our lips finally part I’m greeted with one of Hiei’s rare smiles. “Welcome back Fox.”

Frustrated, I sigh. “Hiei, what are you talking about? I haven’t even been gone two hours and you’re acting like it’s been ages.”

Hiei sighs. “No Kurama, you’ve been gone six months.”

Disbelievingly, I stare back at him and shake my head. “Hiei, I woke up beside you just a few hours ago. Don’t you remember? I even kissed you goodbye. I haven’t been anywhere in weeks.”

Pulling me towards the sofa, Hiei made me sit, then sat beside me. Yusuke and Kuwabara took the chairs across from us. “Fox, what’s the last thing you remember before waking up this morning?”

Three sets of eyes were anxiously awaiting my answer. “Yusuke called for help with a demon last night. Remember, I hit my head. When we got home you bandaged me up and we went to bed.”

Hiei nodded. “When you woke up this morning, was your head bandaged?”

That odd feeling was back and getting worse. So was my headache. “No. I woke up with a headache that won’t go away though.”

When Hiei looked at our friends, Yusuke nodded. “Already on it Hiei. Keiko and Yukina are dropping the kids off at Shizuru’s. They should be here soon.”

They knew something I didn’t know. Grabbing Hiei’s arm, I made him look at me. He didn’t need me to say anything to know I wanted answers. “Kurama, the morning after you hit your head, you woke up without your memory. What you remember as happening last night, actually happened six months ago.”

I can feel my heart racing as I blink at him. “Dragon, that’s not possible. I remember everything. As you cleaned my wound you kept growling that I should have let you take me to the temple for Yukina to heal me. I remember kissing you until I got my way.”

Hiei nodded. “The next morning, I when I took off the bandage and cleaned your wound your memory was gone. We went to the temple, but Yukina couldn’t find anything wrong with you.”

I jumped when Yusuke reached out and touched my arm. “Kurama, you thought you had an appointment with the mayor this morning didn’t you? I rescheduled and went for you the next week after you missed it.”

Kuwabara nodded towards me. “Take out your cell phone Kurama, and check the date.”

That suggestion was actually helpful. Pulling out my phone I did as he said. My heart sank though when I saw the date. It was true. Six months of my life were gone. From the look in Hiei’s ruby eyes, I can see my distress is upsetting him, but I can’t help it. “Did I remember anything?”

Hiei shook his head. “You didn’t even know you were a demon.”

Without him saying it, I could tell it was worse than that. Knowing I’d get a straight answer from him, I looked at Yusuke. Sure enough he nodded. “You thought you were human and couldn’t control your demon powers. You had no memory of any of us, even Hiei, and you weren’t too thrilled at being mated to another man.”

Eyes wide, I look at Hiei. “Dragon?”

The unfamiliar raw emotion in Hiei’s eyes tears at my heart as I reach for him. Holding me close, with one of his strong hands buried in my hair, he whispers in my ear. “You haven’t called me Dragon in six months.”

I heard someone at the door, but I didn’t release him. Kuwabara opened the door for the girls, letting Hiei and I have a moment. Hearing the guys tell them what was going on though, I looked up and Hiei released me. Yukina immediately came to my side. “Kurama, how do you feel?”

I shrugged. “I woke up with a headache that doesn’t want to go away, but otherwise I feel fine.”

When she placed her hands on either side of my head, I closed my eyes. Within seconds my headache was gone. When she removed her hands I opened my eyes. “I’m not finding anything wrong Kurama. Did anything happen that might have triggered your memory?”

I couldn’t keep the annoyance from my voice when I answered. “I wish I knew.”

Yusuke stepped forward. “I might be able to shed some light on that. Hiei went to Makai yesterday, so I came over to help you work on your speech for Shiori’s committee meeting today. Since you didn’t have much memory of being a demon growing up in a human environment, I helped fill in some of the blanks.”

I know Yusuke is trying to be helpful, but hearing him talk about me doing things I don’t remember is really starting to grate on my nerves, but I remain silent. “Sorry Kurama, I know you swore me to secrecy so Hiei wouldn’t know, but I think this is important. Kurama fainted yesterday. He went into the kitchen for drinks and next thing I know he was on the floor. By the time I put him on the sofa he was waking up and rubbing his head. He must have hit it when he fell.”

Beside me Hiei growled. “Damn it Kurama, why would you keep that from me?”

With my own annoyance growing, I growled back. “How the hell should I know! I had amnesia remember!”

Turning from him, I looked at Yusuke. “Are you sure that’s what happened Yusuke? I have never fainted in my life.”

He held his hands up in surrender at my tone. “Hey, you walked into the kitchen, when you didn’t come back or answer when I called out, I went looking for you and found you out cold on the floor.”

Even Yukina’s sweet voice was unable to calm my nerves. “Kurama, a blow to the head took your memory, a second blow to the head is probably what triggered the return of your memory. Do you remember anything from the past six months?”

I shake my head. “Remember? No, but apparently I’ve not only forgotten my mate, but that I love him. I’ve forgotten my mother, my friends and how to use my demon powers. Oh, and I rearranged all the furniture. Did I miss anything?”

Needing space, I jump up, storm into the bedroom and slam the door. I’ve been through a lot in my long life, but I can’t remember a time when I felt so out of control. Looking around the room, the only thing I see out of place is the unmade bed. Since Hiei never makes the bed, I’m not surprised. Then I remember that, even though I’m the one that woke up in that bed with him this morning, it wasn’t me that went to sleep in it with him last night.

Anger builds in me just thinking about it. Going to the bed, I rip off the covers and sheets. From the linen closet outside the bathroom, I pull out fresh sheets. Just as I start to spread the bottom sheet on the bed, Hiei enters the room. Ignoring him, I make my way around the bed, tucking in the sheet. As I spread out the top sheet Hiei moves to the other side of the bed to help.

In silence we make the bed together. As we finish and slip clean pillow cases on the pillows, I sigh. “I’m sure the sheets were fine, but I needed to change them. I know you think it was me that slept in that bed with you last night, but I know it wasn’t.”

Coming around the bed, Hiei tried to reach for me but I pulled away. “No Kurama! Come here!”

Wrestling with him, we end up on the floor before I stop struggling. “You don’t have to say it Hiei. I know I’m being unreasonable, but I can’t help it. I feels like I was just told that my mate spent the past six months living with another man.”

Trying to calm me, Hiei strokes my hair. “Kurama, you are the man that I’ve been with all these months. With or without your memory, I will never let you go and I would wait forever for you. It paid off Kurama, because here you are in my arms again.”

That was what I needed to hear, and I relax into his arms. Several minutes pass before I release him. “A part of me wants to forget the past six months even happened, but I know I need to hear it.”

Together we rise from the floor and head back to the living room. Before I can apologize for my earlier behavior, Keiko smiles. “You don’t need to say anything Kurama. We all know how hard this must be for you.”

Yusuke chuckled. “If it weren’t for that though this would be kind of funny. Mister cool, calm and collected has had his tail ruffled a bit since this started. The other you finally got settled into your life, now you’re back trying to figure out what you missed.”

‘The other me.’ That is how this feels. Like someone else has been living my life. “So, did I ever get any of my memory back?”

They all shook their heads and let Hiei start. “Not really. You had little flashes of familiarity by not much in the way of actual memory.”

Yusuke grinned. “Yeah, I think I was first. At least that’s what you said. About a week after you lost your memory we fought off an invasion of Makai insects at the temple. You later told me when Kuwabara and I came back through the portal you had a flash of me with my Mazaku tats and all the hair. You hadn’t seen my demon form yet.”

Hiei went next. “When I took you to Makai to see if that might trigger your memory, you had flashes of Mukuro’s scars and robot parts from before her reconstruction. You didn’t remember Yomi when you met him, but you told me later you somehow knew you were responsible for him being blind.”

Kuwabara gasped. “Hey, I never knew that.”

Yukina shook her head. “Not now Kazuma.”

So far everything they mention was about a demon. “What about my mother? Did I remember her?”

Hiei shook his head. “No really. You said you had a vision of her in a rose garden, smelling the flowers.”

I nodded. “That was probably the day I chose her as the host for my demon soul. That’s something I guess. Was there ever any real true memory, or just these flashes?”

Everyone shook their head except Hiei. Seeing his uncomfortable look I frowned. With a sigh he finally spoke. “There was one. When we were in Makai you stole a ruby pendant that caught your eye, even though it was far from the prettiest thing you saw in the store. When Yomi commented that it was like a mini replica of the original, your curiosity was peeked. When we got home and you asked what Yomi meant, I showed you your treasure box. You knew exactly how to manipulate the box to open it.”

Knowing what was in the box, my heart beat faster. “When you opened the top and found where I had put your tear gem, you asked about it, but there was no recognition. When you opened the bottom though you froze with instant recognition. You reached out but couldn’t bring yourself to touch it, just like you always do. You described Kuronue down to the last detail, but for the first and only time you also described how the pendant and his memory made you feel. How the loneliness and the grief from his loss caused you physical pain.”

I could see the hurt in my mate’s eyes that I remembered Kuro and his pendant but not Hiei and his tear gem. Needing to hear a less painful memory I asked. “Hiei, tell me what I remembered about you.”

Ruby eyes stared back at me. “Nothing.”

His simple answer tore at my heart and I hugged him. “Oh Hiei.”

Wanting to change the mood, I release him and sigh. “Okay, enough of that. So, what was I like without my memory?”

For the next hour I was regaled with stories of the past six months. The more they talked, the more detached and distant I felt from this person they told me about. This other me they talked about didn’t sound too different from me. He sounded a bit more passive perhaps, and more submissive with Hiei, but without my memories of being a very powerful, centuries old demon, I guess that’s to be expected.

What I didn’t expect was how this other man living my life would make me feel. It was like earlier, when I’d been so jealous that someone else had shared our bed with Hiei, that I needed to change the sheets, only worse. This man had my friends and family for six months. He partied and trained with them. He called my mother his. He fell in love and made love with my mate. He stole six months of my life.

Suddenly I couldn’t take any more. Jumping up, I shouted. “Enough! I’m glad you all had such a great time with HIM in my absence, but I’m back now! This is MY life and I’m taking it back! Now move, all of you! I need to put MY furniture back where it belongs!”

Wasting no time getting out of my way, everyone jumped up and even helped move the furniture. For some reason this irritated me even more. It wasn’t like me to lose my temper so easily. Taking a deep breath, I knew I owed them an apology. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped. It’s been a little traumatic to realize I lost six months of my life. I’ll get over it.”

Yusuke came and put an arm around my shoulders. “Damn Kurama, we didn’t mean to make you feel like life just went on without you. It was tough sometimes. Without your memories, you weren’t quiet you. We’d be sharing a story from the old days, and you’d be left out. We couldn’t even fight the same because you didn’t know how to fight with the team. We really missed you.”

His words helped. “Thanks Yusuke, I needed to hear that.”

After that everyone said their goodbyes and left Hiei and I alone. He’d been pretty quiet since my little tirade. Not liking the uncomfortable silence, I finally sigh. “It must have been so hard on you Hiei.”

He nodded. “It was like I lost my mate Kurama. You didn’t know me. At first, you weren’t comfortable being in a relationship with me and even when you did accept me, there was always a part of you missing. We had to train you to protect yourself. Afterwards you’d get mad that I didn’t want you fighting with us. I was constantly watching that you weren’t getting hurt and for the first time I didn’t trust you to have my back. All the things I normally looked to you to take care of, I had to take care of for you.”

Without a word I moved into his arms. For several minutes we just held each other. “I know it was me here with you Hiei, but it doesn’t feel like it was me. I don’t know how to handle this. I’ve never felt so out of control in my life.”

Holding me close, Hiei sighed. “We’ll handle it together Fox.”