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Inari looked lazily at the humans walking around the streets and took big sip of sake. 'Things aren't like the good old days... Men now are crueler in the 21st century, and less punished....'

The woman wondered briefly if the rumors were true about the dragons fading in the mountains and the other Kami living in spirit world now.

She was a girl... today... dressed in a Shinto priestess's garb- a white haori with a dark red hakama. Like all Kami, Inari could be either gender at will. She preferred this form, because Inari- like all foxes- enjoyed beauty. In Buddhism she was just another grumpy old man- yech.

'Speaking of beauty...' She noticed a redheaded boy walking down the street. His piecing green eyes, athletic yet androgynous body clothed in....

"Ugh! What a horrid- gah!" She turned away. He wore an awful matching maroon shirt and pants. Inari couldn't stand the sight. She chugged the intoxicating liquid angrily.      

"Inari-sama?" A soft voice murmured from behind the goddess for now.

"Kitsu?" she replied, turning to face the fox-maiden. 'In the grand old days she would have been a wonderful Fox-wife.' Inari thought bitterly.

The fox looked up with demure dark blue eyes at Inari. "Ouka has given birth, Yuki has found us another place to stay and...." she timidly answered, fiddling with the customary key she always wore. "And Katsu has found another one, ma'am."   

Katsu, one of the two white foxes that always flanked her side- or his, depending on the mood- when Inari appeared to mortals, was notorious for sweeping human women off their feet and....

'Kidnapping them is proper term.' 

Inari rolled her eyes. "That fool. I will-" Inari teetered a bit, then toppled over. "My sake!" She cried, tears forming at the spilled alcohol on the ground. 

The myobu fell on her bum, sweatdropping. "Inari-sama..." 

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The vein bulging the impatient spirit detective's head couldn't get any bigger. 'Maybe his head will explode.' Hiei mused, with a mental image of the dark-haired Japanese boy's blast taking out a certain ugly red-haired idiot.

"Where the hell is Kurama!?" Yusuke exploded, in the wrong way, turning to the man on his left. They were standing outside the theater, and the fact that Keiko expected the detective to come in soon pushed on the boy's already short fuse.  

"How the hell should I know?!" Kuwabara shot back defensively, throwing his hands in the air.

The two morons started to bicker like little kids, each accusing the other that he had forgotten to tell the Kitsune where they were meeting.

Hiei looked away from the children to spot the very man staring off into space. "Oi, fools, Kurama's right there." He sneered at the arguing twits.

"Hey, Kurama!" Yusuke shouted. "Get over here!"  

The redhead came out of his trance and turned to smile at the group.

"Sorry- I just felt a strange presence." The object of their conversation explained, nodding at a particularly tall building.

Hiei disappeared in a blink of an eye. Kuwabara shaded his, squinting at the skyscraper.

"Yep." the tall man assured. "Somethin' really weird about that place, alright."

"Yusuke, you had something to tell us?" Kurama offered politely.

"Oh yeah!" Yusuke motioned for the fox to move closer. "Apparently, a kami decided to take a jaunt through the ningenkai, and left a gaping hole in the barrier. Botan was really scared..." Yusuke trailed off thoughtfully.

"Which god is it?" Kurama questioned.

Yusuke's expression became positively devilish. "A god of..." He motioned Kurama closer. Their foreheads almost touched. Kurama's cheeks turned pink.

"...FOOD!" Yusuke burst out laughing.

A drop of sweat rolled down the redhead's face. "..." He pulled back quickly, eyes anywhere but Yusuke. "I wonder what's taking Hiei so long...?"

They got their answer in the form of a very angry scream.

"Was that... Hiei?"
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