All right ya'll, I know the standard protocol and procedures and all that, but before I go and do something that'll annoy me, I'd like to say a few things.

1) This series was very carefully planned and thought out. Every detail addressed and considered about a thousand times before they even made it to my keyboard. Through which process they were analyzed again and terminally damaged.

2) My original ideas are better seen first hand and in mint condition, but hey /shrug/ what am I to do? If you could read my mind I would surely let you, but even I can't retrieve the dialogues created in my head late at night as I lie in bed trying to sleep. So excuse the battered condition of this story, for just as the spoken word is corrupted by many tellings, this story has been corrupted by the journey from my brain, to my nerves, to my muscles, to my keyboard, to my computer, to my editor, to this site.

3) I might eventually come back and redo the hard copy to better fit the intended picture, but that's for later, cause I might even redo it before I put it up, so don't expect much.

4) As of now, please do not scream at me for the indignities imposed by my hand. Although I am open to the pointing out of obvious mistakes on my part, such as grammar, spelling, references I completely jumbled up, and the like. In that case, feel free to criticize, I merely prefer you e-mail me instead. Now that being said, I shall continue with the necessary formalities.

5) Disclaimer: I WILL SAY THIS ONCE AND ONLY ONCE THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE SERIES. I HAVE NO CLAIM TO YU YU HAKUSHO AND MOST OF THE IDEAS WEAVED INTO THIS STORY; bar the creation of my characters and their personalities of course. The plot is not purely mine either. But the appropriate authors will be credited when their work arises. Perhaps this part of the big picture isn't so unclean either/shrug/ but better safe than sorry. /dusts hands off/ well, now that that's over with, on with the story. Oh wait, I have more babbling to do.

6) Most comments referring to explanations of the chapter will immediately follow the chapter portion of the page. You'll see, I have a set pattern to these things. Each section is divided by a, uh, a bar thingy. I'm sure you must know what I'm talking about right? Well if not you will soon enough. You can probably already see it somewhere near the bottom of your screen, depends on how much you scrolled down and what size you set the text to be.

7) The proper glossary shall be addressed at the bottom of each chapter. Though I seriously feel it unnecessary to repeat words that have already been used. That is, of course, unless even I can't remember the proper definition.

8) Last but not least: (You and I both hope) any replies to reviewers will be tagged to the bottom of the chapter as well, under the glossary. Do not expect, however, to always receive a reply from yours truly, for that will only slow me down and remember, this story was written out before hand. I might not even respond to reviews at all if I'm lazy.

With the Sunset Goes My Love: Chapter 1

Midnight Runs

Yells and cries of anger ring out in the air and birds are sent flying from their nests as they are disturbed by a mob of demons running through the forest.

Just a few yards ahead of the angry guards, a silver haired, golden-eyed kitsune runs for his life. Clutching a piece of priceless pottery to his chest, he looses sight of his partner-in-crime as he makes his escape.

Mayhap I underestimated their defenses. I should have been more careful. Kuso, where is Kuronue?

But the Great Thief King has no time to dwell on these thoughts as he concentrats on running. Soon the shouts of outrage are mere background noise as he sprints deeper into the forest. Confident that he had shaken off his pursuers, Youko Kurama slows his pace and concentrates more on being quiet.

This tactic, however, fails as ki filled arrows pierce the Youko's skin and jut out through his stomach. Looking back, the surprised kitsune looks wide eyed upon a sniper perched up in an oak tree, a crossbow in hand.

Before Kurama can react the sniper has yet another arrow set in the crossbow and shoots again. This time the silver haired thief jumps out of the way, the arrow just barely skimming his right calf.

While his opponent is caught up in rearming, vines are made to crawl up the oak tree and ensnare the offending weapon. The sniper is taken by surprise and falls out of the tree, only to be gobbled up by a man-eating plant, courtesy of Youko of course.

Seeing this task done, Youko limps away, doing his best to ignore the wounds he's acquired. What the plant-wise kitsune doesn't take the time to notice however, was that the arrows are not only ki filled, but coated with poison as well.

Slowly, the notorious thief weakens and tires as he wanders the forest. His thoughts slow to a crawl, until he could barely remember what he is searching for.

Kuronue. Where are you, Kuronue?

Eventually even this thought is lost as the fox nears the edge of the forest. The moon was now well overhead and it is snowing again. Just as the King of Thieves feels he has safely lost his pursuers, he collapses, his vision blurring, and blacks out.

Chance, coincidence, fate, destiny, whatever you wish to call that which brought him to my doorstep, he was there, and that's the fact of the matter. There for me to find him and looking so pitiful that I was compelled to bring him in and tend to his wounds. You could say I was curious as to why he was there, facedown in the snow and bleeding from arm and middle.

Then again, Curiosity killed the cat. And Curiosity brought him back, and all through his nine ole' lives, curiosity made him die. And to that cat with Curiosity, satisfaction will never be –as I like to say-

I've never been a cat before, but I've sure got the lives to spare. So with disregard to any self inflicted advice, I brought that damned fox into my humble abode and took care of him, probably signing some wretched 'TORTURE ME' document in the process.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­A sunny day. The birds are chirping and the children are laughing. A perfect day, as it is often called.

"Oh, did you hear about Sid and Anna?"

"Oh, yes! And I say it's about time too!"

"Those two have been sighing over each other for so long. It's a wonder that boy finally got the courage to approach her."

"Yes, and don't they make such a cute little couple?"

"Well, I don't know. I rather think Jamie's son would have been a better match."

"Well, what do you think Tsuchi?"

Tsuchi, a relatively young woman with platinum hair and teal eyes fights to conceal a twitch developing under her right eye. "I think Sid ought to watch his duel personality now that he's got Anna to mind. That girl's got another thing comin' if she thinks Sid is such a perfect gentleman, as her heart would have it."

This sends the gossiping old woman into a flurry of chitchat about each and every detail of the two lover's lives. Tsuchi simple watches as the foolish demonesses babble on about what not.

It's pathetic how the females just get mated and let down all their defenses. Some never even had defenses in the first place, always surrounded by their men. For crying out loud this is the Makai for Kami's sake!

Irritated by the senseless jabbering of the oblivious apparitions, Tsuchi stands and excuses herself from their little ring of gossip. "Well ladies, I really must be going now."

"Oh, of course, go on girl. We know you've got things to do!" waves an old water demoness.

"It's been nice chatting with you all. Good day." Tsuchi nods slightly and leaves the women to talk their tongues off.

A wicker basket hanging from the hook of her right arm, Tsuchi readjusts the sun hat she wears on her head with her left hand. Indeed, it looked to be a perfect day, the sun shining down on the girl, her eyes just barely shaded by the hat. The rays of light dance playfully through the leaves of a tree as she passes under, lighting on her ankle length summer dress of yellow and white.

It might have snowed just the night before, but that made no difference to Tsuchi, for she, well, let's just say she's immune to the change in temperature. It's as if she carries her own personal summer with her wherever she goes. You know, the smile that lights up the room and the eyes that shine as bright as the sun. All that good stuff and more.

Tsuchi makes her way back to her old apartment near the forest. Upon stepping under the shade of the building the young girl removes her hat and holds it in her right hand as she made to open the door to her simple home.

The door opens, but not by Tsuchi's hand. On the other side of the door stands a silver haired kitsune, who was, well, much taller than six feet, that's for sure.

Tsuchi's eyes widen at the sight and lets out an audible gasp as she looked on at the King of Thieves standing in her doorway. Self consciously, she retracts her hand from where it is poised to open the door. She knows full well whom she is dealing with, as well as the fact that many a demon quiver at the mere mention of his name. Youko Kurama.

Oh, I know I've been babbling a lot so far, but I promise that's one for this one chapter. I have just one more important thing to mention. After this you can just skip out on whatever I wrote down there, unless of course you require the glossary. Anyway, this chapter is short, I know, but it was the best place to stop. I didn't want to confuse you as I swung into first person perspectives and such. Cause it gets way confusing from here on in. I'll be jumping from Youko, to Tsuchi, to Youko again. Annoying I know, but it'll give you a better view of the character's personalities and it is really hard to write this strictly in third person without sacrificing the quality. Unless you prefer long trains of thought, I decided this way would be better. I will occasionally visit the third person though, to give you a break from having to remember whose point of view I'm in. In any case, this is my story and I'll do what I want with it. /twitch/ I must sound so bitchy. Ok, just go do whatever. I don't control you or anything.

Glossary-

Kitsune- fox

Kuso- shit

Ki- energy (There are four forms of energy, but all you need to know for this installment is that it's energy, in this case, used in battle)

Makai- Demon world

Kami- God

Tsuchi- Earth, soil

As for anything about the show in general that you didn't previously know, deal with it, if you know naught enough to fully grasp what is going on, then you have some research to do. Any misconceptions created by other fan fictions are none of my business. I deal with the cold hard facts here, and only that. All I mean to do is place a possibility into the minds of my readers to fill in gaps left by the original creators of Yu Yu Hakusho, nothing more. All information offered in this story are the products of my extensive research on the series and if there are any mistakes, that is the result of conflicting sources and the fact that I have not watched the complete series, nor have a read the manga. But here I am wasting my breath when I should be in bed.

Review if you please, not like I'll know if you didn't. It is merely common courtesy.