There was a suspicion Yukio had about his old friend, Shura Kirigakure, and it was one he felt more strongly as time passed. The suspicion that she was, and had been... 'romantic' with the paladin, Arthur Auguste Angel.

The first hint he had was when he was seven, and was barely beginning his exorcism training. He knew Shura from day one, mainly because they were both Father Fujimoto's apprentices. She was forever the bullying older sister he never wanted. Mussing up his hair, stealing his glasses and running with them, calling him names like 'wimpy' and 'four-eyes'. Then there was Arthur Angel, who was less well-known to him. The blonde boy was always present in their small exorcist class of four. With long bangs coating a little under half of his face and the large sword that was always sheathed against his back, he seemed strange.

Aside from their shared meister-type desire, he never saw anything that seemed similar between the two. Shura was loud and arrogant, Arthur (at that age) was quiet and awkward. At one point, when drunk, Shura revealed to him that she preferred men who were calm and collected, neither of which seemed to fit the introverted blonde. Then, however... there was that one time...

"Yukio, come on, we're going home. We don't want to be late for dinner." Father Fujimoto smiled down at him and rubbed his head. "Let's go and see what your brother has helped cook up this time, not trouble, hopefully."

"Yeah, hopefully," he laughed in response. Yukio grinned and followed him to the closest door with a lock. As the gray-haired man selected the key from his long chain of them, Yukio, by chance, glanced over at the window. It was a quick glance, but there it was, the first event that raised a suspicion within him. Outside, near the railing that separated people from falling and safety, the two of them stood, facing one another. Arthur had his back up against the railing, Shura standing directly in front of him, hardly a foot of space between them. Yukio could almost feel his pupils dilate with confusion at the sight.

"Hey, you coming or do you want to spend the night here?" Starting himself out of his shock, Yukio rushed through the door and allowed Father Fujimoto to shut it behind him.

This had been the beginning of all of his suspicions. Ever since then, when he began thinking about it, he began seeing small signs of something like friendship between the two, even when they weren't meant to be seen. An extra glance in the other's direction when they were going opposite ways. A lingering touch as they pulled hands away from one another. Perhaps a cry of the other's name if one of them saw impending danger approaching.

Later, though, as he grew to the age of eleven, he began suspecting something deeper, perhaps more intimate than friendship. As he plunged deeper into the world of exorcists and pushed his way through texts of demons and healing, he still took time and noticed small things that rolled the snowball that were his suspicions.

"Hah! Gotcha' again Scaredy Four-eyes!" Shura crowed at him as she hopped up and down triumphantly, waving her sword over her head. Yukio slumped as he sat, defeated in their contests once again due to her superior skill. He groaned dejectedly as she quit bouncing. "I win once again! You know what that means Scaredy!"

"I know, I know," he mumbled. "What do you want to eat this time?" Shura grinned at his expense and mock-thought with a hand on her cheek.

"Well, let's see now. What do I want you to treat me to this time?" As she moved her head to the side to mock him, Yukio noticed something odd. When she had been bouncing, the knot in the scarf that she always had around her neck had slipped, letting it loosen up enough to droop down her neck just a tad. It was enough, however, to see the small, red marks in the creamy skin there. He couldn't have been sure, being as he wasn't quite finished with his doctor training yet, but he could almost have sworn that they looked like bite-marks. Shura noticed him staring and raised an eyebrow at him. "What're you staring at, Four-eyes?"

"Hey Shura, what are those marks on your neck," he asked, pointing at the same place on his own neck for emphasis. As he said this, she did something he never thought he'd see. The redhead's eyes widened, and she slapped her palm over the side of the neck that Yukio had pointed at. For a moment, a blush as red as her hair had flashed across her face.

"Nothing. They're nothing. Mosquito bites. I dunno." Her quick, hurried explanations caused him to frown, but this quickly disappeared as his face was plunged into the side of her ample bosom when she wrapped her arm around his neck. "Ah well, who cares about a few stinkin' bites. I've decided, we're goin' for taiyaki tonight four eyes! Let's get off!" Later that day, after he had forked out the money for the snack food and she had left him off with Father Fujimoto once more, he decided to ask his father figure a question on the topic. He thought nothing of the fact that Arthur Angel was still there, packing up his things from the end of that class.

"Father Fujimoto, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away my boy." Yukio launched into the small explanation he had come up with and practiced in his head since the taiyaki that afternoon.

"Well, I was sparring with Shura earlier, and she won." He saw Fujimoto opening his mouth to say something comforting, but went on before he could. "But when she was jumping around and gloating, her scarf slipped and I saw all these little red marks around her neck." He would have gone on to ask what Fujimoto thought they were, but a loud crash interrupted him. On instinct, his head whipped around, and he saw Angel looking frozen, his bag tipped over on the ground with his belongings spilling out onto the floor. He could see the snatches of red face between strands of the blonde's bangs as he quickly shoved his belongings back where they went and raced out of the room. Suddenly, behind him, Father Fujimoto burst out laughing. When he saw Yukio looking at him, he chuckled and rubbed his head.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that for now, Yukio," he said between small bursts of laughter, at least not until you're as old as they are."

These incidents were not frequent, mostly irregular, small hints that grew stronger and stronger to feed his suspicions. Then, a few years later, when he was old and mature enough to at least understand the basics of adult activities when they were alone, two incidents caused his internal sensors to beep.

Both times he had been in her room, and both times were when he had found himself in her room. The first time, he had found a painfully familiar black tie, when he had been searching around her desk for a pen. The second was a bit more... suggestive.

"Shura, are you almost ready to go? It's nearly time for us to meet up with Father Fujimoto." The red-haired teen nodded and waved a hand absently.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Just gimme a minute, I need to find a hair-tie. Just sit on th bed or somethin'." Yukio sighed and did as she said, going over to the furniture piece and sitting down on it. As he sat there for a moment, waiting for her to find what she needed, he caught a glimpse of something on the bed beside him. Curiously, he picked it up between two fingers and lifted it up to the light. It was a hair. A long, golden-blonde hair. He might not have been suspicious if he didn't think about it, but he was a thinking kind of person. He knew that Shura's hair had blonde ends, but this one was all gold, not a trace of red all along the length. Wanting an answer to his question, he held it up to the light for her to see.

"Hey Shura, what's this?" Shura, having found her hair-tie by about that time, turned around just as she had finished tying back her hair. When she saw what he held in his hand, her eyes widened and she immediately marched over to him. In one swift move, she snatched the hair from him, threw it across the room, grabbed him by the hand, and led him to the door.

"Nothing. Now come on or we're gonna' be late."

All of these incidents ever since he knew her, plus the rather...awkward situation he had found himself in only a couple of weeks ago when he had found himself rubbing a lock clean with his ear, clinched it for him. By this point, at the age of fifteen, he had a full, clear idea in his head that Shura was definitely sleeping with Angel. And today, finally, he was going to find out if he was right.

"Shura, there's something I need to ask you seriously." The red-haired woman looked over the rim of her beer can, one hand behind her head and the other holding the alcohol.

"Um... I dunno. Depends on how serious you want it to be. What's up?" Yukio closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then finally asked aloud the question that had been lingering in his mind since he was fully able to comprehend it.

"Shura... are you sleeping with Arthur Angel?"

"Yeah. I am." Yukio felt his mind going blank, he honestly had no idea how to respond to this easy, nonchalant response.

"Wha... I mean,... huh?" Shura shrugged as she chucked away her beer can.

"I said yeah, I've slept with him before, a couple of times here and there now." When she saw Yukio gaping uncharacteristically at her, mouth wide open for the flies to wander in, she leaned back with an amused smile. "What's with the confused face? I'm an adult, I can choose who I want to sleep with." She paused, then grinned at him. "And he's actually pretty damn good in bed too, if ya' get my meaning." She could feel amusement as she saw his face blanch with disgust, leaving his dark moles standing out even more than usual. "...Wanna hear about it?"

"NO! No I do not!" He cried out. Shura pushed herself up away from the railing and crossed her arms as she stepped over to him.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to know, I'm just tellin' ya, like ya' wanted. Anyways, you wouldn't believe what that guy's fingers can do. They're so strong and-"

"NO! I SAID I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!" Yukio covered his ears, closed his eyes, and tried humming loudly to block out the words coming from her mouth. However, Shura came up behind him and yanked his hands away from his ears and continued on loudly.

"And don't even get me started on what he can do with his tongue. Or about how big his-"

"AAARGH!" Yukio took off at a full bold, leaving Shura cackling loudly at him as he raced off.

Note to self, never ask Shura about anything in her personal life, EVER AGAIN.