Meeting New People.

------------(Ichigo-POV)------------

The next month was focused more on traveling and training than hunting. They still caught a few strays here and there if they were close, but mostly he was told to mingle with the new people. The new people were old veterans that had been in the hunting business for a few centuries. It was still a bit strange for him to measure time by years and decades rather than days and months. His thinking was slowly shifting and he no longer thought of himself as a human. Well, fully human. The amount of power he had and the ease at which he could kill a normal human made him realize that he should probably stay away from them for some time, if not forever. Or at least until his control was strong enough to not slip even if he was sleeping or unconscious.

One of the things he hated most about traveling, besides the traveling itself, was that he was doing it with an old man. The old man was prone to talking and talking a lot about his old adventures. He had a few flights of fantasies whenever the old man got lost in one of his stories. Most common amongst them were centered around his old friends but surprisingly, he found himself missing Yasaka and Kunou as well. The thoughts about Yasaka were not exactly safe for children and he had to actually control himself from going back. Being around Yasaka was calming. Her voice was soothing, her laughter was appeasing and all of it was enough to lull him to sleep. Kunou had similar effect but much weaker. If Yasaka was akin to the warm Sun on a cold day then Kunou would be a campfire on a beach. Both having some calming effect on him.

He was a bit confused about that because he hadn't known them for long enough to form a deep bond. So he asked the elder why it happened and there was a surprisingly logical reason behind it. Yasaka and Kunou were heavenly foxes. They were considered followers of the Goddess Inari, priestesses of Amaterasu and in Yasaka's case, master of Senjutsu. All of that combined gave Yasaka and to a far lesser extent, Kunou, an aura filled with warmth of the sun, gentleness of a mother and a sense of steadiness. It was enough to affect anyone let alone a troubled youth on the verge of mental breakdown. In the end, it didn't matter why it was but that he missed it. So, he brought it up with old Gen. The old man said that he had his own business to attend to, so they made plans of meeting up at a place in Europe and separated. The old man went wherever he had to be and he made his way back to Kyoto, at full speed.

He went as high as he could without losing sight of the ground and loosened the dam. The rush was becoming more and more addicting. It was similar to a feeling of being able to run after being tied down for a week and it was exhilarating. He had never just enjoyed running around at full speed. One of the things he discovered about himself was that he liked free falling from extreme heights. The feeling of air rushing against his skin and the weightlessness was just plain fun. Letting go of everything for a few minutes, it helped him center himself. He soon reached the outer layer of Ura-Kyoto and since he wasn't holding back much, they sensed him and a few people gathered quickly. He went down as he tightened the dam and was greeted by a slightly worried looking Kurodo.

"Ichigo, what happened?" Before leaving Kyoto, he had finally managed to make Kurodo drop the '-dono' as well.

"Nothing. I came back for a visit and possibly some stories over a drink." Ichigo answered with a smile. Kurodo calmed down hearing that and replied with a smile.

"I won't say no to a few drinks. Kunou-sama will be happy to see you as well." With that he was led to the palace and met with Yasaka. She welcomed him with a smile.

"Ichigo. How are you? I barely felt your presence when you entered the boundary of Kyoto. You have gotten much better at controlling your powers."

"Well, old Gen helped." He replied with a shrug. He went ahead and sat down close to her and briefly explained his training. Just being near her made him feel the effect of her aura and presence on him. He took a deep breath and started meditating. Yasaka looked at him with raised eyebrows before shaking her head softly and going back to her paperwork. Just like that, they entered a comfortable silence. The slight noises of pen scratching on paper almost lulled him sleep. An hour or so later, Yasaka opened her mouth.

"So? Why did you come back Ichigo?" She asked him lightly, hoping to start a conversation. Ichigo was a bit muddle-headed due to nearly falling asleep. In such a state, he couldn't control his tongue and blurted out honestly.

"Hmm? Oh, I missed you, so I came back."

Suddenly there was pin drop silence in the room. Yasaka looked at him, thinking she heard him wrong and asked again.

"What?" Ichigo, hearing the slightly weird tone, woke up and opened his mouth to answer before stopping. His brain just processed what his mouth had said. He wanted to refute it, change it, take it back but the words didn't come out because of the scene in front of him.

Yasaka was blushing. Seeing the usually teasing and mature Yasaka blush was enough to render him completely speechless.

------------(General-POV)------------

Yasaka was a good leader. She was the pride of the Japanese Youkai. She was a great leader. She loved her people and her people loved her back. She worried about them and they worried about her. So when she was pregnant with Kunou, her people were happy, especially the ones who worked directly with or under her. She was a good person as well, she was smart and beautiful and strong and kind, her people loved her dearly. When they thought she would get a husband who would pamper her, they were giddy. Finally! Their beloved leader would get some much needed pampering, someone to spoil her and indulge her. They were so happy for their leader. But the husband never showed up. Even during the childbirth, no such person appeared.

They got angry. Who?! Who would dare get their leader pregnant and not take responsibility?! Who in their right mind would not be willing to take Yasaka-sama as their wife?! Such thought plagued them, so they searched. They searched in secret, trying their best not to tip their leader off. They found nothing. Even after three full years of constant searching, they couldn't find a single thing about the father of their little princess. Yasaka-sama never talked about it. They thought she was hurt due to the betrayal. So they held a meeting. The most courageous and zealous amongst them were selected to ask Yasaka-sama about the father of their princess.

After a year of pushing and encouragement, one of them finally asked. The answer they got was... anticlimactic to say the least. Apparently, their leader had gotten pregnant with the help of Inari-sama. Inari-sama was known to be able to take the form of both genders as well as something in between and a fox. But that wasn't what they were hyped for! They wanted to find the one who abandoned Yasaka-sama and punish them! But it was useless. Yasaka-sama didn't care and had told them to not care about it either. They could do nothing but accept it and move on and try their best to help their leader. But they were still sad that there was no one to spoil their beloved leader and so, the search continued, but this time to find someone who would spoil and pamper their leader!

But Yasaka's standings were such that there were very few people who met the minimum requirements. Those who did, were already married. While being in a harem was an accepted thing, they wanted the best for their leader. She had to be the first wife at the very least. No one could meet such requirements, but miraculously, someone showed up! Someone very strong and handsome. This person liked Yasaka-sama and she liked them as well. She had been far more animated and talkative ever since they showed up. Even Kunou-sama liked the person as well! To top it all of, the person was not married! All that was left was to see their personality and willingness to spoil their leader and their princess.

They learned from Kurodo and the other soldiers that sparred with him that Ichigo was a good person. He was so strong that all of them combined wouldn't even be able to scratch him. On top of that, they learned that he was very indulging with Kunou-sama and liked to spoil her in small ways. It was good enough for them and their princess liked it as well. So, it was decided! They would try to nudge Ichigo and Yasaka together. If the attraction they saw was real, it might lead to something but if not, they could still remain friends.

But before anything deeper could form or they had any time to implement their plans, the man named Ichigo Kurosaki left with Elder Gen. Yasaka-sama's mood got a bit worse. She was still a great person but she was less animated. She went back to her previous self of only smiling at her daughter and a select few amongst her closest workers.

------------(Yasaka's-POV)------------

She hadn't realised that having someone to talk to without worrying about saying anything out of line was such a blessing. Ichigo entered her life quite suddenly. He was someone who wasn't affiliated or connected to anyone else in this world. Someone she could talk to and even tease without worrying about offending anyone. It was gratifying not having to worry about any of that. There were others like that around her of course but they were mostly subservient to her and didn't see themselves as her equal, no matter how she acted with them. The remaining had their own duties and could only spare a few hours every week or so for small talk.

She was of course a bit sceptical of him at first but those doubts didn't remain for long. One of the reasons she was such a successful leader was her ability to discern lies, given to her by Her Lady, Amaterasu-sama. So when Ichigo explained his story and she couldn't detect a single lie, so she felt a little better. During his earliest stay, his mental state was very unstable. She felt bad but she used that to her advantage and asked him a few questions that would tell her about what kind of man Ichigo was. After all, he was an extremely powerful being.

She didn't even go through all of the questions before understanding the kind of man Ichigo was. He fought and sought out more power for protecting others. He realised that he was special and decided that he would rather help others than let his powers go to waste. A good man that managed to stay upright even with the weight of an entire world on his shoulders. He fought till the end and even won but what happened to his world was truly a tragedy, brought by the delusions of a single man.

When he left on his trip with Elder Gen, she thought everything would go back to the way it was before he appeared and it did. But she also realized how boring her usual routine was. She enjoyed her work and helping her people but that was a joy brought by helping others. The only time she let herself go was when she was around her daughter. She didn't even have any hobbies for Kami's sake! So when she met someone who she could rant to and someone who could understand her, she slowly opened up, she didn't know it would be this fun just fooling around with someone. Not to mention that Ichigo was a good looking fellow, very pleasing to look at. Also very fun to tease.

She knew that her feelings weren't all that platonic. He was just too... tasty looking, especially since he started walking around wearing a loose Yukata. She had also seen the looks he gave her and knew that the feeling or attraction was mutual, but neither knew how to bring such a topic up. She might have lived for a few centuries but she hadn't even kissed the opposite gender. Kunou was a gift bestowed upon her by Inari-sama. The gods didn't need intercourse to get a mortal pregnant. She was the same, just a slight touch on her belly and she was with Kunou. She also wanted a bit of romance in her life and Ichigo was such a great prospect.

So, not even a week after he left, she started to miss him. Kunou was also sad that her cool and spoiling big brother had left and she didn't have anyone to play with anymore. And just when she was getting used to her boring routine again, he suddenly decided to show up. No word for an entire month and now he was back again. He entered her room and she greeted him with a smile. They talked for a bit before he quieted down and started to meditate. She was a bit peeved but she would allow him to have some rest. For an hour or so, she focused on her work before trying to start a conversation again. The answer surprised her because she felt no lie in it. She asked for confirmation before she could stop herself. Seeing the look on his face made her realize that her face a bit hot.

------------(Ichigo's-POV)------------

They were both feeling a bit awkward after what happened. Though after a few minutes of silence, Yasaka had enough and decided that since Ichigo was truthful, she would be too.

"I missed your company too." She said, not being entirely straightforward.

Ichigo fell into reflective thoughts after hearing her say that. When he was on the verge of death, he was regretful for keeping the people around him at arm's length and not letting anyone get too close. Right now he had a chance to form a deeper bond with someone who he was attracted to. From her words just now, it was at least clear that the attraction was mutual and not one sided. Hence, he decided to be more straightforward. If it worked out, it worked out. If not... they'd see about that when it gets to that point.

So he told her about his thoughts, what he felt as well as the conversation he had with Elder Gen about the feeling he got whenever he was close to her. In turn, Yasaka told him about the reason she first helped him, how it evolved and her current thoughts. After letting everything out of their system, he still had one final question. Kunou's father. So he asked her directly.

"What about Kunou's father?" He hadn't even heard a peep about the man, let alone seen him. Neither Yasaka nor Kunou talked about the man. He was either dead, or worse, a deadbeat asshole. Since there weren't even rumours about the man, he had assumed the worst.

Yasaka looked at him for a while with her head tilted sideways for a moment, she looked extremely cute doing that, before her eyes widened slightly as if she understood something. The smile that appeared on her face did not bode well for him. He forgot his question when she came and sat on his lap. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was quickly closed by another pair of lips. He forgot to breathe at that moment but thankfully, he didn't need to breathe in the first place. She separated only after a few minutes had passed.

Before he could say or do anything stupid, he said with a smile.

"That was my first kiss Ichigo."

"Huh, but, Kunou..." He was still processing what happened for the last few minutes as well as her statement.

"I keep forgetting that you were very much a human just a few years ago in another world and you don't know a lot of stuff about the supernatural powers of this world." Yasaka said with a soft hmm. That at least allowed him to collect his wits.

"What does that have to do with Kunou's father?" He asked with confusion. She was still sitting on his lap and feeling her soft body on his was highly distracting. Her tails were out and about, swirling all around him and slowly encircling him. She kept humming.

"Let me think. How do I explain it in human terms? Hmm. Ah! You can think of it as artificial insemination! You know what that is right?" She said looking at him. He nodded.

"The gods here have the power to impregnate a willing woman without intercourse. The one who helped me was Inari-sama. I accepted because I couldn't find anyone who I fancied and because it would ensure that Kunou would be stronger than me in the future."

"How does that work?" He asked with a frown.

"Oh that would require me to tell you about the powers of a god, which would require me to tell you how the gods were born. It would keep going until I would have to tell you about creation itself, so it's a very long story. For now, think of it as artificial insemination." She said with a thoughtful expression. They once again fell into a comfortable silence, though she clearly didn't have any intentions of getting off of his lap. Her tails had now completely encircled him. He could do nothing but accept it.

With a twitch on his lips, he circled his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head, between her soft ears. It seemed like she was waiting for that. As soon as he rested his chin on her head, she used two of her tails to drag and turn the table with the paperwork and started working again, all the while humming a tune he didn't know.

Surrounded by all the softness, the usual feelings magnified due to direct contact, the slight fragrance of nature on her and her humming, he fell asleep quickly and for the first time in a while, peacefully. Feeling him go slack after a few minutes, Yasaka got up, laid him down and put his head on her lap and continued to work all the while humming a happy tune.