Tall Blue Drinks

Tall Blue Drinks
by: Windlily


The sheets had just lost their chill and Kurama was just dozing off when the light taps on the window demanded his attention.
*Go away, Hiei,* he thought in a drowsy growl as he pulled the covers over his head, caught between the edge of awareness and sleep.
The tapping continued , insistent and annoying. Kurama sighed, resigned now to wakefulness. He sat up and threw the covers back as he swung his legs out into the chill of the winter night. He yawned while his toes searched for tlipplippers next to his bed, then he realized the tapping had stopped and frowned. He padded to the window and looked out into the snow covered branches of the tree next to his window. No Hiei. He startled just a tiny bit as Hiei appeared before the window, upside down, apparently hanging somehow from the roof. The end of the white scarf his friend wore around his neck was obscuring Hiei's face, obeying the laws of gravity which Hiei was somehow ignoring at the moment.
"Hiei!" Kurama let a little of his annoyance show in his voice as Hiei yanked the scarf out of the way and stared back at him, then wiggled his fingers in a 'hello' gesture.
Kurama lifted his eyebrows at that very un-Hiei like gesture as he opened the window. Hiei tried to make a graceful entrance but it ended up in a slither over the sill and down the small piece of wall beneath it.
"Hiei?" Kurama looked down at him, concerned.
Hiei blinked at him a few times then tipped his head to the side until his ear was almost resting on his shoulder.
"How do you do that, Kurama?"
"Do what, Hiei?" Kurama answered cautiously, unsure of what was wrong with his friend.
"Stand at an angle like that? You should fall over!" he reached up and poked Kurama firmly in the lower chest and frowned when Kurama didn't fall over.
Kurama finally placed the scent that hovered around Hiei.
"Hiei, what have you been drinking?" he asked with a hint of a laugh.
"Something blue. In a really tall glass," Hiei answered as he got wobbly to his feet.
He held his hand horizontally and put it against his sternum.
"Really tall glass."
"Hiei, you are drunk," Kurama stated, his amusement reflected in his leaf-green eyes.
Hiei glared back at him, his expression not amused.
"No, I am not. I'm just very relaxed..." he listed enough that
Kurama had to reach out and push hard on the listing shoulderkeepkeep him from falling over.
"Obviously," Kurama answered and thought about asking just who Hiei had been drinking with, then decided he'd rather not know.
"So, how many 'blue' drinks did you have?" he asked, trying to gauge just how drunk Hiei was.
"Hn..." Hiei started to count on his fingers, ticking off remembered glasses. "Twelve...I think..." he put down another finger... "or was it thirteen?"
Hiei listed away from him as he counted and Kurama reached out andbbedbbed the front of his coat and pulled, bringing him back upright.
Kurama shook his head in amazement. "You are going to feel awful in the morning, you know."
"Really? Why?" Hiei asked curiously.
He listed forwards and Kurama's arms went around his waist to catch him. Hiei reached out as he fought for balance and his arms ended up around Kurama's neck. He hung, a semi-limp weight. Kurama smiled, then shook his head with a soft, resigned sigh. Hiei would kill him in the morning if he took advantage of this.
"I think you'd better sleep in here tonight. You'd fall out of the tree and the roof is too slick."
"I would not!" Hiei mumbled into his chest as Kurama wrapped his arms around Hiei's waist and picked him up enough so he could walk them to the bed. He backed Hiei until his knees hit the side and let him down. Hiei put out his hands on each side and braced himself with a curious expression.
"What?" Kurama asked with a small smile.
"Is the bed moving?"
"No. I imagine your head is spinning from all that liquor you just drank."
Hiei reached up and put both hands on either side of his head as Kurama started working on getting off his boots.
"No, it's not."
That literal interpretation of his remark made Kurama start laughing as he tugged off the other boot. Hiei regarded him with narrowed eyes and Kurama quickly got the laughter under control. Hiei did not take well to being laughed at. He unwrapped the scarf as Hiei tried to shrug out of his coat. He almost broke out laughing again as Hiei got tangled up with the sleeves and muttered a few choice curses as he shook his arms, making the sleeves writhe snake-like. He took the end of one sleeve and pulled, setting Hiei free before he truly lost his temper. He was just starting to straighten when Hiei's hands closed on each lock of the hair that hung in front of his ears and began to lean back.
"Hiei! Let go!" Kurama gasped out and followed to keep from getting his hair yanked as Hiei leaned until his back hit the bed, making Kurama put his hands out on either side of his head and lean over him.
Hiei didn't say anything, just continued the steady pressure, pulling Kurama's face toward his own.
"Hiei! What are you doing?" Kurama asked in shock.
"Shut up, Kurama," Hiei muttered at him, then their lips met.
It was a closed, firm pressure, Kurama too startled to make it into more and Hiei too inexperienced to know how to make it into more. The pressure let up on his sidelocks and Kurama pulled back, but was stopped as Hiei was only willing to let him go so far and still had control of his hair. Hiei scowled up at him.
"So what's the big deal about that?"
"Try again, Hiei, and I'll show you," Kurama grinned back down.
Once again he had the thought that Hiei would probably kill him in the morning. Oh well. It would be worth it.
He waited as Hiei closed his eyes and frowned. He was beginning to wonder if his friend had fallen asleep when the hands tugged at his hair once more, pulling him back down. He resisted just shy of touching Hiei's lips and made it into a feather light brush of his own. He did this a few times until Hiei's mouth relaxed a bit, giving him the chance to catch Hiei's lower lip. He traced the bottom edge of it with the tip of his tongue, then nipped har hard enough to make Hiei open his mouth with the beginning of an angry protest. It turned into a sound of surprise as Kurama slipped his tongue in. He froze as Hiei bit down hard, catching the intruder. Kurama waited once more and hoped that Hiei wouldn't bite his tongue off. After a few moments, Hiei seemed to decide that he would allow this invasion, as he relaxed and let up. Kurama gently teased the inside of his mouth, using all of his skill. It was like kissing a statue. Kurama sighed mentally and pulled back to play with Hiei's lower lip a bit more. Obviously Hiei wasn't ready for that yet.
He decided to try a different track. He angled his head a little more so he could kiss the end of Hiei's chin, then ran a series of fast kisses along his jaw line until he hit his ear. He caught Hiei's ear lobe between his lips and tickled it with his tongue, then let go and blew softly on the dampness he'd left there. Hiei's fingers tightened in his hair, but didn't resist him as he continued down the side of his neck, letting the end of each open mouthed kiss end with a soft suction until he reached Hiei's collarbone, then ran his tongue back up the path he'd just traced. He was going to work on Hiei's ear some more when the hands in his hair pulled.
He followed and his eyes widened as Hiei latched onto his mouth and kissed back, using every trick Kurama had tried the first time. Kurama closed his eyes as Hiei continued, mimicking everything he had done. A pleasure filled shudder went through him as Hiei recaptured his ear lobe and played with it with his teeth, then the mouth was gone. Kurama opened his eyes to gaze down into Hiei's red-flecked amber ones. They were full of mischief.
"Did I do it right?"
Kurama swallowed hard as he nodded. He knew that Hiei was a fast learner, but this...!
"So, is that all there is to it?" Hiei asked in a mildly bored tone.
Kurama considered how to answer as he got his heart rate and breathing back under control. "No, there's quite a bit more. Why?"
"Just curious." Hiei answered with a shrug.
"Do wantwant me to satisfy that curiosity for you, Hiei?" Kurama questioned softly, his green eyes glowing in the bright moonlight intensified by the snow.
Hiei shrugged once more but kept his fingers tangled in Kurama's sidelocks. Kurama took it as a 'yes'. He was going to have fun finding out just how curious Hiei was. He leaned back down, as if to kiss, the misc in in his eyes reflecting Hiei's own as Hiei lifted his head a little, ready.
Kurama changed course at the last second and planted the kiss on the tip of his nose. Hiei blinked in surprise as Kurama ran the tip of his nose up and along the top of Hiei's until he came to the bandana. He ran his lips back and forth against the binding, caressing the closed and hidden eye there.
Hiei twitched and let out a little gasp. Kurama smiled as he ran his nose back down to were it had started from.
*There are quite a few other spots on your body that are more sensitive, Hiei, and I'm going to find every one!* he silently promised his friend and himself as he brushed past Hiei's lips with a light kiss and started down the arch of his throat. He continued down until he hit the edge of the sleeveless shirt. He lifted his head slightly and shifted so he could rub his cheek against Hiei's left pectoral. It had the desired effect as the small kernel of sensitive flesh rose and made it's exact position known. Hiei took in a big gulp of air when he turned his face back and nuzzled the nipple through the fabric. He had just descended on the other when Hiei started to hiccup with enough force to bounce the bed. Kurama sighed and rested his forehead against his friends sternum in frustration and frowned as it was lifwithwith the next spasm.
"Kurama!" Hiei hissed around another hiccup. "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing, yet," Kurama answered as he lifted his head and wondered at Hiei's perplexed expression, then winced as another hiccup made Hiei pull his hair.
Hiei hic-ed again and growled softly. "Is this supposed to happen?"
"No." There was an answering growl under Kurama's voice as Hiei hiccuped once more.
"What?" Hiei's question was soft and directed inward as he scowled and continued to hiccup.
Was that a hint of panic Kurama saw in his eyes? Then it dawned on him. "Haven't you ever had hiccups before, Hiei?"
"Hiccups?" Hiei questioned back with the appropriate accompaniment.
"Yes. You have a case of the hiccups."
"Well, make it stop!"
"Try holding your breath," Kurama suggested.
He watched as Hiei drew a deep breath, then held it. He was beginning to think it had worked when it was expelled with a violent series of hiccups. Hiei glared uphim,him, unable to add the choice expletives he was surely thinking. Kurama shrugged, then wiggled his fingers into Hiei's armpits and tickled. Hiei convulsed, half of it caused by hiccup, half by a reaction to the tickle, then fought back. He ended on top, sitting on Kurama's stomach and was leaning forwards to pin Kurama's hands over his head when another hiccup rocked him. He lost his balance and fell forwards on top of his friend. Kurama did the last thing he could think of to cure Hiei's hiccups. He bit hard into the lean muscles of the stomach pressed against his face. Hiei let out a little yelp and sat back up, one hand keeping Kurama's wrists pinned to the bed, the other in a fist and drawn back. He stopped his swing as he saw Kurama's raised eyebrow and soft smile.
"Well, that seemed to work."
Hiei froze in place, fist halting in mid-swing, waiting. He lowered it and released Kurama's wrists as he rubbed at the sore spot on his stomach when no more spasms followed.
"Let me see," Kurama pulled Hiei's shirt out of his belt and lifted it.
He had left teeth marks but hadn't broken the skin. He put his hands on Hiei's waist and pulled, upsetting Hiei's drink muddled balance once more. Hiei caught himself on his hands as Kurama set to work apologizing with soft kisses against the mark and it's general vicinity.
"Kurama!" Hiei protested and tried to sit back up, still a bit angry and now unsure if he wanted to continue this or not.
But Kurama wrapped his arms around his waist and kept him down, his lips against skin now as he worked his way up Hiei's stomach with the hopes of re-interesting him. Hiei arched away from him as his mouth found a nipple. He followed, teasing it with his tongue. For a moment he thought he'd lost him as Hiei tensed and growled. Then Hiei was pressing back against his mouth, the pleasure filled sensation overcoming his resistance.
Kurama smiled as he ran his tongue across the smooth, hot skin of Hiei's chest and attacked the o.
C.
Convinced that Hiei was going to stay in place now, he loosened his grip on his waist and tugged the shirt up over his friend's head. Hiei was having a difficult time getting his arms out of the armholes as he ran his fingertips up and down each side of his spine. The shirt was finally flung somewhere toward the bottom of the bed as he continued to stroke while his lips visited every bit of skin on Hiei's chest. He separated his hands a bit more with each pass until he had covered all of Hiei's back. Hiei was actually trembling a little and his breathing had become uneven when he started his caresses on an inverse course back for his spine. Hiei sat up suddenly and Kurama froze, locked for a moment in a jolt of erotic pleasure as his hardness was pressed and rubbed as Hiei scooted backwards so he was sitting on Kurama's hips. He smiled and repressed a delighted laugh as he realized that the hard pressure that twitched against his pajama trapped length was Hiei's own erection.
Hiei closed one eye, then opened it and tried closing the other as he fumbled with the first button of Kurama's pajama top. Kurama was bringing his hands up to undo it for him when Hiei leaned down, blocking the path of his hands. He felt the light brush of teeth through the fabric around the button, then the sharp click of teeth meeting. Hiei turned his head and with a 'ptu' sent the button into the corner of the room.
"Hiei!" Kuramatesttested, trying to push Hiei's head up and away as the second button went to join the first.
Hiei simply wormed under Kurama's hands and went after the third one with something that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. Kurama gave up as that button went into the corner. One he could explain to Shiori, maybe two, but three? He was going to have to sew them back on before morning.
Oh, well. This was worth it. He relaxed and let Hiei have his way with the rest of his buttons.
Done with the problem of the buttons, Hiei grabbed the bottom of the top and pulled it apart, exposing Kurama's skin to the chill air.
Kurama shivered a little as his skin tightened in protest, then Hiei leaned back down over him, bringing his warmth. He laced his fingers gently into Hiei's coarse, wiry hair as Hiei ran lips and tongue over his skin. He let out a soft 'ah' as Hiei finally descended on a nipple and they both discovered just how sensitive Kurama was. He closed his eyes and melted into the sensations. He arched his back, making room as Hiei slid his arms under him to wrap his mid-section in a firm hug. Hiei had just finished tracing the lower line of his rib cage with his tongue and had discovered his navel when the kisses...stopped. He frowned.
"Hiei?"
Nothing. He levered himself up onto his elbows. Hiei had his head turwithwith his cheek resting on his stomach.
"Hiei?" He reached down and tickled the sensitive tip of Hiei's exposed ear.
Hiei didn't even twitch, the tickle of his exhaled breath against the skin of his stomach slow and even. He was asleep? He was ASLEEP! Kurama flopped back down and stared at the ceiling in disbelief. And as deeply asleep as after he released the Dragon that rode his arm. Kurama had two simultaneous thoughts as he worked on wiggling out of the grip Hiei had on his waist. One was to push Hiei off the bed and let him sleep it off on the hard, cold discomfort of the floor. The other was to continue, whether Hiei was an aware and willing participant or not.
He was still debating between the two as Hiei curled up into a compact ball once he squirmed free. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed, his toes against the cold floor, and quivered with frustration and longing.
Then he stood with a smooth motion and padded over to the corner to collect the six buttons. He might as well take care of this now. He was too wound up to sleep and if he stayed to cuddle with Hiei he WOULD finish what they had started. And he wouldn't do that to Hiei.
After three painful needle pricks he had the buttons back on his pajama top and a firm grip on his body and emotions. Not putting on his robe and sitting bare-chested as he sewed had cooled him off considerably.
He put his top back on then went to put the sewing kit back onto it's shelf in the closet. He knelt to fill the tea ball with herbs out of his bag against Hiei's waking and inevitable hangover. He took the pungent smelling results back and put it in his empty mug, then shook the thermos next to it to make sure there was enough water to brew a cup. Then he went back to bed, sliding into wonderfully warm sheets and forming himself around Hiei with a resigned sigh.
Hiei sat bolt upright, tense and alert. Kurama yawned and stretched languidly next to him as Hiei scrunched his eyes shut against the brilliant early morning sunlight that flooded the room. He let out a subdued and pain-filled hiss as he sagged and buried his face in his hands. Kurama slid out of the bed and shruggedhis his robe as he went to the desk and poured the water into the waiting mug. Hiei didn't open his eyes, just held out his hand when Kurama brought the tea over to him. He made a fierce face as he sipped.
"What's in this?"
"Hair of dog, toad's tongues, dragon's toenails," Kurama answered with a little smile.
"You have a glib answer for everything, don't you?" Hiei snarled back, definitely in an evil mood.
"No, not for everything," Kurama ignored Hiei's flair of temper as he settled on the end of the bed, arms crossed.
If Hiei hadn't been concentrating so hard on muting the reconstruction going on inside his head caused by the horde of tiny demons in grungy socks which had run over his tongue en-route to his brain, he would have picked up on the longing note under Kurama's voice. As it was, he only had a muddled impression of what had happened last night. He eyes opened wide and he swallowed square and coughed, panic flicking through him as he thought he remembered...
"What happened last night?" he asked hesitantly.
Kurama watched as Hiei picked at the rumpled blanket anxiously with his free hand as he debated how to answer. Hiei hadn't been himself last night and the whole truth might drive him away forever.
"You were very drunk. You asked me to explain about 'kissing', then you passed out," Kurama answered with a shrug.
The relief that he saw in Hiei's eyes told him he had guessed right. A soft knock against his door was followed by his mother's voice.
"Shuichi?"
"I'm up, Mother."
"I'll be back in a minute," he told Hiei as he rose and headed for the door.
"Kurama...thank you," Hiei said softly as Kurama started to open the door.
There was so many things hidden in the tone of those three words.
"Anytime, Hiei," he answered back on as many levels.
When he came back from cleaning up for the morning, the room was empty and the window open as he expected. He went and closed it, then rested his forehead against the cold glass and smiled out at the single footprint on the snow that mantled the thick branch outside. Hiei must be feeling terrible to leave any clue that he had passed this way. He sighed.
Passed and gone. But he would be back. The line of a poem he'd had to memorize for class last year came into his head.
'Like a woman wailing for her demon lover...'
Well, maybe he was. But unlike that lost soul, his demon would be back.

Hiei was dozing in the middle branches of one of the ancient trees that shadowed the back garden of Genkai's Temple. This was his favorite perch in the whole area because he could sit and watch Yukina unobserved.
His sister had taken over tending the garden and seemed to love messing around with the plants as much as Kurama. And she would sing when she thought no one was around. Simple little tunes that wove the bird songs together or just a random series of notes that made her smile. It was lo. He. He was fascinated by his twin and could not imagine how she could have tolerated sharing the close quarters of their mother's womb with him.
She was such an amazing creature. She took the world in with wide and wondering eyes, still believing the best of everyone and everything even after her horrible abuse. She was everything he was not and for that one thing and that thing only, he thanked the Gods.
He had dozed off just after sunset when Yukina had gone in and now the hushed whisper of voices snapped him awake. He relaxed a little. The tones were unthreatening and familiar. Yuusuke and Keiko heading for the little hidden nook between the trunk of his tree and the wall. They had been coming here more and more often and it was starting to become annoying. He had almost fallen out of the tree the first time they had discovered the little hideaway. He had leaned forwards trying to figure out why they were mashing their faces together like that and overbalanced a bit and had to make himself very small in the shadows as Yuusuke glared up at the rustle of leaves. Much to his relief, Keiko had distracted him with what he now knew was called a 'kiss'. He didn't remember what Kurama had said he'd told him THAT night but he had listened carefully when Yuusuke and Kuwabara had exchanged what he was sure were very exaggerated tales.
Hiei closed his eyes, determined to ignore them. It was his tree after all, he had been here first and damned if he was going to vacate it just because two humans had decided they were going to kiss and drool all over each other under it. He now considered Yuusuke's attentions to Keiko an absolute waste of time. The purpose of this exercise was to procreate.
Yuusuke and Keiko had been going at it for months now and she still wasn't pregnant. Maybe she was barren. He frowned as a blur of memory flashed through his mind, chaotic impressions of heat and pleasure...and Kurama. He shook his head a little to dispel them. That had to have been a dream spawned by those damned drinks. It had to be! Nothing could feel that good.
And besides, why would Kurama wish to attempt to procreate with him? That made no sense at all.
Something...a tension in the air caused him to glance down. He blinked, surprised. The embrace was familiar, that they were both naked was not. They moved apart and Hiei blinked again and his Jagon opened as he studied the scene below him. The thing that marked Yuusuke as male was so swollen that it was enormous and stiff. It looked very painful and Hiei winced inwardly as Keiko reached to touch it. Instead of the flinch of pain he was expecting, Yuusuke actually seemed to enjoy it. A lot, if the colors of his aura were to be believed. Then...if anybody had been there to see him they would have told him he had done an excellent impression of his sister's wide-eyed astonishment. He had never, ever had the inkling that two bodies could fit together like that. And at the end, Yuusuke's aura had gone berserk.
He scowled as he reached up to rub the throb behind his scrunched shut third eye. The couple was long gone but the headache promised to linger for quite a bit longer. The Jagon was still dazzled by Yuusuke's reaction to whatever he had done to Keiko. Or what Keiko had done to him.
He still wasn't sure what had happened. It certainly hadn't looked very comfortable but they both had seemed to enjoy it. Though Yuusuke much more that Keiko. He grumbled and hissed at an owl who mistook him for a shadow and landed on his branch. It launched with silent wings and a startled 'hoo-hoo'. He wanted to know what was going on and could only think of one source he could ask to explain it to him who would not go into fits of laughter at his ignorance. At least he'd better not...

Kurama knew that Hiei was following him. He put his head down to hide his smile as the slight flicker went from branch to branch at the edge of his vision, barely disturbing the thick new coat of spring leaves. To any other, it would have been the nothing more than the errant whisper of a breeze. Well, Hiei could follow all he wanted. He lifted his head and breathed in the heady smell of awakening plants that hung on the heavy air.
The clouds were brooding and threatened rain soon. He didn't care. In fact, that sky had kept most of the visitors to the gardens away and he hadn't passed another human soul in the last fifteen minutes.
It was bliss. He had really needed to get away. Sometimes being Minamino Shuichi was more than he could stand. Buter aer an afternoon in the Tokyo Botanical Gardens the Youko and Human parts of him would once again reach a truce. He often wondered what was going to happen to that human part of him when this body died and he went back to his Youko form full time. Would it stay with him, like a habit? Or would he wake the cold, selfish creature he had been?
*Carefree! And happy!* the Youko part of him snarled.
He soothed it as he took another deep breath. His steps hesitated a little as he sorted the scents, identifying each one. What was that? He lifted his eyebrows as a breeze sprang up blewblew more of that sweet smell into his face. Foxbane? The human part of him commanded turn and run as far and fast as possible. The youko part of him wanted to find the source of
that mouth-watering scent as quickly as possible.
*No! No!* he screamed at his youko self as his body turned of it's own volition and headed off the path.
The youko part laughed and the human was lost in the overwhelming desire to find those flowers. He was going to lick the pollen out of each one of them, then he was going to just wallow in them for a while. A long while.
Hiei wondered a little at Kurama's goofy grin as his friend turned off the path and slid into the wilder underbrush without so much as a whisper of disturbed vegetation. That bothered him a little. Normally when Kurama went into 'sneak mode' there was a good reason for it. Normally a very dangerous good reason. But that expression was not at all threatened.
Hiei changed course to follow and within ten meters felt his skin prickle.
There was something with a lot of Power here, close. He hung back a little, every sense alert as Kurama continued to weave his way through the forest below him like a ghost. A glade opened before them carpeted with small, amethyst ced fed flowers. Kurama gathered himself and leapt. Somewhere in that arc, he changed and a silver fox landed in the middle of the flowers leaving a trail of discarded clothing to flutter down.
Hiei perched and watched with a scowl as Kurama bounced in a chaotic pattern from one part of the glade and one flower to another, pausing only long enough to poke his nose into each lily-shaped blossom.
Then with a huge sigh, the fox tucked his front paws and flopped half onto his side and scooted himself along with his back feet, crushing some of the delicate plants and releasing a sickenly sweet smell. What in hell was he doing? Kurama swapped sides and squashed another swathe, then rolled onto his back and wiggled. There was a prismed flare of light, an invisibility spell being released, and Hiei got his first look at the author of the power in the area.
It was a female Youko, her long hair and the fur of her tail and ears a golden blonde. She looked young, but then again, Kurama in his Youko form looked young and he was ancient. She slammed a smallish, bottomless bamboo trap over the prone silver Youko with a, "Hah! Gotcha'!"
Hiei waited for Kurama to escape and couldn't believe it when the fox form of his friend just kept wallowing, totally unconcerned that he'd been captured. And the possessive smile on the female Youko's face as she leaned forward to watch Kurama through the bamboo bars raised his hackles.
He dropped noiselessly out of the tree to land with his boot tips just shy of the cage. The female Youko let out a startled yip and leapt backwards a good fifteen meters. Hiei reached down and picked up the cage by one corner. He narrowed his eyes but didn't wince as the wards scalded his hand, adding the smell of burned flesh to the nauseating aroma of the flowers. He tossed it away as the female Youko narrowed topaz colored eyes at him and put her hands on her hips. Hiei felt a chill run through him, one that a creature such as she should not rate. Hiei kept all three of his eyes on her as he prodded Kurama gently in the side with the toe of one boot.
"Kurama, get the hell out of here!" he hissed.
"What are you doing here!" she demanded.
Kurama seemed to focus, finally, and managed to get up onto his paws. Hiei just fixed her with his best 'don't screw with me' stare as Kurama staggered away. It didn't seem to intimidate her in the slightest.
Well, he could fix that. She glanced beyond him and giggled. He risked a fast glance and growled in disbelief. Kurama was busy running in a tight circle, trying to catch one of his tails. He blinked in reaction to Kurama's high and pain-filled yelp as he finally managed to latch onto one.
Kurama let go of that tail and started a dizzying spin in the opposite direction, going after a different one. He drew his sword as the female tried to flank him and moved to put himself in front of Kurama.
"Come on," Hiei bid with a venom filled smile.
She backed off and pouted prettily at him. There was a boom of thunder that vibrated his teeth and a hard wind whipped whipped through the glade, tangling her hair. One ear flicked, then she shrugged and the wind was gone. She gave Hiei a small, secret smile.
"I'll get him eventually, you know. But for now, he's all yours."
She blew him a kiss as she swirled out of existence in a sparkle of golden twinkles and he twitched as the whisper of cold lips brushed against his cheek.
*He's mine? What the hell does that mean?*
He kept his sword up and at the ready as he scanned the area, but the power was fading fast. The flowers around him dissipated, taking most of that horrid smell with them, leaving only grass. Only when the last taint of it was gone did he sheath his sword and dared look at the damage to underside of his throbbing hand.
*Shit. Why do I do these things?* he wondered at himself as he glared down past the blackened and charred skin of his fingers and at the Youko who was now curled up between his feet with his nose buried under his second tail, sound asleep and reeking of those flowers.
He nudged Kurama with his toe again and his glare turned into a full fledged scowl as the body moved limply against his prodding. He squatted down and almost gagged at the smell of the flowers that clung to the Youko's fur. He stood up rapidly and retreated a step. An evil gleam came into his eyes as he focused on the burble of water. He picked Kurama up by the scruff of his neck and held him down-wind and at arms length as he stalked for the stream. He had to follo a s a slight distance to find what he was looking for. The shallow stream ran into and out of a small pool which had been created by human hands and held six fat carp. Yes, this would do nicely. He dunked the fox and swished him around under the surface for a moment then brought him back up. Kurama sputtered and thrashed weakly, then went limp again.
Hiei wrinkled his nose and clamped down on his stomach as he brought the Youko's face up to his own. He still stank.
"Kurama! WAKE UP!" he bellowed into the fox's face.
That earned him the barest crack of one eyelid and a glimpse of the honey-colored iris under it.
::yummmm...:: whispered in his head and the Youko's red tongue darted out to lick him on the end of the nose.
Then that eye slid shut and the mental touch was gone.
"Kurama!"
Hiei gave him a few firm shakes, but could not rouse the Youko again. He moved Kurama back out of nose range as he debated what to do.
Well, Kurama had taken care of him enough times after he'd released the Kokuryuuha, he could return the favor, just this once. But first off he had to get that smell off of him. He changed hands, his damaged fingers were up to keeping a firm grip on the scruff of Kurama's neck but not much else.
Then he dunked the Youko back in, careful to keep his head above the water, and scrubbed his fingers through his fur. He lifted a very sodden and bedraggled Kurama out and brought him near and took a tentative sniff.
Kurama went back into the pond and Hiei went over him again. This time he was tolerable. The smell still lingered, but it wasn't overpowering. He headed back for the glade still holding Kurama by the scruff of the neck and at arms length because now he was dripping wet.
A stiff, chill wind had come up as he'd washed Kurama, the Spring storm that was hovering getting ready to release it's fury soon. Hiei put Kurama down in the grass, then went to collect the Youko's cast off clothing. Well, most of them. He was not going to chase after the socks that the wind was playing with. He wadded them up and cursed as he had to use his bad hand to tie the shirt around them to get them into a carryable bundle. He took it back to where the Youko lay and frowned.
Because of what he was, Hiei had never been cold. If anybody had been there to explain to him that if you dunked a warm blooded creature repeatedly into a stream fed by snow melt-off and then left it exposed to a cold wind it's core temperature would plummet, he would have stared at them in incomprehension. But he did know that shivering meant that someone felt cold. And he had watched his humans enough that he had figured out that the harder and faster the shudders, the colder they felt. Kurama was feeling very, very cold. He put the bundle of clothes down and unbuttoned the top half of his coat, then gathered Kurama up and stuffed him down the front of his shirt, tails first and buttoned his coat back up. That also solved the problem of how he was going to carry the Youko and have his good hand free just in case something or someone decided to take a whack at him. He tucked the bundle under the arm with the damaged hand and flicked off into the branches, on the way to take Kurama home.
The storm announced it's intentions against him with a snarl of thunder. It was one of those full of lightnings and treacherous winds that drove the rain in horizontal sheets and whipped and twisted branches. By the time Hiei reached Kurama's house he was a sodden as the Youko he carried. He crouched on a swaying branch in the tree outside Kurama's window and pushed the bandana up to scan the house. The woman wasn't there, which was the first break in the foul luck he'd had all day. He opened the window and climbed over the sill.
The first thing Kurama became aware of as he drifted up out pleasure filled dreams was the sensation of extremely wet and ruffled fur.
It was an unpleasant shock and he voiced his displeasure, loudly.
::I'm WET!::
"So Am I," Hiei's voice snarled back at him.
The next thing Kurama became aware of was that he couldn't move. His whole body was unresponsive. He fought the instinctual panic of feeling trapped and realized Hiei's scent was all around him. That implied a degree of safety and he relaxed a little. He also discovered that though he couldn't move, he could feel, acutely. He was very conscious of the discomfort of his wet fur, most of which was ruffled the wrong way.
There was another scent, very faint and sweet. Even as faint as it was, it still made his mouth water. Foxbane. He'd come across a wild growth of Foxbane in full flower, he remembered that. But how had that Makai plant gotten into the Ningenkai? He thanked every deity he could think of that Hiei had been following him. If he hadn't...he shuddered mentally. Foxbane was narcotic and slow acting poison all in one pretty package. It trapped the Youko in pleasure and sweet dreams, paralyzed for the hour the flowers needed to recharge their pollen, then the youko would repeat the pattern until enough poison was in it's system to kill it. It took no more than four doses, and then the Foxbane would have it's meal.
He had another unpleasant shock as fingers closed on the scruff of his neck just as he figured out that he must be in Hiei's shirt and pulled him out.
::Put Me BACK!:: he demanded as the chill air instantly found it's way through his damp fur.
Hiei held him up to eye level and fixed the still limp fox with a glare.
"Stop screwing around. Change."
::Can't,:: Kurama glared back.
"Why?"
::The flowers. They mess up Youko powers.::
"Is that why you're all limp?"
::Yes,:: there was embarrassment in the Youko's voice.
"How long will you be this way?" Hiei asked as he put Kurama on the floor out of range of the puddle that was seeping from the bundle of clothes and his waterlogged coat.
::'Till it wears off.::
"And just how long will that take?" Hiei added acidly as he finished getting out of his wet clothing, dropping his shirt and pants onto the top of the pile.
Kurama took in Hiei's natural state with a repressed sigh of appreciation and annoyance. Of course this opportunity would have to come when he was helpless to do anything about He He closed his eyes and concentrated.
::Did anything move?::
"One of your ears twitched."
Kurama's mental sigh was frustrated. ::A while still. Hiei, I'm cold and very wet. Would you mind getting a towel and drying me off?
Please?::
Much to his surprise, Hiei picked him up carefully and held him against the warmth of his chest as he padded to the bathroom. Hiei wrapped him in one of the towels and set him on the counter then took another and went over himself with a quick efficiency, ending with a fast and furious toweling of his wiry hair which even the fury of the storm hadn't been able to flatten. Even after that toweling, it was still in place. Amazing. Then he picked up Kurama and sat them both on the floor. Kurama managed a feeble yelp since he couldn't scream as Hiei repeated the fast and furious part on his drug sensitized body. He was still somewhat dazed as Hiei unwrapped him and it took him a second to place the look on Hiei's face. It was definitely amused.
::What?:: Kurama managed to get out as the daze slipped into definite discomfort.
"You're all fluffed up like a scared cat!"
Then the amusement fled to be replaced with a scowl as Kurama whined softly.
"What?"
::My fur! It's all ruffled and standing on end and it's driving me CRAZY!!!::
The distress in Kurama's mind touch and the tone of his whine made Hiei do something that he would never have let himself do under any other circumstances. He ran the fingers of his good hand through the Yo's f's fur and began combing it back
into place. It was incredibly soft and felt wonderful as it slid through his fingers. He had always wondered what Kurama's fur would feel like to pet.
Kurama sighed in relief, and pleasure, and relaxed.
Hiei blinked in mid stroke as Kurama changed. His fingers were now in red hair as soft as Youko fur.
::uuum...don't stop!!!:: Kurama half purred/half pleaded, then frowned as he realized his mind touch hadn't...touched.
That meant he had changed back into his human shape. He opened his eyes and gazed up at Hiei who was looking at something with a strange expression.
"Kurama, why are you like that?" Hiei sounded truly puzzled.
"Like what?" Kurama wondered back.
"All swollen and hard," Hiei answered as he leaned and stretched to touch, innocent in his curiosity.
Kurama jerked like he'd been hit by lightning as he connected. Hiei flicked his hand away, still puzzled. Kurama had responded like he'd been hurt but his aura had flared with pleasure colors. It just didn't make sense!
Kurama gritted his teeth as he teetered on the edge of mind-exploding pleasure. Gods! Now he knew why Foxbane was forbidden to the Clans. That one touch had just about sent him over the edge. He took a deep breath as the sensation faded into something he could deal with and opened his eyes once more. The expression on Hiei's face was for once unguarded and Kurama thought he saw concern there. He stifled a growl of frustration.
This was definitely not the way he had planned on explaining the ways of sex to Hiei.
"It's called an erection, Hiei. Males get them when they are sexually aroused," Kurama's voice was low and husky as he replied.
Hiei figured it was from forcing it to work around the paralysis that held the Youko as he blinked and puzzled over that last bit. Why was Kurama sexually aroused? That didn't make any sense either. There was no female here. Well, now that he had broached the subject, he might as well find out all he could.
"You're aroused? Why?"
"What you were doing to my fur felt very, very nice."
Hiei's fingers came out of Kurama's hair and he felt a flash of guilt. He hadn't meant to do that to Kurama. He was surprised that something so simple could create that reaction in his friend. And surprised at this strange feeling that he couldn't quite figure out. It had something to do with the fact that he HAD created that reaction. And he couldn't quite figure out how to ask the next question. It wasn't really what you did with it. He had seen that. It was why? So he settled on the one that had been troubling him the most.
"Does it hurt?"
Kurama barely managed to repress his chuckle. "No. In fact, exactly the opposite. When a male's member it like this, gentle," and he stressed that word, "stimulation of any kind feels better than anything you can imagine."
He sighed and closed his eyes as Hiei scowled. Here he was, with his head pillowed in Hiei's naked lap and helpless. So close and yet so far away. He worked very hard on trying to get anything to move.
Hiei mulled that over. Well, that explained it. Better than anything he could imagine? Well, that had to be an exaggeration. Now that he had an answer, time to move on to other business. Like that female Youko.
"Who was that Lady Youko?"
"What Lady Youko?" Kurama echoed, not paying much attention.
He'd gotten his toes to wiggle. Now for the fingers.
"The one who had you in a cage back there in those flowers," Hiei elaborated in an unconcerned tone.
Kurama tensed and forgot about fingers and toes as that registered. "What are you talking about, Hiei?"
An amused gleam came into Hiei's eyes and the barest touch of a smile turned one side of his mouth. Kurama didn't remember!
"She was very pretty. Prettier than you! And Gold colored. Another of your old enemies?
Kurama's eyes narrowed. "Golden? Hiei, are you sure?"
Hiei gave him his best 'why am I surrounded by idiots' expression.
"Did she touch you?" There was true fear in Kurama's voice and panic in his eyes as one of his hands moved slowly and closed on Hiei's wrist.
"No. Why?"
The adrenaline surge left in the rush of relief and a wave of weakness and drowsiness swept in to take it's place. Kurama tried to fight it off. The chances he got to be alone with Hiei were few and far between.
He was not going to go to sleep now.
"Who is she?" Hiei demanded as Kurama's eyes slid shut and his head got very heavy in his lap.
"Someone I hope you won't met again for a very, very long time," Kurama mumbled back.
Hiei's eyebrows came together and he reached down and tugged firmly on a bit of red hair.
"Hn."
Asleep again. Hiei lifted Kurama's head and slid out from under him, then with a bit of tugging and a few curse laden grunts, got him up and settled over his shoulder.

He got Kurama lowered onto his bed and noticed as he was lifting his legs to get him all on it that the 'erection' had gone away. He had the very mischievous thought of seeing if he couldn't make it come back, then scowled at himself. Kurama wasn't a toy and this sex thing was serious business. And a distracting one. If he had been intent on Yuusuke's life when he had been busy with Keiko, Yuusuke would have been dead and never even known what had hit him. That made it a business he had no need to be dabbling in. And besides, Kurama had hordes of females of all species drooling after him. And he was...well, nothing that Kurama would want anyway even if he had the right configuration, which he didn't...Hiei blinked and gave himself a firm mental shake. What the hell was he even doing thinking such absurd thoughts?
He distracted himself by going to the closet and rummaged around in Kurama's bag until he found the ointment that his friend always used on ward burns and a roll of bandages and set to work doctoring his hand. The storm spit the last bit of it's violence against the panes of the window as he was wrapping his little finger. By the time he had put the ointment and the much smaller roll of bandage back the sky was clean and blue, the storm clouds gone as only Spring storm clouds could.
He gathered his still soaked clothes and draped them over one arm...he'd need to hang them in some high branches close to sun.sun...and stepped into his boots, then went to check on Kurama. His friend was still deeply asleep and Hiei wondered what he was dreaming. That smile was sly and secret. Probably of stealing something. The unbandaged hand went out shyly to stroke that blood colored hair that was spread like a halo around his friends head once more.
*So soft.*
Then with a whisper of displaced air, Hiei was gone.

The chir of the cicadas was an unbroken drone in the early evening heat. Kurama was slick with sweat and wished fervently for a breeze to stir the heavy summer air that hung in the room as he ground the flowers and soap root into a paste. He doubted Hiei was going to be pleased with the aroma he woke up with, but floral was a million times better than the smell of a Makai cess pool. Genkai had gotten one whiff of Hiei from where she stood in the door to the temple when he and Kuwabara had straggled back with their unconscious burdens and sent them to the old bath house that was tucked away in a corner of the temple grounds as Keiko and Yukina rushed out to fuss over Yuusuke and Kuwabara.
He stood slowly and a little shakily, tired and aching all over and feeling every one of the years this human frame hadn't known. There was a delicate cough and he glanced over to see the diminutive old Master standing in the doorway, a pile of towels in her arms.
"Are you all right?" Eyes undimmed by age raked over him, calculating and concerned.
"I've been better," he answered with a small smile and a shrug.
"Need help?" she offered as she brought the pile in and placed it on the stone bench that ran the circuit of the room, then turned those hard, bright eyes on the young demon that lay on the floor.
"No. Thank-you anyway, Genkai Sensei."
He gave her a small bow which she accepted with a smile and shrug, then turned and left.
He headed for the larger of the two baths in the building. The smaller one was empty, but this one was always filled with cold spring spillway which fed the ornamental brook which ran through the Temple grounds. He squatted and filled the shallow bowl with water and stirred the contents into a thick lather as he went back to Hiei. He knelt next to him and a soft smile touched his mouth as he debated whether to start from the top and work his way down, or start at the bottom and work his way up.
All three of Hiei's eyes snapped open and he tensed and thrashed weakly as Kurama was working on scrubbing his shoulders.
"Easy, easy..." Kurama soothed.
Hiei focused on him and scowled, but relaxed under Kurama's hands.
His friend looked terrible. One whole side of his face was a bruise and Hiei could see others on his chest and shoulders around gashes covered with a clear film of healing sap. He told him so.
"You look like shit!"
"At least I don't smell like it," Kurama answered with a gleam in his eye.
Hiei growled, half in anger, half in pleasure. What was Kurama doing to him? It felt...good.
"I can't believe that asshole though he could drown me in a cess pool. When I die, it isn't going to be in demon shit. What are you doing?"
"Washing you. You're filthy."
Hiei started to try to sit up and growled as his body slowly and shakily attempted to obey. Kurama pushed him back down with one firm forefinger planted in the center of his chest.
"Don't. You were poisoned, remember? It'll be a while before it clears your system."
"Yuusuke?" Hiei asked with gruff concern.
Both he and Yuusuke had been in the path of those tiny poisoned needles.
"He's all right. Now, just relax and let me get this done."
Hiei didn't have much of a choice, so he did. He closed his eyes and wondered why it was that having someone else wash his body felt so...good? It never felt like this when he washed himself. And when Kurama did his hair! That felt wonderful! Arms slipped under his knees and shoulders.
"Hiei, help a little, would you?"
Hiei put his arms around a Kurama's neck with a growl and a scowl. He despised being this helpless! Though he wouldn't have gotten washed otherwise, but that wasn't enough to out way the danger this weakness put him in...thoughts of his own self vanished as he realized how much effort it took for Kurama to lift him.
"Are you all right?" he questioned as his friend reached the side of the sunken basin with shaky steps.
"Hn."
Hiei frowned up at his friend as Kurama stepped down onto the seat. Kurama grinned down at him though he could see the effort and weariness behind it. Then they were in the water, Kurama letting out an appreciative sigh as he settled onto the floor, Hiei half sitting, half floating on his lap.
"Lean back, Hiei."
"Why?" Hiei responded suspiciously.
"So I can get the soap out of your hair. Just float, I won't let you go under."
Hiei sat tense and still on his lap and gave him a baleful stare.
Kurama lifted his eyebrows and smiled.
"You do know how to float, don't you?"
Hiei added an unhappy frown to the stare. Kurama gave a small huff of amusement and Hiei suddenly found himself prone in the water. He thrashed in surprise as Kurama's laughed, "Hiei, just relax!" echoed off the tiles. He stopped when he discovered he was supported by one of Kurama's knees in the small of his back, one between his shoulder blades and one of Kurama's arms behind his neck. The rest of him was heavy under the water.
"Hiei, the key to floating is to relax. Try it. You might just like it," Kurama suggested as he shook the splash droplets off of his hair.
Hiei knew that Kurama wasn't going to drop him and he wasn't going to almost drown...again. But still, water wasn't his element...just relax.
Hn. How? He had spent his lifetime learning how not to ever relax. Kurama's fingers were in his hair again, rubbing gently, soothing and not at the same time. He let himself enjoy that sensation and committed it to memory since he was sure it would never happen again and didn't realize when his limbs drifted up.
Kurama smiled as he glanced down and saw that Hiei's body had started to react to the attention of his hands. He knew he was in no shape to playt stt still...
Kurama's hand drifted down the back of his neck and he...shivered?
He didn't really have time to figure it out. Kurama's hand moved to push water onto his stomach, then pushed it off with light a brush and every inch of his skin tightened. He swallowed hard, awash in these new sensations as Kurama's hand followed his hip and went down his thigh to his knee firmly, then came back up with his fingers just brushing the hairs there. It sent wonderful tingles to join the feeling that was focusing between his hips.
"Hiei," Kurama's voice whispered in his ear, "guess what?"
"Hn."
"You've got an erection."
Hiei's eyes flew open to lock on Kurama's amused green ones. He lifted his head and looked down the length of his body and blinked all three eyes as Kurama's fingers brushed along it's length. His body jerked of it's own accord as a jolt of pleasure sang through him.
He gulped in shock, so startled that he didn't resist as Kurama's hands, hot against his ribs, turned him so his back was against his chest and his head supported by his shoulder. Something as soft as the rose petals Kurama so loved brushed the side of his neck, then trailed down and along the edge of his shoulder, hot, soft...he shivered again...yes, that was what it had to be, a shiver...as his focus wavered chaotically between the sensations of Kurama's lips and the fingers that were leaving tracks of fire as they traced the muscles of his stomach.
Hiei's teeth came together with an audible click as Kurama's fingertips floated down to his hips and then continued on over the tops of his thighs for as far as he could reach. His fingers turned inward and stroked back up, feather light on the sensitive skin of his inner thighs.
Hiei was trembling now, his breath taken in shallow gasps. Hiei's hands closed gently on his wrists as he traced the shape of the balls under their protection of wiry, corkscrewed hair and drawn tight flesh.
*What are you doing to me?* He couldn't get his voice to work!
His hands closed on Kuras wrs wrists, but they had no strength. He was spinning dizzily, unable to find his mental balance in the pleasure that rippled in wracking and unceasing waves to center in a throbbing ache in his hardened flesh. An ache that made him want to scream and yet felt so good at the same time.
*Wait! I don't understand...what...?* then he lost the ability to form coherent thought as those fingers closed on that ache.
Hiei took a deep shuddering breath as Kurama finally brought his hands together on the thick shaft. It came back out as something that was half hiss, half mew. Kurama was so entranced with beginning to explore Hiei's member that he didn't hear the panicked edge on that sound. He encircled Hiei with all of his fingertips, then ran them delicately down his shaft, then started back up with a little more pressure.
He was surprised as Hiei thrust his hips up to push against his hands, his length pulsing violently as his seed spurted in a milky swirl into the water. That shouldn't have happened yet! He turned his head so he could see his friend's face. There was confusion in those red amber eyes.
And something he had never expected to see. Panic...and terror.
"Hi..." Hiei erupted out of his arms.
"Wait!" Kurama surged, leaning over the side of the pool in a frantic attempt to reach him as he became visible for a moment, having stumbled god gone to his hands and knees just past the edge of the bath.
His hands closed on nothing as Hiei fled like a shadow before the sun.
"Wait! Hiei!" But he was long gone.
Kurama stared after him, half of him in the pool, half of him lying on the warm tiles, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. His plan had been to introduce Hiei to the pleasure his own body could feel slowly. He had been being careful. He had done nothing that should have brought about that climax yet. He drew a circle in the film of water on the tiles before him.
*Water. I had him in the water! How could I be so stupid!* He rested his head on his crossed forearms.
*Shit.*

Hiei huddled in on himself, an incongruous shadow in the golds and reds of the turning leaves that now surrounded his favorite perch. They had almost lost Kurama this time. HE had almost lost him...memory came back, hard and fast.
He was trapped and tangled in a web of wards, hanging helpless, Yuusuke screaming an unending flow of curses as he struggled, trapped in the same way. Kuwabara was a bleeding wreck beneath them, Botan hanging upside down and pounding at the shins of the Youkai who held her by her ankles while Kurama was contained between two of Yomi's more powerful minions. Yomi and his Guard had taken them by surprise as they were heading back to the spot where the pick up gate would be, battle weary but with that damned scroll Konema had sent them aftHe hHe had known there was bad blood between Kurama and Yomi, just not how bad.
He had spit at Yomi, since he couldn't find words nasty enough to express what he wanted to say, as that Youkai had come to stand in front of him, Kurama dragged along behind him by his guard. Yomi had laughed, amused.
"How nice of you to bring me your new toy, Kurama. Saves me the effort of having to hunt it down."
Kurama's laugh was pure venom. "My toy? That foul tempered little runt? I thought you knew me better than that, Yomi. My tastes run to refinement and beauty. You used to have those things. What happened?"
Those words had stung that secret place in his soul, a place that he had been managing so far to suppress. It wasn't until later that he understood that Kurama had been trying to save his life. Yomi whirled and slapped Kurama, an almost casual gesture that flung Kurama's head back, blood following the path of his hand, then Kurama slumped between his guard. Yomi glanced at Yuusuke and Yuusuke's curses were cut off, even though his mouth kept on forming them. He continued on as if that last little bit of by-play had never happened.
"This one I think I'll keep. He'll bring a nice price on the auction block. This one though," he toed Kuwabara and addressed the Captain who held Kurama, "eh...just let it bleed dry, then you can treat the troops to a feast. And they can have the female."
An appreciative murmur ran through the group that surrounded them as Yomi turned and walked a bit away. The Youkai turned back and fixed his eyes on him once more, a small, dark sphere of power forming in his hand.
He nodded at the two who held Kurama and they released him and stepped back.
"I'll give you as long as it takes to kill this one to run Kurama, and I'm going to make it slow just for you, then the hunt is on."
He glared at Kurama as the Youko who was trapped in a human body gathered himself, ready to run and leave them. He had been so sure of it!
He steeled himsas tas the sphere left Yomi's hand and gaped in disbelief when Kurama leapt, his shape shifting and stretching as the silver Youko put himself in it's path. Kurama fought back for a while, Yomi snarling at his Guard to keep out of it, but it came down to him just putting himself in the path of Yomi's attacks, struggling up to take blow after blow. He remembered hearing himself scream as the wards reflected his attempts to summon power back into his body, remembered trying to will Kurama to stay the fuck DOWN! as that stubborn Youko somehow managed to get back up again and again.
Then Kurama went down and stayed down, still. Fury beyond anything he had ever known had taken hold of him, a fury fueled by fear. Fear that Kurama was dead. The thought of Kurama gone forever, never to hear his soft voice again, or to have to hide his smile at the Youko's attempts to break through his wall of disdain or loose himself in those emerald eyes...he had gone a little insane, he thought now. He had called the Kokuryuuha, knowing that the backlash from the wards would kill him, but hadn't cared. The wards couldn't hold the Kokuryuuha and he'd take Yomi with him.
He blushed in shame. Kuwabara had saved their asses, as stubborn in his own way as the Youko. He had managed to get to his knees, forgotten as all focus was on Kurama, and pulled enough power out of somewhere to cut through a few of the wards that held Yuusuke. Yuusuke, seeing the Kokuryuuha start to manifest, had turned his rei gun on the wards that held Hiei and cut him free just in the nick of time. Yuusuke had told him later that he'd seen Yomi teleport out but that the others had been toasted.
He had come to on the ground, lifted his head and looked at the path of devastation the Kokuryuuha had carved into the landscape. He pushed himself up, glancing around for the others. Yuusuke was tending Kuwabara, his face tense with worry. Botan was next to Kurama, glowing in the vision of his Jagon as she poured her healing power into the youko. Hiei wavered to his feet and stumbled to them. One glance at that battered form, the red of his own blood staining his silver fur to the color that his human shape wore, and the frantic look on Botan's face told him. He had to get Yukina!
Yuusuke's, "Hiei! Where the fuck are you going?" stretched and faded behind him as he went as fast as he could, using the Jagon to scan for a spot weak enough in the barrier between the worlds for him to push through. He found one, tumbled across and cursed at each precious second lost as he climbed the tallest tree he could find so he could take his bearings. But now he knew where he was.
Yukina let out a little squeak of startlement as he had appeared beside her, panting.
"Kurama needs you," he managed to get out.
She nodded wide eyed.
"Here, get on," he went to his knees so she could scramble up on his back.
"Hold tight," he bid her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and got a good hold of her legs around his waist.
Once he was sure she was secure, he went as if it was his life, and not Kurama's, that was on the line.
Yuusuke was wrapping Botan up in a blanket when they got back.
Yukina saw Kuwabara as they halted, pale and trembling beneath another blanket and took a few step toward him, then at Hiei's breathless glare, turned back to Kurama. Yuusuke stepped in and turned her shoulder back toward Kuwabara.
"Go take care of Kuwabara first."
Hiei glanced at Kurama, hidden under another blanket, and could hear the Youko's labored breathing over his own. He stalked toward Yuusuke, fury driving him. How dare he send Yukina to Kuwabara first! Yuusuke gazed back steadily into his furious face.
"Hiei, if she's worried about Kuwabara, she's going to hold back so she can tend to him. This way she'll be able to focus totally on Kurama."
The logic of that had broken through his anger, bringing him to a halt. He just nodded, crossed his arms and made himself stand still. He saw the truth to Yuusuke's statement as Yukina rose from Kuwabara's side, a happy smile on her face. He was her shadow as she hurried to Kurama.
Anxiety ate at his gut as that happy expression faded as she knelt and put her hands on Kurama's forehead. He had to close his Jagon against her flair of power. It seemed to takeeverever though he knew it had only been thirty beats of his heart. He had counted every one. Then she had sagged and looked up at him, exhaustion warring with uncertainty in her eyes.
"That's everything I can do. I don't know if it is enough."
He had given her a nod as Yuusuke helped her to her feet. He had collected the remaining blanket as Yuusuke had guided her over to where Botan was sleeping. He had draped it around her shoulders and leaned close to whisper, "Thank you," softly so Yuusuke wouldn't hear. The smile she had responded with was dazzling, too much for him to deal with so he left her and went back to Kurama, collecting the Youko's bag of medicines and bandages along the way.
The human shape of the Youko was waiting for him. Yuusuke came over and took a roll of bandages and they looked at each other, then had lifted the blanket off Kurama together. Kurama's insides must have been jelly if so much external damage was still unhealed. They had worked on him together, each taking a side. He was mostly bandage when they were done. Yuusuke tried to muffle a yawn.
Hiei volunteered for first watch and Yuusuke nodded and went to lean against the tree by the sleeping females. Hiei just sat, arms wrapped around his knees and sword naked on the ground beside him, not looking at the damaged Youko beside him but hanging on every breath Kurama took. He wasn't sure how many hours had passed, but it was sometime in the deepest night of the Makai when Kurama's breathing had grown more labored, more shallow. He had risked a glance at his friend and the fragile, translucent quality about him unnerved him. He had just decided to go and wake up both of the girls to see if either of them had recovered enough of their strength to ease that bubbling sound in Kurama's breathing when Botan leapt to her feet. He was a fraction of a second behind her, sword in hand. Botan took a few steps toward them, then had given him a stricken look and turned her back and walked away to lean against a tree, back still toward him. He could tell she was clutching her oar against her chest, could see the handle rising over her shoulder.
A flicker of gold at the corner of his eye brought