Possession

The light filtered uneasily through the gathering cloud of dust and smoke. The air was thick, almost unbreathable as the two stood across from each other. Their glares burned the space between them more than the still smoldering flames that surrounded them. Both were breathing hard, trembling with exhaustion though neither would admit to it.

Kurama strode between the two, braver than the sunlight. “If you have had enough,” he said lightly.

“Get out of the fucking way, fox!” Yusuke growled.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Hiei added, his tone as cold and biting as his heritage.

Kurama didn’t move. “If it has nothing to do with me, then why is my name brought up so often?”

Yusuke growled, glaring first at Hiei, the interloper, the challenger, then at Kurama, the prize. It hadn’t been that long since the battle that destroyed his hopes of a normal life in the Ningenkai. He’d thought, maybe he could live there again, right after the battle with Sensui. Kurama had helped him, cutting off the overgrowth of hair that suddenly appeared when his demonic heritage made itself known, but everything had fallen apart. He didn’t belong to the human race anymore. He didn’t fit into their world. The tournament had cemented the fact that he was no longer human and could no longer live in their world.

All he wanted was a friend, though. Someone who knew about him, who he trusted. Kurama fulfilled both roles and he’d asked the redhead to join him for a time.

Hiei, though, had arrived with Kurama and objected to his staying. He’d challenged Yusuke to a fight, to see which of them was indeed stronger.

That had been two weeks before.

Neither of them had stopped, not for food, not for sleep. Kurama watched them, alternately amused and irritated. It was time to stop it now, though. If they continued, Kurama knew that Hiei and Yusuke both ran the risk of both dying. They were too evenly matched for any other outcome. If Hiei called upon the dragon, something he’d avoided up until now and something Kurama sensed he was near doing, Yusuke didn’t have the strength to combat it and Hiei didn’t have the strength to truly master the beast. They both would die.

“He has no right…” Hiei began

“I have no right? You attacked me, Hiei!” Yusuke cut him off.

“Right?” Kurama asked, his voice still mild.

“He has no right to you,” Hiei growled.

“He’s my friend!” Yusuke shot back to the koorime.

Kurama turned slowly, his expression mild, his green eyes snapping, his voice calm, “No right to me? And you have the right to decide that?” He advanced on the now silent half-breed. “What, pray, gives you the right to decide where I go and who I see, Hiei?”

A lesser, saner demon would have run. Hiei stood his ground, glaring back at the redhead.

“Answer me, Hiei.”

“You’re mine,” was the growled answer.

Kurama laughed lightly, “Yours? Because I slept with you?”

“You slept with him?” Yusuke’s voice carried shock and surprise.

“He has no right to take you away from me,” Hiei added, ignoring the interruptions.

Kurama ran a finger along the koorime’s stubbornly held jaw line, “I am not yours, Hiei.”

Hiei reached for the redhead’s hand only to find himself clutching air, “You are mine. You gave yourself to me.”

“Hey! What?” Yusuke stammered, moving to the side so he could see them both. He missed the negligent flick of Kurama’s wrist that sent the plants around the clearing to encase him. His legs and arms were spread wide and he opened his mouth to yell, only to find himself choking on plant life.

“Hiei, I had sex with you.”

“You said you loved me,” Hiei countered sharply.

“And, I do.”

“Then you are mine!” the koorime declared.

“No, I am not, Hiei.”

Hiei glared at the redhead. He knew he was near the point of absolute exhaustion. He didn’t have the strength to fight the wily fox.

“If anything,” Kurama said, raising his youki slightly, noticing that it was slipping under Hiei’s defenses. “If anything,” he repeated as he slipped the surrounding plants into position, “you are mine.”

At the last instant, Hiei tried to bolt, but it was too late. He was trapped. “Bastard,” he hissed out.

Kurama, unfazed by Hiei’s swearing, walked over to Yusuke, slipping his hands into the pockets of his uniform pants as he did. “So, Yusuke. What were your plans for me?” he asked, circling the trapped toushin. “Are you going to answer?” he taunted, eyeing Hiei before turning to look at Yusuke and negligently waving his hand to remove the plants from his mouth. “Well?”

“I…I just wanted someone I knew here,” Yusuke replied, anger and confusion warring in his voice.

“And, do you think I am yours?” the redhead’s voice was deadly calm.

“My friend,” Yusuke answered, somehow knowing he had to be careful, though he didn’t know why Kurama was mad at him. He’d only been defending himself when Hiei attacked. “Only as my friend. I’m not gonna make you stay if you don’t wanna, Kurama.”

“Why did you summon me, Yusuke?” Kurama turned a glare over his shoulder at Hiei, “Everyone knows a kitsune’s only good for one thing.”

Had Yusuke been able to, he would have moved away from the angry redhead. “Kurama, I…I thought we were friends.”

Green eyes held golden fire as he glared at Yusuke, “And, do you think I want nothing more than that?”

“W-w-what?” Yusuke stammered.

“Kura…” Hiei called, his voice dying on his lips as the redhead turned, his hair fading, his body lengthening as he did. “Youko.”

“Yes, Youko,” the kitsune purred. “I think you have failed to grasp something very basic, Hiei.” Youko took a step towards the koorime. “I think you have failed to grasp exactly what I am.”

“Hey, Kurama. This is…” Yusuke’s words were cut off as a flick of Youko’s ear filled his mouth with plants again.

“Do you know what I am, Hiei?”

The koorime glared, “You are a kitsune, a thief, a demon who escaped death in a human body.”

“And, what in there makes you think you have any rights over me at all?”

Hiei looked away, no longer able to meet Youko’s gaze. “You said you loved me,” he muttered softly.

“Did you think I’d taken you as a mate, then?” Youko asked, turning Hiei’s face to look at him.

“What else could it mean?” Hiei spat out.

Youko stroked Hiei’s hair gently, soothingly, as if he were a small child, “Hiei, not even Inari claims to own us. We are possessors, Hiei, not possessions.” He stepped away from the koorime, walking over behind Yusuke. “I think that is something you need to learn, Hiei.”

A scream of protest worked its way past the gag of foliage as Youko pulled Yusuke’s pants down, the plants raising him up, spreading his legs more. The fabric of the toushin’s jeans and boxers tore under the force, leaving them around his legs in pieces. Yusuke squirmed as much as he could, trying to get away, to fight, screaming again as Youko’s hand wrapped around his flaccid shaft and plants began teasing his opening.

Hiei turned away, growling.

“Watch, Hiei. Watch or I will force you to watch,” Youko growled.

Reluctantly, Hiei turned back in time to see Youko impaling Yusuke on his thick shaft. He also saw something he’d never have believed he would. He saw tears streaming down Yusuke’s cheeks. The choking sounds the boy, the toushin made ripped at something inside him. He wanted to close his eyes, to close out the reminders of where he’d come from, but he knew if he did, Youko would to worse, both to him and Yusuke. He kept his eyes on Yusuke’s face, burying the sickness he felt rising in him, though he didn’t know why.

“Tell me, Hiei,” Youko’s slick voice cut through his concentration, adding to the sickness he felt. “Do you remember when I did this to you?”

“What?” Hiei blurt out before he could stop himself.

Yusuke’s eyes were wide as a grunt was forced out of him. Though Hiei tried not to, he looked down, seeing Youko’s hand fondling Yusuke’s now erect shaft and blood dripping down from the boy’s abused hole. Hiei felt his anger grow, returning to him some of the strength he’d wasted fighting Yusuke. But it wasn’t enough to get away from the plants that held him.

“I said, do you remember when I did this to you?” Youko repeated, thrusting hard into Yusuke’s body.

Hiei wanted to deny it, wanted to say it’d never happened, but two things stopped him: The sickness that was starting to overwhelm him and the belief that Youko wouldn’t lie. “When?” he forced himself to ask.

“Before I agreed to become your partner. After I helped you defeat that demon you thought I was working for.” Another thrust, more blood and Yusuke tried to scream. “Don’t you remember?”

“But…” Youko hadn’t appeared until almost four years after that time.

“Just because I couldn’t take this form doesn’t mean I wasn’t there, Hiei.” Youko continued thrusting into Yusuke viciously.

“But…” Hiei couldn’t remember anything like this happening to him before.

“I made her forget. Do you really think it is that much harder to make you forget?” Blood flowed more readily, falling not just when Youko was pulling out, but also when he thrust in, making a sick, wet sound as Yusuke continued to scream in agony.

“But…” The sickness he felt rose up, threatening to take his mind. “Kurama said he…”

“And, indeed, I do love you, Hiei. But, first, I had to make you mine.”

The words cut deeper than Hiei could imagine mere sounds could. “Why?” the word slipped past his guard.

“Why, you ask.” Youko laughed, continuing to abuse Yusuke’s body, blood flowing thicker with each stroke. “Would you have let me love you otherwise, Hiei?” The kitsune’s breathing became harsh as Yusuke’s whimpering became pathetic. Youko turned to the toushin, “Don’t hold back. Let it out.”

Hiei wanted to close his eyes, to shut out the truth, but the strangely developing youki kept him watching. He could almost feel an answering in his own body. He tried to shut out Yusuke’s whimpers and Youko’s encouragements.

Yusuke screamed, the sound tormented, painful as his body betrayed him. Hiei kept his eyes open out of respect. He knew the toushin didn’t want pity would never accept it. Keeping his eyes opened allowed him to see what looked like a chain wrap itself around the boy, thought it wasn’t substantial. He saw a shadow of it leading to his own body, but when he looked back at Yusuke, it was gone.

“Sleep,” Youko whispered and Hiei felt the world slide away from him.

A/N: There is a second part to it. I'll post it...eventually.