Title: Growth of a Spirit Detective
Author: Azalea J.
Beta: Amymcclair
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Hiei / Yusuke hints in this chapter.
Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho was created by Yoshihiro Togashi and adapted by Funimation studios. I claim no rights to characters or settings or dialogue. I am making no money off this work.
Warning(s):. Violent Scenes, SPOILERS, Coarse Language, Sexual Innuendos, Slightly Gratuitous Violence, and Angst
Word Count: Approx. 7 000

Growth of a Spirit Detective

Chapter Two

The ningen ran from him, screaming, falling, and scrambling to her feet to run again. Her screams echoed around the forest but there were none near to hear - and even were there, there were none powerful enough to save her.

He leapt into a pine laden with dead and dying needles, gazing through the thick foliage with crimson eyes as the ningen twisted her ankle on an exposed root and fell heavily to the dirt.

He grinned, showing his fangs.

In an instant he had pinned the girl to the earth, her screaming the tenderizer of her flesh. He ripped the summer dress from her back, exposing her tender skin; leaving bloody claw marks all down her back.

The girl screamed louder beneath him and started to thrash wildly.

He let her crawl a few feet from him, before he flipped her onto her back and pinned her beneath him. Pushing on her chest he ground her into the dirt, almost feeling the excruciating burn of the soil and detritus entering the open wounds on her back himself. His vicarious enjoyment of her pain spurred his brutality to new heights.

Reaching down he reduced her dress to ribbons, exposing her pale, shaking breasts, her trembling belly, and her vulnerable collarbone and neck.

Growling in pleasure, he tore his claws along her arm, making it resemble her dress, and she was sobbing, begging, and screaming all at once. And it was exquisite. He could see her eyes rolling back in her skull. The pain must be immense.

Grabbing her skull in one hand, her hair tangling in his fingers, he pulled her up to him, her one arm dangling uselessly to her side. He breathed in her stale breath, tasting the fear and repulsion. He watched her expression change from confusion to horror, as he slowly cupped a breast, dug in his claws, then tore it from her body. Blood coated her torso, and she started to shake, her nerves confused and the pain completely overwhelming any other response she could have made. She whimpered now, she wasn’t capable of a coherent scream.

Licking his lips, he tucked his head into the crook of her neck, inhaling her foul, human smell and bit down past nerves, tendons and bone, crushing the trachea and snapping her neck in two. She fell limp and died instantly without a sound.

He dug his claw into the gaping hole where her breast had once been, ripping past the collarbone to the deadened heart, and tore it from her body as he feasted.

He heard a noise behind him, but the scent told him he’d nothing to fear, and he continued with his indulgence as the kitsune stepped up lightly behind him.

He glared at the fox to warn him to respect his territory, but the fox only gazed sadly upon the mangled female’s body.

Another scent made it past the blood clogging his nostrils, and he turned sharply to glare at the koorime. Hiei merely stared back.

“Yusuke…”

He turned back to Kurama, and followed the kitsune’s gaze back to the corpse.

“Why Keiko?”

Yusuke shot up in bed, breathing hard with tears bursting from his eyes.

After a few seconds, he shut his eyes over the water, and punched his covers as hard as he could.

“FUCK!!!”

Storming from his ruined bed, he stomped into the bathroom and glared at his reflection.

He was hot, almost sweating, and it only fueled his annoyance.

All of his Mazoku marks were present and extremely vivid. His bed-mangled hair made him look even wilder.

“Grah!” The mirror died a very swift death - along with the wall and most of the bedroom.

Blanking his mind, Yusuke forgot everything he could, and leapt from the fourth story of Raizen’s keep. He allowed the wind to dry his tears, and hoped the dust would cover their tracks. He would not allow this to happen. He would control his body, his power- and most of all his feelings, and thus, his dreams.

It was one thing to dream of ripping humans apart and destroying ningenkai, but… why were Kurama and Hiei always there?

Landing solidly. Yusuke pushed himself into a sprint. He headed away from the lightening horizon, didn’t look back, and didn’t stop.

---

Houkoshin sighed and leant against the ragged edge of the outer wall of what had once been his Lord’s chambers. He folded his arms. More and more Lord Yusuke was becoming his ancestor - Raizen never liked his heat cycle, either - preferring to run and exhaust his body so completely that he couldn’t fuck if the bitch sat on him and did everything herself.

He’d tried to help: he’d stocked the harem with as many females as he could find that had intense and regular heat cycles - hoping the smells would entice his master to rut.

But… to no avail.

The Lord merely ignored the harem altogether, and if any of the smells even appealed to him in the slightest… he didn’t show it.

Thinking the Lord wanted for males, Houkoshin had sent messengers far in search of a male with an intense heat cycle - they’d found one, and acquired him at an extremely high cost. However they sent him back the day after he’d arrived when Lord Yusuke, leaving on an errand for Enki, walked right past the demon in the hall with barely a glance from the demon to Houkoshin; as if to ask: Why would you bother? The demon had been in heat at the time - causing even Houkoshin to… grow slightly uncomfortable. And he knew his Lord could smell the musk and delightfully intriguing scent the boy was putting of.

Still, no interest whatsoever.

He sighed once more. There was only one explanation: The Lord already had a demon in mind, and would settle for nothing less.

Yes. Just like Raizen.

Pushing himself away from the wall, Houkoshin returned to his chambers with the purpose in mind of repairing the Lord’s chambers before the Mazoku returned; he figured he had at least a week. A new bed would be desirable as well…

---

He was but a blur streaking across the landscape. While the fox could reach Raizen’s keep in a mere half-day, Hiei would arrive in less than an hour.

He scowled. Why was he being sent now to baby-sit the detective? Surely Yusuke would eventually work whatever problems he had out on his own, and he could go back to fucking his fox in peace.

Of course, Hiei knew Kurama was right: humans were incredibly stupid when it came to rutting practices and social conventions. And Yusuke had been a human for a good portion of his life - those conventions were now as much a part of him as his blood; though the detective would cut off his own arm before he admitted to it.

Somehow he had to convince the detective that - unless Yusuke really wanted to - he wouldn’t suddenly rampage into ningenkai and destroy everything. And - even more aggravating - Hiei had to convince him that his feelings for him and the kitsune were unfounded, and it was high time the boy started having sex again.

That couldn’t be healthy…

He wasn’t stupid - the one and only time he’d visited the Mazoku he’d caught no scent on Yusuke of anything other than Mazoku and a faint trace of a recent demon - the demon had been one of Enki’s assignments, and the scent was all blood. No heat and no sex. He doubted Yusuke would ever use the harem Houkoshin had apparently built up for him - Yusuke wouldn’t fuck for the sake of fucking. He’d do it because both parties just happened to want to at the same moment in time.

The boy was determined to be a-sexual.

His feet fairly flew over the sand and rock of makai, alike to his mind as it raced over all the possible answers to Yusuke’s recent behavior.

Kurama’s reasons sounded firm, but there was something that just didn’t make sense: Yusuke was more aware of his own strength than he let on. He wouldn’t be afraid of losing control. Granted, his revealed Mazoku heritage complicated things a tad; but knowing the detective, he’d work through whatever new problem arose, personal or no.

No… something else had to be fueling the problem - if not the cause of it outright.

He just couldn’t think of what could possibly fuck the detective up so much the Kitsune had become worried enough to send Hiei to talk to him.

“Hn.”

Dust billowed up behind him, and the sun beat down.

---

“Lord Hiei?”

“Where’s Yusuke?”

Houkoshin blinked, he’d risen from his desk, turned to file some papers, and found the wild-haired koorime standing firm in his doorway. An arrogant shadow. He hadn’t even sensed the demon’s presence. “…Out running.”

“An errand for Enki?”

“No. Just running. He left this morning - do you have some business with him?”

“Where was he headed?”

“I never know, and I never think to ask - he’ll be back in a week or two.”

“What!”

Before Houkoshin could say more, the demon was gone. He quirked an eyebrow. Strange…

Hiei darted back to Yusuke’s room - having appraised the devastated dwelling upon his arrival, he’d found out Houkoshin for answers; but his patience had run thin. He’d find the detective and interrogate him himself. The room looked like the demon had thrown a fit, or a temper tantrum.

He scented the air and caught traces of youki and Mazoku - and something else. But it was faint enough that Hiei took little notice.

Following the youkai track signals and his nose, Hiei flitted from the keep and darted out across the desert.

He knew from Kurama that the detective went running for weeks at a time every four months or so - but he hadn’t expected him to go now. Being sent to talk with Yusuke was bad enough - to have to track the detective across makai to talk to him was infuriating and almost annoying enough to send Hiei back to Kurama with a “mission failed – try again later.”

But he was curious.

Yusuke was definitely acting strange.

---

He was hot - the sun and endless desert could account for that. But even so…

He’d lost track of time - the sun had set and dawned. The moon had died and birthed. Stars had scattered and the sun had dawned once more. Three days? Four? The desert had at some point given way to scrub land. And now his run was more short leaps over bare land than any actual pace.

Run. Run. Run. Leap. Run. Run.

His feet pounded and dust rose and settled behind him.

The sun set.

The cool night air buffeted his fevered skin, and the sweat rolled down his back, front, neck, face, and legs. When the air hit the water rolling from his body it caused an ice-like sensation - but still he was hot. It was aggravating and only confused him more. First the dreams and now his body couldn’t maintain a regular, normal body temperature!?

The muscles in his legs had started to burn, and he concentrated on that. The sensation of his muscles cramping and pulling then easing for a moment, before they touched down and cramped once more was stimulating.

But still he was hot.

Ahead he saw the scrubland start to give way to grasses, and further on he saw distant trees. He’d rest there for the remainder of the night and go on in the morning.

And I’ll return…

When he felt like it.

Tufts of grass flew up into the air, accompanied by clumps of dirt as he ran. A demon sitting in a nest of grass cleaning its claws glared up at him as he passed, then went back to its work.

It wasn’t long at all before the Mazoku reached the forest; grass becoming tall trees and shrubbery almost instantly. And his straight bearing became a weave to avoid crashing or tripping.

He leapt a fallen log and began glancing from left to right looking for a reasonable place to settle in.

It was then that he caught a scent on the evening breeze - one he could place. It had taken him most of a year to get used to his heightened senses, especially in regards to the harem; and he was still getting used to it. But he could identify scents with reasonable accuracy, and the scent he caught now was salty and moist…

A hot spring?

Following his nose, Yusuke almost tripped over another log when he came to the heated pool of water. It was small, but it looked temping. Sniffing further and searching for nearby youki, Yusuke stripped and waded into the pool.

The entire spring was covered in moss - so much so he couldn’t even pinpoint the exact location of the spring. But he could feel the current, and it was close to where his legs stretched before him.

The pool was so small he could just stretch out his legs to the other end, where the water suddenly discovered gravity, and spilled over the moss to trickle away through the forest. His back and arms, he rested against the opposite edge of the depression. It was almost a water-filled beanbag chair - it was incredibly comfortable.

But so hot.

He could feel his muscles relaxing and the cramp in his neck easing - but if he’d been hot before, he was nearly on fire now.

But still… he didn’t want to leave. He’d think of it as a steam-room- and get out in a few minutes. He could sleep by the pool, and use the salt and musk to hide his youki - he wasn’t very good at that yet. Though he refused to admit it.

The trees were thicker here, too. It was the perfect spot.

Maybe he’d return, someday.

With Kurama?

Yusuke closed his eyes.

And Hiei?

He sighed, and slumped back further, the moss hugging his back and cradling his legs and butt. Molding to his body and easing him into an easy slumber.

Naw, we wouldn’t all fit…

In this way, he easily lost track of time.

Again.

His thoughts started to drift and, oddly enough, lighted on Sensui; during the time when the tunnel to makai had been almost complete. The two spirit detectives had ceased their fight for another of the older detective’s relentless monologues, but part of this one speech in particular came back to Yusuke now, and he thought long and hard about Sensui’s words:

“No longer filled with guilt and anger over what you’re becoming, you’ll focus more on your fighting. And you’ll at last have your peace.”**

At the time, Yusuke had understood Sensui to be referring to becoming evil - going against human kind and destroying everything. But now that his demon heritage had been revealed…

Had Sensui known all along that I’d been a demon sleeper? He knew so much - made me do exactly what he wanted, even when it appeared he was finally losing… If he did know, then what the fuck was he talking about? …So I’ve become a demon. Am I filled with guilt and anger?

...So I should concentrate on my fighting? Fuck, if I interpret it that way, then Sensui just wanted me to carry on in his place!

Confused and angry, Yusuke’s thoughts turned to a more recent venue. It had nothing to do with Sensui, or being a demon. He’d no idea how the idea had spawned, but instead of fighting it, he watched it play out with a mild sense of irony:

It was right before Kurama’s fight with Shigure, the demon – Yusuke had discovered later – who had implanted Hiei’s jagan.

Yusuke had accompanied Kurama to the tunnel leading onto the battle arena, but stopped to let Kurama continue alone; it was his fight, after all…

---

The kitsune walked on down the tunnel. Firm, soft steps and soft breath passing Yusuke as the fox headed towards the arena, and his battle with Shigure. “See you later, Yusuke.”

“Sure…” Yusuke watched his teammate, his friend. Then, before he lost his nerve, he called, “Kurama!”

The fox stopped and turned.

“You’d better not lose.” His fists were clenched at his sides, and his palms started to sweat as the fox turned fully and came back to him.

When they were scantly centimeters apart, Kurama dipped and caught the detective’s lips in a soft, comforting kiss, barely touching. As he pulled back, he said softly. “Or you, either. You’ll be fighting against Youmi very soon; he can be quite dangerous.”

As Kurama walked away, Yusuke returned in a scratchy voice, “Don’t worry about it - I fight even better against th’ big guys.”

“Right, I thought you’d say that.”***

---

That had been the last time…

The last time he’d kissed anyone, or been that close to anyone.

He hadn’t thought about that in years, and now that he had, more memories returned of the fox. Fighting, talking, running… Sucking him off the night after they’d beaten Team Masho. Yusuke groaned and shifted his thoughts. Unfortunately, his thoughts weren’t happy about leaving that particular memory and rebelled by lighting on another.

An interested twinge down below, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in years accompanied images of Hiei licking lightly on his nipple, then Hiei’s bronze chest stretching and heaving as the demon fucked himself on Yusuke’s dick.

The feelings and memories persisted, until Yusuke finally gave in and became a silent voyeur to events past.

He wasn’t asleep - he wasn’t entirely coherent, either. So when a familiar signature lighted on his senses, he didn’t immediately react. It wasn’t until a glimmer of youki spiked very close to him, that he opened his eyes at all.

A figure stood ten feet from him, balancing on the soft moss of the forest floor.

Clad in black and sporting four familiar belts and spiked, black hair; Hiei was gazing at him with a familiar look. It was the look that was half indifferent and half irritated. Yusuke would have smiled, if the images of the past hadn’t still been present in his mind, and ningen conventions, along with the realization that the water he was soaking in was crystal clear and he was mildly interested down below, hadn’t come rushing back at him.

It wasn’t just the temperatures that inflamed his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, and tips of his ears - and his collarbone, too, by the feel of it.

“Detective…” Hiei stepped toward him, and Yusuke pressed back into the moss. He could feel it pushing into the space between his legs, tickling. His voice caught somewhere down in the bowels of his chest. “I have questions, and after tracking you halfway across makai, I want short and simple answers.”

Swallowing and surreptitiously moving his left hand to cover himself, Yusuke asked, “Why didn’t you just wait for me back at the keep?”

The movement hardly going unnoticed, Hiei advanced further, “Because I’m impatient, detective, unlike a certain fox we both know. Now why the fuck are you way out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“I found this nifty spring and decided to hop in for a bit.”

Hiei glowered and scrutinized the detective. Despite his cocky voice, he could see sweat rolling down his forehead and neck - if the detective was so hot, why didn’t he get out of the spring? And even if he didn’t want Hiei to see him naked – stupid ningens - he could have gotten out sooner…

The heat was getting worse now; it was so hot Yusuke was having trouble drawing breath. And for some reason, having Hiei standing right there before him made it worse…

Hiei opened his mouth to question further - why was the detective being so short with Kurama, why wouldn’t he return, and if he was still in love with him and Kurama then why - when a scent caught the underside of his pert nose and flooded into his nostrils. He sniffed harder. It was faint- but underlying the initial smell was a powerful aroma just waiting for the strength to free and reveal itself to anyone within a thousand yards.

Hiei stiffened. “Yusuke…”

Yusuke’s eyes focused from where they’d been blurring to distraction - so hot!

“Are you…”

When Hiei didn’t show any signs of continuing, Yusuke snapped, “Am I what, Hiei?”

Hiei sniffed again, and decided to try a more diplomatic route: “Yusuke, why are you afraid of losing control of your youki?”

Yusuke blinked, then snarled. “You’ve been talking to Kurama-“

“I always talk to Kurama, baka, he’s my mate.”

Yusuke stiffened at that, and Hiei grinned. So… he’d had a hunch, but he never actually knew…

Wanting to ask For how long? Yusuke instead bit his lip and bared his fangs. “Leave me alone, Hiei. If you’ve come to try to get me to go back as well, then you can just forget it. I’ve already told Kurama a thousand times - I’ll return when I’m good and ready.”

“Hn. Baka…” Hiei gazed at him a moment longer, then leapt up into the trees, masking his youki and playing on Yusuke’s quite inebriated state to keep the fact that he hadn’t left at all from the detective’s knowledge.

Crouching along a particularity wide branch, Hiei watched as Yusuke calmed slightly from the stiffened state he’d achieved upon Hiei’s arrival. A few moments later, when Hiei was sure to be miles away, the detective splashed from the spring and rolled from the intoxicating heat, gasping for breath. The koorime could hear him muttering. “Fuck! Why can’t I fuckin’ cool off!?” A pause, then Yusuke got to his feet and walked over to his clothes and the large tree they’d been strewn beside. Gathering his clothing into his lap, he slumped, using the tree as a backrest and immediately drifted off, muttering, “Dammit, Hiei… why’d you have to…”

Scenting the air, Hiei surmised that the scent was still faint enough that the detective should be relatively unbothered should Hiei leave. Even if the scent had been at its peak, Yusuke – as confused and muddled as he was - should and would have no trouble handling any demon that came to investigate.

Bark and leaves blurred past him, the days melded together, and Hiei ran on.

---

“Well this is an enigma - what brings you back to me after so short a time?”

Hiei tossed his cloak onto the desk and strode purposefully over to the large marshmallow Mukuro called a bed; said demon currently lounged on top of the many covers, pillows and cushions, gazing at him with a familiar calculating gaze as Hiei approached.

“Mazoku.” Hiei halted before the demon lord, and his jagan glittered as it guarded him from any lies Mukuro cared to dish out in answer. “What do you know of them?”

Mukuro blinked and sat up. “Mazoku? This hasn’t anything to do with Mr. Urameshi, now does it?”

Hiei just glared.

Mukuro sighed. Impossible demon. “Nothing much, to tell you the truth - Raizen was the only Mazoku I knew, or indeed, ever even heard of. They’re rare. I can tell you that much.”

“What of their mating practices - do both sexes have heat cycles?”

Mukuro blinked, and she immediately put two and two together. Instead of stating the obvious, she decided to play along with Hiei’s little game. “I don’t know. I would assume that since their species is so rare, they have potent heat cycles - the males along with the females. And considering the cause of Raizen’s death, they are most likely fiercely monogamous. But Hiei, that is merely conjecture.”

“Hn.” Hiei turned and left, snagging his cloak as he went.

Mukuro sank back onto her covers. So one partner isn’t enough for you, Hiei? Or are you merely trying to help a friend - I hear Lord Yusuke has become changed of late. Is this your doing?

Stepping lightly, though briskly, down the stone halls of Mukuro’s keep, Hiei tried to reach Kurama, but he was blocked fiercely at every turn. Must be detained… Another meeting?

Snarling beneath his breath, Hiei turned down the next corridor and made his way to his room. He would pursue this in the morning.

---

Yusuke stormed past Houkoshin’s room, ignoring the vassal completely. Since leaving the spring, his body hadn’t cooled in the slightest; in fact, he’d gotten hotter. And he’d had another dream that night: so violent and bloody that he hadn’t any desire to remember it - but he remembered how it had ended: Hiei had come out of nowhere, stoic as always. The demon had removed his hands, claws gleaming with freshly spilt blood, from the intestines of the teenager, and used them to twist Yusuke around - he’d then stared at him. Said nothing. Just stared. Kurama hadn’t been anywhere in sight, but his presence had been sensed. And Yusuke’s desire to kill had been quenched.

Stomping furiously down the hall and into his bedchamber, he hardly noted that the wall had been repaired and his bed replaced. Instead, he headed straight for the bathroom.
Stepping into the shower, not bothering to strip, Yusuke turned the cold water on as far as the knob would go and stood beneath the chilly stream. He could feel the ice touch his skin through his sandy shirt and cool it instantly before bouncing off or trickling away - but he was still hot. And the colder he got the hotter he felt, until his skin was practically burning. He slid down the wall, almost in pain, almost begging the gods - or anyone who would listen - to put an end this anguish.

Not knowing what was causing it only made it worse.

He couldn’t take such torture for very long, and after a while he reached, turned off the water and stood, shaking. Chilled and burning up. He was aware that he needed something, and whatever it was, he’d be happy to go get it, but he didn’t know what it was and the heat only muddled his ability to think straight.

Ripping the sodden garments from his body and tossing the muddied rags to the floor, Yusuke stumbled back into his room and fell onto the bed.

It was so hot!

He squirmed and writhed and stretched but nothing would help him. The cool, fresh sheets didn’t stay cool for very long.

Eventually he succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a heavy sleep, moaning as he slumbered.

Ningens ran and screamed, some tripped and were ripped to shreds as he fell on them. Others were yanked from their exodus and decapitated, their blood painting the walks and roads. He blasted a high-rise and watched it smash into a shrine; the screams were music to his ears.

He heard a baby’s cry and looked to his left to find a man clutching an infant to his chest, crouching in the shadow of a large bramble. He grinned and saliva dripped from his lower lip. As he approached, the man’s trembling became more pronounced, and when he was a mere foot away the man began to sob. He killed the woman at his side with barely a glance, and the man started to beg.

His child was tugged, screaming, from his arms and ripped in half. Guts and blood splattered its dead mother. The man sobbed and cried in mortal, soul-wrenching pain.

Licking a spot of blood from his lip, he bent, and pressed the baby’s head to its mother’s cheek, blood trickling down to soak into the once pristine, white blouse. He watched the father’s expression as the man was torn between watching and turning away from the gruesome scene.

With a snarl, he tossed the baby’s head away. It bounced sloppily into a thicket.

He smashed the father’s skull into the cement when the man tried to run and set about tearing out the man’s shoulder blades, ripping and tugging until they separated with a crack and a shlooop. Laughing the whole time.

A hand on his shoulder caused him to stop, and he looked up to see Kurama gazing at him. And suddenly he was looking down at Kurama gazing up at him. He was lying on top of the kitsune on a bed in a silent, well-lit room.

He looked to his side and saw Hiei standing over them, his gaze noncommittal.

The fox spoke, and he looked down to see Kurama drift away from him into the bed. “I can’t be with a murderer… Yusuke…”

HOT!

Yusuke cried out and sat up straight, clutching at the bed covers to avoid cramming his fist harmfully into his crotch.

It took him a few seconds of fast breathing to realize that the desire to do so came form a burning sensation in said region.

It took him another second to realize he was hard.

One more second and he realized he was burning up.

A few more seconds and a couple blinks and he noticed he’d been covered as he slept.

Two more gasps for air, and he realized he was not alone.

His eyes snapped to his left and he snarled - actually snarled – at the youkai sitting there.

Houkoshin at least had the grace to stand from where he’d been sitting at the edge of his Lord’s bed.

Yusuke looked away and closed his eyes, his breathing steadying. He wiped the glistening sweat from his brow with the palm of his hand, and forced himself to reason. “What do you want, Houkoshin?”

“My lord, I am very concerned for your well being. Why won’t you just spend a day in the harem? Just an afternoon-”

“I’m not interested in any of those demons; I’ve told you that before.”

“Yes but-“

“NOT interested!” Yusuke glared. He couldn’t understand why Houkoshin insisted he fuck. It’s not like it would kill him to be abstinent for a year or two… And he severely doubted he could get it up for any one of those demons. -Ignoring the fact that he was “up” already.*

“Would you like me to get anyone for you…” Houkoshin was wringing his hands.

Yusuke looked at the demon in irritation and a slight amount of confusion. “No means N-O, Houkoshin. Just go.”

The demon left, shutting the door softly as he went…

Why the fuck was Houkoshin being so forceful on the subject? Yusuke winced as his nether regions throbbed. Was there something Houkoshin wasn’t telling him?

Rolling over, kicking the blankets from his fevered flesh, Yusuke concentrated on ignoring his crotch and - after a time - his semi-erect state started to fade.

He hadn’t even been mildly interested in sex for the last two years - so why now…

---

Was the Lord just that stubborn? Was he prepared to ride his entire heat cycle out without doing anything to sate the heat and hunger?

Houkoshin pondered as he walked along the hallways to his office. Ignoring it was one thing, but to just lie there and bear with it? Surely his Lord would be better suited running or exhausting himself so the effects wouldn’t be as… intense. Why then was Yusuke just lying there?

And Yusuke had been calling out and … growling, in his sleep. Bad dreams?

Utterly perplexed with his Lord’s behavior, Houkoshin nearly walked straight into Hiei. -If he hadn’t caught the demon’s youki signature at the last moment, glanced up, and tripped backwards. “Lord Hiei? What brings you back so-”

“I want to know every odd or suspicious thing your stupid Lord has done in the last month. And I want to hear it where strange ears cannot eavesdrop.”

Houkoshin blinked. Hiei was… ordering him. And to reveal Lord Yusuke’s personal habits, no less.

The demon narrowed his eyes. “By whose authority do you ask this?”

“My own - and in the interest of Yusuke’s own good.”

Houkoshin unfolded his arms. “Are you-”

“Somewhere private, vassal. Now. I have very little patience and even less time.”

Bristling but nodding, Houkoshin led Hiei down the hall to his office; shut and locked the door, and turned to find the koorime already seated on his desk, glaring at him expectantly.

Re-folding his arms, Houkoshin leant against the door and spoke carefully. “I first must ask one question of you, Hiei. If I am satisfied with the answer, I will tell you everything you wish to know.”

Hiei’s glare darkened.

“What are your aims towards Yusuke?”

Hiei glared for long moments, his mouth a thin, silent line.

Houkoshin merely met his gaze and waited patiently.

Finally, Hiei spoke; “The idiot’s done something stupid again - I know it. I intend to help him, anyway I can.”

Houkoshin nodded. “What did you want to know?”

“First: tell me anything about Yusuke’s behavior in the last month that would be strange or out of character - even for Yusuke.”

Houkoshin felt himself bristling further, but he answered truthfully after taking a moment to collect himself and consider the question. “He’s just like his ancestor in his stubbornness - as for unusual… he’s been more reclusive lately; more than usual, anyway. And… I believe he’s been having troubling dreams-“

“What kind of dreams?”

“I’m not sure, but they seem violent.”

“What did you mean by comparing Yusuke to Raizen?”

Houkoshin blinked. “Well, he refuses to take a bed partner, even now, when his heat is starting to reach its peak. But Raizen was the same - he was set on his ningen lover and would bed only her. So he would go running to exhaust his body so the effects of his heat would be lessened - Yusuke is the same way- though... he’s starting to worry me. He-“

“Yusuke’s in heat?”

“...Yes?”

That was what I scented then. “Tell me everything you know about Mazoku heat cycles and their mating habits.”

More confident now in Hiei’s aims, Houkoshin answered readily - almost scholarly. “The mating habits vary, but usually Mazoku are extremely loyal and monogamous. They even go into depression sometimes if their mate dies prematurely - Raizen was proof to that. As for heat cycles - they’re rare, but intense. The cycle is usually a five to ten year break, and the heat takes four to five days to reach its peak.”

“And its duration?”

“Usually a week, but the heat can last up to a month or longer if not sated or exhausted. -Or only a day or two, if a bed partner is readily available. It depends mostly on the demon, and circumstances.”

“How far is Yusuke into his heat?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but by the scent, I’d say he’ll be at peak in a day or two.”

“Shit…” Hiei’s mind raced, thinking and putting pieces together fast.

“Lord Hiei?”

If Yusuke’s been harboring a silent fear of losing control of his youki and destroying ningenkai, then an unknown heat cycle might cause those fears to manifest and amplify as extremely vivid dreams… “Houkoshin, did it ever occur to you that Yusuke may not know that he’s progressing into his heat cycle? His youkai heritage only recently surfaced.”

Houkoshin paused. That had never even once occurred to him… It would explain his Lord’s odd behavior. “…If that is true, then Lord Yusuke is going to be in a serious amount of pain and confusion very soon. -And he refuses to use the harem…”

For a time, the two were silent. Each thinking his own thoughts and arranging more pieces into previously blank spaces.

Finally, Houkoshin asked, “Lord Hiei, you said you’d help Lord Urameshi in any way you could - would you bed him for the sake of his sanity?”

Hiei glared up at the demon minion. “I rutted with the detective once when the child needed help focusing his own goals. I’ll do it again if I have to.” And Hiei left.

Unspoken went the ‘gladly’.

Houkoshin was left in his office, head bowed, thinking that he may have gone about helping his Lord in all the wrong ways, and hoping that Hiei might possibly be able to rectify his grave mistakes.

Hiei flitted back up to the fourth floor, and stopped at Yusuke’s door; his hand hovering above the doorknob. He could smell the musk of Yusuke’s heat wafting between the cracks in the door. It was already incredibly stimulating. The scent that the Mazoku put off must be extremely potent at the peak of their cycle. As such a rare breed of youkai, the mating habits would be fierce to ensure procreation…

Even as he stood there, breathing in deeply, Hiei was growing more and more aroused.

A moan reached his ear, and his cock twitched. He listened closer, and could hear small whimpers mixed in with the moans. Yusuke must be dreaming…

Opening the door softly, Hiei slid into the room and shut the door behind him.

Whispering across the floor, he came to the detective’s side and struggled to control the urge to jump the man before him. Writhing on the bed, moaning and whimpering and half hard, smelling just too good: was the ex-tantei of reikai.

Inhaling deeply, Hiei shuddered, and pushed thoughts of ravishing the detective out of his mind - when Yusuke started to mutter in his sleep.

“Noooooo…. No more - stop. Dammit - said stop! Fucker... she was just a kid… No-ooooooo.” A hand clenched in the bedspread and the other in his crotch, clutching tightly and massaging firmly. The whimpers persisted.

Hiei left.

---

Kurama sat at the long meeting table in relative indifference. He was paying attention to what Enki was saying about the new patrol protocol, and he agreed completely - but half his mind was on his lover and his concern for Yusuke.

He was sitting beside Youmi, with Yuta on his other side, and Enki’s wife and the two demons from Ningen Relations across from him. Enki stood at the foot of the table, giving his speech and argument. He had to focus; this was an important meeting: If these youkai could not reach a consensus, then the border would be weak for a month or two or longer while some demons from the patrol were pulled and sent on a mission that Enki was finding troubling, and recruits difficult to locate.

Thus, when he felt a twinge at the back of his mind an hour later, he did his best to ignore it and convey that he was still detained, and probably would be for the rest of the day.

The presence left him for a time but returned shortly with a stronger twinge.

His eyebrows drawing down, Kurama forced the presence back and sent a sharp reprimand with it.

Then he had peace.

“If we don’t send out this patrol, then the Demon Lord might think we don’t care - over time he could amass supporters, and we could have a rout-” Enki was saying.

“Yes.” One of the demons in Ningen Relations said, “But we do have the time to deal with that. If we take demons from the patrols to put on the team, however, ningens could slip past the remaining patrols and enter main makai. Most of the demons respect your laws, Enki, but seriously, at this point in time, what do you think would happen to a rogue human wandering throughout makai?”

“All humans will be in danger if we do not put a stop to the Demon Lord’s coup.” Yuta spoke up.

“It is not a coup de tat if we know about it.” Youmi stated thoughtfully.

“He doesn’t know that we know about it just yet.”

“And our spies?”

Kurama listened quietly, calculating the pros and cons of each choice of action and considering each demon’s argument - he hated to admit it, but Enki seemed to be losing this one…

A twinge, and Kurama fought to head off a visible response to the mental jab.

Angrily, he sent back a harsh reprimand and a threat to withhold sex for the next month if Hiei didn’t relent and leave him be. It couldn’t be so urgent that whatever it was couldn’t wait until after the meeting.

“It doesn’t MATTER if he knows or not, if we-”

“It does matter, have you never heard of the term ‘ambush’?”

He waited a few seconds, and when no response came he relaxed, confident that Hiei would wait. Having relaxed, the sudden jarring sensation that raced up his spine and down into his tail bone was amplified, so that the message that came with it felt like someone had burrowed into his mind and shouted at him as loud as they could:

HE’S IN HEAT.

His eyes widened and his breath stopped short as his mind took a moment to process the information, and understand it.

Well that certainly settles quite a few questions...

His name spoken brought him back to the land of the meeting in time to take a much-needed breath of air.

“Lord Kurama,” Yuta repeated, “You’re thoughts on the matter?”

“Yes… I am sorry, but I do have to agree with Hiyoumi.” Kurama nodded at the demon across from him. The demon inclined her head. “Removing any of the patrols now, even in part, would put ningenkai in a vulnerable position; I believe waiting, and collecting more information would be the most prudent course for the time being.”

The debate resumed.

Drifting back, allowing himself his own private thoughts for a moment longer - before he shifted his full attention to the meeting - Kurama sunk into his mind once more, and sent softly back his reply. Help him, Hiei.

A silent nod was his only assurance that Yusuke would be taken care of with the best possible regard paid.

Though Kurama needed no such reassurance.


-TBC…


*Bad pun, forgive me.
**Direct quote from somewhere amidst episodes 87 - 90.
***My own ‘creative’ twist on what actually happened in the anime.

REVIEWER RECOGNITION!!!

BlueUtopiah
Yes, this is the way I always wanted the series to end, and I’m doing my best with dealing with Yusuke - despite how simple the anime made him look, he’s quite a complicated character. I’ve been struggling with his transition from human to demon and mixing heat into the mix just made it harder. I’m so glad you agree and are enjoying it! And, my god, you’ve stuck with me this far? I’m so grateful! ^-^

suicidein_angeleyes
Don’t worry, even if I only ever get one review, I’ll continue writing - I’m having too much fun with this. ^-^ And thank you so much for your review!

SirPsychoSexy
Thank you, going OOC is always a major worry for me. It’s refreshing to hear I’ve managed to keep everyone they way they’re supposed to be.

Little Nicky
Yes, Yusuke is hot. That’s why I just can’t put him down. ^-^ Thank you as always for your reviews- and I’ve been meaning for a while to check out some of your work. Forgive me; I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

-Azalea J.