Rebirth

The darkness was only broken by occasional flashes of lightning, though there was an almost constant rumble of thunder. The storm only threatened, never actually fully materializing. Rain did not fall; the wind stirred the trees listlessly, occasionally stirring itself to whip them about momentarily before falling back into a not-quite gentle breeze. The air smelled of smoke and acrid water from the few bursts of rain that managed to break free from the heavy clouds.

Hiei regarded the setting, his arms crossed over his chest. He hated this place, the backwoods part of the Makai. He hated everything it represented, everything that was ever wrong with his life was here. And, yet, he couldn’t turn away from it, couldn’t leave it completely. This place was the cradle of his soul and where its darkness was purged on a regular basis.

“How long do you intend to be there?” he asked curtly, not turning to face the demon standing behind him.

“Until you acknowledge me,” the smooth voice returned. Following the sound, a long, lanky demon separated himself from the shadows, though how the pale skin of his chest where it showed between the lapels of his unfastened trench coat did not reflect what light there was was something of a mystery. A mask hid his mouth, though his purple eyes reflected amusement. Black hair flowed down his back, a black river rippling with blue highlights. His entire bearing spoke of power and confidence. “And you? How long do you intend to be there?” he asked lightly, his voice skirting a demand.

Hiei turned, his red eyes returning to the dark forest in under the heavy clouds. “Why does it matter?” His compact frame was dressed in all black. He’d forgone the white scarf he often wore when elsewhere. Only the wards around his jagan and along his arm were white, standing out against the darkness around them.

A ripple of laughter rose from behind the mask. “Arrogant above your rank,” he murmurs. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for your defeat?”

“Like I’d lose to you,” Hiei sniffed, his eyes still on the forest.

“You won’t be fighting me. I’ve already decided on my opponent.”

“Then, I don’t care about you,” Hiei replied, his voice as cold as the lands that gave birth to him.

Another laugh. ‘And if I take an interest in you?” the voice asks, moving closer.

Hiei sniffs. “That’s your problem, not mine.” He doesn’t flinch when an arm wraps around him.

“I would hardly call it a problem,” the reply is whispered near Hiei’s ear.

“Hn, and just what is it you want, Karasu?” he asks, his voice disinterested.

“What any demons wants,” Karasu replies. “Victory, freedom, release.” The last is drawn out into a sound that speaks of torture, of blood, of sex.

Hiei gives a derisive snort. “I’ve none of those for you.”

A laugh ripples the air around them with an unnatural energy, even for this place. “None of them?” Karasu asks, his hands caressing Hiei’s body familiarly.

Hiei caught the hand before it strayed below his waist. “What’s in it for me that I couldn’t get elsewhere?” he demands.

Another laugh, this one of pure lust. “So, you do make use of that kitsune. Shall I tell you then, he is to be mine. I will defeat him and then I will use his body. Such a pretty body,” Karasu purred.

“So you like the unresponsive,” Hiei said with a smirk. Death would be the only defeat Kurama would accept.

“All become unresponsive in time,” Karasu replied indifferently. “It is just a matter of when.” He pulled Hiei closer to his body. “You, however, will have to survive the tournament for me to make you unresponsive. I was given orders.” The last was said in disgust.

Hiei snorted. “And you’re one to obey.”

“Only when I must,” Karasu growled.

“Heh. So you are a weakling.”

“You have not faced the Toguro brothers,” Karasu pointed out, only mildly perturbed.

Hiei allowed this to pass without remark. “And, what would you have of me?” he demanded.

“Release,” Karasu answered. “Release and the redhead may survive until the finals.”

“Like he needs your help.”

“And, you may survive,” Karasu added, his voice unchanged. “And, I shall give you release.”

Hiei snorted. “As you pointed out, I have access to the kitsune. What could you offer?”

Heat gathered where Karasu’s hands touch Hiei’s body. An electric heat that spoke of potential for great damage. At first, it spread through Hiei’s body then focused on his more sensitive areas, though not his vital points. The quality of the energy changed as well. More electric, more dynamic. More overwhelming.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped, leaving Hiei breathless. “Bastard,” he hissed.

“What is it you want?” Karasu purred, sure of his prey now.

Hiei’s snort lacked the vigor it had before. “A deal, then.”

“Oh?” The amusement was obvious. “What kind of deal?”

“Make me forget why I came to this place,” Hiei said flatly. “In return, you can have your release.”

Karasu’s hands began to roam again. “And, just why was it you came here?” When Hiei began to growl, Karasu continued, his voice falsely innocent, “How can I make you forget if I don’t know.”

“Bastard,” Hiei hissed again.

Energy swirled again through Hiei’s body, this time focusing on vital points. “Am I?” Karasu asked, his voice bland as the intensity of the energy increased.

“I have no reason,” Hiei growled.

The energy continued to rise to the point of acute pain. “Then neither do I.”

A silent game played itself out. Energy gathered, pooling at vital points, with more and more intensity until it overwhelmed anything else. Sweat shimmered in the lightning and Hiei’s breathing was ragged. As Hiei continued to refuse to speak, the energy became crackling, visibly casting light where vital points where near the skin. Energy at the same intensity latched on to sensitive spots and Hiei’s knees gave out under the onslaught.

Karasu held him upright, not allow him to curl in on himself. “Answer me,” he demanded. “Answer me or they will explode.”

“They own too much of me,” Hiei gasped out. The energy dissipated so quickly it left him lightheaded, relying on Karasu to hold him up until he could breathe again. “They see, to tame me,” he added.

Karasu chuckled, his hand wrapping around Hiei’s neck as he did. “And no one owns you, is that so, half-breed?”

Hiei gave no answer.

“Shall we try this again?” Karasu asked, his voice bland even as the energy filling the air around them.

“No one owns me,” Hiei bit out.

Karasu chuckled as the air around them cleared. He let Hiei go and laughed as the petit demon fell to his knees. “Strip,” he ordered. When Hiei glared at him over his shoulder, Karasu merely cocked an eyebrow at him.

Hiei stood, the glare fixed on his face. He took his time removing his clothing, deliberately drawing out the process without making it a tantalizing show, as he’d seen from the redheaded kitsune. He folded his things and set them on a near-by rock and then stood, his arms crossed over his chest, in front of Karasu.

There was no shame or particular pride in how he stood. In the intermittent light, his skin glowed palely. As like most demons, he was hairless. He hadn’t removed the ward over his jagan, nor the wards over the dragon that now encircled his right arm. His chin was tilted in defiance that amused Karasu.

“Are you really going to make it that easy?” Karasu mused. “Or do you think I will?” He pointed to the ground at his feet. “Kneel.” While he waited for Hiei to obey, Karasu opened his coat, letting it hang from his shoulders, revealing skin paler than Hiei’s.

When Hiei didn’t move, energy began to glow thickly around him. He glared at Karasu a long moment before he moved. He knelt where he’d been instructed. “If you think this will be enough to make me forget, you’re sadly mistaken,” he growled as his hands worked the fastenings of Karasu’s pants.

“Oh, I am sure you will forget,” Karasu reassured him. “If you are any good at that,” he added.

Hiei snorted as he lowered Karasu’s pants around his hips. His approach was practical. He lifted the other demon’s limp shaft to his lips and took it into his mouth. He could remember time and time again when Kurama insisted there was more to sex than simple release and had shown him. But this was not an encounter he wished to neither draw out nor truly enjoy. He wanted to forget, even the kitsune, for a time.

As Karasu’s shaft filled his mouth, Hiei felt a curling of energy, more delicately controlled than before, filling his body. It began around his own shaft and then slid back, between his ass cheeks and then inward. He stiffened, surprise and uncertainty making him pause. In that pause, the energy stopped, began withdrawing, leaving him cold. He wanted warmth, needed it. Hiei renewed his efforts and was rewarded by the return of the heat he wanted. He hoped it would not stay so gentle, though.

Karasu’s fingers twisted in Hiei’s hair, pulling it hard as he used it go guide the halfling’s actions. He chuckled when Hiei started to growl at him. Karasu twisted his hands, pulling harder on Hiei’s hair and scalp.

At the same time, the energy teasing Hiei’s body grew stronger, hotter, nearing the fire that Zeru used against him. It spread, filling his body again, most intense around his shaft and in his ass. Hiei glared as well as he could at Karasu. The heat took on a rippling quality, intensifying around his vital points. This rippling made it feel more dangerous than Zeru’s flames.

Hiei found himself beginning to feel vulnerable for the first time in this encounter. He tried to pull back, but Karasu held his hair so tightly that to do so would have removed his scalp. The energy flowing through his body changed in quality, becoming more incendiary. He closed his teeth around the flesh in his mouth.

Karasu chuckled deep in his throat, the sound speaking of intense pleasure. He bent over, his face near the top of Hiei’s head. “Do you think you can bite it off before I kill you?” he asked, lust evident in every syllable.

Hiei opened his jaw slightly, just enough to allow Karasu’s shaft to move, but not enough to keep his teeth from scraping it. He was rewarded by an increase of the energy flowing around his body and by it intensifying around those points that brought him pleasure as well as those that brought pain. He struggled against the sounds that wanted to rise in his throat, fighting the conditioning he’d had with the fox to be vocal.

Hiei curled his fingers into Karasu’s hips, letting his nails dig into the pale skin. This resulted in Karasu’s hips moving more firmly and his shaft filling Hiei’s mouth more fully. Hiei gagged and Karasu laughed aloud.

“You cannot tell me you never did this for that kitsune. Or is he not so well endowed,” he asked, his voice dripping with condescending amusement. He increased the flow of energy through Hiei’s body.

Hiei fought the desire to clench his teeth knowing Karasu would only taunt him for it. He opened his throat, adjusting how he knelt to allow Karasu’s shaft to go down his throat instead of hitting it. As reward, or punishment, the energy flowing through Hiei’s body seemed to solidify into lines of barely contained electricity connecting vital and sensual point with pulsing energy that threatened to come apart, to tear him apart. Perversely, he found himself becoming aroused by the danger that energy represented.

Karasu laughed at Hiei’s adjustments. “You think it’ll be that easy?” he demanded.

A concussion of sound and heat filled the clearing they were in, forcing Hiei’s back into the position he’d been in, causing him to gag on the flesh in his throat. He growled when he could breathe again and another concussion, this one between Karasu’s legs and his chest forced him to arch his back again, making it easier to take Karasu’s shaft down his throat. Karasu’s grip on his hair kept him from pulling back and demanding just what the other demon thought he was doing.

Each explosion fed the perverse need building in Hiei’s body. The danger, the vulnerability was something he’d never experience with Kurama. The fox was too into sensuality and pleasure to treat the koorime in this manner. And, as much as he loathed it, Hiei found himself wanting more, needing more.

Karasu continued laughing, kept the explosions occurring, though not in a regular pattern. He fed more energy through Hiei’s body until the petite demon was whimpering in pain and pleasure and his nails were drawing blood from where they dug into Karasu’s hips. “Is that all you have?” Karasu teased, his voice telling of how close he was to release even as he taunted.

Hiei’s teeth moved closer, scraping Karasu’s flesh, holding the skin still as the shaft moved in and out of his mouth. He struggled to use his tongue and swallow as the kitsune did to him, but with the erratic explosions forcing him to move in almost every direction in rapidly increasing intervals, he was fighting the almost overwhelming need to gag every time Karasu thrust into his mouth.

A laugh full of malice and lust greeted Hiei’s efforts. “As I’d expect from one a kitsune has trained.”

The anger that would have normally flared at that statement was wiped out by the sudden implosion of every place Karasu’s energy in his body. Despite himself, Hiei screamed, his shaft spilling on the ground as Karasu’s release filled his mouth.

When his mind resolved the sensations around him again, Hiei was alone, still naked, the lingering taste of Karasu’s release in his mouth. He spat, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth. The feeling of utter satisfaction, though, was not so easily removed. Frowning, he stood, brushing the dirt off his body before dressing again.

He returned to the Ningenkai, to the tournament and the room he shared with the redheaded fox.

“Who were you with?” Kurama asked blandly when he arrived.

“Karasu,” Hiei answered flatly, pouring himself a glass of water.

Kurama arched an eyebrow at Hiei’s answer. “From the Toguro team?”

Hiei nodded. “He’s marked you for his opponent in the finals.”

A smirk curved the redhead’s lips. “I shall look forward to it.”

Hiei looked at the glass of water and snorted. He set it on the table and climbed into the bed. “I doubt it,” he muttered, closing his eyes and ignoring Kurama’s attempts at prolonging their conversation by feigning sleep.

When he slept, he dreamed of his encounter with Karasu and woke up longing for a repeat.