10-Jan-2002

Seasons of Ice and Fire
A Yu Yu Hakusho Fanfic by Nixers and bonnejeanne

Contact: nixerchan@aol.com and bonnejeanne@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: YuYuHakusho characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners. Our stuff is ours. No money being made here.

Warnings: yaoi, some lemon

Time: Three years after the end of the final tournament in the series - the day Yuusuke Urameshi returns to the ningenkai.

Part Three: Summer

There was something about winter in these woods that seemed to call to Kurama, even when he was far away, in the midst of a bustling campus, on the streets of a crowded city, anywhere. Flashes of snow under the trees, a momentary scent of cold earth, anything could bring awake a sudden ache and a deep yearning that seemed to only sleep, never to fade.

Even in the summer, winter seemed to whisper to him, and he'd catch himself scanning the trees, wherever he was walking, looking with the corners of his eyes for a hint of shadow, a flash of dark and light too quick to capture even with his perceptive sight. Something above the ground...

A lot had happened in the three years since the great tournament. Yet somehow it all seemed to melt like an early touch of frost under the midday sun when Yuusuke returned from his wanderings. They'd found themselves drawn together, each of those who had witnessed or participated in the great events, attracted, he believed, by a prescience of Urameshi's unconscious magnetism. And on that day he'd found himself looking even harder, scanning ever more frequently, wanting to turn and see a silent presence waiting as if it had always been there. And the sun went down. And the gathering scattered. And he returned to the room in his mother's house, the room now all but packed into boxes for his upcoming move to the university. Sitting on the window, he found himself gazing at a certain niche, in a certain tree, not wanting to take his eyes away although the thing he was looking for was as absent as ever.

Finally he got up, sat down at his desk, and began to write. It took an hour to compose the letter to the university, politely declining the teaching fellowship he'd already accepted. It took half an hour to write a letter to his younger step-brother. The note to his mother took a brief moment. 'I'm leaving. I'll be back. Don't worry. Love, Shuuichi'

Five minutes to toss a few things in his old backpack from school, and, on impulse, a quick leap from the window to the tree, around and down, beginning the walk that would take him back to the place that called him, if for nothing else, then to be alone with the yearning, until it broke him or until his heart told him where to go next.

He found he almost missed the snow. Almost missed the cold. Almost missed the desperate feeling of danger, urgency, the heart-racing legacy of the hunt. But the woods were beautiful, there was no denying that. The feeling of green life around him eased and comforted a soul that was almost a part of that life, so intuitively did he understand it.

The cabin was so covered in green ivy that it looked as if it were grown from the forest floor rather than made by human hands. Sighting it, he stopped, leaning against a tree, letting the phantoms of memory have their moments to demand his attention, claim it, seal it. Wondering if a withered rose might still rest on a cot inside the vine-covered structure like a talisman of faith.

Hiei waited.

It was an accurate enough description for the figure in white-splashed black, crouched in one of the more remote areas of the Makai. His katana lay on the ground, a few inches from relaxed fingers, a warning to anyone naive enough to bother him. Occasionally, his other hand drifted up to his forehead, checking again a calculation he knew was correct.

Portals to the inner territory surrounding the three worlds opened naturally. And one was due three feet away, six feet in diameter and with a window of opportunity three seconds long. More than enough. Still, rechecking was a nervous gesture telling enough to the handful that knew him.

It was a month ago that Mukuro had unceremoniously and in no uncertain terms thrown him out. Literally. He had missed a most obvious test for the third time in training. Neither his heart or mind was in it anymore, though not in the dangerous way that the fight with Shigure was... just distracted.

Mukuro had picked him clear off the floor by the collar of his overcoat, caught his sword in one hand negligently mid swing, and simply smirked at the black fire that had welled up in tandem with his outrage. Without care for his shouts and threats, or the incredulous stares of the other demons as the Heir and ruler of the territories had passed. Outside of the carapace she dropped him, and with the same amused smirk, raised a barrier.

"Figure it out Hiei." She had told him, for once adopting her heir's curt mannerisms instead of her usual elaborate speech. "THEN, think about coming back."

After some significant and satisfying damage to the landscape that the moving fortress had vacated, he finally settled into something of black resignation. The patrol had established itself under his guidance, so efficiently that demons of lesser ability in Mukuro's retinue could easily handle it. And his training had progressed as far as Mukuro would allow it under her, as she was canny enough to keep a step ahead of the temperamental fire demon.

So he'd drifted a while, finding old pastimes without the same appeal, and unable to figure out what exactly he was supposed to figure out. It had lasted for weeks, not finding any solidity, just an insistent tug, a wistfulness somewhere in the back of his mind. The purpose he'd felt unravel when Yukina had given him her... their mother's tear gem... it felt the same only different... deeper rooted. He could function without the calming stone, and the search for Yukina herself was close, it had become a life of itself.

It all clicked into perspective with a familiar muffled crunch of hardpack snow under his boots. A snowdrift absently wandered across lay half melted around him, the advance guard of the colder lands that were claimed as homeland for ice demons such as Touya, or the Kourime.

None of that registered, however. In his mind, the landscape was transposed with one thicker beneath the white layer of ice, dotted with pine and barer trees of the ningenkai, and more particularly, the same face framed with red or silver stopped the fire demon solid, midstep. A wide-eyed look of understanding, surprise and a sort of dawning awe. Then everything had changed.

Once identified, the pull had become an ache, what was a distracting echo of some hollowness was gapingly obvious, soothed at times with lighter tinted memories of a particular red-head, at others, only worsening the invisible wound.

The wait, and the wandering musings of the fire demon were interrupted by an internal warning, the sudden static of natural power bathing his skin in a smooth wash, and the sheer odorlessness of the lands between, which in the miasma of the Makai was a strong smell of its own. Of reflex, muscles tensed and moved, and two seconds later, the only sign of the disturbance lay in a forgotten katana resting amongst the browned grasses.

His mother's place - no sign.

His school - nothing.

The park - empty at this hour.

The ice cream shop mentioned - Nope, but a terrified employee and a small carton of rocky road later (ranked somewhere in fifteenth, he decided), he was down to very few options.

He didn't want to go to Genkai's since, in his mind, his official excuse was to see Yukina and return the teargem she had gifted him. Not yet. Yuusuke, who he was sure had returned by now, or the Idiot, would involve too much explaining, and use of the Jagan might attract notice, as he was fairly certain Enma Daoh hadn't quite "gotten over it" even after practically giving away his son's tantei to the three rulers of the Makai.

Another possibility... a good distance, but was worth a shot. Taking an easy and unnoticed route along the rooftops, he decided to give it a try before breaking down and actually seeking help.

The weather didn't require a fire to be built, but he made a small one anyway. The crackle of the flames and the presence of heat were soothing, a comforting presence as alive as the silent murmurs of the ivy, and the trees. Dropping the backpack in a corner, he removed his shoes, and walked barefoot over to the window, pulling back the canvas cover and brushing the small bits of debris from the sill. The vines had all but covered it, but a little coaxing shaped the obedient plant around the opening to let in the night air and a bit of the rising moon. Leaving the single other room alone -- he wasn't ready to see the withered rose or to confront its possible absence -- Kurama left the cabin, walking around the back of it to the small stream a few yards away. Not frozen over now, the little creek provided a drink, and allowed him to collect water in a small plastic bottle, walking slowly back to the small structure, feeling the earth and fallen leaves under bare feet. It was too easy to imagine that a small, perfect figure waited for him inside. Sleeping, perhaps, yes that would be good, allowing him to watch, and touch as intimately as he wished with his eyes only. Suppressing a sigh, the kitsune returned to the cabin, planning how to fill the night and the following days with dreams.

A few feet away from the door, a single wide ivy leaf twisted and tumbled lightly to the ground. The perfect health of the wayward leaf would have been odd enough without the scuff marring the middle of it.

Frowning, Kurama caught the bit of green before it touched the ground. Turning it over, he ran his thumb over the bruised surface, and quickly looked around, extending his senses. Though life had been peaceful for some little while, a thousand years of caution was never too far from awareness.

As he felt the whisper of Kurama's senses over his own tightly held youki, Hiei felt something relax, lulled into a comfort by the insubstantial touch, enough to preempt the disappearance that his own instincts had burned into him. Not moving from his leafy perch on the junction of the two slanted edges of the roof, he turned his face sharply instead. The embarrassment of being caught watching the kitsune was overwhelmed by the feeling of knowing green eyes had latched onto him.

"It looks different, when its not white," Hiei said.

Head tilted back, Kurama fixed on the sight of the black and white clad demon perched on the cabin roof, and something irreverent in the back of his mind suggested that Hiei atop the ivy-covered cabin was a vision out of a human child's book of fairy tales. Never mind that four-tailed foxes also belonged in those pages.

The wide green eyes seemed to expand a little as he went through the brief check to confirm that this was real and not an illusion conjured up by his insistent desire.

"Hiei," he said simply, his voice almost purring with a warmth that had nothing to do with the absence of winter. A smile opened on his face like a flower responding to the sun. After a beat or two, letting the feelings suffuse and seep into formerly empty spaces, he added, "It's good to see you, my friend."

A multitude of responses jumbled, vying for Hiei's attention as he finally turned to look down and drank in the red-head's expression. The foremost of those was, 'you too' but didn't seem to make it past recognition. In a blur, Hiei stood unruffled on the ground beside Kurama, darting a sideways glance at him. "Hn," he said softly, crossing his arms.

A moment, and another covert glance passed before he caught Kurama's free hand, and opened the fingers, allowing the traitorous leaf to fall the rest of the way to the ground. Pulled forward slightly, Kurama felt a brief brush or lips against his open palm before the hand was released.

"Figured it out," was the slightly mumbled statement in explanation, as the fire demon pushed open the door and disappeared within before Kurama could reply.

The plastic bottle of water was dropped from a nerveless other hand to the forest floor. Breath suddenly gone short, the red-head lifted his hand, staring at the palm for a moment, before placing it against his own cheek, hearing his pulse hammering loudly in his ears. He disappeared from the spot almost a quickly as the fire demon had done, leaving the plastic bottle forgotten and forlorn on the ground.

Closing the cabin door behind him, the red-head felt his senses focus unerringly on the source of scent and energy that was like no other. Gold eyes opened up inside him somewhere and he felt a sudden, internal nudge, crossing the space between himself and the fire demon. Lightly cupping the triangular face in his hands, he bent and touched his lips to Hiei's, a soft brush of infinite tenderness.

The gesture brought out a soft sigh, the release of air accompanied by a relax of some palpable layer of tension wound tightly around the smaller demon. Fingers curled around one of Kurama's wrists as Hiei leaned up into the chaste kiss, eyes closed.

At the return of pressure, the kiss lingered and became a little less chaste, a bit more exploring. Just enough to hint, to promise. The fingers of one hand lightly traced the contour of Hiei's face from temple to chin. A deep breath, and a warm, tender smile. "What... did you figure out?" Kurama said softly, more to watch the fire demon's face for any reaction at all, storing each image away to keep.

Red eyes blinked open, then looked away before the fire demon abruptly let go and sat down heavily, staring resolutely and silently for a moment at Kurama's knees. "A lot of what you did," he said, considering. "Why in the hells I couldn't concentrate on anything." As he continued it was a bit less gruff, by virtue of a lower volume as Hiei's fingers unconsciously brushed over a spot at the neck of his overcoat. "And what there was after I found what I was looking for." The last he tried to lessen with a curt shrug, not looking above even level.

Suddenly he snorted, realizing just how much he'd been talking, and put his face in his hands. "Damn. Mukuro's wearing off on me."

Kurama dropped to his heels and then to the floor quickly. He felt a sudden little ripping at his heart, watching the fire demon with his face in his hands, and wished for a moment he'd kept his stupid question to himself, even as the answer washed through him in warm waves. Feeling at a greater loss than he could ever remember, he reached out almost hesitantly and put his arms around Hiei, ready for acceptance or rejection, just responding to the need to make that contact.

There was a pronounced stiffening in the form in his arms, before a slow relaxation seemed to creep into taunt muscles, then a shift, not to break free put to drop his arms and find a more comfortable position.

As Hiei shifted, the red-head's arms tightened just a little, settling them firmly against each other. His head bent to rest against Hiei's shoulder. "You'd better hear the rest," he said softly. "... ai shiteru, Hiei... it's never happened to me before but there it is." His hand stroked the fire demon's back and then stilled. Whatever came next, he realized he was finally whole, the speaking of the words freeing the last knot of conflict.

Hiei was quiet for a long minute or two. Motionless and looking at something over Kurama's shoulder for the span of time, he turned things over, shifting slightly, almost bonelessly deeper into the kitsune's embrace. "That's what they call it then," he said. A slight shrug felt against Kurama's chest. "Still the same."

An unconsciously held breath released. Raising his head, Kurama looked down, marveling at how perfectly right the little fire demon looked and felt in his arms. How could something be so indestructible, and yet so subtly fragile at the same time? Letting his eyelids drop, the red-head brushed a light kiss across one pale, angled cheek, and then sought Hiei's mouth, surrendering to the aching need that was only increasing from the nearness of them together.

There was a slight noise of surprise from the Kourime, but his hands rose, hesitating halfway before tangling through red silken locks to clasp each other behind Kurama's neck. The pressure downwards that the move made was elevated by Hiei opening his mouth in invitation.

The invitation was accepted, Kurama's warm tongue invading the fire demon's mouth, not a hurried plunging but a slow, exploring entrance, as if time were perfectly willing to stop for this. Twining around Hiei's tongue, gently exploring and exciting inner surfaces, then a soft sucking pull, instantly responding to any reaction, it was as if the lines of reality separating them into two beings were about to blur and melt away.

Hiei broke away first, a vaguely blank, unusually content look on his face as he quickly drew in air. His hands stayed where they were, unwilling to relinquish their hold. Red eyes regarded Kurama through the slits that his eyelids had dropped to before a familiar smirk quirked the small mouth. Leaning forward, he gave Kurama's neck a slow swipe with his tongue, almost a possessive gesture alone his pulseline.

Kurama's eyes closed briefly, a soft gasp at the sensation. He answered it instinctively by nuzzling the side of the fire demon's neck, drawing the intoxication of the other's scent deeply into his senses. His hands moved restlessly along Hiei's back, one of them traveling up to slip under the edge of the white scarf and pull it away, exposing more of Hiei's skin to contact. His lips moved against the exposed flesh, and then briefly, white teeth nibbled, leaving a quickly fading trail of concentrated blush along the pale skin.

The hot-cold sensation that it left in its place had Hiei tilt his head back slightly, baring more of his neck for similar attention. There was no decision or wariness floating this time, simply the need to have as much as possible. As his eyes refocused, he scowled at the number of buttons on Kurama's attire. With a sidelong glance at the kitsune, he asked, "How much do you like that shirt?"

Lifting his mouth from the sweet skin he'd been exploring, Kurama laughed softly, tilting his head to look down. "It's nothing special," he answered, the soft voice having acquired a husky tone. "How much do you like this black thing?"

Hiei smirked, "The 'black thing's' made to come off easily," he replied. With a narrowed gaze and a flat palm against Kurama's midsection, the garment in question disappeared in a tightly controlled wash of heat that never quite touched his skin or hair. With an almost smug look of satisfaction, be began pulling off his overcoat.

The kitsune gasped as the shirt was vaporized. The sensation was interesting to say the least. He dropped his hands away from the other as he recognized the move to disrobe, watching with familiar pleasure. The fire demon's ability to bare his body to the waist with a single quick movement was something he'd been secretly enjoying for a rather long time.

Once the Kourime's torso was revealed, Kurama found his hands naturally attaching to it, running over the pale skin and solid form beneath with a pleasure akin to reverence.

The fire demon's eyes slid half closed at the soothing touch skimming across his skin. As much as he was tempted to simply lay back and soak in the attention, a small something prevented him from giving in entirely. Interrupting the flow of Kurama's motion, he leaned forward, pressing against the kitsune. His face burrowed into the lock of red hair that had tumbled over Kurama's shoulder, and nuzzling the exposed flesh there. His hands circled around to Kurama's back, idly tracing the lines of the human shoulder bone and following the indent of the spine along its trail.

Welcoming the closeness of the fire demon's body against his, Kurama slid his hands around the other, one around Hiei's waist, the other around his shoulder as he nuzzled against him. He stroked upwards along the other's back, across powerful if neatly proportioned shoulders and along the line of Hiei's neck. Tilting his head, he felt the soft brush of dark hair against his cheeks.

After a few moments, Kurama leaned back a little, seeking and finding's the fire demon's mouth for a brief, but very warm kiss. Then he moved to his heels and then his feet, drawing the other up with him with a hand to one of Hiei's. "Can you remove the rest as easily?" he asked, a slight teasing note in the warm affection and undisguised desire in his tone.

Hiei glanced down at the three, thin white belts at his waist, with sudden consternation. The expression dissolved into another shrug. "Worth a try," he remarked. Returning the look Kurama gave him, he continued. "Know I can get the rest of yours done as fast."

The teasing smile on the kitsune's face widened slightly. "On the other hand, sometimes speed is overrated," he murmured. Reaching over he began to unclasp the top belt, then the second one... not going very quickly, but letting his fingers brush against fabric and flesh throughout the process. Last belt... then something to loosen in the fold of material, to allow the black pants to slide over slender hips...

A deep growl had rumbled from the smaller demon by the time the last belt had fallen away, but in his face or posture there wasn't a single indication that he wasn't enjoying the lingering touches. Opening his eyes again slightly, he stepped out of the legs of the black pants easily, towards Kurama. Finding the meticulously kept slacks to be a far easier obstacle, his attention focused downward.

Watching the other's face, his hand slid quickly down Kurama's bare torso to curl lightly around the base of him. Intend on giving Kurama a taste of the same caress the Kitsune had used to push him that close to the end, he leaned a little closer, moving to the tips of his toes for height, "I, however, prefer speed."

Hiei was rewarded with a tight gasp from the kitsune and a response in the flesh under his hand, which had already begun to swell in answer to the kisses, touches and the sight of the Kourime in front of him. "Ah..." the sound came out involuntarily with a quick breath, Kurama's teeth closing over his lower lip as he leaned into the touch. His hands settled on Hiei's hips, as much to steady himself as to feel the other. "I... see!" he managed to breathe, losing bits of control to the sensation of the skillful fingers and palm around his sensitive flesh.

Nimble fingers explored blindly, guided by Hiei's attention to Kurama's reactions, trying to seek out what slide or brush of fingerpads caused the most obvious pleasure. After a while he glanced up at Kurama, not quite stilling, but slowing to a featherlight trace in his actions. "What else?" he asked.

The kitsune shivered at the light touch, green eyes slanting down at the Kourime through a mist of arousal. "Mmm..." he took several deep breaths, poised between two sides of himself - an adolescent body that was both eager and unschooled, and a memory that could summon centuries of debauchery at will. "Else..." panting slightly, the rapid breaths giving him a little relief, he reached down and gently pulled Hiei's hand away, not without a slight shudder of loss. "Let me... show you..." he said, and slid to his knees in front of the fire demon, one hand still resting on Hiei's hip. He leaned close and rubbed his cheek against the other's firming flesh, drinking the musky scent deeply, and then opened his mouth, pink tongue darting out to taste the velvet-covered shaft. Darting a series of licks along Hiei's length, the kitsune pressed his lips against the head of the organ, opening them slowly to take him inside.

The sudden stunning waves of heat as Kurama had started had frozen the fire demon completely, something wrapping around his lungs, not allowing him to even gasp for air. As the kitsune took him into his mouth, all of that seemed to shattered at the wet heat. The indrawn breath had an involuntary hitch of voice at the force of it, and two hands found Kurama's shoulders in a tight grip as Hiei felt his legs threaten to go out from under him.

Both of Kurama's hands slid around Hiei's hips, enough strength in them to lend a bit of steadiness as the kitsune slowly swallowed his prize. The taste and feel of Hiei in his mouth had the excitement of something new and unexplored, as well as the satisfaction of a thing imagined being put to the test. His eyes closed and a sound between a low growl and a purr of pleasure seemed to vibrate from his chest as he sucked at the fire demon's flesh. Continuing until he could press lips around its base, then the kitsune drew slowly back, varying suction with tongue-caresses until he allowed the throbbing thing to emerge from his lips. Opening them for a second try, he looked up to capture Hiei's expression for his private keeping.

The fire demon was obviously just holding himself up by the virtue of Kurama's hold and locked elbows. His head hung low and he drew ragged breaths between parted lips. Red eyes were completely unfocused under the trail of the slow, intense pleasure and a single line of perspiration had escaped, unheeded from under the warded band to slide along Hiei's jawline.

Kurama paused, seeing the state of his lover, and made a decision quickly. Reaching around Hiei's waist with one arm, he reached down with the other, pressing against the backs of the fire demon's knees, to bring him in a controlled fall to the floor. He pressed the fire demon onto his back, the black tunic being conveniently beneath, and then bent over his lap to try for the second taste.

The flash of coherency and instinctive indignation at being moved was washed away by Kurama's second descent, fingers curling desperately into the fabric beneath him and toes doing the same against barren wood flooring. "Kurama!" the name was spoken with the force of it being the only real thought left as everything seemed to build towards something out of immediate sight.

The sound of his name from those lips, in that tone, with a note he'd never imagined hearing before, caused a deep shiver to move through the kitsune. He splayed his fingers across Hiei's thigh and stomach, gently kneading, as he lowered his mouth around the fire demon's warm flesh. Twining his tongue around it, he moved down, swallowing, then back up, using suction and a little circling of his head, falling into an increasing rhythm of wet caresses.

The fire demon's sense of the world stripped away in layers. He held onto, almost desperately, the fall of brilliant red hair obscuring from sight what was felt in extraordinary detail and a pleasure clutched onto so tightly that it nearly bridged the narrow gap into pain. Only distantly he felt the pull of overtense muscles, or himself moving upwards, of every volition he had left. From nothing to immersed in a red haze of more than everything, anything, he'd thought possible. Whereas the calming love of his mother's, trapped in a tear, was ice, this, some distant part recognized, was /fire./

A falter in concentration was the fatal crack in the dam, and stole sound from him in its intensity.

Kurama felt the sudden deep tremor in the fire demon's muscles, and prepared himself for what would come with an anticipation that transcended everything he could remember. The tugging of a fisted hand in his hair spurred on the hunger already beyond control and he devoured Hiei, seeking the taste of his essence as the ultimate satisfaction.

Struggling, even after the threshold had been fallen over in a backwards fight against the tide, Hiei managed to pull inward a brief gasp of air. Just enough for a single familiar sense outside of the five mundane ones of Kurama, and resistance seeped out of him moments before the last electric pulse jolted through his body, leaving him panting, and under the heavy pull that followed the black dragon's return.

The fingers wrapped within Kurama's hair uncurled under protest of stiffened joints, but Hiei's red eyes remained opened, and fixed on the ceiling, holding the distinct look of disbelief.

Kurama lifted his head, absently wiping perspiration from his face with one arm. He bent and kissed the skin of Hiei's lower stomach tenderly, and then stretched himself beside the smaller demon, his hands never leaving the one beside him. He looked down into Hiei's face, and then nuzzled his cheek, his eyebrows drawing together in concern.

The touch alongside of Hiei's face caused him to blink finally, once then twice, focusing on Kurama with a still-struck appearance. Turning slightly, he seemed to open his mouth to say something, then aborted whatever it was with a shake of his head and a sharp glance off towards nothing.

Kurama watched Hiei's face, only now feeling the return of hesitancy. He nuzzled the fire demon's hair, taking in the scent as reassurance, but unable to stop a soft, indistinct, almost-whine from vibrating his chest.

The angle was a bit awkward, but as Kurama leaned in, face above his own, Hiei reacted without thought. He shifted onto his side fully, an arm sliding over Kurama's shoulders and resting there and only the vague glimmer of red betrayed the fact that the fire demon's eyes hadn't closed completely. Muffled and with the kind of delay that spoke of something worked up to, Hiei said, "So, it's like that?"

The kitsune brushed at strands of dark hair. "Mmm... some of it. Some of it's different, I guess," he murmured. He studied the fire demon. "Sleep if you need to. I'll be here."

A sneaking temptation became a scowl as the Kourime returned the regard. A frown pinching his face, he stated, "You didn't..." He let out a small huff of frustration as words failed him, and turned instead to a light action and shift of his free arm to supplement the lacking ningen vocabulary.

A sweet smile curved Kurama's lips. "No, I didn't. But I could have. I could just being next to you, do you know that? You make me... ache, Hiei-koi."

"Why?" The confusion in the question echoed clearly on Hiei's face. There were a hundred questions that those few words from the kitsune's soft voice resurrected, and they all began with that same word.

"Why what, love?" the kitsune asked, shaking his head slightly in mystification. He let his fingers gently stroke along the fire demon's side. "Why didn't I? Why could I? Why do you make me ache whenever I see you, think of you?"

"Nevermin..." Hiei began, his expression blanking at the return of his question. The hunger for an answer defied the usual safeguards though. "Last one," he said, distinctly. As his eyes regained focus, they also picked up an intensity now directed at Kurama.

Tilting his head, the kitsune gazed back, treasuring that he could simply do this, look, without being ashamed. "The last one I don't know either. I've felt the physical before, but never like this. Never anything that seemed to call every part of me, mind, body and soul. If you hadn't come here... I'd have stayed in this place trying to understand it until..." he shrugged. "Until... I don't know. A long time."

Hiei seemed to absorb the words before he closed his eyes the rest of the way. A look of concentration spoiled an illusion of the small demon slipping into sleep. On an impulse, the arm draped over Kurama tightened, not quite pulling. "Didn't hurt till I let myself notice you weren't there," Hiei observed, pronouncing the words slowly, as if it was just really occurring. "A long time is fine, if you don't mind company."

Kurama bent forward a little and pressed and soft kiss against the warded headband. "You have responsibilities," he murmured. Then he smiled. "I was thinking of returning with you, actually, if that might be acceptable."

The fire demon shrugged and snorted, a look of peevishness flashing. "I was going to let her stew for a few decades," he replied. She'd picked him up, and carried him, no less. If being thrown out wasn't enough... He knew vaguely it was a childish response, but he quite frankly didn't care.

A smile blossomed on the kitsune's face. "Fine. Stay here... or travel...? I don't care." He turned his head and kissed the wrist resting on his shoulder. "I was going to accept a teaching position. And I realized I could not imagine a single future morning. It was all gray."

The fire demon lay still for a while, taking in the sentiment offered, the warmth of the offered contact and the pulse of another's more precious heartbeat. He angled his head to look up at Kurama, a slight smirk tugging his lips. "Some pompous bastard was bragging to me about his 'untouchable' storehouse. He could be taken down a notch," Hiei offered, the words would have been innocuous enough if they hadn't had the same challenging, hopeful tone Kurama'd heard once before. This time with no hulking gaki in the background of negotiations.

Kurama's smile deepened. "You are going to get us in a lot of trouble, aren't you?" he murmured. But his wide green eyes were sparkling with an answering twinkle.

The fire demon didn't answer, but the smirk deepened into a feline grin.

Kurama ducked his head and brushed his lips across Hiei's lightly. He felt a distinct delight in watching the expression on the Kourime's face.

Hiei let out a long sigh of air contentedly, seeming to deflate into a boneless state. Wordlessly he pulled himself against Kurama, half draped on top of the other in an effort to get comfortable, and one hand wrapped a length of Kurama's red hair through his fingers and curled his hand possessively, tucking it under his own cheek. "Do this again sometime," Hiei said, somehow the inflection making it more of a question than a typical command. After some obvious consideration he added, "A lot."

The red-head nuzzled Hiei's neck softly. "This, yes," he murmured. "Perhaps other things too..." his tone matched the others, not assuming, but offering. "As much as we can stand..."

Hiei nodded, but the expression on his face seemed to lighten at the implication of more. One eyebrow disappeared beneath the warded band. "Didn't think there was standing involved."

Kurama chuckled, giving the lobe of Hiei's ear and brief lick. "Standing, sitting, lying... there's an ningen book that has hundreds of positions..." he said, his voice taking on a teasing purr.

"Great," the teasing was mirrored in the dark voice. There was a hiss of indrawn breath and Hiei nuzzled his face against Kurama's neck in return, the barest hint of fangs appearing and disappearing against the sensitive flesh. The fire demon pulled back only long enough to snicker and give Kurama a sidelong glance. "Just like ice cream, then."

The red-head tilted his head back slightly, offering more of his skin. He laughed softly. A pink tongue moistened curved lips. "A bit like, in some ways," he mentioned thoughtfully.

Hiei nodded slightly at that, then glanced down at his own hand, wrapped in Kurama's hair pointedly. "I lied before," he confessed, lifting the captured lock to his lips briefly. "My favorite so far is strawberry."

Kurama blinked, and a delighted smile spread across his face. "My favorite is 'fire-n-ice'," he whispered, his arms tightening a little around the other.

Returning to the comfortable position at the crook of Kurama's collar, the kitsune could feel Hiei smile instead of see it. "New name for pistachio?"

Dropping a kiss on the fire demon's shoulder, the red-head pointed out, "Well it's green and it has these bits scattered over it." The soft laugh was barely contained.

There was a moment of slightly stunned silence. "Hn," was the reply, followed predictably, if fondly. "Stupid fox."

Kitsune fingers drifted in a quick, spidery pattern over the Kourime's bare skin. "Reflects on your taste," Kurama mentioned, grinning.

Hiei snorted. "Never claimed to have any of that," he returned.

The red-head chuckled. "Hn," he mentioned. "That might change," he murmured, settling a little. A kiss drifted onto a pale cheekbone.

"There's time," Hiei mumbled, the lethargy he'd fought off creeping back in, emanating from the security of arms around him and in reaction to the other beginning to drift.

The only audible answer was a soft rumble of vibration from Kurama's chest. He watched the fire demon beginning to relax into sleep. He needed nothing else to be content at that moment. Something was becoming complete.

It wasn't quite morning when Hiei stirred. The fact didn't particularly bother him, since he was still trying to figure out why it was so important to this world to base your actions according to the rise and fall of a nearby star. Still, the fire demon had found himself taking naps more than usual, and more disturbingly, along the right times for the ningenkai... mostly, he was certain, due to the source of the low warmth curled against his side, seeping the foreign and surprisingly pleasant feeling of /presence/ along his back.

Between that and a lingering, sated feeling that had crept into usually tense muscles, it was enough to want to sink deeper into the... Hiei blinked once, staring at the cotton fabric beneath him, then shifting slightly, just enough to look at the sleeping face of the kitsune. How in all the three worlds Kurama had moved him, both of them, without waking him up was nearly unfathomable to him.

Almost belatedly, it crept in that it wasn't the fact that he was so relaxed, or that the red haired fox had managed to slip past carefully built defenses, just that he hadn't woken up at the other's movement. With a slight sigh he sank back down, twisting himself to face Kurama again. He wasn't even going to try and figure out why yet.

He wasn't sure he'd understand the answer yet anyway. Give him a battle, treachery, tricks or traps... anything pertaining to survival and daily life, he had it down to an art, but this... It was too new, too completely out of the range of anything he'd come to expect or even factored into the way things worked.

Lifting his hand, the pads of his fingertips whispered over the other's face, brushing an unruly lock of red hair that had fallen in a crimson splash across the kitsune's visage. It was something worth exploring, once found.

With a soft sigh, Kurama turned his face into the touch without opening his eyes. His nostrils flared, and he nuzzled in a little closer to Hiei's shoulder, his features relaxed somehow of an indefinable tension that had never been detectable until it was gone.

Titling his head up, a pink tongue swiped briefly along the edge of Hiei's jawline, the taste seeming to bring a deeper level of already evident contentment.

The fire demon tilted his chin up almost automatically, the faint vibration of contentment unvoiced somewhere in the back of his throat. Everything, even unconsciously, that Kurama did caused such a counter even... before. It wouldn't be a casual fling, not from his perspective. That much was obvious. The kitsune was going to change everything, he had been since Hiei had met him. It was one of the things he'd run away from the first time they had met in this room, a part of the control that had been slipping through his fingers.

He could still feel the last of it sliding away, but the panic was gone. With an upward twitch of one corner of his mouth he inched upwards just enough to meet lips with the sleeping fox.

Kurama did not know where the dream ended and the waking began. He only knew that something surrounded and penetrated his senses, melding with the end of a chase in which he ran, side by side with a dark shadow, less interested in the nebulous quarry than in the one who ran beside him, darting here and there with invisible quickness, yet somehow always close, even when out of reach. It was as though he could hear/sense/feel another heartbeat that was as clear as his own. The fullness, completeness of the feeling was all but overwhelming. Without this, the world would never be right, never be bearable. Quarry forgotten, he found himself tumbling playfully with his shadow-companion, aching with the sheer joy of it.

The next moment, the touch of warm lips against his sent an electric tingle through his entire body, and he opened his mouth, seeking to immerse himself in the warmth and the taste of that one, unique and alone, who seemed to have rooted himself in the kitsune's wild soul.

Hiei responded with a lazy thoroughness, seeking every inch offered in scent and taste, not memorizing, simply seeking to experience. Palms sliding over sleek, bared skin, the fire demon sought to fit himself against Kurama's taller frame as he felt the other stir from sleep.

The full, lazy response took away any incipient tension and left the kitsune sinking deeply into the reality that for once, offered so much more than dreaming sleep. Feeling hands slipping across his body, he responded by moving arms around the warm, very solid figure pressing against his. One hand stroking upwards, the other down, each encountering something that stirred both emotion and physical heat. Finding his way out of the kiss after a long, satisfying time, wide green eyes opened to gaze at Hiei, drinking the vision with untiring pleasure. Brushing his nose briefly against the fire demon's, he managed a greeting, coherent, if rather breathy. "Ohayo, Hiei."

"Hn," the fire demon agreed. Letting the contact be withdrawn to a degree, Hiei's hand wrapped a long lock of red hair around it reflexively.

Kurama felt the slight tug and smiled. His hands stroked up and down along Hiei's back, from neck to thighs. "I could get used to this," he murmured, eyes twinkling.

The smirk that the statement elicited was softened by the absolutely content, close-eyed expression that contradicted it as Hiei arched back into the wandering hands. "You better," Hiei said, indistinct, but an underlying determination.

The kitsune nodded, accepting the command without demur. "Hai," he answered, and then gave in to the impulse to press his lips to the fire demon's neck, exploring it from ear to collarbone with kisses and licks. His body shifted as quickly awakening flesh assumed a more prominent attitude. The ache became a pulsing throb, and his chest moved with deepening respiration as he nuzzled Hiei's skin.

The feel of Kurama's reaction added a layer of heat to the warm haze of the pleasant petting Hiei had begun to drift off into. The fire demon's eyes snapped open, red irises glittering in the first lances of light beginning to find their way through the open doorway. The shift from content to predatory was fast.

Not waiting for a reaction, his hand slipped between them and curled around hardening flesh. Pushing himself up to one elbow, he nipped at the exposed collarbone, leaving a red mark, quickly fading back into pale skin, before following his hand's path along Kurama's body. Aching with both an anticipation and remembrance of last night, he ducked his head, eyes locked on wide green ones. A small tongue darted out, taking its path from just below to across the tip, a speculative look to match the varying taste and texture across that small sample.

A gasp answered Hiei's first touch, green eyes widening as the fire demon bent down. The kitsune's hands tightened on whatever parts of Hiei's back or flank they were resting, and his head fell back as he felt the wet-hot sliding pressure against the most sensitive area of his body. Tightly closed eyes and a bitten lip were all that kept the kitsune from losing everything right there. His low whimper was muffled but audible.

The touch given was inexperienced but determined, accented by the run of fingers were Hiei's mouth wasn't giving attention. With an indrawn breath, the fire demon tired of the light teasing, his patience for the preliminaries low to begin with, and went down on the kitsune only a few inches, the length of Kurama sliding between the smooth, harmless sides of two fangs.

Kurama was in no position to compare this experience to the memories of his past lives' many encounters. For one thing, the emotional impact of receiving this attention from the fire demon was enough to wipe his mind all but completely away, and for another, his body had little or nothing to compare to, and simply responded with unfettered instinct to the flood of pleasurable sensations. Hips tensing, the kitsune's back arched, pushing his shoulders into the cot's thin mattress. One hand stroked along Hiei's back almost frantically, the other wandering to grip the edge of the cot hard enough to whiten the knuckles.

Hiei's eyes widened then shut hard as he tried to deal with the sudden constriction in his throat as he suddenly took more of the kitsune. Swallowing, literally, away the feeling, he concentrated again, eyes opening to find Kurama's face. Cool air suddenly rushed in on Kurama's senses as Hiei withdrew without warning. The fire demon ducked again, but this time to nip at Kurama's thigh.

"Open your eyes," he said, voice made lighter as the other pulled in quick gulps of breath. "I want to see."

It was instinctive to obey, green eyes opening, shining and very vulnerable. Gasping, Kurama tried to get some kind of coherent thought to form, licking his lips with a tongue gone suddenly dry. Giving up on trying to form a word, he simply nodded once, quickly. Prepared to do anything possible to give Hiei anything he wanted, even when his own level of stimulation was poised so at the edge. Sliding his hand up, he stroked the back of Hiei's neck with slightly trembling fingers.

A deep, painfully drawn and held breath was released as Hiei could meet Kurama's eyes again. They held a reminder of the realism, of the truth of what was his. Another second, simply in the pleasure of the other's gaze, Hiei's hands found Kurama's hips with a steady grip, pushing them down into the fabric of the cot as he bent himself back down to the task, red gaze never leaving the kitsune's face as he took Kurama between his lips again, sliding his tongue against the trapped length.

The kitsune blinked rapidly, teeth closing a second time over his already bitten lower lip. The sensation of that warm tongue along his flesh caused little shudders which he tried to ease by breathing deeply. Somehow he realized he'd never prepared himself for this, and stopped trying to control his body's reactions. "... get back, koi, ah.. it..." Not very coherent bits of words between slightly gasping breaths. One hand tightening on the cot frame, nails digging through the canvas into the wood, the other stroking, with contrasting gentleness, and a slight tremor, along Hiei's back. Kurama tensed as his senses hummed with pleasure, releasing with disregard for any vestiges of attempted control. A cry matched the release, as green eyes unfocused.

At the first words, Hiei's reaction was immediate, his body reacting, pulling himself up and away, before his mind even had a chance to pick up. It was too busy anyway, drinking in the sudden view of the play of muscles, expression and gaze, a complete picture that settled itself easily into the most forefront of his memory to stay. A wet heat both was and wasn't surprising at the same time.

Blinking once, he moved down again, giving the softening flesh a grooming lick. "Messy," he murmured, giving the reprove an almost playful quirk to it.

A slightly shuddering laugh emerged from reddened lips as Kurama peeled his hand from the abused cot frame. "Gomen," he breathed, blinking up at Hiei. His eyes crinkled at the corners. "You... expected something... neater?"

Hiei settled between Kurama's legs, folding his arms across the kitsune's chest and resting his chin on top of the crossed wrists there. He let a shrug stand as an answer, the brief twitch of irritation at the apology showing and passing like a summer breeze.

Kurama smiled, and traced Hiei's face with light fingertips. "Arigato, Hiei," he murmured.

Hiei frowned slightly in response, brows drawing together. "No 'thanks'," he corrected, then his shoulders lifted and dropped again. "I wanted to. Save it for something selfless."

The kitsune nodded. "I understand... Don't know why I didn't think about it," he admitted, reaching up to sift his fingers through soft, dark hair.

"Hn." The fire demon's expression cleared with the sound, relaxing to the brush of the other's hand, marked only by the subtle settles of weight on top of Kurama.

That weight warmed the kitsune in a way too subtle to pinpoint. Yesterday he was alone... today.... Green eyes roamed over the fire demon, noticing a myriad of little differences. Unable to focus them into words, even in thought, the result was simpler. Secret worries began to slowly fade.

"You said something about letting Mukuro, ah, stew? What happened?" the kitsune asked, curiosity mixed with a vague desire just to watch and listen.

A mildly peevish look set on Hiei's triangular face as he glanced aside. "I got distracted," he muttered. "She threw me out." he finished. Something in the curt tone gave the statement a rather literal feeling to it.

Eyebrows raised slightly as Kurama attempted, and actually succeeded, in visualizing this. "Hn," he managed, trying not to smile. His eyes strayed to the two gems resting on Hiei's chest, each on its own tether. "You kept it," he murmured.

Following Kurama's gaze Hiei hooked a finger under the two tear gems bringing them in front of him for a moment before letting them fall again. "I'll give it back," Hiei said, with both promise and reluctance. He refolded his arms and stared somewhere below Kurama's chin. "She'll know when I do."

The red-head stroked Hiei's back soothingly. "Probably. Why do you mind? She already cares for you. Her heart knows."

The faint displeasure became a scowl. "There was a promise in the way before. I couldn't tell her when she didn't recognize me." He shrugged slightly, hardly more than a sliver of movement. "Then it was easier, better, not to."

Continuing the caress, Kurama watched the fire demon. "That was then. Why do you still mind?"

"It hasn't changed," Hiei denied. "She's better off with an ideal."

"No," Kurama said simply, nothing forceful, just a disagreement. "She'd be better off with a brother. As you were better off when you found her. It's cruel to leave her with questions when you are the answer."

"It's a cruel answer," Hiei said flatly. "We've been over this."

Kurama gazed back. "I know. Nagging fox will shut up," he sighed and smiled. "But you are still wrong. I love you. So would she."

His expression never wavered from the schooled neutrality, but Hiei's hand darted up, yanked the pillow from beneath Kurama and shoved it soundly in Kurama's face in one swift motion. Allowing a slight smile while out of sight, he said, "I'll think about it."

The pillow flew off accompanied by a laugh, and the kitsune pounced, flipping the fire demon over and settling on top of him, looking down with swiftness that almost approached Hiei's. "While you are at it, think about this!" he suggested, and kissed Hiei deeply and thoroughly.

After a split second of stunned passiveness, the Kourime responded enthusiastically, pressing upwards. When he slipped back against the fabric, those few inches of space, he nodded. "Better subject," he agreed.

Kurama grinned, brushing his nose against Hiei's. "I'm glad you feel that way," he mentioned. Bending down, he swiped a pink tongue across one beautifully-defined pectoral and the bud of flesh atop it.

Hiei drew a sharp breath, hand gripping the kitsune's shoulders. He looked at Kurama with some amazement. After Kurama had done the same to him last night, all Hiei had wanted to do was sleep in that nice warm place for a week or two. "Again?" he managed.

Kurama lifted his head, his green eyes wide. "Oh... no?" he murmured, attempting to keep the wistfulness out of his voice.

The fire demon spent a few moments just watching, until temptation won out. "Fine," he said, before giving the kitsune another look. "What else?"

The kitsune tilted his head, looking extremely foxlike. "Else...?" he said, but there was a hint of tease in it. "Bored already?" This was accompanied by a tongue-swipe to the other side of Hiei's chest, and a little body-to-body snuggle below the waist.

Vaguely, Hiei heard himself gasp over the sudden rush that spread through him. Focusing again, clinging to the spoken words, and finally managing to translate the meaning and tone, he returned the teasing with a challenging look. "Maybe," he lied with a smirk. "Running out of ideas already?"

Kurama grinned, his own body responding to a thought as several... ideas occurred almost simultaneously. The grin eased to a smile that was somehow thoughtful and predatory at the same time. "Not for a long time," he said. Giving the flesh below another lick, he moved back, sitting up, watching Hiei with a curiously banked neutrality.

Glancing up at the movement and lingering at the shift of expression, confusion slowly began to replace the other forces that had been muddling his senses. "Nanda?"

For an answer, the kitsune slipped to his feet, padding gracefully out of the room. The cabin door opened and a few moments later closed as the red-head returned to the room, one hand holding a number of leaves from a plant. The leaves were long and tapered, thick rather than flat, and the lightly spotted, blade-shapes were edged with small points. The bottom edge of each leaf where it had been taken from the plant was oozing a clear, lightly fragrant gel-like liquid.

By the time Kurama had returned, Hiei had his legs over the edge of the cot, scanning the small room for his cloths with the disgruntled expression of realization he'd have to walk to get them. When the other returned, the fire demon seemed to visibly settle with some relief. The expression changed again as he glanced at the kitsune's acquisition, an eyebrow raising at Kurama.

The red-head smiled slightly. "You wanted something new," he murmured. Coming over to the cot, he bent and kissed the Kourime, deep and inciting, and then said, "Lay back a bit..."

Giving Kurama a slightly incredulous expression at this 'new,' Hiei nevertheless did as told. "It may be different with foxes," he said. "But I don't have an attraction to plants."

Kurama grinned, a wicked twinkle in the green eyes. "You might be surprised what plants can do," he murmured, "But that's not what I had in mind this time." With one hand he gently but firmly guided the fire demon's legs apart and settled between them. Setting the handful of leaves on the floor next to the cot, he took one and pressed it, collecting the gel on the fingers of his left hand. Dropping the remains of the leaf, he slid the fingers of his uncoated hand around Hiei's shaft, stroking it with unhurried caresses, watching the fire demon's reactions.

The position Hiei was in restricted the range of movement more than he would have liked. The leisurely motion of the kitsune and the sensation it caused took the impulse to fight about it away. As the attention stretched on, he fell onto his back from his prop of two elbows that had supported his weight.

Kurama watched the impulses and reactions flicker across Hiei's face, continuing to stroke the heating flesh with loving caresses. When it was straining, and the fire demon had subsided back, the kitsune slid his hand along the inside of Hiei's thigh, lifting it to prop with knee bent, and then did the same to the other. Then he slid the same hand down the length of pale skin to where his legs joined to his body and along the now-exposed cleft between them. A quick exploration, then the hand withdrew to pick up some of the gel pooled in his other hand. The next thing Hiei felt was a slippery pressure along the cleft, fingertips finding and circling the puckered opening there.

A certain sense of self tended to disappear when far enough along that road, but some realizations are far enough out of the normal realm... One foot dropped from its placement, and the fire demon managed to pull himself up a little, fixing Kurama with a wide and unguarded look of disbelief.

He was met with a green-eyed look of knowledge. Kurama met the fire demon's eyes as he circled the opening again with slick fingertips. A very slight curve tugged at the corners of his mouth. He reached down and let a bit more gel fall onto the area, then curled that hand around Hiei's shaft, coating it and sliding his hand around, creating new sensations to mingle with the ones from further below.

The internal battle was obvious in just about every facet of Hiei's set, but was quickly won and lost. He didn't quite completely let it all go with the heavy breath, but it was enough to see that the impulse to simply trust the other had won out.

Only when that threshold was crossed did the kitsune go any further. He pressed the tight opening with a slippery finger, felt it resist, and let the lubricant and gentle, insistent pressure work its magic. One finger began to slide into the tight opening, the gel coating easing its passage and soothing the flesh. The penetration was slow, accompanied by rhythmic stroking of the fire demon's flesh above. Once the inward movement stopped, a little circling took place, and Kurama watched and felt for the response that would guide him to Hiei's pleasure center.

Hiei wasn't quite sure what happened when it did. The discomfort, movement and sheer oddity of what Kurama was doing had been nearly drown out by the smooth glide of fingers. Then above and far beyond, something triggered a direct rush to the brain and over all the senses, so close to the pleasure of an orgasm but at the same time, no where near it. While his mind reeled then blanked, his fingers found the edges of the bed and gripped, even as he was torn between the need for two different directions at once.

Watching, the kitsune licked his lips as he saw the reaction, bending to brush his tongue over the tip of the fire demon's erection as he carefully slid a second finger into the opening. Curving his fingers slightly, he slid them against the sensitive place inside, withdrew a little, and then struck with a mild amount of force. The movements were coordinated with the actions of his other hand stroking, and the addition of his mouth which enclosed, then released, then returned. He had no goal in mind but to show the Kourime the potentials of this path to pleasure.

Only the persistent thought that it was over after what every nerve was screaming for kept the inevitable held back as coherency relinquished to a much deeper, much older pattern imbedded somewhere in the memory of the body. Already sightless eyes closed tightly as the fire demon fought the tide again, crumbling fast under the skilled and tripled sensation.

Kurama's senses seemed to sing as he took in the response in the body of his lover. He felt the instinctive battle, recognizing it for, not resistance, but the urge to prolong the experience as long as it could be done. It was his part to provide the opposition in the form of stimulation, reveling in the feel and scent and taste and sight of the fire demon burning in a very special kind of flame. Smoothly, the red-head repeated his actions, increasing the pace of the rhythm, enclosing more of the hot flesh in his mouth, striking the other within as he swallowed and stroked the hot flesh without. Unconsciously, a low, half growl, half purr vibrated his throat and chest, as he poured his attentions into his lover's battle with pleasure.

The end of it came soon after, as Hiei bucked upwards hard, muscles locking for the brief moment before they too gave out, accompanied only by a choked yell, pushed past a constricted throat.

Swallowing the second taste of Hiei's release, the kitsune lapped at his subsiding flesh, letting his hand slide away. He moved up and kissed the flat stomach, shaking his head briefly to dislodge some moisture from his eyes that was spoiling the clear view. Shifting until he was beside the fire demon, Kurama gathered Hiei against him and pressed a kiss lightly over each closed eyelid, finishing with the third.

Content simply to be moved, particularly closer, Hiei simply lay, limply in the aftermath, concentrating only in the process of breathing. As the thudding of his heart returned to a semblance of a calmer rhythm, he worked up the energy to slide one eye open a crack. Closing it again, he opted to curl closer, mumbling a half coherent statement against the red-head's skin, "Won't need 'else' fer a while."

The soft laugh was half purr. Kissing below Hiei's ear lightly, Kurama murmured, "'Else' would involving combining in a different way."

"Hn," Hiei replied, some part of him storing the information away for a better time to examine it. He slipped only a little farther into the feeling that rushed in in the wake of the pleasurable overload before both red eyes opened, fixing a strange sort of curiosity on the kitsune. "How come it's not the same for you?"

"What's not?" Kurama asked, settling with his arms around the Kourime. He brushed his cheek against the soft dark hair. Another little bit of liquid leaked from the corner of one green eye, though the emotions in his chest were warm and bright.

Hiei shook his head slightly. "Nevermind." Slowed by the low warmth that had settled into his muscles, his hand lifted then traced the path that glinted in the new light. Eventually catching the droplet itself, he watched it slide along his own finger, loosing liquid until it disappeared, seemingly fascinated by a tear that stayed liquid.

Kurama looked around the two rooms of the cabin, checking a last time for anything that would be better removed, any sign that the small structure had been tenanted for a prolonged period of time, and shrugged to himself. He couldn't help running his fingers over the folded blanket on the wood-framed cot a last time. The fabric seemed to hold memories clinging to its fibers, memories that the kitsune still found bordered on the miraculous. Shouldering a small bag, he walked through the rooms and out of the single door, checking to make sure the canvas once again covered the window.

It wasn't needed now. Outside, the air was warm, but a hint of a northern wind presaged the coming of snow only a few months away. The fox had no thoughts of any possible return, and was silently bidding the cabin good bye, but it suited him to leave it in good condition for who ever might stumble across it in need one day, as he had some time before.

Stepping outside, he glanced around for a dark clad figure, checking the trees and the roof.

The Kourime was not far away, sitting with knees loosely drawn on a low branch, watching the dry rain of colorful leaves born of the occasional breeze. Kurama's presence seemed to bring back his attention, and he smoothly dropped to the forest floor, approaching the kitsune. "Ready?" he asked, glancing once back at the cabin behind the redhead.

"One last thing," Kurama replied, moving to the cabin wall, where thick vines and dark emerald leaves covered the structure. He placed his hands on the vines, amidst the leaves, and spoke to the plant, praising it for its protection, thanking it for its help, and releasing the special magic he had placed on it to shield the demon energies from outside detection. It wouldn't do to leave such a blind spot behind them, a chink in the human world's protection through its guardians.

The leaves seemed to rustle softly as if bidding the kitsune farewell. With a fond smile, the redhead stepped back and turned to Hiei.

"I'm going to miss this place," he said simply. Then a dimpled smile. "Of course I may be coming back if Mukuro declines to accept a guest."

Hiei glanced again at the place in question, he had no ties to it physically, but it, with the change of season and release of the guardian plants, no longer resembled the pleasant memories it held. He looked back to Kurama and crossed his arms dourly, "She's nosey and annoying, but not stupid," he offered.

Kurama's smile widened fractionally. "True. Her choice of heir evidences that well enough."

"Hn," Hiei remarked, glance darting away at the unsolicited compliment. Even after all this while he was still getting used to that. "There's only a thirty minute window. We should go," he said instead.

Nodding, Kurama swept the cabin with a last look and moved quickly to the firedemon's side. "I'm ready," he said, unable to keep the warmth from his green eyes as he looked down at the other.

Hiei himself checked over a few last things, though concerned less with the surroundings as he was the baggage that they'd acquired here in the ningenkai. 'Play' or 'Practice,' whichever they had termed it, they had kept the heists small on this side of the Reikai border, mundane enough not to draw attention, but enough danger to keep them interesting.

As a result he managed to find a few old swords, the best of the loot so far had been the one he kept sheathed next to his more replaceable katana. Some ningens called the Chinese, the "Green..." something or other. Decent sword even if the blade was weird. Would be fun to see how it faired against Makai steel, he mused.

Another quick check at the acquisitions and a glance at whom he'd come to consider more than a partner or idol, and set off. They should be able to get to the rift easily.

It was less than thirty minutes later when a gap, invisible to the senses of the world, opened in the middle of a remote town a couple miles away. Caught up in the bustle of weekend activities, no one paid any more attention to the disappearance of a tall red haired man and a short, darker companion any more than they had noticed their unhurried arrival.

THE END OF PART 3 - Owari!

Love & Gundams