by Sahari

sequel to "Love's Imitation"

Part One:

The rumors had been chasing him through the Makai for weeks, but he had given them no mind. He wasn't the sort of person who held stock in whispered gossip, the "did you hear?" opening line that you caught on the edge of your ear.

Mukuro kept him too busy for such things, really.

Truthfully, the idea that Kurama was being unfaithful was something he had never considered or thought important. Inari's kitsune were never monogamous, and it wasn't something he expected, once Kurama had once again taken up residence in the Makai, working for Yomi. You don't ask for the impossible, and he really didn't care if the youko was sleeping around.

He didn't, as long as Kurama did not break their promise to one another, that they would always go to one another, that they would always love one another.

Love, that Ningen emotion. Hiei's idea of love differed greatly from Kurama's, when Kurama was Shuuichi in the Ningenkai. Now that both of them were working steadily in the Makai, love was an undercurrent of desire, never a weakness. In the Makai, you didn't pronounce love, you just had a lover, or lovers. Love was for your offspring; love was for your siblings . . . love and loyalty being two synonyms in the Makai. Being once again youko, Kurama would understand that love was a luxury. Hiei felt they had an unspoken agreement, and it went well with him.

He would not listen to the rumors that Yomi's new lieutenant was also his lover. Such rumors chased Kurama wherever he was. People looked at him, tall, silver-haired, golden-eyed, a veritable god and legend among his own kind, and probably thought he had not changed from his life before.

But those closest to Kurama understood that the human part of him had changed him for good. He no longer seduced indiscriminately. His loyalty, once given, was now law. Even Yomi understood how this fox spirit had changed.

But Hiei didn't want to think about Yomi, the demon who would "look" at his kitsune with such an expression on his face -- desire so raw and tender as to want to make Hiei clench his teeth.

He was not possessive.

He would not think about it.

But after a month of rumors, he began to think about it pretty steadily, despite self-recrimination. Neither of them had managed to get a message to the other, and the increasing silence and the persisting rumors finally pushed Hiei to request a leave of absense from Mukuro.

You know, just to travel a bit, take it easy.

He was sure Mukuro was not fooled; she was too canny for that. She looked at him with her one natural eye and smiled. "If that's so, then I have one last duty for you to perform. I want you to take a gift to Yomi."

Hiei stared. Mukuro and Yomi were rivals, not in a violent hateful way, but still there was little congress between them. "Gift?" he grunted, suspicious.

"Surely you're not going to protest such a small favor? It won't take you a day out of your way if you're heading back to the Ningenkai."

"Hn. Not going THERE."

"See? So it wouldn't be a problem."

Hiei lifted his shoulders in an indifferent shrug. "Whatever." If Mukuro wanted to send him on business to the very place he intended to go anyway, why should he expend energy arguing? Besides, it gave him an alibi.

Not that he needed one.

*******

It was half a day's journey going demon-fast. Hiei entered the gates of Yomi's castle at dusk, deliberately setting off the gate wards and waiting to identify himself to the guards that came running.

"I've a message for Yomi," he said when they asked and let them take his short sword, smiling secretly to himself. He never considered his sword his primary weapon.

He was escorted down dark, stone corridors. Everything was immaculately clean and well fortified, and he could see why Kurama might choose such a master. Even the guards had a fair amount of discipline, silent as they did their duty, not voicing the distrust that they were feeling towards him. As usual, he had not dressed in Mukuro's livery; he couldn't stand pomposity. He wore unrelieved black, except for a single carnelian pendant the color of his eyes. He didn't look official, so he supposed it was natural that they should distrust him.

Yomi was already seating in the main hall as if he took up permanent residence in it, a far cry from Mukuro's refusals to 'reign like some god' in the ever-present throne hall of Makai castles. As Hiei approached, Yomi's face lifted his closed and blind eyes, giving him the appearance of one lost in concentration.

"A messenger?" Yomi asked. "I think not."

He'd forgotten that Yomi did not need his eyes anymore. People underestimated his powers because he was technically blind.

"Or rather --" the lord specified, as Hiei's guards tensed, "no MERE messenger." He nodded at the guards and they left. "The ki I feel from you -- it seems familiar."

"I am Hiei."

"Mukuro's heir?" Yomi's lips twitched. "Perhaps you should have told the guards."

Hiei didn't deign to reply to that. Silence was answer enough.

"Ah, but wait." Yomi turned his head and said to someone hidden from Hiei's view, under a stone arch level with the throne. "Love, come in. Don't stand on ceremony."

At the word "love," Hiei clenched his teeth, some instinct telling him that he would not like what he saw next.

He didn't.

Youko Kurama walked in -- well, "walked" was such an inadequate term for this fluid, sensual motion. Glided, perhaps. In full youko form he was impressive -- 7 feet of pale, gorgeous, silver-haired kitsune, complete with ears and whisking, fluffy tail. Hiei knew from experience exactly how that tail felt against the skin -- Kurama had teased him with it enough.

Admiration was not first on his agenda, however. That "love" bothered him, and he watched with a blank, stoic face as his kitsune, his Kurama, slid to sit at Yomi's feet and leaned his head against the youkai's knee, his golden eyes somnolent.

Neither of them had agreed to secrecy, but it had somehow turned out that way. Neither Kurama nor Hiei had told anyone of their relationship, and as Hiei stared at his lover, he realized that Yomi probably still didn't know. Kurama's eyes met his -- but they were carefully neutral, shielded.

Hiei desperately controlled his ki, knowing that a flare of anger, confusion . . . any high emotion would be instantly detected by Yomi himself. Just that knee-leaning position of trust was devastating on a subliminal level that he had not known he had, but when Yomi feathered light fingers over Kurama's ears, Hiei began to see red.

"Do you know one another?" Yomi asked mildly, and Hiei tamped down on his anger, knowing that something was leaking out.

Kurama turned his head toward his master. "I think I remember Mukuro's heir from the tournament."

"Oh? I hope I'm not being rude to ask what Mukuro's heir looks like? His ki is very bright." 

Kurama looked at Hiei who managed a nonchalant lift of the shoulders.

"He is small and fair-skinned. His hair is black, but for a little patch of white in front. His eyes are . . . red-colored." At one time, Kurama's descriptions had been more poetic. He had compared Hiei's eyes to rubies and carnelians.

"He has a jagan," Yomi added, nodding thoughtfully at Kurama's description. "I see why Mukuro chose you, Hiei-san."

Hiei merely bowed as politely as possible.

"And your message?"

"Actually, it's a gift." He unslung the carrier from his shoulder. At some unseen signal, Kurama shifted and rose, walking forward to take the thing from Hiei.

Kurama's absolute expressionless face warned him. Something was going on. The kitsune was walled like a fortress, and his eyes slid to the sides, as if wary of observers.

Something was definitely wrong!

Hiei handed it over and Kurama accepted it into his hand, and turned away. As he did, the end of his tail barely brushed against Hiei's arm, as if by accident. But Hiei knew. Kurama always precisely judged himself. His body never did anything accidentally.

What was going on here?

Yomi said something under his breath as he uncovered the spell book, but Hiei was having problems concentrating on the lord with Kurama sliding back down at his knees. What was with the kitsune, anyway? Why did they have to wear such tempting sheer draperies (it was almost a lie to call them clothes)? In his ningen aspect, Kurama had done modesty very well, and it had been a pleasure to get past his carefully structured clothing to the lovely body beneath, but Kurama in kitsune-aspect was something altogether. Apparently kitsune didn't have body-modesty.

"Ah, how wonderful." Yomi was examining what looked to be a very old scroll, handling it carefully. "Mukuro knows her antiquities."

Hiei waiting, watching Yomi mutter over the gift, and less directly watching Kurama as he sat at Yomi’s feet, face carefully bland.

"Hiei," Yomi said. "Was this your only goal or do you have other duties to attend?"

"I am taking some time off to travel," the fire demon said with a shrug. "I was thinking – the mountains."

"Then perhaps you will do us the honor of accepting our hospitality for the night," Yomi suggested. "Good food, comfortable lodgings – it’s the least I can do for Mukuro’s heir."

Hiei shrugged again, not wanting to reveal just how much the suggestion relieved him. "Sure, if it’s no trouble."

"Good night then. I’ll have the servants show you the way."

Two such appeared at his elbows and deferentially led Hiei off. Observing that the demon was gone from the chamber, Yomi leaned down and murmured in Kurama’s ear lovingly. The kitsune smiled, nodding, and rubbed the top of his head against Yomi’s knee, all the while his eyes trained on the very door through which Hiei had left.

****

Hiei was removing his outer coat when a polite knock on the door made him pause and look over his shoulder.

Kurama.

The kitsune slipped through the door, a little mischievous smile announcing questionable intentions, although his eyes darted to one corner of the room and then the other. Hiei did not allow himself to be off guard.

"What are you doing here?" he asked disdainfully. Better to act like a stranger than to assume they were not being observed.

"I thought you wanted me to follow. That was the look you were giving me, wasn’t it?" Kurama leaned back on the door and the smile turned into a grin.

"Hn. I don’t much like kitsunes. Too arrogant; too tricky."

"Meaning you aren’t, Hiei, Mukuro’s heir?" Kurama licked at his lips and grinned even wider. "I saw you looking."

"You're very nice to look at." Hiei folded his coat carefully.

"Mm. So are you," the kitsune reciprocated in a purring tone reserved for sex. "So delicate, so strong."

Hiei took a breath. "Is this the standard seduction that comes with the room? I thought you were Yomi's playtoy."

There was silence and Hiei glanced at the kitsune. Kurama was staring at him out of wide, golden eyes, obviously not certain if what Hiei was saying was the truth as he saw it or part of the guarded dialogue they were acting out.

"You're Yomi's, aren't you?" he prodded, eyes narrowing.

"I'm nobody's 'toy,'" the kitsune hissed, eyes narrowing suddenly. "For such a little man, you have a big mouth."

"Big enough," Hiei pronounced with a sly smile.

Kurama's ears twitched. "Oh?" he murmured, regarding Hiei with a contemplative stare. "Perhaps you would like to demonstrate --?"

Hiei made a show of looking at Kurama from head to toe, and the seven feet between. "There's twice as much of you as there is of me. Just what are you proposing?"

The kitsune's tongue slowly traveled over his sharp canines, amber eyes literally glowing. "Oh, I think we can be inventive." Those eyes explored Hiei in an obvious, lascivious sweep. "I can think of one or two very nice experiments --"

Hiei took a breath, then said, calmly: "And just how many people will be witnessing this spectacle of comparative anatomy?"

Kurama stared at him silently.

"Well, are you going to deny it?"

"Deny what?" Kurama's voice was faint.

"That the damn walls have ears, eyes and other organs apparently. Just how many seeing spells are in this room?"

"I -- I don't know. Are there?" Kurama's voice was uncertain, but his eyes were holding Hiei's with a sort of -- approval?

"Yes, there are! A jagan isn't just for show, Kitsune! I have a feeling we're being watched."

Even as he said it, the sensation began to fade, as if someone belatedly realized that the spells were too obvious. He glanced around the room. "Ah, that's better. There's still --"

He hounded down the one remaining spell, which was attached to the headboard and broke it with one thrust of his jaganshi's power. "I really despise voyeurs," he said as he did so.

Silence.

Hiei glanced at Kurama. Kurama watched him warily. Both of them were listening with ears and with psi for reverberations of what they had done.

Finally, Kurama let out a breath, and said: "Itoshii."

Hiei's shoulders relaxed in relief. Finally, the true Kurama coming out. He growled.

"Kurama, what the FUCK is going on in this place??"

Kurama glanced nervously behind him at the door. "Quietly, Itoshii," he murmured and moved to sit on the bed, while Hiei stood next to him, scowling. "This room's spells might be deactivated now, but there's no telling who could be listening in the hallway." He smiled at his lover. "It's been a long time, Hiei. Isn't there something you could do besides frown at me like that?"

"It's been over a month, and no word," Hiei muttered, still unmoved. "Then I come here and find --"

"Find what?"

There was something suddenly dark in Kurama's tone that made Hiei glance at him, and think better of the accusation that he was about to utter.

"You think I'm screwing Yomi?" Kurama asked too quietly. "Is that what you think?"

"It had crossed my mind. You can screw all the Makai for all I care, but I hate it when a rumor finds me first, and all I get from you is silence."

The kitsune stared at him, unblinking, and Hiei refused to look at him out of sheer desperation.

"You don't care if I'm screwing someone else as long as I let you know first?! Is that what you're saying? What the hell kind of lover ARE you to say that to me!!"

Hiei glanced nervously at the door. "I thought you said quietly."

Kurama bared his teeth. "So I can fuck Yomi then?"

Hiei clenched his. "I didn't say that."

"You don't care if I screw the whole Makai you said!" Kurama stood. "Next time I'll send an official notice! Inari, I don't believe this."

He was striding to the door when Hiei's quiet voice stopped him in his tracks. "So, it's true then?"

Kurama's voice was barely audible. "Do you care?"

"Why do you think I'm here, Kurama? You really think I came to deliver that stupid scroll? It's been a fucking MONTH, Fox, and everyone is talking about how Yomi is fucking his silver kitsune! And from you? Nothing.

"So I try to be good. You're your own person, after all, Kitsune. Who am I to tell you who to bed with? Maybe he's got something you need . . . "

"Like Yusuke? He had something I needed, but that didn't stop you from laying claim, did it?"

"That was the Ningenkai! That world has its own sets of rules! You didn't exactly kick and scream when I said you were mine."

Kurama turned his head slowly to look at Hiei over his shoulder. "So I was yours in the Ningenkai, but I can be anyone's in the Makai?"

Even to Hiei that sounded rather odd. "I'm saying you'll do what you want to do, and I won't hold you back. You can't put a kitsune in a cage; everyone knows that."

Silence. Kurama seemed to think about it, then with a strange smile, turned back fully to Hiei. "I’m not Yomi's, Hiei. You're my only lover in the Makai."

Hiei felt strangely relieved. "Ah."

"I have a feeling you were hoping that was the case. Why is that? Were you jealous?"

Hiei frowned. "Jealousy has no place in the Makai."

Kurama's smile widened. "I see," he said as if he had just solved a mystery. "Jealousy isn't allowed, but this anger you have because I haven't communicated with you -- that's not jealousy?"

The fire demon grunted. "Of course not."

"Ah." Kurama returned to the bed, his expression peculiarly complacent. Hiei glanced at him, distrusting the small smile the kitsune was aiming at him. "Have you missed me? I've missed you." Kurama made a playful swipe with one hand and caught his finger under Hiei's belt, pulling the fire demon between his knees. "It’s been so long since we made love --"

Hiei muttered under his breath as Kurama nosed around his neck and licked at his ear, lingering over Hiei's scent. "You haven't told me what the hell's going on in this place, Fox."

"Later," Kurama murmured against his neck. "Mm, you smell so good . . . "

It was difficult to resist. It had been way too long, and Kurama's aggressive seduction, still new to their relationship, was an added turn on. Hiei was still getting used to being the desired one after a life time of knowing he was unwanted, and now with Kurama's carnal kitsune personality to the fore, he still got weak in the knees when Kurama got dominant. What was it about being desired and seduced that really turned Hiei on? But then, he had liked it before as well, when a certain Ningen Shuuichi had succumbed to his seductions. Kurama had never been fully submissive, since his experience far outweighed Hiei's, but he had never really fully seduced either, preferring Hiei's dominance. Who could have predicted that when their relationship did a turn around, that Hiei would not even think to protest?

"Shit, Kitsune," he grunted as the belts came off and Kurama's clever hands began to rub him through his clothes.

"I have a feeling there's still some subtle spells on this room," Kurama murmured in his ear. "I hope we make them blush."

Hiei bit down on his lip. Kurama had released his pants and was now handling his cock quite competently, pushing up his shirt with his free hand. The fire demon knew what came next, because his fox seemed almost obsessed with this part of his body and never wasted an opportunity.

Or maybe it was Hiei's response that so obsessed Kurama.

Hiei groaned as the kitsune lapped at his nipples, one then the other, before taking one gently in his teeth and worrying at it. Hiei could feel the heat flare in his face and sweat trickled down his temple.

"Don't hold back. They knew exactly what we're doing, Itoshii. Let go. The louder the better."

It went against a lifetime of stealth and secrecy. Hiei shook his head desperately, recalling that even on their first night he had not shouted out when Kurama had given him his first orgasm. Kurama's tongue stabbed at its prize, then circled, and the fire demon pushed himself harder into Kurama's hand, hoping to distract himself with another source of pleasure.

It didn't work. Kurama had hundreds of years of experience and Hiei's oversensitive body on his side, and all Hiei had was a stubborn determination that was very steadily crumbling.

Kurama let go of his erection and with the same hand slid questing fingers along the indentation at the base of his spine and then down along his crack until he stroked against the sweet pucker there. Hiei panted and almost cried out when Kurama slid a tantalizing finger in and began a slow in and out stroke while he transferred his attentions to Hiei's other nipple.

"Kurama!"

"Oh yes, say that again . . . but louder," his lover invited, and pushed his finger in more fully, making the stroke deeper and longer. "Make them want to jack off when they hear you . . . mm, come on, Hiei."

Oh god, he didn’t want to, but Kurama's seductive voice and that damned finger were taking over. When Kurama abandoned his nipples and slid a hot mouth down to his cock, he whimpered, knowing what was coming. WHO was coming.

"Fuck, Kurama!" he choked.

"Not yet," his kitsune assured him, and began to lick at the crown, all the while he finger slid in and out in a steady rhythm.

"Nn --" Hiei grabbed at Kurama's long silver hair. The kitsune was starting to hit against that place inside and Hiei knew, in a sort of embarrassed horror, that as soon as he took Hiei completely in his mouth, there would be not resistance left. "K-kura --"

"Mm, yes, like that," Kurama said, and took his cock down his throat, at the same time hitting that place of pleasure inside dead on with his finger.

It was not exactly a scream. It was more like a hoarse cry that forced its way out of a throat too strangled by habit to fully let it free. "Kurama!" Hiei's chest heaved and his eyes closed tightly, trying to stave off what was coming. This one would be hard, and Kurama was just starting! "Ah, gods . . . ah . . AAAHHH!!!"

He literally blacked out, because the next thing he knew, Kurama was positioning him on hands and knees, and Hiei couldn't recall when they had changed position. He knew he had come, oh he definitely knew and remembered how fast and hard it had hit him as soon as Kurama had sucked his cock. He was still a little limp, drained, but his hindbrain was already anticipating what was coming next, for Kurama's pleasure was always his pleasure.

In this form, Kurama was incredibly, frighteningly big which for Hiei increased the pleasure and the excitement tenfold. There was always that small chance that Kurama would find the limit of Hiei's endurance, push a little too hard into his small lover. It was that element of chance, of danger, that Hiei relished. Oh and that big cock wasn't so bad either.

He was so relaxed that Kurama was already halfway in before Hiei's body told him what was happening. He groaned into the bed's covers, and spread his knees farther apart to accommodate Kurama's length. Shit! He'd almost forgotten what it felt like; it was like being slowly and pleasurably split open. Kurama's long hair swept up his back as the kitsune moved forward over him. The ends brushed against his shoulder blades as Kurama paused, fully sheathed.

"Hiei?" It wasn't quite worry, just as sort of checking in. They had done this enough to know that Hiei's petite form was also incredibly resilient and nearly impervious to pain. They were, if Hiei ever thought in such cliched terms, perfect for one another.

"Oh, that's good," Hiei purred in response. "How does it feel?"

Kurama's voice was husky with passion. "Like you've got me locked in a vice, Itoshii. You're so damned tight."

The fire demon grunted his amusement, then clenched his interior muscles.

Kurama choked off a cry, then swore. "Where did you learn THAT?!"

"You think I can't . . . nn . . . " Kurama began to slowly pull out. " . . . figure things out on . . . ah, shit! . . . my own?"

The kitsune surged forward, holding hard onto Hiei's hips. Leaning forward, his hair swathing across Hiei's neck, he purred: "How do you want it, little fire demon? I've a mind to pound this thing into you until you split in two."

Hiei groaned.

"Hm? Was that a yes?"

"Shit, Kurama, how many times . . . do I have to tell you?"

"Oh, let me quote. I think I remember your fine, articulate way of saying it. 'Just fuck me, Kurama.'" The kitsune chuckled against his neck. "You have such a way with words."

"You talk too much," Hiei growled, but was almost immediately rewarded when his lover shifted position back to kneel between his knees, a sure sign of what was coming.

Kurama was not exaggerating when he had used the word 'pound.' The kitsune plowed him with all the desire, impatience, and sheer libido of a full month of celibacy. If Hiei had doubted Kurama's word, the truth was in this moment, when the silver youko relentlessly drove his cock into his lover, groaning low in his throat.

Hiei felt like doing some groaning himself. Shit! Kurama was so damn BIG. He could hardly complain, but it was hard to keep himself silent, hard to hold back. Then Kurama's clever hand was touching him, and he no longer had the option.

"That's it," Kurama coaxed in that silky kitsune voice, tempered though the centuries to beguile the coldest lover. "Let them know that Kurama is fucking you, beautiful little demon. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

No, he supposed not, Hiei thought disjointedly. "Kurama . . . "

"Mm, I like how you say that, as if you can't help it." Sharp teeth nipped at his nape gently.

Hiei arched, pressing back against the teeth, panting with the pleasure of feeling that possessive gesture, so powerful and primal.

So perfect.

As Kurama gripped him, and steadily pounded into him, those teeth sank a little deeper until Hiei hissed and moaned at the painful and piercing sensation. This was RIGHT. He could not rationalize why it was so right, but it was.

Kurama whimpered softly. His teeth pulled out and he licked at the wound. Hiei could smell the blood, his own blood. There was some symbolism here, he knew -- more than just lust or sex or even the sort of carnal love they had for each other. It somehow got past all that and to a part of him he rarely acknowledged, the part that only wanted to eat, sleep, procreate and find a shady place in the sun. Instinct.

His fox was getting close. Hiei knew that soft, keening cry; despite two forms mortal and demon, this was one of the things they both shared. Deep down, Shuuichi Minamino and Kurama were essentially the same being with different aspects. Strip those aspects away, and it was still Hiei's lover underneath, a creature who had struggled to have him from the day they had first met, sensual, beautiful and utterly breathtaking when he came.

Hiei regretted not being able to see it this time.

An abrupt shove drove him hard into Kurama's hand, and he could not stop his second orgasm from hitting him. He screamed silently as his fox milked him at the same moment he drove those few last short thrusts to Hiei's body, coming with a scream that made up for Hiei's silence.

"Oh, gods," the kitsune moaned moments later as they tiredly rolled about on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position. "Don't let me do that again. It was too long to wait."

"Why do you think I'm here?"

Kurama's chuckle approved of his reply.

"All right, confess it, Fox. What the fuck is happening around here?"

Kurama turned his face to nuzzle at Hiei's ear. The fire demon was about to accuse the fox of trying to distract him, when, amazingly, Kurama began to answer.

"We can't leave here, Itoshii. People began to leave last month, and each one of them died the moment they left the front gate. There's something here, but we don't know who or what is behind this. I've moved into Yomi's quarters to protect him, but we made up the story of me being his lover just in case the move caused suspicion."

"You're saying you don't see what kills them?"

"No one ever sees what causes it. They walk, and then they die. I'm pretty sure it's magic, but what sort is anyone's guess. As soon as that started happening I began picking up on little spy spells all over the castle -- none of them Yomi's or any of his captains'."

"You can’t leave -- wait a minute!"

"Shh."

Hiei whispered furiously. "I can't leave now, either!"

"Why do you think you were invited to stay the night; one step out the front gate and you would have died just like the others."

"Good thing I accepted, then," Hiei noted, dryly.

In the following tired silence Hiei's mind worked on the puzzle. He eliminated possibilities one by one. Finally he said into Kurama's twitching fox-ear: "It's nothing we've seen before, then."

"Agreed. Do you have an idea?"

"Kurama, why does fucking you have to be so damned difficult?"

"If I were easy, Itoshii, you wouldn't love me half so much."

"Hmph."

~ OWARI ~