Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story with the two exceptions of Cian and Zane. This story is rated M for graphic boy on boy action and bad language. That's all that I've decided for now. I may add to the warning later…

CHAPTER ONE: VISITING THE PAST

Hiei stepped off the plane with wobbly legs and held on to his lover as they moved through the terminal, avoiding physical contact with the humans. Kurama's hand squeezed his in a reassuring gesture as the fox smiled down at his mate.

"We could have just taken the portals to get back to Japan. We didn't have to bother with the plane," Hiei muttered low enough that human ears wouldn't be able to hear.

Kurama, however, heard him as clearly as if he had yelled it. "I'm well aware that the portal would have been faster and cheaper than taking a plane. However, for the sake of my efforts at living a human life, I wished to travel this way. Besides, mother would have questioned be about my arrangements anyways."

"You could have lied."

"Hiei, I know that I've deceived many of the people I hold the most dear but I don't enjoy lying when it's not necessary." Kurama ran a comforting hand up Hiei's warm and bare arm. "There are some human experiences that you should know about at the very least if you plan on traveling this path with me."

"Stop trying to talk me in to returning to Alaric," Hiei growled. "I've told you a million times that you aren't going to get rid of me."

Kurama shrugged with a teasing smile. "Suit yourself." He zipped his thick winter coat as they stepped outside of the warm airport and in to the gently falling snow. Hiei didn't wear so much as his cloak. Instead, the fire demon was dressed in black jeans and a black undershirt that left his arms bare. Kurama, on the other hand, was armed with a scarf, a thick coat, and he had been sure to cover his ears with his hair. He shivered and pressed close to the always warm body of his lover.

"I can't believe that oaf is going to be related to me by marriage," Hiei commented as they stepped from the rental car in to the cold again. The temple was a two minute walk away but the fox glared at the snow as if it were evil.

"Does Yukina know about her relation to you?" Kurama questioned as he led the way through the gathering snow to the warmth that he knew the temple provided.

"Yes," Hiei answered, following after his sexy (and half frozen) fox. "The first week after you left me, my only comfort was in alcohol and other harmful substances. I'm afraid I blurted out a great many secrets, some of which were not mine to divulge."

Kurama spun around, his cheeks stained a deep crimson. "What did you tell them?"

"It was mostly about our sex life and the strange things you do when horny." Hiei shrugged and walked past the blushing fox, who now resembled a creature closer to a tomato than a fox.

"Like what?" Kurama ran after him to catch up.

"Like how you start to play with your hair when you're in the mood and act like you're bored with the world so I'll agree to go to bed. I spoke of your different ploys to get me in the bedroom."

"And out of your pants. You were so difficult at first." Kurama grabbed a healthy handful of Hiei's round ass. "You were never agreeable about stripping down for me. Half the time it turned in to a sparring match before I could get you out of your clothes and in to my bed."

"I felt like I was robbing a boy of his innocence. You were too young for such things, but you wouldn't let me refuse." Hiei shook his head and swatted Kurama's hand away from its resting place on his bottom. "Stop that. I don't want to be groped in front of my sister. She's still… innocent."

Kurama put a hand over his mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. After I moved in with you, I spoke to her on the phone a few times. She was asking for advice in certain areas that are not to ever be spoken of again. She also informed me that her and the oaf are waiting for their wedding night."

"That was four months ago," Kurama reminded with a small smile. "Four months we've been living together."

"Four months I haven't been able to get a full night's rest because a particular annoying fox wakes me up at three in the morning to have sex in the yard." Hiei rolled his eyes but kept silent as Yukina burst from the temple and enclosed on them. Kuwabara wasn't far behind.

Kurama hugged Yukina and just smiled at Kuwabara. "I'm so happy for the two of you!"

Yukina beamed at him. "I'm happy too." She gazed up at her much taller fiancé as tears shone in her eyes.

"Oh baby…" Kuwa murmured and held her close to his chest. "Don't cry, I'm happy too, and damn lucky to have you."

Hiei looked away from the sight to the trees with a sigh. In truth, he wanted to kill the man for touching his sister but another part of him would rather have Kuwabara marry her than anyone else. "Kurama is shivering. Can we go inside?"

Yukina nodded and the four went in to the temple, Kurama chattering away as usual and the other two more than happy to oblige. Hiei kept as silent as always, watching as his fox was his usual charming self. They sat around the table while Yukina brought out hot tea and sat down next to her soon to be husband.

The conversation mostly contained details of the upcoming wedding, a subject in which Hiei held no interest. He stared out the window with a pensive look on his face. He tuned in to the conversation when he heard the oaf ask the fox about their relationship. He didn't fail to notice the subtle way Kurama didn't really answer and steered the conversation away from the subject. He'd remember to ask the fox about that later.

Kurama finished his tea and smiled softly. "Yukina, Kuwa, I really am happy for the two of you. However, Hiei and I have been on a plane for the last eighteen hours and I'm exhausted. Dragonfly, are you ready to go to bed?"

Hiei nodded.

Kurama leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "How about a bath before bed? Can you go draw one for the two of us? Yukina and I need to discuss wedding details for a moment before I join you."

With a strange look, Hiei went to the bathroom. He didn't know what, but he knew the fox was up to something. That'd be the only reason to send Hiei out of the room to talk to his sister. What's more, the fox was putting up a careful barrier in Yukina and his own minds, preventing Hiei from using the jagon to extract the information on his own.

Kurama pulled Yukina out to the kitchen by the elbow. "Did you get it?"

Yukina fished out a red velvet box from her apron pocket and gave it to the fox. "Are you sure he's ready?"

Kurama hesitated at that. "He's been asking me since the day I turned eighteen and we're mating. That's a stronger bond. I don't know why he wouldn't."

Yukina smiled in her usual kind way. "Hiei can be difficult sometimes, stubborn even when the other person is offering him exactly what he wants. So be patient with him Kurama. I know he loves you more than he's ever loved anyone else but it's new to him. He's been loving you for a very long time, but actually being with you is a very difficult task for him. Trust is a very hard thing for him and sensitivity is a foreign concept."

Kurama nodded. "I know. He's as abrasive as ever, but I know most of his harshness is misplaced. Hiei has changed a lot though. He's softer towards me then he once was. He no longer takes only his own needs in to consideration when making a decision." He opened the tiny velvet box and gazed at the ring inside. The band was made of gold and a small ruby was at the center. On either side were Hiei's own carved tear gems. All had been cut in squares and laid in to the gold. On the inside was the inscription: Eternity and a day. Kurama shut the box and hid it inside his clothes. "Do you have the other?"

Yukina reached inside the depths of her apron and came out with an identical velvet box. She opened it to let Kurama see. This ring was the same as the other, but the band was thinner and the stones rose from the band rather than inlaid. On the inside was carved: Yours forever. "How did you get the tear gems?"

Kurama smirked as Yukina snapped the box closed and hid it within her apron. "Hiei hides them inside the castle in Alaric. Unfortunately for him, he has a thief for a lover. I found them within an hour and took what I needed."

"He didn't notice?"

Kurama smiled again. "He noticed and came home from Alaric angry over it. However, he has no clue it was me. It assumed it was Sage and that the man just isn't admitting to it. You know Hiei, always suspicious of someone." The fox granted her with a genuine smile. "I'm going to ravish my demon and then take him for a walk."

Kurama made his way to the bathroom to find Hiei toweling off.

Hiei gazed at Kurama as he slipped in to some clean clothes. "You're taking me for a walk."

"Were you reading my thoughts again?" Kurama frowned.

"I was trying," Hiei admitted, unashamed. "However, it seems that you've put a barrier on your thoughts so that I can't use the jagon on you or Yukina. You're plotting something. The thought that you were taking me for a walk screamed at me because its not part of what you're trying to hide."

Kurama shrugged with a smile. "Yes, we're going for a walk. Please wear a coat this time Dragonfly. I worry about you."

Hiei gave in with a sigh.

Ten minutes later, they were walking down the street away from the quiet and seclusion in to the city. The snow fell gently as they strode hand in hand. Kurama veered off and led him in to the park where they had first kissed. Hiei noted with distaste that all the trees were bare. He loved it when the park was teeming with life. Crimson eyes locked on to the one tree that was blooming, a beautiful cherry blossom tree. It was obvious that it was the fox's doing.

Hiei remembered that particular tree with fondness. The couple had shared their first kiss under the protection of its branches the summer Kurama was eleven. Kurama tugged his hand, bringing the fire demon back to reality. As they approached the three, Hiei noticed a bench that hadn't been there the last time he'd visited the park.

Kurama sat down and Hiei sat beside him. They cuddled close, Hiei sharing his warmth with the fox and Kurama just entwined in his arms. After a few minutes of watching the snowfall, Kurama turned to him and gazed at the crimson eyes.

What was contained within those emerald eyes surprised Hiei. He saw fear, anxiety, and love. The combination scared him. "What is it Kurama?"

Kurama pulled out the velvet box. "I want to be belong to you in every human and demon way possible. Will you marry me Hiei?"

Hiei's eyes flew from the ring to the fox's eyes and back to the ring again. "I… Kurama…" He gazed down at the ring. "Is this what you want?"

Kurama felt the pain stab his heart when the fire demon didn't immediately agree. "Yes, this is what I want. I wouldn't have asked you if I wasn't sure." He snapped the box shut. "However, this isn't about just me. This whole relationship doesn't center around me."

Hiei gazed from the closed box to Kurama's hands, unable to meet his gaze. "My world centers around you. If this is what you want, I'll do it."

With a cry of frustration, Kurama rose from his seat. "What do you want?!"

"I want to be with you."

Kurama let the tears fall as he gazed up at the sky. "Do you? You certainly don't act like it." He tossed the box in to Hiei's lap. "I'm going back to the temple. It's cold." He took three steps before glancing over his shoulder. "Yukina has the matching ring."

"Fox…" Hiei sighed as he watched Kurama turn and walk away. "Kurama!"

After two hours of sitting in the snow beneath the cherry blossom tree, Hiei rose and returned to the temple. Yukina was waiting for him and poured him a cup of hot tea. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "When Kurama asked me to get the rings made, I assumed that you had already accepted. When I heard his plan of a proposal, it sounded romantic. I never dreamed it'd go so badly."

Hiei sighed as he sipped the tea. "It was romantic. Kurama put a lot of effort in to making the moment perfect. I just… have a habit of screwing it up. When all is going well between us, I sabotage him and his efforts."

"Why?"

"I don't mean to. I just want him to be happy and he's been so unsure of us in the past. I don't want him to make a mistake or to enter in to a decision he will regret later on."

"Perhaps you should trust his judgment."

"Kurama's judgment is what gets us in to trouble. My judgment is what gets us out."

"Really?" Yukina raised a delicate eyebrow. "I do remember hearing of a time when you lost control of yourself and drove a certain fox to betray you and help Yusuke. If not for the fox's judgment, you two would have never became partners. Your life together was built on his judgment."

"Then it is him who doesn't trust mine," came Hiei's calm reply. "Yukina, this goes deeper for me. I always wanted to be the one to propose to him. I wanted to make this huge romantic gesture to prove to him how much I cared, but he always takes it upon himself to do such things. He moves our relationship at his pace. He's being selfish with this."

Yukina glared across the table at her brother. "To you, it might be selfish for him to want but I think you forgot the implications getting married to you would be for him. For him, it symbolized more. It showed that he was going to eliminate secrets from his family and be open about the two of you. Did you even look at the ring?"

"I got a good look at it when he opened the box."

Yukina stood. "Look at the inside. Here's the ring's partner." She took the box from her apron and threw it on her brother's lap. "And think about what you've done. You hurt him, probably more than he lets on." Yukina leaned down and kissed her elder brother on the forehead before retiring to her room for the night.

Hiei opened the box that contained the ring meant for him. He examined the inside as suggested and read the words three times before placing it back in the box. He opened Kurama's and did the same. With a sigh, he banged his head against the table. "I'm fucked…"

AUTHOR'S CORNER:

Okay, I got bored so I decided to start the sequel a little early. Also, I'm so excited that so many of you wanted more. Okay, so this time the fox isn't the one screwing up completely. Not yet anyways. If you all are nice and review, I'll give you two updates tomorrow. Also, I apologize to those of you who thought the end of Skeletons In My Closet as 'cliché' and 'corny'. However, it was the only ending I could think of that didn't involve me leaving you all at a cliffhanger. Then I'd really be strangled for a sequel. . Don't forget to review and thank you for reading!