Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho, or any of its characters. Those belong to Yoshihiro Togashi-sama, who made a lot more out of them than I ever could have. ^^;; I just do fanfiction for fun, and earn no monetary rewards for writing it. Reviews are, of course, worth as much as silver.

Title: Loss
Anime: Yuu Yuu Hakusho
Pairing: YuusukexKurama, HieixKurama, KuramaxYuusuke, KuramaxHiei, KuwabaraxYukina, YukinaxKuwabara
Warning: Shounen ai
Author: Kita Kitsune
Date: Monday(moon-day!) June 16, 2008
Miscellaneous Notes: …err, yeah, I don't know where this came from. xD I guess it's a mix of the first part of BlueUtopiah-sama's recent LJ post with the random memes (the one that goes to 'Chizuru', by The Gazette)… and the result reading a lot of YuusukexKuramaxHiei, YuusukexHieixKurama fanfics, recently. oO;; ….eh. Hope no one's too confused, by the end. ;.; .;;;

Misc. Notes (Saturday, April 18, 2009): Hurrah! The first somewhat-recent fanfic I've posted up that I actually still like. :3 Actually, there's already a chapter two up on my AFF page. Go read it, if you want~! But be warned. o_o;; ...Ehe.

Death steals all forms.

It robs from us time, presence, memory and love.

How long can one last without it?

A lifetime is an eternity…

: : :

He woke, as though from a dream.

It was hesitant, cautious, that he came to awareness—optics slivering open quietly as a tail or two shifted in their newly-found freedom.

Hm.

Had he been napping… ?

A wide yawn revealed tiny pinpricks of fangs—and with a light twitch of ears he heard the sound of wailing. Curious, the fox tipped its head towards the sound… and blinked, at what he saw. He was reclined on what seemed to be nothingness, curled easily in the air beside an open window. What was more astonishing was that none of the creatures past the glass had noticed him—a white fox of six or so tails… wait, six? A careful flutter of said appendages, as he counted them off… indeed, there were six. That was perplexing. Last he'd known, he'd had only four… not that he would complain about said added tails, mind you.

At any rate… the scene of the room past the window was quite odd. Slanted golden depths examined the creatures, his own form quite at ease—they hadn't noticed him yet, after all, and seemed to be too distracted to garner the fact that they would, any time soon.

There seemed to be a bed—he couldn't see who occupied it, due to a fretting dark-haired woman whose thin strands were streaked with grey clasping something in her hands. She was faced away from him, but his sensitive ears gave another slightly irritated twitch as the wailing was revealed to be from her. Eyes traveling away from the noisy human, a stoic, plain-looking man stood beside the door… seemingly unsure of what to do. His eyes were upon the crying woman, even as she reached out and touched whoever was on the bed, her body blocking any view of the face, although now the fox could see (now that she'd shifted closer to the prone form) that she clasped one of the limp hands in both of hers… hm. Must be a relative, then. Humans tended to be so attached to their blood-kin, after all… he nearly snorted, but brushed away the impulse in case it would be heard.

He watched these two, for a moment…idly noticing that he felt a bit better, vision and senses growing clearer as the time passed. Feeling the energy needed for movement, the kitsune stretched easily, padding over on the air to the other side of the window, curious to get a glimpse of the face of the one that mattered so much, to this grieving, insignificant woman.

However, the entrance of another human woman—this one clad all in white—seemed to break the scene into pieces, and the dark-haired lady nodded, leaning to kiss the brow of whoever laid upon that bed, the curious fox's eyes trailing over to… to his annoyance, the woman in white moved to the side of the bed where the other lady had previously been, blocking that form's countenance from view. She retreated soon enough, seeming to have completed whatever task it was that had kept her at the unknown human's bedside—and the kitsune lightly canted his head to the side. The face the fox took in was not unpleasant to gaze upon… for a human, at any rate.

Cheeks, paled with sickness or whatever malady he was assaulted with—still held a faint rosy tint to them, features soft in unconsciousness, unaware. The face was lined with a few wrinkles, here and there—crow's feet around the eyes, lines in the forehead, a slight sag around the chin that told of age. Perhaps this human was… ah, he was never good at ningen reckoning, but—he at least seemed to be a moderately-aged adult. Possibly close to fifty or so.

Senses not quite appeased by this information, the spirit fox easily slipped in through a crack in the window, padding over the air to sit on nothing—hovering a good few feet above the bar—at the end of the human's bed. Slanted eyes narrowed as they bore down upon the being beneath him… but his thoughts were disturbed as the door behind him opened, once more, and he tipped his head to face the intruders calmly—quite aware that they wouldn't be able to see him.

The first to enter was a tall man—once-chiseled features carrying the weight of years with them, as well. Small black eyes were set into his face, and the quite-at-ease kitsune watched as he walked over to the bedside, one large hand reaching out to rest on the (apparently) sleeping human's shoulder. His hair was in a crew-cut, murky orange in hue. A light ear twitch, and the fox at last recognized the faint 'beep, beep' sound going off in the corner. He hadn't noticed it at first—it was so monotonous, like the steady beat of a drum.

Following the man was a petite girl—no, woman, the fox corrected himself. Her features were delicate but beautiful, face still holding the glow of youth while a gently curved chin was more refined than a mere child's could have ever been. She was clad in a light turquoise dress or skirt that fell just past her knees, a long-sleeved brown jacket buttoned over her front right up to her neck, covering her modestly. Despite this rather plain look, the woman's hair was a stark sea-green color, held back in a low braid that was tied off at the end by a curious red clasp, of sorts. There was no doubt she was a demon. Her ki signature gave it away all too easily—as did her eyes, when they caught the light… red, and they could be nothing else. Forelocks of the same hue hid her face, but a gentle hand moved to find one of the larger man's and take hold of it, tenderly—

"Kazuma…" Those big fingers curled around the girl's delicate ones and he turned to her, the corners of his eyes welling over with tears. One escaped, rolling over his cheek and the woman reached her free hand to brush it away, one hand cupping his cheek and smiling in an attempt to comfort him—

Only now was the kitsune aware that two others had entered the room besides them—they were quick enough that he hadn't noticed, but his senses perked when they stepped out of the shadows behind him, slanted eyes narrowing as one walked to the side of the bed opposite the tall man and his female companion.

This figure was tall—not as tall as the man across from him, but certainly at a higher height than the demonic female. He was clad in tight blue jeans, an oversized green-and-orange jacket pulled over what appeared to be a white tank top, and a baseball cap covering his head. Lengthy dark brown bangs framed his face, falling to the chin and heavier strands cascaded down his back, pulled back into a low ponytail that seemed roughly-hewn at the ends—as though any further length had been carelessly hacked off by claws to avoid them growing any longer. As a result, said ponytail only fell to about the middle of his back. However, speaking of claws… the fox's sight traveled down to notice the hand that was clenched by the demon's side.

Why a demon? Well, it would be hard to imagine that some fledging tattoo artist in the Ningenkai had both come upon and mastered how to perfectly replicate the blue tribal markings of Raizen's clan.

At this, the fox did snort.

Ruby depths blinked curiously at the sound, the lady's head seeming to cant towards him… but she appeared to brush it off, softly moving to guide her male companion to a chair by the bed, and leaning to kiss his brow… taking his eyes from the sight, a slight prickling came upon the kitsune's neck—that other figure was yet behind him, but before he had time to turn he heard a soft gasp come from the lady before him. One of her hands was resting on the unconscious human's forehead, scarlet bangs brushed out of the way so the skin of her palm could meet his—and the other had lifted to her lips in an unconsciously refined gesture of surprise, those crimson eyes widened… and it was picked up on, immediately. The demon at the fox's right (the one with his back facing the window, and the baseball cap) spoke first—

"Yukina? What's wrong?" At this, the lady's head shook, her eyes shimmering as she leaned forward, a soft blue glow emanating from her hand—it gave the fox a headache, really—

"His… Kurama-san's…"

"Itoushi?" The carrot-top seated behind her stood, taking a few steps over to the trembling woman, a hand moving to rest on her shoulder in reassurance… and a few clatters fell to the tiled floor as she looked behind her, locking tearful eyes with him before settling her strangely crimson eyes on the demon across from her, voice falling to only a whisper…

"Kurama-san… his kitsune spirit is—it's nearly disappeared…"

"What!" The word was exclaimed in unison with the two men on either side of the bed, all eyes snapping immediately to the prone form of the redhead, that lay there like an angel… this was all very interesting, indeed.

Granted, the fox was a bit confused as to how a human could house a kitsune spirit long enough for it to be considered unusual for him to be without it… but entertainment was entertainment.

A few tails twitched lightly as the girl began weeping, the taller man leading her out of the room, brushing away her tears—most likely so they wouldn't become hiruiseki, as well, as had the uncaught few that yet dotted the tiles beside the human's—'Kurama', apparently—bed.

He took note, however, as the clawed fingers of the descendent of Raizen clenched, the brunet punching his own fist into his hand with a muttered curse, head bowing down in repressed sorrow.

"Dammit…" What happened next was curious, as those long-nailed fingers then shifted to brush a few of the red strands from the other's face, markings lightly showing on his skin as the jacket was pulled up his arm with the movement—the toushin's words were barely audible, too soft to really mean anything… "—dammit, Kurama… you can't leave us like this…"

Faintly, the kitsune was aware of the dark presence at his back moving—but ears twitched and he caught the rest of the mutterings of the demon before him…

"—you can't just have them find a brain tumor and let it eat away at you for a few months and… give up, Kurama!" The last word was an anguished sort of urgent whisper, hands moving to grasp onto the redhead's shoulders as the toushin's shoulders quivered with restrained emotion—the kitsune supposed that the unconscious face was being intently surveyed by a broken, emotional gaze, at the moment—claws lightly sinking into the light garment the human in the bed wore, his head flopping back and forth a bit, as the brunet shook him, slightly—just careful enough to avoid snapping the other's neck, but forceful enough to try to 'wake' him.

"—dammit, Kurama—" That same voice was choked, now, heavy and leaden with all-encompassing sorrow—"You're not supposed to die… not now, not here… later, after we've had centuries in Makai together—you, and me, and Hiei… dammit…!" During the tirade the toushin had drawn the redhead close to his chest, the yet-baseball-capped head bowing down over the scarlet locks—presumably to take in the scent there."…dammit, you're not supposed to die before we even get a chance to be together!" At this, the kitsune's nose picked up the fresh, salty scent of tears, one ear lightly twitching in curiosity. How often did demons allow themselves to become so attached? And to a human, no less…

The brunet cried silently for a time, arms still holding the limp form to his chest, firmly—but it was after a few long minutes that the youkai across from him spoke, and the fox found his gaze drawn to the small demon.

"Yuusuke." That tone was quiet, firm—and in a baritone that surprised the fox, given the youkai's diminutive stature. Black, blue-tinted fur rose high on his head, a white starburst standing out boldly, just above his forehead. Narrowed crimson eyes conveyed no expression, but the face beyond them was surprisingly smooth and pale—as though the youkai had just entered into adulthood… features curiously similar, and yet completely opposite to the koorime that had been in the room, earlier. That yet-baseball-capped head rose, and a glance passed between the two of them. The kitsune tipped his head to the side, in silent observation.

Finally, gently… the toushin laid the human back down into the covers, pulling the sheets back up, and glancing once more to his face—the brunet gasped.

"Hiei, look—!" Curious as to what had happened to evoke this response, the fox padded up over the air atop the bed, gazing down at the human's countenance… and had to blink. The face there was impossibly young—the lines and wrinkles, crow's feet and slightly sagging chin gone in a seeming instant. The redhead looked not a day out of his teenage years, and he could have sworn he heard the sharp intake of a hopeful breath, the toushin preparing the instant to speak—

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Like the air had suddenly been sucked out of their respective lungs, crimson and roan (now that the kitsune was close enough to peer under the baseball cap's visor) depths shot to the machine that had been quietly, steadily beeping in the corner, all this time.

The brunet's voice was regained, first.

"NO!" Those clawed hands grasped the human's shoulders, again, shaking him with renewed force as the stoic little youkai watched on, appearing unaffected by all this—and then there was the sudden sound of rushing footsteps down the hall and that demon barked an order, voice sharp.

"Window! Now!" Not wasting time for the toushin to gather his senses, the shorter of the two grabbed him by the neck and slid the window fully open, jumping out into the night and landing on the branch of the tree outside, out of sight and practically invisible in the darkness… hell, the kitsune only knew they were there because of their lingering youki signatures.

The escape was none too soon, as in the next instant a number of humans in white coats burst into the room, wheeling some device or another and shouting things to one another, the redhead's shirt ripped open by one as another rubbed what looked like two plastic cups with a cord leading from each of them to one of the machines together, a slight tinge of electricity in the air as the dark-haired woman with streaks of grey in her hair—as well as the koorime and her tall human mate—stood still at the door, the elder lady's hands flying to her mouth in horror as the demonic female's shoulders shook, her carrot-topped lover standing with a hand on her shoulder, eyes silently pained but still at the ready to sweep away any tears before they should fall and draw suspicion to the turquoise-haired woman.

"Clear!" That body on the bed jumped with the electric shock, and the doctor cast a glance to the machine in the corner—nothing. He tried again, rubbing the two cups together. "Clear!" It took a few more tries for the man to realize that it was useless… and he set the cups back into the tray they had come from, shaking his head as he took off his mask and checked his watch, reading out—"Time of death: 9:04 PM." The elderly woman broke into sobs, at this, running through the mob of nurses and various health professionals to hug the limp form, crying into the redhead's chest.

"Suuichi! No, Suuichi! My boy! Suuichi…" The last of the doctors cleared out, quietly—leaving the woman to her mourning, leaving her to clutch at the child of her own womb even as the body no longer lived.

The kitsune canted his head to the side, again, as the koorime and the tall human walked around to the other side of the bed, the petite demon wound up in her lover's embrace as she cried softly into his chest—the position allowed her to weep without drawing suspicion, well enough.

Through the course of the frenzy of doctors, the elderly woman's companion had also reached the room—but stayed back, letting the lady focus completely on her son. After a few minutes of her crying, however… he stepped forward, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Shiori…" The woman hadn't moved from her spot, her face buried against the redhead's chest as her arms encircled around his upper torso. She was still sobbing, and the man gently pried her off, and she glanced back to the body on the bed—then gasped, dark brown eyes widening beneath thin strands of black—

"S-Suuichi! Dear, look!" To this, all eyes turned to the redhead… and the koorime gasped softly, as well, voice softly stuttering—

"H-he looks… like he did, thirty years ago…" To this, Shiori broke out into a new row of tears, turning to bury her face into her husband's shoulder, shoulders shaking with a few restrained sobs.

"Wh-Why… how can he look not a day older than fifteen?! Why am I seeing my teenage boy lying here dead, like this, when he's lived so many better years beyond those tough ones, so long ago—" Gently, her husband led her out, guiding her out the door and into the hallway (and the waiting doctors) beyond.

With a flick of his tail, the kitsune realized it was time to leave.

A flicker of white disappearing into a silvery portal, and he was gone.

: : :

Triangular ears twitched atop his head, long silver strands blown away by the seductively blood-scented Makai wind. A slight smirk touched upon the youko's face as he tipped his nose into the fragrance—ahh, he'd missed this world. Long-nailed, slender fingers moved up to brush the shining strands out of his face, as he breathed in the air for the first time in many years…

Although it had taken a bit of his long-renowned brilliance, he'd managed to escape Suuichi's dying body in time. He had the vague recollection of being present during the death, but he couldn't be sure… his memories of that time were half-caught between unconsciousness and a faint slew of events that his kitsune spirit-self had observed. Hell, even if he'd been watching how his Minamino body had died it was unlikely he would've recognized anyone—the older, more permanent memories were the first to transfer, and as such he could only recall a hospital room and various visitors before he high-tailed it out of the Ningenkai and began his journey back to his 'real' home. Since his energy was a bit low (due to his human half's long sickness, most likely) it had taken a good bit of effort to navigate within the subspace periphery field. Musing lightly over how long it had actually been—the youko found he couldn't really judge the time. An elegant, slight shrug of pale, muscular shoulders dismissed this. He'd find out soon enough.

Ahhhh… there was a slight grin, then, as he recognized a power flare a good ways away. Apparently, his return had been noticed. It was met with another familiar spike of energy, and soon the two of them were racing in his direction. Amused, the youko didn't seek to move from his current spot—leisurely standing at the top of the crest of a grassy hill, white robes billowing as the wind curled around his silvery form and his ears twitched softly against the moving air, tail lazily playing with the breeze.

Perhaps only half-an-hour later, the first ki presence stopped behind him, and the kitsune easily tipped a glance backward, golden depths tinted with amusement at the widened red eyes behind him. The Jaganshi was utterly still, sword drawn as if by habit… and the youko found himself unable to resist a chuckle.

"…surprised to see me, Hiei~?" The shock in those crimson eyes was too dear to behold… they were yet widened, but then narrowed suddenly—as if their owner had realized exactly what his expression must look like. There was a yet a flicker of doubt in the depths of that gaze, though.

"…Kurama?"

"Kurama!"

Blinking sharply, the youko had absolutely no reaction time as he was tackled from the front by a tanned, blurred outline of a body—which then revealed itself to be an all-too-familiar toushin, as those golden depths moved themselves to glance up at the too-wide roan ones overhead… he lifted a hand to brush one of the long brown forelocks of the other's away from his face, expression softening at the sorrowful lines he saw etched in the other's face…

"…hello, Yuusuke."

Those expressive brown depths blinked sharply, and suddenly the brunet grinned in joy, arms wrapping around the silver one's shoulders as he whooped with happiness, tugging the youko along to roll in the grass and the fox had to chuckle—eventually stopping him by sitting up, an overjoyed toushin yet clinging to his neck and still muttering happy sounds as he pressed close to the fox's form. Warmed saffron hues slid to the fire youkai across the way—Hiei still hadn't moved, the wind lightly billowing his ebony cloak and white scarf behind him as that crimson gaze just continued to stare at the two entwined in an embrace… almost as though he was afraid to step closer.

Raising the hand that wasn't currently wound around the affectionate brunet's waist, Kurama shifted to beckon the other over, calling out to him as golden hues glimmered gently, tone lit with a tenderness that spoke of old jade eyes and lyrical alto tones, now lost forever—

"Come here, firebaby…"

A blur of black had a second demon attached to him and the youko chuckled, winding a secure arm around that thin waist and leaning to kiss the middle of the white starburst half-buried into his collarbone. He felt the wiry form tremble—albeit only slightly, barely able to be felt—pressing only closer to the fox as aforementioned youko settled to hole up both of his lovers in a possessive embrace, alternating between nuzzling gently to the brunet's softly spiky locks and petting at them, or resting his cheek against Hiei's hair and simply breathing in the scent...

For a while they simply sat there like that, in silence—basking in one another's presence as though they'd been separated for years.

: : :

Hours later, the trio lay beneath a tall tree on the edge of a forest—sunlight lazily trailing down as clawed fingers pet through the ebony spokes beneath, eliciting a faint throaty hum from the Jaganshi who was curled up at the youko's side, head pillowed in Kurama's lap as one arm was thrown over the silvery one's far thigh. Yuusuke was the one leaned against the trunk, actually—the kitsune settled quite comfortably between his legs as strong arms were wound about his waist, the brunet's thick mane providing a comfortable pillow to lean his head on, as the toushin had propped his chin on the fox's shoulder, keeping close…

The murmur that wondered at an odd fact brought a soft chuckle to the surface—even as Kurama's fingers didn't cease in their caress of ebony strands, his free hand moving to palm one of the arms snaked so possessively over his own abdomen.

"Ah… hm… so Suuichi's body looked young, at the end? I was wondering about that…"

"Yeah…" Came the muttered reply from behind his neck, teeth idly nipping at pale skin and the youko tipped his head to the side, optics sliding leisurely half-shut as the conversation continued—"…it was really weird… 'cause we'd just gotten there 'n' then you looked like you did, those thirty-some years ago when we were all fighting as the reikai tantei—" Kurama felt a soft nostalgic smile curve against his skin, at this… but it was replaced by a frown all too soon, as well as a reflexive tightening of the arms around him. "…but then…"

"Your heartbeat stopped, and Yuusuke tried to shake you from the dead." Was the lazy finishing of that thought from a mumbled tone buried into his lap… and Kurama had to blink in mild surprise, tone turning thoughtful.

"Ah, I see…" Hiei snorted, rolling so as to face the fox (although not disturbing the hand in his hair, so much), garnet optics bearing up upon the youko—and so the silver-haired one smiled, moving that same hand to brush the other's bangs off his headband, in an affectionate gesture, offering an explanation likely the both of them were wondering over…

"—I'm a youko, ne~?" Red eyes looked like they wanted to roll, and so Kurama playfully tugged at the white-black bangs, gently. "…and as such, illusions are one of my specialties." A soft purr from the back of the fox's throat, deft digits burying themselves in spiky black fur, once more—"It was kit's play for me to present the appearance of aging to the humans I was surrounded by. However…" A soft shrug, then, the tall fox idly settling back against the comforting form of the toushin behind him—"Once I'd been removed from that body, it was naturally impossible for me to keep the illusion… and with that gone, it is of course logical that I'd suddenly appear to be younger, since that body never really aged after my teen years."

Silence. Perhaps he had better elaborate…

"…Put simply, when you saw Suuichi's form change from old to young, it merely meant that my kitsune spirit had completely withdrawn from the human body, and could thus no longer keep up the illusion of age."

More silence.

And then—

A snicker. The youko lofted a brow, glancing back at the brunet behind him—but Yuusuke just buried his laughter into the fox's neck, arms tightening around the silver one as he guffawed. Kurama huffed, lightly—although not really minding the laughter. When the toushin had calmed, some, he shook his head, cuddling up more to the youko in front of him. Hiei muttered.

"Crazy fox…" A responding chuckle, head tipping down to press a kiss against the hankoorime's forehead.

"I've been told that, yes~"

Yuusuke was curiously silent, and so after Hiei had responded to the kitsune's kiss with a warm meeting of lips… he spoke up, voice curious.

"…so does this mean you can make us think we're having sex with either you or anyone else?"

There was a pregnant pause.

. . .

And then the fox huffed, tipping sight back to eye the one behind him.

"…are you implying that you would prefer to think you're having sex with someone else, Yuusuke?"

"Hn. Stupid detective."

"O-oi, I didn't mean it like that…" Cheeks puffed out in defiance, brown eyes narrowing at the twin disapproving stares bearing down upon him—Hiei had sat up to be sure the toushin didn't miss his.

Simultaneously, a brow lofted itself over one golden orb of the kitsune, and one red orb of the Jaganshi, to that stuttering attempt to diffuse their nearly-identical glares.

Yuusuke huffed, at that, wrinkling his nose a bit and canting his sight off to the side, mumbling…

"I was jus' wonderin' if it meant we could pretend to have Kurama's old body, too… y'know… like the old days—"

Softness was abruptly called back to saffron optics in realization, at this—a gentle ghost of a whisper moving to brush a kiss against the toushin's cheek—

"Yuusuke…" Another kiss—this time to his temple—golden depths slipping quietly shut.

"Youko are shape-shifters, too…"

A light glow of youki, and suddenly the form between the two other youkai was more slender, more delicate, more familiar—and both brown and red eyes widened, marginally, as emerald eyes gazed kindly into each of them in turn from beneath scarlet bangs, a warm smile tugging at the kitsune's lips as he finished the sentence.

"…you don't need an illusion, love."

~*~End~*~