Shuichi's feet felt heavy as he trudged up the long staircase to the temple. Hiei strode along ahead of him, fit from his martial arts work. Shuichi envied him. He spent too much time sitting behind a desk to be as fit as Hiei.

It was a beautiful day. The sun filtered through the trees that sheltered the stairs and a light breeze ruffled Shuichi's loose hair.

"Shuichi?"

Shuichi almost lost his balance as he walked into Hiei. Hiei caught him around the waist to steady him.

"What?" Shuichi asked blankly. Why had Hiei stopped?

"What's wrong with you? I've told you three times to slow down but you've been ignoring me."

Shuichi moved down a step to put some distance between them. He glanced back over his shoulder and was staggered by how far they'd come. The steps stretched down far below him.

The muscles in his legs burned and his breaths came in short pants. How fast had he been walking?

And why hadn't he been aware of it? He knew better than to push himself like that. Or to tune the rest of the world out like that.

The niggling feeling that there was something wrong with him grew stronger. Surely this wasn't normal?

"I am sorry," he said, meeting Hiei's narrow-eyed glare. "I was off in my own world."

Hiei didn't quite look placated by his explanation. "It's not a race," he said.

"I understand that." Shuichi couldn't help but feel irritated. He'd apologised. Couldn't Hiei just drop it?

Hiei's frown deepened. "You look pale," he observed. "Maybe you should sit down."

Shuichi did so, stretching his legs out and trying to catch his breath. Hiei sat down beside him.

"Are you getting sick or something?" he asked.

Shuichi shrugged. "Possibly," he said. "Or possibly I am not in very good shape." He tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it. Before Hiei could notice, he turned his face away.

They sat in silence. Shuichi listened to the birds in the trees. His irritation began to fade though a sense of unease remained. He wasn't comfortable in this place.

But a quick glance out of the corner of his eye at Hiei showed Shuichi that his boyfriend didn't share his feelings. Hiei's expression had softened as he stared down the way they'd come.

"You like it here," Shuichi said, his soft voice intruding on the silence.

Hiei gave a shrug. "I suppose," he said. "Don't you?"

"Not particularly," Shuichi admitted. "This was where I woke up after…"

Hiei winced. "You should try to forget about that," he said. "It's over now." His gaze remained locked straight ahead.

He didn't like hearing Shuichi talk about that time. Every time Shuichi brought the subject up, Hiei would change it. And he wasn't subtle about it either.

Shuichi had a vague memory of Hiei being at the temple at that time as well. He'd learned after properly meeting Hiei that he'd been taking martial arts lessons from the old lady who owned the temple.

Quite a coincidence. Maybe they were fated to meet.

Or maybe it would have been better if they had never met.

"It is not that easy," Shuichi told Hiei. He couldn't help but rub his leg where the bullet had struck. Hiei noticed and glared at him. Shuichi returned his hand to the step beside him.

They remained there for several more minutes before continuing up the stairs at a much more reasonable pace.

Urameshi Yusuke greeted both of them cheerily when they entered the temple. He and Kuwabara Kazuma had come out here the previous evening. They had also brought Hiei's sister Yukina along with them. Yusuke's wife had declined to join them as she was needed at their restaurant.

Yusuke had started on the beer already. Shuichi politely refused his offer of a can. He felt that it was too early in the day to start drinking.

"Hiei!" Yukina's happy voice filled the living room as she hugged her brother. Shuichi wanted to laugh at his expression. Hiei held Yukina awkwardly, not quite sure where to put his hands. Hiei never liked public displays of affection.

"Ku-ow!" Botan's greeting was cut off by a glaring Yusuke, who had just pulled on her blue ponytail. He hissed something in her ear and her face drained of colour.

"Oh, ah, hello Shuichi," she said, her words spilling from her mouth far too quickly.

Shuichi returned her greeting even as he wondered why she was so nervous. He didn't know her very well. Most of their time together had been during Shuichi's recuperation and he had been a bit out of it then, due to his leg wound.

Shuichi soon found himself sitting beside Kuwabara on the sofa as they discussed work. The orange haired man had just started working as an engineer at a very reputable company. Shuichi was proud of him. He knew that Kuwabara had worked hard to earn his degree.

Out of the group, it was Kuwabara that Shuichi knew best. They had attended the same university, though they had not spent much time together as they were both busy with their courses. But then Shuichi had met Kuwabara's roommate Hiei purely by chance. After that, Shuichi had gotten an apartment in the same building, then Hiei had moved in with him. So, through his relationship with Hiei, he'd formed a friendship with Kuwabara.

The owner of the temple, the old lady Genkai, did not make an appearance. Botan had told them that she'd left to visit an old friend who was ill. Yusuke had been very pleased about that.

"So, we're all going to go to the beach and have a camp-out tomorrow night," Yusuke announced after thrashing both Kuwabara and Hiei at his favourite fighting game.

"Awesome!" Kuwabara said. "It'll be just like old times. Except this time we'll have the shrimp with us."

Hiei's crimson eyes seemed to glow as they glared balefully at Kuwabara. "Not you, too," he muttered.

"The beach?" Shuichi inquired. He hadn't realised that the temple grounds extended that far.

"Yeah. Don't you remember? We used to…" Kuwabara's voice trailed off as his eyes went wide as saucers.

"Used to… what?" Shuichi asked, baffled. He didn't think he'd ever camped out on a beach before, let alone with these men.

"Never mind," Kuwabara muttered, ducking his head.

"there is a small problem, though," Yusuke said. "We don't have enough sleeping bags. Two of us will have to share."

"That isn't a problem," Hiei said. "I'll share with Shuichi."

"Right," Yusuke said, satisfied. "That's sorted, then."

Shuichi felt a small amount of resentment. No one had even asked his opinion. They'd just assumed that he would be fine with that arrangement.

And he should be fine with that arrangement. A few months ago, he would have been fine with it.

Shuichi left the sofa and went to join the girls in the kitchen. They welcomed him with happy smiles and accepted his offer of help with dinner. Hiei entered the kitchen just as they were discussing what to cook.

He glanced briefly at Shuichi, his eyes raking over him before he went to the fridge and got out a can of beer.

"What would you like us to cook?" Yukina asked him.

"I don't really care," Hiei told her.

Shuichi frowned at him then turned to the girls. "I am sure whatever you decide to cook will be wonderful," he said.

Yukina gave him a sunny smile. "Thank you, Shuichi," she said. "You're so sweet."

Hiei grimaced at Shuichi. "He's always on his best behaviour around you," he told Yukina. "You don't know what he's really like."

"What do you mean by that?" Botan asked curiously.

Shuichi couldn't help it. He started laughing. Both girls stared at him. Tentatively, Yukina began to smile too. Botan still looked unsure.

"I'm not saying anything else," Hiei said, before leaving the kitchen. Shuichi managed to get himself under control and made a mental note not to forget what Hiei had said. It called for reprisal.

-0-

Shuichi spent an enjoyable afternoon going back and forth between the two groups. He was in a good mood as they all sat down to eat dinner together.

Yusuke leaned back and stretched his arms over his head. "This was a really good idea, Hiei," he said.

"Yeah," Kuwabara said. "And, you know the best thing about it? No mobile phone reception. My boss can't call me and ask me to come in to work."

"Yeah," Hiei agreed. "My boss keeps asking me to take extra classes."

"Why don't you?" Shuichi asked curiously.

"Because I like to be home on time," Hiei answered.

Shuichi pursed his lips, guilt gnawing at him at the subtle reminder that he was often late. He wasn't sure if the dig was intentional on Hiei's part or not but he felt bad all the same.

"What about you, Yukina?" Yusuke asked. "What have you been doing since moving in with Shizuru?"

Yukina's face brightened. "Shizuru taught me how to cut and style hair," she said. "I was working for her for a while, but then I found a job at an ice-cream parlour."

"Geez, why didn't you say so sooner?" Yusuke demanded. "We could have all met up there for ice-cream."

"Probably because she doesn't want your loud mouth scaring off all the customers," Hiei muttered.

Yusuke glared at him. "Shut up, shrimp," he said, but his tone was good-natured.

Hiei bristled at the old insult. "I'm taller than you," he pointed out.

Yusuke grinned evilly. "But you were so little and cute in those photos Koenma had," he said.

Hiei sulked, slumping on his cushion.

Shuichi was intrigued. Photos? What photos? And who was Koenma? Why would he have photos of a younger Hiei? Was he a relative?

And could Shuichi get a copy of the photos, somehow? He would like to see what Hiei looked like when he was younger.

Other than Yukina, Hiei had no family that Shuichi was aware of. He never talked about his parents. Shuichi had never quite had the courage to ask Yukina. It seemed too personal a subject. And Hiei was an intensely private person and very protective of his sister. If something bad had happened to their parents, Shuichi did not want to drag up unpleasant memories and upset the siblings.

After dinner, Kuwabara produced a deck of cards and proposed a game of poker. Yusuke eagerly took him up on it. Shuichi had been willing to play, until Yusuke turned it into a drinking game. He did not want to get drunk so he sat on the sidelines and observed.

He was surprised that Kuwabara actually was the best player in the group. Though he suspected that it had to do with dumb luck, more than anything else.

By the time a yawning Botan entered and told them all to pipe down as they were disturbing the girls' sleep, both Yusuke and Hiei were completely drunk. Kuwabara had managed to stay almost sober, though he had begun to slur his words a little.

Shuichi stood up from the sofa and stretched. He hadn't realised how long he'd been sitting for. The scabs on his back pulled a little, making him wince.

He felt eyes on him and glanced over to see that Hiei was staring at him with a look he knew all to well. He sighed.

Hiei stood, swaying a little. He staggered over to Shuichi and grabbed hold of him, more to keep himself on his feet than anything else, Shuichi suspected.

"You smell nice," he mumbled into Shuichi's hair.

A shiver went through Shuichi. Karasu had told him the same thing, he remembered. He didn't want to think about that man. Not now.

Kuwabara was trying to help Yusuke to his feet but was having a little trouble as Yusuke kept trying to bat his hands away.

"I wanna stay up," he demanded, swaying dangerously.

"Well, you can't," Kazuma informed him.

Yusuke glowered at him. "Yes, I can. I can do what I want," he said, trying to pull his arm out of Kuwabara's grip. Kuwabara stubbornly held on.

Shuichi began to move towards the hall, with Hiei clinging to him.

"This isn't the way," Hiei muttered, trying to pull Shuichi in another direction.

Shuichi's shoulder bumped the wall and he pushed back against Hiei, annoyed.

"Yes, it is," he said, wondering where Hiei thought they were.

He eventually managed to get Hiei into the room they shared. Mercifully, Hiei flopped face-down onto the futon and fell asleep immediately. Shuichi was incredibly relieved.

Shuichi left the room and went to the bathroom. He knew that the cuts on his back needed tending.

Getting the ointment onto the cuts involved a lot of awkward twisting around. Shuichi was sure that he'd probably wasted a quarter of the bottle in his attempts to cover the entire area.

The sound of the door opening behind him made Shuichi spin around in surprise, his heart in his throat. He hadn't realised that he'd forgotten to lock it.

In the doorway stood a bleary-eyed Yusuke. He blinked at Shuichi in surprise.

"What's on your back?" he asked suspiciously.

Shuichi felt his blood turn to ice. "Nothing," he said.

"Yes, there is," Yusuke protested, raising one finger to point at him. "I can see it in the mirror."

Shuichi hastily grabbed his shirt and pulled it on.

"It's still there," Yusuke pointed out, stepping closer to him. He staggered a little and put his hand on the towel rack to steady himself.

"You're drunk, Yusuke," Shuichi informed him.

"What's that got to do with it?" Yusuke asked, a confused look coming across his face.

"Yusuke!"

Kuwabara's annoyed bellow made both men flinch. Yusuke's eyes went wide and he attempted to duck around behind Shuichi.

"I'm not here," he hissed at Shuichi.

Kuwabara's footsteps thudded down the hall ominously.

"There you are," he said triumphantly when he passed by the open door and spotted Yusuke trying to hide behind Shuichi.

"I'm not here," Yusuke repeated.

Kuwabara sighed. "Get back to your room or I'm going to call Keiko," he threatened.

Yusuke was out of the bathroom like a shot. Shuichi was surprised that he could move that fast.

Kuwabara laughed as he watched Yusuke dart down the hall. "Man, that works even better when he's drunk," he said. Then he turned back to Shuichi. "Sorry, Shuichi. Hope he didn't bother you."

"No, it is fine," Shuichi assured him. Privately, he hoped that Yusuke would be too drunk to remember what he'd seen.

Kuwabara left after wishing Shuichi a good night, shutting the bathroom door behind himself. Shuichi made sure it was locked before removing his shirt once more and continuing to tend to his injuries. It was some time before his heart rate settled to a more normal pace. That had been far too close for comfort.