I'm sorry this chapter took so long to complete! I meant to finish it up earlier, but classes got in the way and I had to think of who would comfort Kurama after a nightmare. Of course, I picked the entire team, so here you go. Sorry if it ends awkwardly. Any suggestions to make it better would be awesome.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never and forever.


"Hiei? Gods… Gods, Kuwabara? Yusuke… Yusuke? Yusuke!"

They were all cold to the touch, lined up neatly in a row. Hiei was curled loosely on his side, face turned towards Kuwabara, whose arm was draped across him as if they were merely asleep. Kuwabara had been protecting Hiei – Kurama could tell that much just by looking at them – though it had been in vain. They were both drenched in blood. Crimson pools spread around them and across their clothes, creeping towards Kurama like a shadow. He found that he couldn't move.

"Yusuke…" His voice broke. As he fell to his knees at the detective's side, he felt his body begin to tremble. "Oh, Yusuke." The dark-haired human lay sprawled on his back in his school uniform and was as clean as polished porcelain, regardless of his comrades' blood that continued to spread around the floor. Floor…

Kurama looked around for any sign of his team's attackers. Finding no enemy – alive or dead - he was distraught to further discover that there was no entrance or exit way to the room, if this was even a room. The large, cell-like container was splattered with blood along its white walls, the life substance no doubt belonging to Hiei and Kuwabara.

Oh, Kuwabara

Desperately, he shook Yusuke's shoulder, wanting to believe that the boy's white pallor meant nothing, and that his lack of breath was just a fun joke, haha. But the boy didn't even flinch at Kurama's urging.

"Yusuke?"

The detective moved. Kurama held his breath. Was the boy going to wake? Perhaps he wasn't dead. There might be a chance to escape. If they combined an attack somehow and they could force a hole in the wall-

A screech left Yusuke's mouth, something unlike any human sound Kurama had heard before. It rose in decibel until Kurama was sure his ears were leaking fluid, and the back of his mouth tasted of blood. Then, suddenly, the sound was cut-off, and he was sure that his eardrums had burst until he saw a droplet of red, red blood trail from the corner of Yusuke's open mouth. The boy's jaw stretched open, wider and wider until his tongue rolled out and Kurama could see the back of his throat even from where he was kneeling.

"Kurama."

Yusuke's lips weren't moving. "Kurama, I'm so scared. Hiei," the voice said, sounding like a child and a monster simultaneously, "And Kuwabara. How… c-could you… do that to them?"

"I didn't," Kurama almost sobbed. "I have done nothi-"

"Your hands."

"My-…?" He looked down at his palms… and scr-

"Kurama, you're freakin' us out! Would you wake up?"

The hands that were on his shoulders were wrenched away as he sat up with a strangled cry, his hot, sweating face meeting the cool atmosphere of Kuwabara's living room. Directly across from him, Hiei was standing stock-still, his sword halfway drawn as if expecting an enemy, though he looked genuinely stricken at the moment. Kuwabara was sitting at Kurama's side, bearing the same expression as Hiei while Yusuke was leaning over the redhead, hands held up in a defensive position.

"Didn' mean to scare you," the black-haired boy said quickly, "You practically kicked me in the face and I was on the sofa. You alri-?"

Kurama choked on an exhale and collapsed against the detective, hands clutching at his nightshirt. "My hands were…"

"What? Your hands are fine. I mean, they're kinda scraping skin right now – your grip's a little tight – but they're-"

"Blood. Blood all over them and you said I'd done it, Yusuke…"

"Whatever you're implying you did, you clearly haven't done, so I don't see why you intend on carrying on, Kurama," came Hiei's voice, trying to sound indignant but coming across as weak, even comforting.

"It was only a dream," Kuwabara assured.

"I know that," the redhead said in a harsh, defensive whisper. "I'm just-… I'm alright."

"About that grip of yours…" Yusuke said in a half-assed joke, though his own fingers were gently tugging at Kurama's hands, which were close to grasping the skin of his chest.

Kurama let the boy go. "I'm sorry."

"No problem. Bad dreams suck, y'know?"

"As well you should, since you disrupt almost every mission with one," Hiei noted. Yusuke shot him a glare.

"Yeah, well, you don't exactly wake up fresh as a daisy either, Hiei."

"More like a weed," Kuwabara offered.

"I don't believe I asked for you to speak."

"You don' gotta ask me anything, 'cause yer not the boss of me!"

"Guys, shh! Kurama's asleep."

"That quick?"

"Your bickering prolly made him pass out," Yusuke said with a grin at Kuwabara. He adjusted Kurama's head, which had fallen into his lap. "I'll wake him up later. You guys can go back to sleep."

"You sure?" Kuwabara asked, already climbing back into his sleeping bag. Yusuke leaned back against the armchair and closed his eyes.

"Yeah. G'night."

Goodnight.


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