A/N: I had to rewrite this damn chapter three times, the computer kept eating it. My apologies if it's disjointed from being picked up so many times.

Chapter Three: Half awake

It was three more days before Kurama awoke.

During that time, his dependence on Hiei or Yusuke's presence did not lessen. He showed no reaction to Shiori's touch, or indeed to any touch, but rather only to the absence of his friends.

Genkai's retreat became quite crowded. Yusuke and Hiei stayed out of necessity, and no one even thought to suggest Shiori leave. Yukina also remained at the shrine, even though she had left to marry Kuwabara and live in the city with him years ago; Kuwabara himself made it up as frequently as he could, usually for at least an hour each day. Botan was there for the majority of each day and Koenma dropped by most days as well, hoping in vain for progress in the status of his fighter. At first Shiori tried to keep contact with her husband over the phone, but the story of Kurama's past came out to them quickly and Hatanaka, being no fool at reading his wife's emotional state, packed up Shuuichi and brought them both to stay at the shrine as well.

The shrine was full, but the room where Kurama lay came more and more to house only three people. The others became less and less present, hiding from the anger of the two men who would have willingly set the Dark Tournament ablaze for the life of the demon they now guarded. The atmosphere in the room was invariably thick and tense. Yusuke and Hiei tried to be respectful of the others' need to be there, particularly Shiori's, but they flowed from snapping at each other into a sense of comradery and right back into snapping at each other so fast and so unpredictably that no one else could stand to be there. Kuwabara privately voiced the opinion to Yukina that once Kurama was no longer dependant on their touch, his two friends needed to go out and have a good, long battle with each other to get it out of their systems. Yusuke and Hiei would sulk, throwing accusations at each other while secretly blaming themselves, and then switch to discussing the fox with such a detailed knowledge of his life and habits that it was clear everyone else was an outsider when it came to Kurama.

So it was no surprise when, four days after his rescue, Hiei and Yusuke were the only ones in the room when Kurama awoke.

Hiei was sitting on the bed at the time, his hands tightly interlaced with Kurama's to keep the unconscious demon from crying out in fear. Yusuke was pacing the room in a small fit of frustration. Hiei remained quiet, having decided it was not worth the effort to suggest Yusuke go fry a tree with his spirit gun to let off some energy. He was looking down at Kurama, noticing that his hair was becoming more and more tangled as Kurama tossed and turned in his nightmares. Hiei didn't want it to get any more tangled, but he also wasn't keen on being seen to do something as--domestic--as brushing hair. How to bring it to someone's attention without acting like he cared?

Sweeping his eyes over the red mess his gaze passed over Kurama's face--and then backtracked. His eyes were open.

Hiei's eyes closed in on Kurama's, and Yusuke's ranting was instantly tuned out. Kurama looked back at him, but there was no change in his facial expression. "Kurama," Hiei murmured.

Kurama blinked, slowly, still looking at Hiei with the same expression of--what? Gravity? An expression so smooth Hiei was not yet certain he was awake. Yusuke stilled, and looked over to the bed. "Is he awake?" he asked uncertainly.

Hiei did not look away from Kurama. "Are you awake?"

Yusuke moved over to the bed to side beside them, and Kurama moved his head stiffly, locating Yusuke and silently taking him in. "Kurama, are you awake?" Hiei repeated, a little more urgently. 'Can you understand me?"

Dry lips parted. "I can understand you," Kurama said hoarsely.

Yusuke and Hiei glanced at each other, relief pouring from their eyes. "Goddamn, Kurama, you scared the hell out of us," Yusuke sighed.

Easy, detective, Hiei warned, speaking directly into Yusuke's mind. I don't think he's really with us yet.

"Sorry," Kurama rasped.

He tried to sit and failed; without speaking, Yusuke leaned forward and helped support him until Hiei had arranged the pillows for him to lean against. Yusuke frowned upon coming into contact with Kurama and finding he was shaking; when he lay back it was clear even to the naked eye that he was trembling, as he brought his knees up to his chest and insecurely wrapped his arms around them.

"Where am I?" Kurama asked softly, not really looking at either of them.

"At Genkai's," Hiei answered him.

"And how long have I been here?"

"Four days." Hiei let a little of the worry and frustration he had felt during those four days creep into his voice.

Kurama's eyes closed. "Stay with us," Yusuke cautioned, putting out a hand to support Kurama's neck when his head would have fallen to the side. "Don't go back to sleep just yet."

"I knew..." Kurama's hand moved spastically, trying to grip something; Hiei covered it with both of his own. "I knew, that if I ever woke up again, anywhere that wasn't there... it would be to one of your voices."

Yusuke almost asked a question then, something about where Kurama had been and what had happened, but he stopped himself. Kurama was breathing hard and shaking harder, and he still had his eyes closed. He looked like he was about to go into a seizure. Yusuke looked to Hiei for a clue as to what to do next, but Hiei was only frowning at Kurama, seeming as helpless as Yusuke felt.

The urge to comfort quickly became overpowering. Yusuke moved further onto the bed and wrapped an arm around Kurama's shoulders. "You're safe now," he offered, squeezing the thin shoulders lightly. "No one's going to hurt you anymore."

The response was instantaneous. Kurama gave a strangled sob, a sound that it seemed he had been suppressing since the moment he woke. He turned his head into Yusuke's shoulder, and his grip on Hiei's hand tightened to an almost bone-shattering level.

If there had been any less pain in the room, the next moments might have proved comical. Two demons, neither of whom had experienced comfort or support in their lives, two demons who were hard and proud and strong desperately trying to be soft and soothing instead; trying to offer that mythical comfort that had always been denied them. They didn't know what to do.

Kurama was in silent agony, unable to breathe, not willing to give into the tears but unable to stop them so that every so often a little sob would break free from him, and the tears ran quietly down his face. Yusuke and Hiei looked at each other with wide eyes over his shoulders, sobered well past the point of dignity by Kurama's pain. They tried touching him, comforting him, awkwardly bumping into to each other as they tried to hold Kurama without invading each other's space. Finally, as Kurama showed no signs of being comforted, Hiei mentally growled Yusuke, this is ridiculous. He needs us. Then he held Kurama close to himself and pressed both their bodies against Yusuke; it took only a second for Yusuke to wrap his arms around them both, effectively sandwiching Kurama between them. Then they held him quietly, neither having words of comfort to give.

Their touch proved enough. Clinging to them both, literally barricaded from the world by their physical presence, Kurama still shook but his tears escaped from him in gasps, and gradually ceased. Hiei and Yusuke reached a silent decision not to try to speak again, to let Kurama be the first; so they lay there for a moment in silence, the only movement being when Hiei wiped an errant strand of hair out of Kurama's eyes.

"Where is my mother?" Kurama finally asked. "Is she safe?"

"She's here, in the shrine. You want to see her?" Yusuke was already half rising from the bed.

"No!" Kurama grabbed Yusuke's wrist. "No, I... I don't want her to see."

"Fox, she's already seen," Hiei told him.

Kurama closed his eyes. "What did you tell her," he asked tremulously.

Hiei and Yusuke exchanged a glance, only now realizing how extremely angry Kurama was about to become with them. "Everything," Hiei said slowly. "She was going to go and look for you... so we told her everything, to make her stop."

Kurama gasped. "She knows..."

"Everything," Yusuke confirmed, quick to not let Hiei take the heat for what had been a mutual decision.

Kurama began shaking harder. Yusuke tried to move in to comfort him, but he curled up into a ball, turning away from his touch and beginning to sob again. Yusuke reached out to stroke his back but quickly pulled his hand back. Hiei also tried to touch him and stopped, frowning. In his distress, the fox was radiating a wall of hurt and angry energy that snapped and licked at their hands, quickly growing so strong that they were both forced off the bed.

"What now?" Yusuke asked.

Before Hiei could say anything, the door opened and Kuwabara bounded in, having noticed the strange outburst of energy. "What's going on with him?" he exclaimed.

"He woke up," Hiei summed up.

Kuwabara opened his mouth to say something else; but before he could speak the door opened again and Genkai came in. She took one look at Kurama, then rounded on Hiei and Yusuke. "What did you do to him?"

Yusuke's mouth flopped open, then shut, then open, like a landed fish; Hiei looked away, withering slightly under Genkai's hard look. Finally, Yusuke spoke. "He woke up and he asked about his mother, and then when we told him she knew about him being a demon he started--that."

"And you thought telling him as soon as he woke up that Shiori now knows everything he despises about himself and hid from her for two decades was a great thing to do?" Now both boys were wincing.

Genkai looked like she was winding herself up for a tirade but Shiori herself came into the room then, having jumped up and followed the sound of Kuwabara's pounding feet. "Shuichi?" she gasped, and started to move forward.

Genkai intercepted her. "No, Shiori," she said with unusual gentleness. "You can't touch him right now."

"Grandma, what the hell is he doing anyway?"

"It's an energy barrier, dimwit--it's an instinctive reaction to feeling hurt of threatened, a way of protecting one's self. Now, as weak as he is right now either one of you could rip through it like paper, but I don't think that's the way to make him feel better--and Shiori mustn't touch it, none of his human family would be able to bear it." Genkai drew a chair up to the bedside, gently directing Shiori into it. "Shiori, I think it's best if you sit with him for awhile. When he stops panicking he will sense you, and he will want more than anything to know you still love him. And you two." She fixed Hiei and Yusuke with a glare. "Out."

"We have to--"

"He needs us to--"

"He doesn't seem to be reliant on your touch right now, does he?" Genkai asked, gesturing. "Give the boy a moment with his mother."

Hiei and Yusuke looked at each other in a way that clearly expressed how little either one wanted to leave the room. However, Hiei allowed his Jagan to glow briefly, indicating that they could still watch him, and Yusuke nodded. Under Genkai's stern glare, the boys finally left Kurama's room.