Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story. This fanfiction is rated M for bad language, citrus flavoring, and violence. Beware the rating!

CHAPTER THREE: APPARITIONS

Kurama woke to find himself in the temple and his face flushed deeper in embarrassment as he saw everyone surrounding them. Yukina and Kuwabara were in regular clothes with their bags nearby, a signal that he'd been gone from the waking world for at least eighteen hours. Yusuke was sitting in a corner rubbing Keiko's swollen stomach and smiling when he felt one of the unborn children move. Hiei was next to him, smoothing his hair and placing a damp cool rag on his forehead.

"Go," Kurama groaned in a raspy voice. " Yukina, Kuwabara, go to the airport and enjoy your honeymoon with my blessings. Keiko, Yusuke, head home. In your condition and with half-breed children on the way you should be put on bed rest Keiko. I don't want to hear another peep from any of you about me falling ill. It's nothing to concern yourself with." He waved them off with one hand and closed his eyes. "You have five seconds before I call my plants on you."

Yukina leaned down and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Feel better soon." She grabbed her new husband's hand and dragged him from the room.

Yusuke grabbed Keiko's hands and helped her on to her feet. "I'll come by to check on you tomorrow before work. Get better fox-boy." He kept a secure arm around Keiko's waist as they left the temple as well.

"You know something you aren't telling me," Hiei frowned. "What's happening to you?"

"I know one of them is my heat," Kurama murmured. He opened his eyes and watched as Hiei peeled the blanket from his naked form.

Hiei's fingers trailed down Kurama's lean muscles, ghosted down his sides and caressed his hips. "Is that all?"

Kurama frowned. "I told you I wouldn't know what was wrong with me for a few days."

"You just said that it was your heat," Hiei stated. "You're playing games with me now, trying to keep me from asking too many questions. What's going on?"

Kurama shook his head. "I don't know. The worst of it should pass after today and then I'll be able to more accurately pinpoint the problem."

"Always so logical, even when your own health is at risk. If it is your heat, what change is your body making? Only foxes who are half-breeds have been able to change their forms between male and female during heat."

"What am I?" Kurama whispered up at him.

Hiei gulped as he gazed down at his fox. "A half-breed."

"Exactly."

"So you're… going to change form?"

Kurama laughed at the look on Hiei's face. "No, that is certainly not going to happen. If I had that particular issue, it would have reared its ugly head the moment I turned in to an adult by fox standards. I reached that at the age of sixteen. Besides, when I first discovered of that anomaly, I was given a medication by Mother Inaya to kill it should it be dormant inside me."

Hiei let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Good. Besides the fact that the female anatomy has no interest for me, I wouldn't want to worry about you getting… pregnant." Hiei shook his head. "I can't imagine you fat. You barely eat enough for you. There's no way I'd be able to harp you in to consuming enough for you and a child."

"It's not an issue either of us need to worry about unless you have the capability of changing form."

Hiei shook his head. "I never had the gene."

Kurama caressed Hiei's face. "Then it's adoption for us. But will we adopt a fox or a fire demon?" A pensive look struck his face.

"Kurama, I believe it's a little soon to even think about children. We aren't even married yet. Perhaps a year after our marriage we'll adopt."

Kurama sat up and handed Hiei the rag. "I'm feeling a lot better now, actually. I think I slept off the worst of it. I'll still have a minor fever and perhaps dizzy spells, but that should be the worst of what's left."

"Until the rest of it hits."

"Then I guess you'll have a week of bed rest yourself," Kurama teased and ran a hand up Hiei's chest. "Because there's no way I'll let you out of my sight when I'm in heat."

"I'm still curious to see what changes your body will be making. You've already gained the powers to move back and forth between forms at will and you've reached adulthood in both human and demon standards."

Kurama shrugged. "I don't understand it either." He stood up in his naked glory and smirked when Hiei's eyes traveled down the perfection and up again. "None of that," Kurama shook his head. "You aren't allowed a piece of this until after my heat."

"Why?"

The fox smiled softly. "If I let you claim me in the days leading up to my heat, then that means I have to take the submissive position through the entire week of my heat. If I don't let you touch me at all, then we can switch back and forth." He turned away from Hiei and grabbed his black silk robe. "I'm going to take a bath. I'll trust you not to get in trouble during that time."

Kurama sauntered in to the bathroom. As soon as the door was shut and locked, his smile fell and he gazed at himself in the mirror. He turned his back to the mirror and gazed at the bare expanse over his shoulder. There it was, a barely showing mark on one of his shoulders in the form of a tiny bat. It nearly looked like a faded tattoo. The fox knew better.

Kurama fingered the mark. "Kuronue… Where are you?" He let the hand fall and gazed up at the ceiling, glad that Hiei was not as perceptive as he thought. If he was, he would have noticed the mark that barely showed. The mark that hadn't been there eighteen hours ago.

Kurama slipped in to the warm bath and closed his eyes, lost in his own memories. He closed off all his senses, just enjoying the sensation of the warm water against his skin. He opened his eyes and glanced around the room as a tingle ran down the length of his spine. Then his eyes locked on to the blood rose, one of his favorites. He convinced his heart not to panic, convinced himself that Hiei must have picked the lock and left him the rose. He washed his hair and toweled off, putting on the robe before making his way to the sink where the rose waiting for him.

The fox picked it up and a thorn pricked his finger, drawing a large drop of blood. Kurama set the rose down as the drop fell from the tip of his finger to the surface of the sink.

"That's what I needed to know… Yoko…" a voice whispered in his ear. Fingers caressed the mark on his back.

Kurama whirled around to find the room empty of all life. He turned around and stared at himself in the mirror. His logic forced him to look at the facts but his heart pushed away all answers and settled on the one that he wanted the most. He was imagining things. It was the fever. Kuronue was not anywhere near him. Kuronue was dead.

He brushed his hair with shaking hands. Without sparing a glance at the rose that sat on the counter, Kurama began to brush his teeth. Curiosity forced him to shed his robe and look at the mark on his shoulder blade on last time. It was darker, a light gray at best but Kurama knew it'd soon surface in to black. He shivered at the thought of the phantom figures touching it and hastened to secure his robe around him once again. He grabbed the rose and took it in to the bedroom.

Noticing Hiei was no longer in the room, Kurama dressed quickly before wandering around the temple to find his mate. He dropped the rose on the kitchen counter before going outside to the porch. Hiei sat on one of the chairs, gazing out at the forest with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Sometimes, I think I'm losing you," Hiei sighed.

Kurama settled himself on to his lover's lap. "Why would you think that?"

"Every time it seems we're getting closer, something happens to tear us apart again. Perhaps fate is against our union. Fate is a hard enemy to fight against but if it tries to take you from my arms, I'll do my best."

Kurama nuzzled Hiei's neck and licked the mark he'd made just four months ago. He was pleased that it had changed form from a bite mark in to a rose, just as Hiei's had turned to a dragon surrounded by black flames. "I think you see it the wrong way. You see the obstacles as trying to tear us apart. I see them as drawing us closer together. While we go through it, it's hard but we learn to rely on one another, to trust and cast aside all inhibitions."

"As long as you're by my side, I can get through anything."

Kurama smiled faintly as guilt ripped apart. "I love you."

"I love you too." Hiei buried his head in the crook of Kurama's neck as he so often did now. "Don't ever leave me. I don't think I could live through it again."

AUTHOR'S CORNER:

Okay, I hope you all enjoyed the mystery in this chapter. I love this story. I love writing this story as much as you all seem to enjoy reading it. And this time I don't have the plot planned out or outlined so I'm almost as clueless as you all are… Almost. Well, tell me what you think and thanks for reading. On a side note, sorry this chapter was shorter than the others. I'm sure you all can forgive me. Hugs and cuddles all around!