Author's Note: The simplest way to explain the delay is that I have experienced a writing slump that took a couple of months to recover. Friends, enjoy this chapter.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Chapter 14: Old dogs, New tricks

It was a day like the previous day, and the day before that, and the day before that. The sun shone through the window too brightly, the chatter of the students in the dormitory too loud for his taste, and Yamato still knocked on Hiei's door at exactly seven in the morning; as always there was a smile pasted on her face, her bounce signifying she was ready for their training session almost as if she wasn't tired from the energy spent bonding the night before.

Hiei would always snort in annoyance but follow her lead towards the courtyard. There, in the middle of the grassy training grounds, they'd display uncanny strength as they sparred against all the other pairs who could only stare in shock. After all, nobody had displayed this kind of strength and power before, not since Loveless' senior year reign at least.

As shocked as most of the students were, however, to Hiei the daily muscling was almost like routine. Today's fighter fell easily (with a curse and malicious mumbling) like the one from yesterday, and all the other days before that. Hiei was almost scared they were running out of couples to beat.

Except that… something was different about today.

When someone knocked at exactly seven, it was Yamato indeed; but there was no bounce in her gait. Instead of the usual cheery grin there was a flat smile partnered with a solemn stare that told him the day had finally arrived.

Hiei's breath hitched in his throat. They had been summoned, at last.

She nodded and without word he closed the door behind him. He fell into step beside her as they treaded the dark corridors, this time the destination was new. They weren't heading for the courtyard.

Although his face never showed as much as a pinch, Hiei felt like taking out his sword and slicing something in his excitement. Finally! Getting Ritsu's trust was testing his patience like never before, and it's not like he had a lot to begin with. It was almost running thin, like the blade of his katana, and last week in a fit of edginess he almost had half a mind to just storm inside the school and release the black dragon upon everyone inside, innocent or not. In his own reasoning, every fighter and sacrifice there was at some point guilty anyway; if not this then of some other wrong that he was sure he could be avenging somebody else for.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that he was probably the one with the longest sin list out of all the creatures here. But he could easily ignore this fact. They didn't need to know.

After all, he was paying for his own sins in a heavier way, wasn't he? And curiously, with all of his Reikai Tantei teammates.

Oh, but he, the biggest karma of the jaganshi's existence, was more than a teammate.

Hiei grunted and tried, unsuccessfully, to push the heavy thought of Kurama away.

He lost count on how many times he promised himself that he would settle things with the fox when this mission was finally over; probably they were as many as the times he broke them. What had possessed him to risk his cover that one night when he followed Kurama to the park? It was like a trance, he just found himself putting one foot in front of the other in search for the drug that was the redhead. Coming back from it Hiei was terrified to recognize that tapping into Kurama's memories seemed to do more harm to him than the fox's: Kurama's memories obsessed him, controlled him, drove him to crash himself into the lush greens of Kurama's mind even more.

It was a drug that, once introduce to, was hard not to get addicted at. Because there, he can hide. There, he was wanted. There, the truth enveloped him with careful arms, as careful as the wings of an earthly demon that was, at his very core, human.

There, Kurama loved him, without limits, without denial, without thinking of the consequence for others.

The fact that as he was longing for immersing himself in it more and more as the days grew led him to doubt himself; during the fight with Guiltless, as he contained Kurama and all the others in his jagan, who was under the power of who?

"What's that?" Yamato said, uncannily smiling as she looked at him from the side of the dark humid corridor. They had been walking in silence for most of the trip to the principal's room. He must have muttered that last thought somehow.

"Nothing," Hiei muttered. He decided to deflect the topic by turning his head away and crossing his arms while walking, knowing full well by now that there would be no fooling Yamato, even if the distraction proved successful at getting his attention back to the current task. They had bonded as fighter and sacrifice so many times, they had almost perfected the art; their thoughts were liquid, sloshing into the loose boundaries of the other. A more impacting factor was how their emotions spilled over into each other, perfectly readable and making lying a crime, denial a gift.

Hiei felt like he was at the losing end of this system. The only emotions he could read from the high school girl were basic: anxiety when things got rough, joy when they won…. and there was nothing else. She was very different from him in this way; Hiei tried his best to show only anger and indifference but that didn't mean he couldn't feel any other emotion. He had just mastered the art of keeping them to himself all these years. But Yamato… there was no hiding anything. She just couldn't feel beyond instinct.

Like an animal.

Hiei was just beginning to think about Koenma's story about Yamato's former fighter when he realized that they've already reached the top floor of the building, and was then faced by the principal's ornate wooden door. On the door's face was a carving of an eagle, wings spread out, one claw resting above a round knob.

Yamato looked at him expectantly, and he gave a curt nod to grant his permission.

She knocked softly. There was a soft reply: "Come in."

Yamato took one deep breath before she turned the knob counter-clockwise and pushed the door open.

He was coming, oh he was coming, and beyond thoughts and recognition, beyond reason and acceptance, he was just about to shout his ecstasy of the joy of being fucked when he heard the sudden whisper of his ivy; He is coming, they echoed.

Kurama was momentarily perplexed at the strange behavior of his pets, until he realized who he was. Certainly not him, sweaty tramp of a creature hoisted up between Soubi's chest and the walls of the transport machine, but instead him, probably the most important person of his human life. Him whom he shared half of his soul.

Wincing, he whispered his orgasm and let out a Makai curse as he pushed Soubi's sweaty chest and got to his feet, concurrently and mentally arranging the fastest plan he had in his life. The ivies were murmuring almost loudly now, mirroring his alarm, as the grass passed on the message that an entity strong enough to ruin this world, should he choose to, was a mere few yards away and jogging in this direction.

He felt Soubi slip away from inside him as he crammed himself in the space between the blonde's body and the glass wall, trying to get his clothes on the floor. Kurama bent down frantically, but found it impossible to even reach halfway down towards the floor.

"There's no time to dress up," Soubi muttered. Despite his panic Kurama found pause and looked at the wolf; in a second, just from Soubi's close stare, Kurama knew Soubi somehow understood. The fox nodded, grateful at the willingness of the blonde across him to hold up his end of an unspoken deal.

Soubi's momentary look was certainly not kind, however; it was sharp, telling him how big a favor this was, and the debt is expected to be paid later or should the time come. Kurama didn't take it against the fighter. They were being canines and animals in this reverie anyway; why not give in to the primal behavior fully and have the understanding of packmates? Right now, it was clear who the alpha was, and Kurama had no time to argue anyway.

With a plan hastily made up, Kurama nodded at Soubi once again and exhaled as he pushed the door of the machine out, tossing his clothes on the grass with his foot, and carefully closing the door behind him fully.

As he whirled around, he was in turn granted with a just-in-time, red-faced stare, top-to-bottom, from Yusuke Urameshi.

Lights. Camera. Action.

"Gomen, Yusuke, would you mind helping me pick my clothes up?" he asked innocently.

The gulp from the detective was almost a word in its loudness, and despite himself Kurama went how cute inside his head.

There was a flurry of bending from the dark-haired sleuth then, hastily picking up the tossed articles and pushing them into Kurama's gut. Kurama took this time to close his eyes and breathe slowly, forcing his heart rate down.

When the final articles of clothing had been hastily pushed into Kurama, Yusuke turned around. "What the fuck, foxtard!" Yusuke bellowed as he willed his body to pivot away from Kurama's stark white skin. "And for the world to see! We can get arrested for this kind of shit…"

Kurama chuckled and let out an exasperated sigh. "I didn't expect you'd come, Yusuke. The machine makes me invisible to everyone while I'm inside anyway. And I needed some alone time with my plants…" he explained as he put the clothes back on. With them fully restored, he stepped towards the detective and tapped him on the shoulder. Yusuke turned around slowly to take a tentative one-eyed peek and, seemingly satisfied with the decency, faced Kurama fully.

"Are you okay?"

The simple statement of worry took Kurama by surprise. Like somebody punched his gut.

Yusuke was concerned for him. It was like a splash of cold water after a blind rampaging trance.

Kurama dared to look at the detective's eyes and wasn't disappointed with consistency of the expression on his face to the words he uttered. For a moment their eyes locked, and time seemed to stop as the wind flirted with both their hairs in an ironic attempt at calming their wild heartbeats. As Yusuke's serious stare searched his own emerald ones, Kurama found himself feeling something that surprisingly rocked him: dirty.

He felt filthy, a slithering snake in the mud.

Looking at Yusuke once again, Kurama shivered. He started to open his mouth and say something when Yusuke broke the spell.

"Is the machine okay?" he inquired, walking towards the machine and reaching out his hand.

"No!" Kurama shouted, grabbing Yusuke's wrist just in time. When Yusuke gave him a wide-eyed stare, all Kurama could do was push through head-on with his lie.

"I planted spore ivy inside. It's regenerative for me, but for anyone else it releases poison fumes."

What confused Kurama the most was not the fact that Yusuke nodded immediately and took his hand as they walked back towards the road, or that Soubi stayed silent as a mouse throughout the whole event, but that despite his feeling of grime, he held on to tightly to Yusuke's hand.

Did he soil everybody's innocence in the same way?

The first thing that popped in Ritsuka's mind as he opened his eyes was that he was tired of waking up with strangers in his room.

It was the soft rustling of the curtains that led him awake; as he realized the fact he immediately snapped his head in that direction and indeed a long shadow greeted him.

"Soubi…" he found himself whispering as he sat up, instinctively drawing his blanket to his chest.

"Master," Soubi returned, stepping towards Ritsuka's bed and kneeling at its side.

"I'm okay," Ritsuka said quite irritably. Okay, now he was a little peeved. Everybody in the group seemed to think he was incapable of taking care of himself, even Kurama, and he was a little tired of being baby-sat constantly.

When Soubi remained silent, Ritsuka felt a little guilty; he had been purposely ignoring Soubi since the last fight with Loveless, even going as far as requesting that if someone needed to look out for him at nights, Yusuke be the one to do it. Ritsuka still wasn't over Soubi's casual dismissal of his apology at the field, and even though Kurama explained to Ritsuka why Soubi had to kill Guiltless, Ritsuka couldn't help but feel a little awkward.

His thought process went along these lines: he had been Soubi's sacrifice. They were the Loveless unit, acting as one. He didn't necessarily agree with Soubi's decision to kill Guiltless, but that meant nothing in the overall scheme of things since Soubi had gone ahead and did it even without informing him. And being one with Soubi, at least supposedly, didn't that mean he had a hand in killing somebody else too?

And to find out the truth behind Seimei's death, he'd have to kill more people, didn't he? But didn't Soubi already know? Why did Soubi refuse to tell it to him?

Ritsuka changed his mind about feeling guilty. Instead he allowed himself to be fully upset with Soubi.

Why doesn't Soubi see that he had to know? They didn't need to kill any more people. They didn't need to hurt anyone anymore… If Soubi just told him…

"Soubi, why did they kill Seimei?" Ritsuka tried again.

Soubi bowed his head in response.

"I command you to tell me," Ritsuka whispered. "I command you."

Soubi looked up at Ritsuka and touched his face in the moonlight. "I cannot tell you, Ritsuka."

"You said you loved me!" the child screamed, pulling his face away from Soubi's hand. "Why do you keep on lying to me?"

Soubi looked at Ritsuka's eyes directly. "It's because that I love you, Ritsuka, that I can't tell you."

Ritsuka bit his lip and looked down. "Then what's the point? Why do we even talk?" Ritsuka whispered, tired of the conversation cycle. This wasn't the first time that he tried, and failed, to get Soubi to explain it to him.

"We talk so we become stronger, so you can find out for yourself," Soubi said in a lower register. He reached out his hand to touch Ritsuka's cheek again, and this time the child did not pull away.

Soubi's hand… it felt warm, and despite himself Ritsuka did enjoy the touch… he always did.

In the dark, nobody would see. Those had been Seimei's words. In the dark, they could hide, nobody would judge. In the dark, he can do whatever he wanted.

Ritsuka took Soubi's hand and touched his lips to the calloused palm.

"I need you now, Ritsuka," Soubi whispered as the cold, damp lips of the child travelled up his neck, then down his spine. "Claim me, this moment I belong to nobody."

It was Ritsuka who put his hands on either side of Soubi's face, and he pulled the blonde's face closer, close enough such that when the child spoke, his lips brushed his fighter's. In the closeness, Ritsuka somehow inhaled the importance and the urgency of what needed to be done.

"You're free…" Ritsuka whispered as realization peeked into his young mind. "You're free of Seimei."

"Kiss me."

And in the same breath Ritsuka moved to close his lips in on Soubi's, pressing close, allowing his young lips be drawn into his fighter's more experience ones. It felt nice, it felt wet, and Ritsuka realized that he wanted nothing more than to own Soubi fully.

Not Seimei's. Mine. Mine.

Suffering because he can't do anything. I have to initiate the exchange.

He didn't know what to do, but somehow his body did. He watched as his body opened its mouth, pushing a small pink tongue out and tasting Soubi's own. He shivered as his body put its hands tentatively on Soubi's coat, pushing it off, and started to unbutton Soubi's shirt. He gasped as his body guided Soubi atop his bed, somehow fully naked, and pushed the taller teen on all fours.

"Ritsuka, I love you," Soubi whispered, as he looked back at the youth, his blonde hair falling all around his face and his back.

Ritsuka could not bring himself to answer back, but as his heart went wild and his mind worked in capturing this memory in record, he thought that the only possible feeling he could have for Soubi was love, too.

"Close the door behind you," Ritsu mentioned, and Yamato did so before she and Hiei approached the table on the other end of the principal's room. There Ritsu sat, alone, his cigarette blowing innocent plumes on a singular ashtray on his desk.

"Take a seat," he said, motioning towards chairs in front of his desk.

"I prefer to stand," retorted. Yamato stood by him in obedience.

"I'm happy to see the standards of this school improving, having gotten impressive pairs such as yourselves, not just in fighting skills but in standing your ground," Ritsu said with a smile.

"We have been practicing endlessly, sir," Yamato replied.

"We noticed. In fact, you seem to be practicing in unauthorized fashions outside campus grounds, the reports go."

"We have been keeping tabs on Loveless, as announced via the notice board-"

"Keeping tabs is different from launching attacks without authorization," Ritsu cut Yamato off. "However, we did get a report of your success with restraining the Loveless fighter unit Soubi, and 'assisting' Guiltless in their battle, although you have been defeated."

"Hn," Hiei muttered, looking off to the side. "We would have won if we had fought Loveless directly."

Trap sprung. Let's see if he bites.

"Ah, but I don't want you to defeat Loveless, nor kill them," Ritsu said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "You are to bring Loveless sacrifice unit Aoyagi Ritsuka to me, alive."

Yamato nodded. "Affirmative, sir. When do you want us to begin?"

"Today. I'm giving you authority to launch attacks however you wish against Loveless for a week."

Hiei nodded and turned around. "If that's all, we'll get started right away."

"There's one last thing," Ritsu said. Hiei turned around to face the principal again and raised an eyebrow in question.

"You are to kill Youko, composed of your Reikai Tantei teammates, also."

Hiei gritted his teeth. Ritsu knew! Their cover had been blown. How on earth-

A dark energy suddenly made its presence felt in the room, and at the back of Ritsu a large black hole appeared, crackling with…

Makai energy!

Hiei pulled his sword out and was about to lash at the hole, but suddenly he found his body immobilized. He glanced at Yamato and found her frozen on her spot too.

Fuck!

Hiei's eyes widened as slowly, a familiar demon emerged from the hole.

"Hello, Hiei, it's been a long time," the liquid voice said.

"Itsuki," Hiei snarled. "Back from the dead, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say I came from death, but your teammates will be heading there soon I guess," Itsuki said calmly.

"I thought you were content in that dimension of yours?" Hiei asked, struggling to break free from whatever chains Itsuki put on him and Yamato.

"Contentment can lead to boredom," Itsuki replied. "In any case, I'm glad to see old friends in this dimension. Seems like things never change, huh?"

He let out a soft laugh then, and the melancholic echo of it was Hiei's last memory as his vision turned black.

To be continued. We are about two chapters away from the end.