Hello, everyone! First things first I am sorry for having disappeared for so long. A lot of stuff was happening. Also, shoutout to TheLastRomantic for bringing it to my attention that I accidentally posted chapter 2 twice instead of the original chapter 3. Thanks a lot, bub!

Secondly, Arc I ends with this chapter and we will enter Arc II in the next, which will be the longest arcs of the three. Also, please pay attention to the names of the chapters because they will all make sense towards the end of the story.

Lastly, for the next three days, I will be updating this story a chapter a day but if you wish to read the next three chapters RIGHT NOW, head on to my AO3 with the same name where 6 chapters of this fic are already out.

The man's hands felt like smoking embers being pressed into his skin, leaving an ugly, visible brand he won't be able to hide. The sensation was so different from Kurama's deft fingers that had left him breathless with ecstasy just an hour or so ago, that Hiei couldn't even close his eyes and try to convince himself it was still the sultry redhead touching him.

… and not this nameless stranger who had paid Mukuro a good amount for Hiei's time.

Hiei moaned where it felt appropriate. He had understood early on that this particular client liked his partners completely submissive and didn't seem to enjoy when Hiei tried to touch him back, so he just rested on his stomach and let the stranger have his way with his body. He was currently swiping his tongue up the underside of Hiei's balls and he supposed that was good. He should have been counting his blessings really. A lot of these men didn't always give a shit about Hiei's pleasure.

Hiei felt a finger enter his butt, and he keened back against it. As much as his mind protested, his body was leaning into the client's touch. He had been aroused, keyed up the entire evening because of Kurama's teasing ministrations and only now getting a chance to release those frustrations.

Subdued grunts increased in intensity and Hiei buried his face in the pillow and let out an exceptionally long moan. He honestly didn't think any sex, or anything could be good enough to warrant that exaggerated a moan, but he guessed that was part of the charm of sex workers.

Two fingers, no three, were stretching his soft and moist hole out. The man had used plenty of lube, and Hiei hated that his body was enjoying the careful attention.

He resigned himself to the possible oncoming orgasm and the self-hatred that would accompany him as he left the cheap motel room, and threw himself into the act. Mukuro had said he would get used to it over time but he hadn't. His feelings were just as complicated as on the first day he had let somebody pay him for his body.

Hiei wasn't going to pity himself, but that didn't mean he was proud of the things he did.

He descended back to reality when he felt a liquid spray against his ass and he turned back around. Immediately, he was pushing the man off of himself and scuttling back on the mattress, crowding himself against the headboard. He felt his toes curl in his disgust and unbidden, a growl ripped out of him.

"What the fuck!"

Golden showers were a strict no in his contract with Mukuro. Money for sex was acceptable, but he wasn't gone far enough to let someone piss on him.

The man reached out for Hiei again, eyes still dark with lust, seemingly unaware of Hiei's disgusted expression. He ran a hand through Hiei's hair only to get it smacked off.

"You filthy faggot whore." He whispered into Hiei's hair like the words were soft assurances of many more passionate nights and lazy mornings to come, and Hiei cringed away, feeling a sudden need to scrub his skin clean of every trace of this man.

Hiee had pretended when it was needed, many a times playing the part of a caring lover for lonely patrons instead of paid company but he hated people who violated a prostitute's boundaries. He hated them enough to pluck their eyes out and make their mothers eat them.

… to pretend it was nothing, to try to talk to him like that…

The man's fingers curled and he tried to bring Hiei's face closer to his own only to be met with taut muscles resisting his efforts. Something switched in the man's expression, and tempers flared as they are wont to.

Hiei found himself bent over, an elbow connecting painfully with his spine.

He hissed in pain and pushed the man off of the bed. He smelled overwhelmingly of cigarettes, and belatedly Hiei wondered if his own scent was that disgusting. Shelving the thought for later inspection, he stepped close to where the man's face was smushed against the floor.

…

"You did a number on him." Mukuro drawled lazily and Hiei found he really, really didn't want to speak to her just then. "Don't make this into a habit, kid. I am not here to clean up your messes."

Hiei wanted to ask her if she hadn't told him he wasn't up for urine play but felt like he might gag if he spent another minute being smothered by the contemptible, saccharine smell peculiar to the hotel lobby and he'd be damned if he let any signs of weakness show in front of this woman.

She'd eat him alive.

He didn't respond to her, he didn't so much as look back at her seething frame as he hailed a cab home, relieved by the fact that his rides to and from motels were covered in 'work expenses'.

Mukuro had damn well pay him for tonight. He knew she received payment upfront.

…

When Hiei had woken up the next morning, his body had felt like he went a decade without sleep. Not that he knew what it was like to go a decade without sleep.

He was just exceptionally tired, especially considering how his schedule hadn't been any more hectic than usual.

Bone-crushing exhaustion could never be described as pleasant, but the lethargy was a welcome hinder on Hiei's present thinking abilities. When you could barely put one foot in front of another you couldn't worry about your sister's pretty, green-eyed friend or you shrewd pimp who still hadn't transferred last night's charge to your account.

He could barely keep his feet from stumbling as he walked the familiar hallways of the school, yawning all the way to class. That had to be some sort of a Guinness record, he was sure. In a daze that he simply wasn't allowing memories and thoughts of yesterday to permeate, he went and took his usual seat in his first class of the day, as far away from the rest of his classmates as possible.

He was surprised when Miss Need-to-top-the-class-or-I-will-die came and sat beside him.

He turned to her, and he knew he was already glaring. It was just suspicious as fuck for Keiko to be sitting anywhere other than right up front… and by his side of all places? She might call him a friend but she never did that.

"What do you want?", he asked.

"Why the hell did you ditch Kurama yesterday?"

It was a simple question, had a simple answer that he couldn't give.

"Painted each other's nails and bitched about people who don't want you last night?"

"Except that wasn't what happened." Keiko pointed out, eyes sharp and calm as always, as if she was simply ratting off answers she knew better than everyone in the school to some sexist, racist professor who refused to give her the credit she was due. "You were clearly interested. Should I get Yukina to provide proof?"

Hiei rolled his eyes. So far away from last night, he couldn't feel the embarrassment that came with being caught.

"The trailer was enough to spoil the movie and I didn't like what I bought a ticket to."

It was a lie, he knew it wasn't ever not going to be.

"And I didn't owe him shit." He turned away because he had figured Kurama would be pissed, but he didn't expect him to be upset enough for Keiko to come and interrogate him. "What sort of despo did you unleash on me yesterday?"

Keiko's eyes narrowed at that, sleek brown brows bunching together in annoyance. Hiei felt a narrow pit open in his sternum.

"Glad you managed to decide early on. Don't change your mind, now."

Without a word more, she got up and left. He had no idea why it felt like someone had slammed a door in his face.

…

Hiei completed his shift in the cafe and skipped soccer practice because his body ached and he felt like his limbs might as well pop out of their sockets if he didn't stop to catch a nap.

Mukuro had transferred the payment. Along with it, came a new address for the night.

…

That night Yukina tried asking Hiei what happened with Kurama and received a glare so fierce she stuttered and fell silent before huffing in frustration and storming out. She had come far from the timid girl who let Hiei boss her around and he knew he'd have to apologise at some time.

That was the last Hiei heard of the redhead.

His life went back to normal, or as normal as a living like his could be, normal, mundane, boring. Boring was right, boring was safe. Boring was far away from green eyes that read him like a book and misted over with hurt when he turned away. Boring was far away from his sister's friends who might find out who he was and what he did. Boring was right.

Boring was focusing on soccer so he could maintain his scholarship and studying as hard as he could to make something out of his life. Boring was staying far, far away from the addictive, thrilling sensations that ran up his spine and made his breath catch, so reminiscent of the highs he had chased in his early teens and consequently ruined his and his sister's lives behind.

In the end, that was it. Kurama set his heart alight in a manner that was wildly similar to the fixes he had run away from, because he knew he was powerless to resist them once he got a taste. The redhead was a set of variables he couldn't vouch for but what he did know was that if he drew close enough, he won't be able to give him up after a one-night stand. He would keep going back for a dose, and it was exactly the sort of distraction he couldn't afford then.

So he put up with Keiko's reproachful glares and made Kuwabara swear to inform him beforehand if he ever invited his friends over so Hiei could stay away and not have to face them.

It was so incredibly easy, easy, boring, mundane, normal and safe. He never had to hear of Kurama anymore, now he just had to figure out how to stop thinking about him.

…

Practice ran late that day, about a month or so later, and Hiei wondered what would've happened if it in fact hadn't. He'd have reached home in time, and maybe he'd have seen who they were, but it did, and he didn't and he could do nothing but curse himself.

In front of his eyes, their entire home had been upended, mattresses stripped from the beds, cupboards and bookshelves spilling their contents on a cluttered floor which presently held every single item the three of them kept in the flat. Even the kitchen hadn't been spared.

Hiei couldn't hear whoever had broken in, so either they were hiding quiet as a mouse in the bathroom or had already left. He suspected it was the latter but unwilling to take any chances, he tiptoed into the kitchen and looked around for their biggest knife.

It took him two minutes to grab the handle of one from the pile of utensils on the floor. Clutching it carefully in a firm grasp, he stepped back to the door and gently pushed it shut, clicking the lock before making his way to the closed door of the bathroom. He was fairly sure no one was in the flat but in case they were, he didn't want to give them the chance to run away. Pulse racing, he tensed his muscles, alert to even the slightest scuffles as he advanced.

Stopping on the threshold, his fingers brushed against the door. He let them rest against the cheap wood for a second before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open as far as it would go. It banged against the wall behind, confirming the absence of a body, and the next moment Hiei was stepping in, poised to jump and drive the knife into someone's gut.

It is a cosmic rule, as we're all well aware, that nothing goes wrong when we're prepared to deal with it. Trouble only ever surprises you, you can't sneak up on it.

The bathroom was as empty as he had expected but the floor was cluttered with shampoo bottles and soaps, their shower curtain ripped apart.

Hiei sagged against the wall as terror he hadn't given a second to, finally clawed its way up his chest. Someone had broken into their apartment. Someone who knew his practice was going to run late and that Yukina and Kuwabara were going to be out on a date. Someone who had searched every corner of their flat to look for something they probably didn't find, because he knew for a fact they possessed nothing worth anything to anyone.

It wasn't a normal burglary, the fact that these people had come into the bathroom, and not taken any of the few appliances they did have in the apartment was proof enough of that. Hiei had sat with the wrong circles long enough to know that there were no co-incidents in this world. Somebody wanted something from them. Somebody desperate enough to break into their flat to find it, somebody close enough to know the perfect time to do it.

…

Hiei didn't even consider not telling the two what happened when they returned. He wasn't stupid like that. He didn't even let them sit down or even take their shoes off before he was spewing the story out.

Kuwabara was understandably surprised, mouth slack in an expression of bafflement. Yukina pursed her lips.

"Why would anyone break into some broke students' apartment?", Yukina asked, crimson eyes exceptionally hard as she stared at her brother.

Hiei knew she had every reason to believe he had the answer to that, but it ruffled his feathers anyway.

"Fuck knows." He ground his teeth together, jaw clenching in an effort to not snap at her. They had been short with each other lately, but to insinuate he had something to do with this was beyond shitty.

He had moved across continents to keep her safe, hadn't he? He had done everything in his power to give her a better life and now she had the nerve to act like he'd have someone break into their house.

"Strange. This hasn't happened in a long while." She intoned, words betraying nothing but tone making her implications so crystal clear that Kuwabara coughed and looked away before cleanly stepping in front of her.

"Yukina-chan! You forgot to buy cigarettes! You're out, aren't you? Come on, let's walk to the corner store. We have to come back and help Hiei clean up!"

Hiei remained frozen in place, teeth gnashing and fists balled in anger as he watched Kuwabara lead Yukina out.

He was just as confused as the two of them. As difficult as it was to admit, here, in the States, he was completely blindsided. He had no contacts and was involved in no wrong circles. He had no idea who had broken in, or what they wanted, if it was the last he'd see of them or if he was going to have to find a way to protect the three of them. His instincts screamed out at him though, that whatever they came here in search of, they hadn't found.

… and back in Japan, if there was anything that aided his survival in the least, it was the fact that he never ignored his instincts.

Frustrated, he slicked his hair back. Lost in thoughts, he remained standing where he was when Kuwabara and Yukina left, until they returned.