The Boys and Their Bottles:

by: Jessenia

* knock knock*

Kurama smiled as he turned one last time to make sure the decorations were perfect. Feeling satisfied he continued towards the door. Today was the celebration of his ningen birthday and his family had agreed to vacate the area so he could have a party with his friends. After much preparation, which Shiori had happily helped him with, he was ready to receive his first guest.

"KURAMA!!! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...."

"Hello, Yuusuke. Thank-you for coming! Ano...couldn't Keiko make it?" Yuusuke gave a devilish grin and shook his head.

"Keiko will not be coming .... yet." He added, raising a finger and pointing skyward. "She will arrive with ... someone else ... don't ask me who, for all I know it might be me!! I brought someone who is just as lovely as Keiko-chan!!!!!" Yuusuke was obviously already a little drunk, however, Kurama had to seriously hide his laughter when Yuusuke pulled Kuwabara from his hiding place, beside the door. "SEE?" The dark-haired boy smiled, then did a double take, and shook Kuwabara, who he was still holding by the shirt collar. "WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?! Get AWAY from me!!!!" Oh yes... There was now no doubt in Kurama's mind that this celebration was going to be ....interesting....

Kurama walked back into the room where his guests were all sitting: Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, Keiko, Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Genkai and they were waiting on Koenma and, Kurama was hoping, Hiei. As he set out the drinks and made sure that chatter was going well, an inevitable sound was heard:

*knock knock*

Kurama turned and walked back to the door and opened it. "Kurama! Look who I dragged along!!" It was Koenma, he was in his teenage form and was grasping onto Hiei who was glaring daggers and insisting that he could walk on his own. Kurama's smile brightened. "Ohayo! It was kind of you two to come today!!" Koenma smiled knowingly and released Hiei.

* ****************

The night progressed as any other night would with a bunch of male teenagers who were a little over-vivacious anyway, and five girls who were already too used to the behavior to be shocked, would be expected to go ..... that is to say, there was lot's of drinking and consuming of alcohol ..... The night continued to proceed in this fashion until even Kurama himself was a little off the edge of sobriety, to say the least, which shocked the drunken patch of girls who were clear headed enough to notice the difference in the kitsune's style tonight, usually Kurama would stay sober.

As the drinks were continually passed on into the night the five boys began to get a little "creative" and were not satisfied with mere drinking matches, and twisted card games. And so it came that late into the night a rather strange situation was introduced into the scenario of Kurama's little birthday party ......

"SPIN THE BOTTLE!!!!!"

Now, in everyone's defense it must be said that there was really nothing wrong with the game, and the fact that they were all drink (or rather drunk) probably added a bit of a challenge and a whole lot of intrigue, considering Kuwabara couldn't stop giggling when Yuusuke picked up the two designated bottles and spun them around in the air .... did I mention one was still half full?

....pity ....

It was decided that there would be a boy circle and a girl circle, a bottle in the center of each. The designated couple must venture to do anything couple related, no "contact sports" as requested by Genkai, but they had to at least kiss. As it came out, the circles were not as they were originally planned to be, although it was working exactly according to someone's plan .....

"SHIZURU!!!!! This is the BOY'S side!!! No females, unless you're male!!!" To clarify, that is Kuwabara. No matter what anyone tried, Shizuru wouldn't budge, and since the boys were too drunk to understan (*ahem* understand) the concept of moving the boy's circle to where the girl's used to be, they all ended up fighting, until Kurama returned with more sake in his hand to be confronted by a dangerous scene, wisely he said that he would simply move into the girl's circle.

This was approved of and the game began.

Kuwabara and Genkai were first. Then Keiko and Yuusuke, followed by a severe fight between both boys because Yuusuke had gotten what he had wanted. After all was settled down, Botan and Kuwabara were up.

Followed by a hysterical fit on Yuusuke's part. When the game was understood to be too easy, a statement which Hiei had made, consequently sealing his fate, the two circles were made into one big one. With this new arrangement, Botan and Koenma were up, both blushing furiously. Then Yuusuke and Keiko, (Yuusuke returned with a bump on the head), Shizuru and Genkai, both of which could not stop laughing, and gave each other a peck on the cheek. This continued in various patterns until Hiei got angry that the game was rigged because no one had rolled either himself or Kurama, preferably at the same time ....although he wasn't complaining, he just wanted things to be fair and such and yeah and .... etc.

From then on, the game was a little bit different, though nothing was changed. Shizuru was having fun trying to play matchmaker, although having one big circle was proving a pain in the ass ...

"Okay, spin the bottle." Yuusuke said, anxious for another round with Keiko. The bottle pointed at Yuusuke. With a whoop, he leapt out of the circle and did a jig. Then the bottle spun again.

"You just know who's gonna be picked." Kuwabara mumbled, feeling bereft. "It's gonna be Keiko again and then he'll laugh and dance and those stupid ...... WHAT?!?!?!" The bottle rested in its position, pointing directly at Kuwabara.

"HAHAHAHAH!!! You two have to KISS!!!!!" Hiei shouted, feeling a little too warm and fuzzy inside. After a great deal of screaming and hollering on both boy's part they (*censored*). And sat back in the circle, both bright red .....

Couple after couple was chosen by the bottle, and there was not one person in the circle who hadn't been kissed at least four times. To Shizuru's complete exasperation, Hiei and Kurama hadn't been spun together once. Though, to her enjoyment, she had the fortune of spinning Kurama...

"One last spin and we pick a new game." Kurama stated, getting a little tired of kissing everyone except the one he really wanted to.

The bottle was spun, it rested in place pointing at Hiei. Hiei grunted and rose, and began to glare daggers at the bottle as it was sent into a spin, daring it to point at someone other than who he really wanted ....

It would appear that the bottle did not understand the fire demon because it rested in its place, pointing directly at ...... Kuwabara ......

Luckily for Kurama, Hiei was drunk. Not enough to not get pissed off that he had to kiss the "oaf" but enough to be unable to use his black dragon, or have the desire to burn anything (other than Kuwabara himself) luckily Kurama had some water on the scene and was able to put him out before it got serious, and then Yukina took him into a corner to perform some unnecessary healing.

Soon the group settled down again and the suggestion of truth or dare was thrown on the table. They arranged themselves on the sofa and the floor and pulled up chairs to make themselves comfortable, and soon the game was underway.

"Okay, the game is truth or dare. If a person, youkai or otherwise wishes to back down from the chosen question or dare they have to ..." It seemed that no one could settle on a punishment for turning down a question or dare. Shizuru insisted that it have something to do with Kurama, since it was his birthday. But Kurama did not quite like the suggestions being made about the punishments .... one of the most innocent of those suggestions was to kiss the redhead ...the rest are censored.... Throughout the interesting comments and recommendations being made, Kurama kept an eye on the fire demon, wishfully hoping to catch a blush or excited glint or any reaction to the XXX comments being made. He saw nothing. The group settled on kissing Kurama.

The game began,

Not too far into it the boys realized that this was a very bad punishment. Each girl, even Genkai, were denying to answer or fulfill their dares. Needless to say that Kurama's complexion was as dark as his hair....

They made a rule that you could not abuse the punishment.

The game continued. But half the group was now disinterested. Especially when Kurama had to leave the game to finish-up the dinner preparations which were now well overdue. The punishment remained the same, except the subject was now Kuwabara. The game soon disbanded.

More drinks were passed around over dinner, and Shizuru began to notice something that could be to her advantage. Kurama was getting drunk. Kurama was a flirtatious drunk. She smiled as the boy began to unconsciously lick his lips and stretch in all his feline-like grace. She also noticed, much to her joy, that Hiei was beginning to stare. Apparently the alcohol was affecting him too. So she made one final desperate attempt. "Ne, minna-san. How about Strip Twister?" Everyone blinked. Then naughty smiles began to spread on everyone's face, with the exception of Genkai who immediately called the position of referee.

Kurama strutted back into the dining room carrying the twister box, Shizuru noticed there was a thin layer of dust on it and smirked. The poor boy had no sex-life. "The rules follow the usual game. But, if you touche the board with any other part of the body other than a hand or foot, that person must remove an article of clothing, as chosen by the referee. Are you ready?"

"Ne, Shizuru-san?" She looked up at Yukina's hesitant voice. The poor girl had only worn her usual kimono.

"Nani, Yukina-san?"

"How will we fit nine people on one single mat?" It was a good question. She looked around.

"Kurama-kun, do you have any paper around here? And markers, blue, red, green and yellow?" Kurama blinked, then sauntered off. More than one pair of eyes followed that boy out of the room. He came back with the required goods, as well as a tape-dispenser. He obviously knew what she was thinking. "I won't play." She stated. It was no loss on her part. It would be much more entertaining to watch, and anyway, she wasn't interested in anyone there, except maybe Kurama, but he was the one who she was trying to set-up so he was, unfortunately, off limits. They worked together to make-up another board, then the duty of dividing everyone to a board was left to Genkai.

"Koenma, Yukina, Kuwabara and Botan." The old woman stated calmly. She threw a wink at Shizuru. "And on the other board, Hiei, Kurama, Yuusuke and Keiko." They nodded and moved into position. "HIIIIIAAAAAA!" Genkai shouted as she flicked the pointer. "Right foot, RED!!"

It was a hard game. Yukina was luckily very balanced, and she had an advantage, since she was not as drunk as the others. She moved quickly to take the circles called before someone else could claim it and force her to contort too much. The only thing she had lost was her hair-tie. All of the boys had lost their shirts at least, except Kurama who had only lost his tie and his belt. His shirt was half-undone anyway and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He had, however, single-handedly caused Keiko, Koenma, and Yuusuke to lose two articles of clothing, when his jokes had made them blush and laugh, and lose balance. Hiei was stripped down to his pants alone. Shizuro, though, had noticed that he only lost his balance when Kurama moved. He was being a little over-dramatic. Sliding slowly under his friends. As they stood, two separate piles of contorted masses. Kurama had stretched out, under Yuusuke's hips (much to the boy's dismay), Hiei's legs were parted as he tried to keep one foot on red the other on yellow, and he was resting awkwardly on his hands, which were planted behind him. Keiko kept checking Kurama out, but was mainly contorting herself around Yuusuke (which made up for Kurama's unfortunate position).

Genkai smirked and spun again."Right hand, green!!" Kurama grinned and arched slowly forward. He placed his hand smack between Hiei's spread legs. The koorime gulped. Kurama licked his lips lasciviously. Shizuru couldn't help but chuckle. The redheaded was doing just fine on his own.

Koenma soon suffered several misfortunes, causing him to lose everything except his boxer shorts. Botan was already in practically nothing, the alcohol had not helped her clumsiness any. Shizuru watched, with slight amusement, as Kuwabara and Yukina began cheating. He had bent over in front of her, and she was stretched out over top, and when she got tired, she would rest on him. It seemed no one wanted the poor koorime to lose, even though she didn't seem to have any qualms in playing.

And then a thought struck Genkai.

"Oi!! Kurama! When are your family coming home?" There were several stages to the redhead's response. He blanched, then wobbled, then landed, head replacing his hand, and Hiei turned bright red. The game came to an immediate end, and Koenma gratefully returned to his clothes. The party slowly wound down.

And so, on the evening of his seventeenth birthday, Kurama found himself, drunk and wobbling his way up the stairs towards his room. He was horny, and he wanted Hiei. He usually never drank. Alcohol had always made him even more aware of his body and his desires. As a youko, he rarely needed it, but as a human, he was too sensitive. Alcohol, especially around Hiei, was a danger in case he revealed his long-kept secret. But that night he needed the clouding affects it provided as well. Having Hiei around was bad enough, but the games they were playing had been titillating, and Kurama had to weigh his being progressively driven mad, with a pleasant escape and possible slip-up. He had chosen the lesser of two evils.

When he got to his room, he opened the window, a habit that he was now unable to break. Though he had admittedly never tried to break it. Each night he went to sleep hoping that Hiei might find his way into his bed. He smiled as he prepared the herbs he would need to ward of the eventual hangover, and went to the bathroom to fill his cup and get changed. Shutting the light off on his way back, Kurama maneuvered towards his bed.

"Kurama." It was a husky voice with a soft lisp from the alcohol, but it sent shivers down his spine, and he stumbled a bit before he regained control of himself..

"Hiei? What are you...mmnff?" He hadn't expected the fire-demon to return for quite some time. And he certainly hadn't expected to be kissed like that when the little devil did show-up. He smiled into the warm caress, and reacted through instinct. Deepening the chaste kiss to something more. Hiei broke for air, a startled look in his eyes and Kurama grabbed his wrist, as if restraining the demon from thoughts of escape. Hiei blinked up at him.

"Why?"

"Shuuichi-kun?" it was a soft knock and Kurama tightened his grip, cursing his mother's poor timing.

"Hai, Kaasan." he called back, knowing if he didn't answer she would open the door. Hiei kept his eyes glued on him, and Kurama found he could not break the gaze.

"Did you have a good time?" He smiled.

"Hai! Arigatou!" she wished him good-night and he listened to her receding footsteps. Then, as if in a dream, he leaned forward, and kissed Hiei again, a leisurely exploration. And when they broke apart for air, he said it. Maybe it was because it felt surreal. Maybe the alcohol had made him more than a little restless. Or maybe it was just the Look in Hiei's eyes. That lost look that held a hint of something else in it. Whatever it was, Kurama nuzzled the koorime's neck and said...."Because I love you..."

And Hiei surprised him that night. He didn't flit away. He didn't hiss or spit at him. He just relaxed in Kurama's loose embrace, and kissed the fox's ear. And Kurama couldn't help but think, as he held Hiei near, cuddling the warm body close to him, that he had just had the best birthday ever.

End

Jessenia: I hope it wasn't too boring. I may go back and play with it a little, but I really hope you enjoyed it! C&C would be great, but no flames please!

Standard disclaimers apply.