Dancing In the Flames:

A/N: Because I got SOOOOOOO many good reviews for "Emerald Eyes" and requests for a second part, here it is. However, it is the last part, cause this is only a two-part thing. BTW, made a mistake: Youko's eyes are gold,
not silver! GOMEN!

Also, beware of a tad bit more lemoness in this. What do you expect from a Kurama/Hiei fan who's on a sugar high at 10:00 at night!? I should think
not. ^^

*****

I saw him staring when I became my former self. But I paid no heed to the gaze of Hiei; I could only think of the power and grace I had regained. Nothing else penetrated my mind, save for one thought:

How did he do it?

But he never told me. Never will I know how the whelp returned me to Youko the thief. And suddenly, I had that rushing, stomach-turning feeling of having my soul transported from Youko to Shuichi. The power I had so casually used fifteen years ago was gone again, leaving me feeling something almost frightening...the feeling of being weak and alone.

Hiei still gazed at me, but the iciness in the fire demon's eyes has been replaced by something even I cannot describe. I could not tear away from him nor he from me. How had he seen me? As the Kurama he's known for so long or...someone else entirely?

*****

I still cannot figure out the emotions that I saw fermenting in his scarlet orbs, even as he lies upon my chest. His sweat clings his body to mine and for once in the time in the time I have come to known him, he doesn't resist my touch.

One would expect a person who had lived through so much and experienced the rush of battle to be more hardened and rough to the touch but I find, surprisingly, that he is softer than the silken sheets we lay on now. I can't help but stroke his spiky ebony hair. I've never really realized that the touch of another could be so relaxing and yet so...arousing.

He stirs and moves away. How disappointing. He's been awake this entire time, feigning sleep. Well...TWO can play at that game. Casually, oh so casually, I roll over so that my arm falls onto him, encircling his waist.

The demon of fire gives no response. He's more resistant than the females who throw themselves at my feet at every God-given opportunity. But that only makes it more interesting. Scooting over, I breathe down his neck. The goosebumps rise like thousands upon thousands of tiny hills. His hair brushes my forehead. But still he ignores me.

I've never been one to be ignored.

The tiniest shiver cascades down his bare form as I kiss him softly on the neck. He is giving in and wants to, but he'll never tell me so. I don't care; I only want to know just how badly he needs me...to know if he desires the same thing as I.

"Why do you play such foolish and sentimental games?" Hiei asks from the other side.

I can't stop the chuckle and reach to stroke his cheek. "So, you can still speak!"

He finally turns over and looks at me. His face is still so red from our lovemaking. It only matches his eyes. "You didn't answer me, fox."

"Because...it amuses me."

One graceful eyebrow arches. "It amuses you...?"

"Yes."

He doesn't speak and only looks at me. I can't help but feel uncomfortable in his gaze. I can fight under the eyes of thousands and thousands of demons, but I find the two eyes of this one almost unbearable.

I reach forward and touch him on the nose with a fingertip. He draws back, surprised at this unexpected action, and stares at it. The second eyebrow leaps up with its partner. I have seen many things in my long life, as both Shuichi and Youko, but I have never really seen humor like Hiei staring cross-eyed at my finger.

Taking advantage of his shock, I swiftly lean in for a kiss. Holding nothing back, I pull him as close as our skin allows us and yet it still isn't enough. I need something more, something better, something NOW.

Now not even Hiei can fake how he, too, needs this relief. An endearing, urgent sounds reaches my ears. I can feel the renewing erection pressing against me...not this is a bad thing. But what truly catches me off guard is the thrust of a tongue into my mouth, frantically looking for mine. All I had time to think of was, This is me...me and Hiei...

After that, thoughts became rather...fragmented.

In fact, they're rather brushed aside by the feel of his hair brushing my skin and the smell of sweat and ecstasy emitting from my partner. I can't stop the emotions that explode within my being like the bright flower escaping the dull, dark confines of the earth to embrace the sun and air.

"Kurama?"

"Yes, Hiei?" I pant back, looking him in the eye. For the first time I can remember, I am actually at the same eye level with him. That puts other things at rather intriguing positions.

"How long have you...well, did you ever think of me as..." He falls silent.

I can hardly believe my eyes and ears! Hiei! The great and emotionless warrior, so embarrassed he can't even speak. "Honestly?...hai, I have." I stretch a hand out to his stomach and relish in the soft yet rigid feel of his well-toned muscles. "Have you ever...?"

He looks at me and I wonder what he is truly going to say. "Hai. When you became Youko today." He takes my hand and move it so that he holds it in both hands, stroking it in a most unlike-Hiei way. I'd always heard sex did strange things to people. "I've always wondered how in Reikai you could possibly hold such...power in that human form of yours. But then you returned to yourself and...well, it's hard to explain."

"No need to explain, Hiei." I pull him closer, breathing the same air as he does, inches away from his face. "No need."

After a few moments of...relaxing...activities, Hiei reaches over me for the alarm clock on the stand nearby. The glaring neon numbers tell that is almost 5 in the morning...only a few hours until our fight with the Toguro team. No doubt the others are already awake and preparing; we're playing with fire every moment we remained as we were now.

Hiei must have be on the same train of thought, as he looked to the floor and pulled up a pair of briefs. "...Yours or mine?"

I take a sniff and frantically wave it away. "Yours! Yours!"

He scowls in a playful way I haven't seen just till now. "Whatever you say, fox."

Rising out of bed, he rummages for the garments careless thrown away in the heat of the moment and yet I am suddenly hesitate to move, still nude under the sheets. Sure, he had seen a little more of me than the females had been able to boast about in fifteen years (and gotten especially acquainted with other parts of my body, for that fact) but that didn't mean I was suddenly going to run nude around a teammate.

Could be a little distracting from what lie ahead.

"I can't find my pants," Hiei comments unexpectedly. "And those were not mine. Unless my name is suddenly Minamori Shuichi." He stood and held up the offending undergarments in the air between a pair of fingers, scowling at it as he might have at a dead rat.

Trying to ignore what he revealed in his upright position, I take the briefs and slip them on when I suddenly hear Hiei laugh in that barking fashion of his. "What?"

"You, Youko Kurama the great, are blushing."

"Am not."

The eyebrow shoots up. "Don't even try that game. You will lose horribly, and die a burning death."

"How poetic," I comment, searching for my clothes in a desperate (and futile) attempt to draw my attention from his naked form. Another round certainly was appealing, but that was far too risky now. Still...it was charming to think of.

"Ready yet, Kurama?" Hiei asks from the door, fully dressed and sword in hand. "I'm itching to feel Toguro's face meet my fists."

I shake my head and put on my coat, walking to join him. "You truly are a fire demon, Hiei."

"Don't forget it, fox."

"Oh, trust me...I won't."

I can never forget the night I danced in the flames.