DISCLAIMER: Sadly, none of these bishies belong to me…

This chapter has been reposted because of an error on my part. I'd previously been calling Kurama's father Kenji, but I was misinformed. His name is Hatanaka Kazuya.

To Look Upon a Rose: Chapter 6

- Kurama's pov -

Darkness pressed around me, smothering my senses. I could no longer feel the pain, and the cold surface of the stadium floor had faded to a vague presence beneath me. I knew he was out there, circling, waiting, but I could not rise to defend myself. His youki drifted around me, dancing along the edges of my perception like a vulture waiting to feast, but I was not dead yet.

"You're afraid," Karasu murmured from somewhere behind me. His voice lowered, sounding breathless and eager. "I can smell it. It only adds to your allure… your piquancy…" He glided closer, the air shifting as he circled me. It wasn't terror that held me paralyzed now, but his youki. I could feel it surrounding me like one large explosive, and the slightest movement would detonate it.

His voice, when he spoke again, was strained, almost angry. "Do you know how many beings would die to have you?" He knelt down beside me, running his fingers across my arm. "To feel your perfect skin beneath their fingertips?" I shuddered as his fingers trailed lower, revulsion building up inside me until I thought I would be sick, but still his power kept me motionless. Air stirred beside me, and his breath whispered across my neck, no longer fettered by a mask. "But none will. Because you are mine."

Youki shivered around me as his lips pressed again mine, crushing me against the ground and throbbing against my temples. I tried to tear away, heedless of the explosive energy surrounding me, but his power had contracted, pinning me in place.

He laughed against my throat, and the panic began to rise up in me. This wasn't right; the dream had never gone this far before! My panic crested, and for a moment I was able to escape the hold Karasu's power had on me. Shouting hoarsely, I drew a rose from my hair, but could not summon the youki needed to transform it; Karasu recovered too quickly. He laughed as his youki tightened around me again, and the rose dropped to the ground. His insubstantial fingers found their way under my shirt, caressing like a lover. "You cannot escape me, Kurama. Look around you. This is no dream."

I blinked at his words, and he allowed me enough movement to gaze around. What I had taken for the stadium were four plain walls; the roar of the crowd, dulled by the numbing pain of my nonexistent wounds, was the sound of the breeze through the open window; and the arena floor my futon. Karasu's ghostly laughter danced over me like lightning as I looked around at the familiar shadows of my own bedroom.

I've waited an eternity for this, he whispered, his voice all around me now, inside of me. I could not see him, but his youki bound me just as tightly as any chain. His presence surrounded me, trapping my consciousness in a corner of my mind; no longer in control, I was an observer as Karasu clothed himself in my skin, sealing my soul behind a curtain of raw energy.

My fingers, under his control, brushed across my throat, coming to rest on the necklace that hung there. "You are mine," he murmured with my voice. Untying the knot, he tore it off and let it fall, clattering to the floor beside my unchanged rose. "Too bad you never said goodbye to him."

Karasu allowed my gaze to linger on the hiruseki glittering darkly on the floor. Fear settled over me then, heavy and cold. I was helpless again, but this was no dream from which I could awaken. And Hiei would not come to help me. Why should he, after the things I said? I was alone, trapped within my own mind as my greatest enemy controlled my body.

Unable to call out, I watched as Karasu ran my fingers under my shirt, caressing. Revulsion filled me as he trailed lower, searching. I cried out in protest, and he laughed. Your voice is almost as beautiful in your head as out loud. My fingers slid slowly out from under my shirt and combed through my hair. I won't go that far – yet. Not here. There's something… inelegant about this world. I want to enjoy you in a setting that enhances your natural appeal. He reached into my mind, browsing through memories until he came upon one of me and Hiei, enjoying a night alone in the park. Ahh. I know the perfect place. You can discover the joys of delight and death all in the same place… surrounded by your precious plants.

x

-Shiori's pov-

Another hoarse cry broke the quiet, then cut off abruptly as if its source had been violently silenced. I sat up, throwing the blankets aside, only to have my husband's arm wrap around my waist.

"Shiori–"

"I can't stand it anymore," I said, shaking my head and twisting out of his grip. I searched the dark floor for my slippers, then slipped my feet in and stood.

My husband sighed. "He's old enough to take care of himself," he said. "Come back to bed."

"He's my son, Kazuya," I replied, fumbling for the sash of my robe. "I can't just listen to him scream. You'd do the same for Shu-chan." He began to protest again, but I was already halfway out the door, padding softly into the hallway.

I glanced back as I heard him sigh again, feeling somewhat guilty at having to choose between my husband and son. Kazuya had never approved of Shuuichi, believing he was too effeminate, too soft. Though he had never openly criticized my son, he had hinted on several occasions, urging Shuuichi to cut his hair and change his style of dress. When Shuuichi's relationship with Hiei had deepened into something more than friendship, Kazuya's disapproval had grown into outright scorn. Shuuichi had never actually admitted his feelings for the smaller boy, but neither had he tried to hide them. My son was not one to conceal what he felt to appease others.

But Hiei wasn't here, and I sensed that Shuuichi desperately needed someone to confide in now. A mother's intuition. I knew I was a poor substitute, but I couldn't leave him alone with his nightmares any longer.

I opened the door gently, careful not to startle him. Moonlight drifted in through the open window to dance lazily on the floor, broken by the shadows created by the tree outside. I pushed the door fully open, revealing crumpled blankets over an empty bed. I stared for a moment, trying to think of a rational explanation for my son's disappearance. How could he be gone so quickly? I hadn't heard the door open, and I would have seen him in the hallway. Where had he gone?

A flash of color caught my eye, and I walked over to the bed. It was a rose, full and red, lying haphazardly on the floor beside the dark stone Shuuichi always wore around his neck. I had never seen him without it.

Dread filled me, so heavy that I sank to my knees with a small cry. Something was terribly wrong, I could feel it.

A noise from outside startled me out of my fear, and I lurched toward the window, hoping that somehow it was Shuuichi. But even as I opened my mouth to call my son's name, I met a pair of startled red eyes, and I screamed.

x

A/N: Ooo, how was that ending? I'm not usually one for cliffhangers, but I think this one's fairly obvious. How many red-eyed beings hang outside Kurama's window? If that didn't give it away, then I guess you'll just have to wait for the next chapter!

Oh, and before anyone gets mad at me, I want to point something out. The statement Shiori makes about Kurama not concealing his feelings is supposed to be ironic. It's obviously not entirely true – he hides a lot of things from her – but the statement is true of Kurama's real personality. He lies to her to protect her from the truth, but he wouldn't pretend to be something he's not just to please someone who disapproves of him. That's how I see him, anyway. Hope I didn't confuse anyone with that.

Thanks for keeping with me this far! The next chapter should be out before the Fourth of July. (hopefully!)