Standard disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 2

Story… Dreams'Thoughts'

I bite my lip as I gaze up at the look of shear pleasure on my lover's face. He is so beautiful, his head thrown back, eyes closed, his glorious silver mane cascading around us as he rides me to a place we can only reach together. My lover must have sensed me watching him for his golden eyes are locked with mine now as we approach our final destination. No longer able to hold his beautiful gaze my eyes close and I cry out his name as I am filled with ecstasy. "Yoko!" He too reaches the end of our pleasure journey with a final cry… "Kuro!"

Hiei's eyes snap open. 'Not again!' Breathing heard, and more than a little aroused from the intense lovemaking he had just dreamed, the fire demon tried to get up.

Knowing his mate had not been sleeping well, Kurama woke the moment Hiei tried to move away from him. Pulling an almost reluctant Hiei back into his arms the fox couldn't fail to notice his mate's arousal. "Hiei-Koi? Were you dreaming of me?"

"Hn. Always my Fox." Hiei lay back as Kurama moved over him.

"Well, let's see if I can live up to your dreams Koibito." As Kurama kissed his way down his neck, Hiei sighed in acceptance. He knew this would be a replay of the dream he had just had, he just prayed that at the end of this waking dream it was "Hiei" his fox cried, not the name of his dead lover.

xxxxx

The lovers lay nestled in each other's arms, basking in the proverbial afterglow of their lovemaking. As his hand played across the muscles on Hiei's chest, Kurama didn't see the frown on his lover's brow.

"Kurama, will you tell me about Kuronue?" The hand caressing his chest stopped.

"Hiei, were you reading my thoughts? I was just thinking about him a few minutes ago."

Annoyed, Hiei pulled out of Kurama's arms. "While we were making love?"

'Good work Fox, not the best time to tell your mate you were thinking of an old lover.' Hurriedly Kurama tried to reassure him. "Well, Hiei-Koi, once in a while you do something that reminds me of him. Now, don't misunderstand, I love you, and not because you remind me of him, you don't. It's just that, sometimes you do."

Moving to the edge of the futon so his fox couldn't see his face Hiei asked over his shoulder, "What did I do just now to remind you of him?"

Hesitantly, Kurama answered. "I looked down at you, right before the end, and you were biting your lip, trying to concentrate on me. He used to do that, bite his lip to take his mind off what we were doing so he could watch me. I've never seen you do it before."

When Hiei didn't respond right away, Kurama moved up behind him, wrapping his arms around his love. "Koibito, please don't be upset, you know you are the only one I think of when we make love."

Hiei turned into his fox's embrace. "I'm not upset Fox."

Kurama pulled back a little to look at his mate. "Hiei, if you didn't read my thoughts, why the sudden interest in Kuro?"

'Think fast unless you want to tell him about the dreams.' Hiei brushed Kurama's hair away from his eyes. "I can tell you've been thinking about him lately and I was curious. You've never told me much about him other than he was your partner and lover and that he died."

Nervously, Kurama began to make the bed. "Yeah, I guess I have been thinking about him. It's coming up on the anniversary of his death, the two hundredth anniversary Hiei. He was my lover and my partner for twenty seven years, he was very special to me."

Not sure of Hiei's reaction to his last statement, Kurama picked up his clothes, left the tree house, and went to the stream to bathe. It wasn't long before Hiei joined him. Silently they bathed, dressed and gathered fruit for breakfast.

As Hiei watched Kurama eat he considered letting the subject drop. He didn't know Yoko and Kuronue had been together for so long. Hiei and Kurama had only been back together for eighteen years. Even adding the year they were together before Yoko died, Kuronue's claim was still longer.

'No, I can't let it go. I have to know if what I've been dreaming about was real. Maybe if he tells me about his death and it doesn't match my dream then I'll let it go.'

When his fox finally looked up and met his eyes Hiei found the nerve to ask the question that had been haunting him for the last week. "Kurama, would it upset you to tell me how he died?"

Kurama gave Hiei a shy smile. "It might upset me a little Hiei, but I'll still tell you."

"A demon named Sito owned a castle west of Gandura. He bragged that his security was so good that it was theft proof. Needless to say, for me, that was like daring me to rob him. We went in and grabbed a few meaningless treasures; you know the kind I like, all shiny. We were running and laughing as we left the castle, it was such fun. Then suddenly he turned back. The pendant I had given him on our twentieth anniversary together had caught on something and the chain broke. I called to him to leave it but he wouldn't. That's when Sito's guards spotted us. Kuro was impaled by a bamboo shoot. It must have struck an artery because the blood just drained from him. He called to me, told me to run, to save myself. All I could do was cry out his name. I know if I had gone back we would have both died, but even now, I still regret that decision. Later when it quieted down I went back. They just left him there. I took him home and buried him. I went back one last time. After finding the pendant that had cost my lover his life, I spread seeds for some of my most deadly plants around the castle and made them grow. The castle is still abandoned today, believed to be cursed, as all who enter, die."

Hiei sat in silence as Kurama told the tale of Kuronue's death, shocked at how closely it resembled the first dream. Hiei never looked at Kurama's face as his lover's voice changed from joy, to anguish then deepened to the voice of Yoko Kurama as he told of his revenge for his lover's death.

As Kurama finished Hiei looked at him. Kurama's eyes were distant, as if that last day with Kuronue were being played out before him. As Hiei watched, a lone tear ran down the fox's cheek. Knowing he was to blame for his mate's distress Hiei reached for him, pulling him into his arms. Feeling the comfort of Hiei's embrace Kurama released the tight hold he had on his emotions and for the first time in centuries allowed the tears for flow freely for the love he had lost so many years ago.