Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue, cause I hate Mary Sue, and Bri isn't one! Eh…that made no sense…O.O

Chapter 11: Heat

…Hiei…

Why I followed the idiot partling who dared to call me Snowball, I'll never know. It had been her own fault she'd been nabbed. I didn't mind staying in the Makai from thirty years before. It didn't bother me at all. What did bother me was that the stupid woman who'd done it all was the root cause of it all and somehow she was still alive.

The red time rip that Tsuki Sawaguchi had left was tiny. I'd barely been able to follow her, even at the speed I could go. I didn't know in what time we were or where we'd ended up. Some patch of woods somewhere. I leapt into a tree before mother or daughter could sense me. But I did know that my only way out was the stupid partling.

"Keiko, why are you fighting me?" asked the idiot.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe that you're touching me and I don't like you?"

"I am your mother. I know what is best for you, Keiko."

"Don't call me that."

"It's your name."

"No, it ain't. I got the name my father wanted me to have. It's Koko Wolf. Bri is my sister and your daughter. Why the hell do you want her dead?"

"Because she was a mistake. Don't make yourself into one, Keiko."

As amusing as this all was, I slowly unsheathed my sword. No woman was going to take out my only way out of this place. Admittedly, it was just another woman who was the way, but I'd rather deal with the Snowball than the Moon. Before either girl could react, I brought my sword down on Tsuki Sawaguchi. The woman fell in three neat, bloody slices to the forest floor.

Koko stared at me as I wiped my blade off on the grass.

"What?" I growled. "Your mouth stop working?"

"Th-Thank you, Hiei."

I straightened and sheathed my sword, trying to appear nonchalant as ever. Trying to appear as if that wasn't the first time she'd ever actually used my name. Trying not to seem like I liked the sound of my name coming from her mouth. I should've remembered that she could read my every thought.

Damn.

"I like you, too, Hiei."

Koko smirked as I cast my best glare at her. "Woman, if you want to live, I suggest you make a—"

My words, and my temper, flew off like one of the Fox's strange plants. The partling had kissed me! It was soft, almost unnoticeable, but she had. I couldn't deny it. I also couldn't deny that it felt pretty damn good.

I swore under my breath as those lips planted themselves back on mine and she forced me, with no resistance on my part, down onto the forest floor.

"Like I said," she grinned in all her cat-like viciousness. "Don't mess with me. I'm in cat demon heat."

(AN: OO Let's just say that they got a little busy…I'm not keen on writing hentai scenes, mostly because I've never done it before myself. Nor have I ever been kissed. Poor me, right? --;; Like I'm going to get any sympathy…)

…Bri…

It was honestly taking a lot of hard work not to launch myself into Kurama's arms and beg him to mate with me. I do not like mating season! It is hell. I giggled softly at every given turn—I do not giggle! I'm not a happy, peppy schoolgirl like Botan! I turned my powers down so I wouldn't have to listen to the others' admittedly-funny thoughts and concentrated on the scrolls that Kuronue had retrieved for us.

It was actually a very simple procedure, requiring only the minimalist amount of Spirit energy to make the incision in space-time. The only particular difficulty that lay ahead was getting the correct area of space-time that connected to our own time. That took concentration of the mind, more than concentration of the spirit.

Good thing I had plenty of that. I guess the fact that Koko and I were also Empathes helped us be able to find where we needed to go better than it did normal partling cats. I found out later that had we not had the abilities, we would not be capable of the concentration at all, really.

"Okay, guys," I said. "Leave the scrolls here, I'm sure those hormone-scathed cats can find them after they're through messing around in two months time. I've got it down pat. It's simple."

"Then let's get the hell outta here," Yusuke said.

"Let's find Koko," I nodded. "Kurama, can you pick up her scent once we're through?"

Kurama nodded and I sighed and set the remainder of the scrolls down on the forest floor. I concentrated my Spirit energy on the air in front of me and took one long slice with my stubby fingernails. A red pathway opened.

"Cool!" I grinned. "I don't even need the claws. All right, everybody in!"

Yusuke, Kuronue, Ayame, and Kurama went through the gateway and I quickly closed it off when I was through as well. Kurama transformed into his Youko form and sniffed at the air for a few minutes.

"Hiei's with her," he said. "This way."

His silver hair was easy to follow, but I think the tail was starting to bug me. I just wanted to wrap my fingers around it and stroke…It looked so soft, like his hair was the first time I'd kissed him.

Stop those thoughts before you get yourself in over your head! …

Kurama stopped about halfway down the passage and pointed to a still-open slit in the time-space. I rolled my eyes. Tsuki was horrible at closing her own holes up. I opened it up just wide enough that we could slip through again.

The scene we came upon was not a pretty sight. Under Hiei's long black cloak, all other garments discarded, were a sleeping Koko and Hiei. Both had shallow bite marks on their right shoulders, just above the bones that connected to the arm. Tsuki's remains were in a haphazard pile off toward a thicket of maple and oak trees. I blinked, staring at the scene.

What on earth had happened?

"I believe that Koko got the better of Hiei," Kurama said softly. He pulled out a seed and created a rather large leaf. On the leaf, he wrote with a pen that I gave him from my still-full pockets. I don't think Hiei would be very happy that we'd come across him and Koko like this.

"Come on, let's leave them," Kurama said. He placed a similar illusion over them that he'd placed over Ayame and me, which would disperse when the sleeping mates finally awoke.

Even Yusuke was silent as we climbed back through into the time stream. I closed the hole behind me. Another giggle fell from my lips as I led the way back toward our own time.

What the hell was up with the giggling! …

No one seemed to notice, however, as I finally found and opened our own time period and the others poured out.

"I think I'll go and take a nice, long shower," Yusuke said. "See you, guys. Let me know how Koko takes everything when she and her 'Snowball' get back." He gave a rakish grin. I heard him chuckling all the way up the stairs and out of the house.

We'd arrived right back in my room, where Tsuki had originally pushed me through the time rip. Kuronue and Ayame immediately turned questioning eyes toward Kurama and me. They looked all around the room, at the books, at the electrical clock. I suppose if I came from thirty years in the past, I'd be curious about the advances over the years, too, especially if I wasn't even from the human world.

Kurama smiled. "Ayame, I believe some of Bri's clothing would be able to fit you. I'll call Kuwabara. He probably has something that Kuronue could fit until we can get to the mall."

"But Kurama," I said. "Kuronue has bat wings. He's got pointy ears. People are gonna notice a bat demon walking around a Tokyo strip mall."

"Bats have the ability to disperse their wings," Kurama explained. "And we can blame his ears on some birth defect." He let his silver hair and gold eyes fade away until he was once again human. Sure enough, Kuronue's wings vanished after a minute or two. Ayame, I wasn't too worried about. She was human enough that she looked human.

"Well…I guess this is going to take some getting used to…" I said. "I wonder if Genkai would let you guys stay with her? Yukina's been doing it for years and Hiei spends the night there sometimes when it gets cold or rainy."

"I'm afraid Koko's going to have to stick close to her mate from now on, Bri," Kurama said. "The bond between a fire demon and his mate is…unparalleled, save for one demon kind."

"Your kind, I take?" I asked with a grin.

"Well…I was actually referring to cat demons. Foxes are in the upper three, as well."

"Oh, so we're going to stick to each other like glue when we finally mate, right?" I grinned despite myself. I toyed with the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"In a word, yes."

"Sounds fun. Let me stop with the heat thing, and we'll see if we can't get our wedding planned a little sooner."

Kurama chuckled. I think I heard a faint bit of nervousness in his voice. "You're something else, Bri."

He left to go and call Kuwabara and I shooed Kuronue into his room. I let Ayame take a shower and get dressed in peace. She cleaned up quite well, and when Kuronue came out of the bathroom an hour later, I had to admit, he was one sexy bat demon. I wouldn't give up my Kurama for anything, though.

Kuronue, I like him sooooo much. I dunno why. We only see him for no more than five friggin' seconds in a movie that may or may not be part of the actual series and we see no more mention of him at all. All we have is what Kurama think of him, which, as we've seen with Bri and Koko, isn't much to base a whole character on. Maybe it's just my perception of him…

Okay, I was a day late getting the next chapter out because I left home for work (I work in a comp lab) without the disc. So! I will be putting up the next chapter (also my fav) right after this one! See you there!