Inulover: OMFG! It's an update! Lol. I didn't make ya all wait too long this time (smile). But… grrr, the last chapter was seriously 11pgs on my word document, how ff. net managed to get it down to 8pgs is a mystery. (sigh) oh well.

Dragonflyr: yay! It's interesting! (smiles) yup, she just won't die, will she? Of course, always got ta have the fluffy quota filled… along with the angst (wink). Ayama shall be revealed in due time, I've had him planned for a bit now.

Volpi Di Spirito: took me long enough, didn't it? Lol. I know! I was like, "sooo cute!" when I saw the keychain on his bag, almost makes up for the PURPLE bag it was on and the PINK uniform they make him ware (sigh). Lol. Yeay! People are into Ayama now! See you liked the leash mentioning too, (wink)

S.L.H.A.K: hey, I DID update soon this time! Lol… um, sry, but what is THOMO? Is the T not supposed to be there? Or…uh, sorry, I'm a bit slow sometimes. I am a blond, lol. (Blonds aim to attack authoress) ahh! No really! (Waves piece of hair around) I am, see? Whew.

Nightshadow131: it was a miracle wasn't it? Lol. And yes you got my e-mail right (smile) yeah, isn't ADELPHIA fun to spell? OI! Lol. It is too bad it's only PG-13, I'd love to write the Hiei/Kurama scenes. NAS and your new one weren't/aren't that bad, we all improve, look at my first and this in comparison, jeesh. Yay! I've improved! And you liked the description, I'm happy now! (smile) a-ha, you'll have to wait for the revealing of Aracnus' plans. Hey, I DID update sooner (smile) yes, poor Kura-chan… I've never used that before O.o. hehe, gotta make Hiei loveable with Kurama; ya just can't help it (wink) yay! Another leash lover, lol… erm yeah, I'll stay quite now,lol. Yep, he has the keychain, its sooo cute! You only see it for a second and I re-wound the DVD to double check too. I don't mind about the length (ok, it took me five tries to spell that damn word -.-) I feel so special now (smile)

Inulover: ok, sorry if my responses sounded hyper, guy's, I kinda am right now, lol. I'VE GOT GUM! … (crickets go off in the background) ok, I'll stop making an ass of myself and get on with the story now. -.-

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He was there again, back in Yukita's cave, but something seemed off, something Kurama couldn't figure out. The four Kumo teens were lined against the wall, Aracnus was standing in the back, the Devils Heart was in place, and even Hiei was…wait! Kurama looked back and realized that what was out of place was Hiei. The fire demon was strapped down on some sort of table with Yukita in Kurama's body standing over him while Kurama was chained to the wall like Hiei had been.

The dirty spider smirked at Hiei and bit into her finger like before. The blood soaked into the filament and the orb was set ablaze. The Hell Hound grew out of it like a puff of smoke to steal Hiei's soul.

Kurama tried to yell out to them, to try and do anything to help his koibito but his voice died in his throat, not able to make the slightest sound as the large, bat wings encased Hiei, as the blood chilling scream reached Kurama's ears. Black energy swarmed around the cave for what was barely seconds, and then it faded. The dog demon was gone and Yukita stood at full demonic height, all eight legs worth. The last thing Kurama saw was the blank stare of Hiei's soulless body.

Kurama jolted up in bed, sweat glistening on his brow as he caught his breath. Heart still racing he looked around to find that Hiei was still in the same corner of Genkai's temple, fast asleep; safe, and Kurama relaxed.

Emerald jewels absorbed the faint light shining through the wooden planked windows of the white room. It was barely five in the morning and the sun was still playing with its teasing shadows of light.

Shaky legs carried the lithe form through the shoji door and onto the low porch-like walkway outside. Kurama leaned on a square wooden pillar and admired the soft chirping of the birds and the crisp bite of the cool morning air.

It was amazing, how things could seem so peaceful at one moment, even though things were entirely chaotic. It was simply ironic, really.

'How many more dreams can she possibly give me?' Kurama thought forlornly.

"I'm not giving you dreams."

Kurama gasped, leaning heavily on the pillar for support as the familiar dizziness swept over him. Yukita's cackle ricocheted in his mind.

"That dream was all your doing, little fox. There's no point in my torturing you when you do it fine on your own." She laughed again and Kurama felt like he was spinning. The lightheadedness began to overwhelm him and before he knew it, he was completely loosing balance. The world blacked out.

Slowly consciousness came back to him, the darkness faded away in little sparks of white and a dull pain brought him back to full clarity. Kurama found himself slumped over his lovers shoulder.

"You'd better be glad I caught you, fox," Hiei growled.

Kurama pushed himself off of his koi's chest to find that Hiei had saved him from a nasty fall down the stairs. And if that wasn't enough, also saved him from falling onto the nice jagged rocks Genkai had been so kind as to place on either side of them.

"Thank you, Hiei." The fire demon said nothing and pushed Kurama to sit down on the step, giving him a scorning look. Kurama almost backed up, feeling awkward from the stare. "What?" he asked timidly.

"If you're dizzy or feeling weak you shouldn't be out of bed."

"But I'm not feeling dizzy or weak."

Hiei crossed his arms and gazed pointedly down at his fox saying, "Like hell you're not!"

Kurama winced, "Hiei, please, you'll wake Yukina and Genkai. I mean it, I don't feel weak or dizzy right now."

"Really? Then care to explain why you just fainted, fox?" Hiei challenged.

Emerald eyes turned away, downcast as the Yoko sighed, "When Yukita speaks… I become dizzy. It has nothing to do with my physical health…," and he added under his breath, "Just mental."

A moment of silence passed and then a warm hand gently caressed the side of Kurama's cheek. The fox smiled and leaned into the soft touch. Nothing had to be said at this point, just a silent comfort as the luminous shadows brightened over the grounds.

Hiei sat down and Kurama leaned on his shoulder as they remained mute, Hiei's presence was more then enough in itself to wash away the unease left over by Yukita. Kurama turned his eyes onto a bird that was hopping around the ground.

"It's really peaceful here… I wish it could stay like this." Hiei wrapped Kurama in a loving embrace and Kurama smiled. "You realize that no one would ever believe that you can be this sweet and comforting?"

"Hn, only for you, fox. Only for you." Kurama snuggled closer to his lover.

"Then I'm lucky, aren't I?" Hiei chuckled lightly and held Kurama tighter in place of an answer.

Time passed as the sun rose higher, beaming down on the two content youkai captured in the swaying shadow of a Japanese maple tree. Kurama stood and stretched.

"I have to change and leave or I'll be late."

Hiei nodded and followed Kurama back to their room where the fox preceded to take out his school uniform from his bag. Hiei wrinkled his nose at the pink material.

"I hate that thing."

Kurama answered with a weary, "You don't have to wear it," tossed over his shoulder. He pulled off his night shirt, shaking out his long blood locks slightly, and threw the jacket on over a spare white shirt. He sighed, "For what is supposed to be a prestigious school they lack intelligent when it comes to colors. The interior of the school is green, the males uniforms are pink while the females have red; It really makes no sense," he finished as he pulled on the matching pants. Hiei snickered at his fox's rambling.

"You sound like a woman, going on about colors like that."

"Humph, you brought it up in the first place."

Kurama turned his head as he felt two strong arms wrap around his waist again, holding him protectively. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he placed his arms over Hiei's as he answered the unvoiced words.

"I'll be fine, Hiei." With a light kiss he was off.

Across town the Devils Heart glowed in the dim light of the cave. Tohru sat, watching it, wondering how her mother could have brought such an evil and dangerous thing into their world, their life. Did she not care?

Tohru had always taken her mothers aloofness to be just her personality, someone who acted like they didn't care but secretly worried. But now… Now Zeta was dead, along with Shin and the little one, Usagi, who had been killed after breaking their mother out of her prison cell. And now she couldn't help but wonder, did Yukita only think of her children as tools? Tools that could just be thrown away without a second thought? Tohru didn't want to think like that, but that didn't mean that she believed in the facts any less.

"Tohru? What are you doing here?"

The female spun around at the sound of her egg-mates voice, "Nothing," she replied and turned away from Yutaka, staring deeply into the mysterious jewel in front of her. She heard him sigh and walk over closer to her.

"You're moping like a ningen, Tohru. It's not like you even cared for Zeta."

"I'm sorry for her passing; no matter how much we fought, she was no less my egg-mate then you are. Even so, you are wrong if that is what you believe I'm thinking about."

"Then what? You're never one to mope."

"I'm not moping!" she growled, "I doubt mother's intent, if you must know."

"What?" Yutaka's shock was clear in his voice and Tohru faced him, eight eyes to eight eyes.

"Three of our siblings are now dead, two of them egg-mates of ours."

"What about it makes you doubt mother?"

"Are we that unimportant to her? To the point where she can just use us and if we die say: So what!" Enraged, she screamed, "Has she mourned their loss once? Has she given it even a second thought! And how could she have brought such a vile jewel here? Knowing full well the power it held!"

"You're too emotional, egg-mate." Yutaka stated coldly.

"And if I am? I don't care! You are too unemotional! Do you not care about our losses either!"

"Of course! But I'm not dwelling on it!"

"Mourning is not dwelling!"

"You dwell on their deaths and back talk mother!"

"How can you not! Can you honestly say you have full trust in her now?"

Yutaka stood and slammed his egg-mate into the ground in a fit of anger.

"And how can you speak so ill of her!" he asked, glaring down at the female under his clawed feet. "You know as well as I do to never put full trust in anyone!"

Tohru stood up, head down, "I'm aware of that, but can we not trust even our own clan?" she asked stiffly, and Yutaka had no answer or argument to counter her with.

"Is this what you two do when we're not around?" Nakano asked as he walked in with Inuki behind him.

"So you don't get along as well as we thought," Inuki smirked.

"This is not the time for your pathetic jokes, Inuki," Yutaka growled.

"You aren't the only ones shaken up by Zeta's death. We have to avenge her."

Tohru huffed, "This sounds oddly familiar. Why are you treating Zeta's death any different then Shin's?"

"Shin was a weakling. Zeta was a-"

"Diva?" Tohru finished smugly for Nakano.

"A decent fighter," he snapped back, "And she could hold her ground better then the weakling could!"

"She was no stronger then Shin! You were simply interested in making her your mate! The both of you!"

Nakano and Inuki both stumbled for words, starting and stopping thousands of sentences in one minute. It wasn't an uncommon thing between demons to mate with siblings or the same sex. Unlike humans, demons found it a rather petty thing to squabble over. Some demon races didn't even have a "gender" of Male or Female. But, even so, for that to be so bluntly and suddenly stated was still a bit of a shock.

At last Inuki came back with an angry, "And what of you and Yutaka!"

"What about us?" Yutaka spoke evenly, matching his younger siblings gaze.

Again at a loss for words Inuki's temper flared and he charged at his elder. Yutaka growled and rammed back, both siblings getting caught in a perpetual head-butt. Nakano jumped in, spraying web across Yutaka's back to contain him. Tohru bristled and electricity shot at Nakano from her raised back, causing the stunned Kumo to loss his grip on the web, setting an enraged Yutaka free. Web strings sliding off his back, Yutaka opened his mouth, eyes seething, and sent a high pitched sound wave at his challengers, not even audible to human ears. The sound waves bounced off both Inuki and Nakano, sending the demons to the ground in pain (1). All the Kumo locked in a battle between each other.

"Enough!"

All fighting ceased at the sound of the booming voice echoing around the cavern. Four trembling spiders froze and watched their father crawl out of the shadows. Steely neck fur bristled and flaming eyes landed on Tohru.

"Disobedience is not permitted here."

"I-I'm sorry, father," she whimpered as she bowed her head, "I- I know better then to-"

"Silence!" The earth underneath Aracnus' feet shattered in a straight line heading for Tohru, the force of the earthquake throwing the female to the ground. Inuki, Nakano and Yutaka shook from fear, it was nothing but pain when their father was angered, and even more pain if you tried to run away.

Tohru didn't get back up, only quivered on the floor in submission. Showing any sign of what their father might take for rebellion would almost guarantee death. "I'm in… in the wrong, fa-father. I-I deserve your punishment. I never should have doubted mother, it's not my place, I had no right."

"Stand up!" Tohru readily obeyed, "All four of you, out of my sight! I shall call on you later." The siblings scuttled out as fast as their long legs would take them. "I have a use for all of you."

Kurama sat silently, playing the diligent student as the teacher droned on and on about the anatomy of a leaf. How this type varied from that type by this and that, not realizing when he said something false. The fox desperately wished he could drop the class some how, the class could have been interesting if it wasn't for the fact that he could teach the botany teacher more then a thing or two about plants.

At long last the chiming of the bell relieved the students from the hell that was boring lectures to lunch.

Kurama took the time to sneak out to the roof of the building, watching the city through the mesh around the edge, looping his fingers through it as the wind caught his hair slightly to make it dance behind him.

"Not hungry?" Kaitou asked as he joined the fox at the fence.

"Not really."

"You know, Master Genkai told us about what's been going on and we'll help you as much as we can."

"Thank you, Kaitou. It's appreciated," Kurama smiled.

"A little friend of...,"

'Shut up!' Kurama's grip tightened on the mesh.

"Touchy this morning?"

"Hey, you alright?" Kaitou asked as Kurama paled a considerable amount.

"Yes, it's nothing to worry about, really."

"Well come on then, lunch is almost over." Kaitou walked away to the stairwell and Kurama pried his fingers off of the fence, imprints of the wire etched on the underside of each finger from a moment ago as Kurama followed the teen down the stairs.

Not more then two steps down, Yukita began to get talkative. Pure mindless drabble for the sheer purpose of making Kurama dizzy. The fox grabbed the banister tightly, vainly trying to block out the noise. The last thing he heard was Yukita laughing and what he thought was Kaitou calling his name as he blacked out.

"No, I'm sorry, he's not up yet," was the first thing Kurama heard as he woke up surrounded by starched sheets.

"Shuichi?"

"Oh, Mister Minamino, you're awake."

Kurama looked up to see the school nurse and Kaitou standing over him. He sat up and groaned as a dull ache in his head made itself known.

"What am I doing here?"

"You collapsed on the stairs. Why else would I drag you here?"

'Oh, right.'

"How do you feel Mister Minamino? Does your head hurt at all?"

"Well, yes, considering I just fell down the stairs," he answered stiffly. What a stupid question to ask someone after fainting on the stairs.

The nurse managed to catch onto the fox's hostility at the moment and left to get some aspirin. Kaitou sat down on the bed next to Kurama.

"I knew something was wrong. I'm no doctor but you shouldn't faint for no reason at all."

"I'll explain later. What time is it?"

"Time to leave, you've been out cold since lunch ended. I'll walk with you to Genkai's, Kido and Yanagisawa should already be there."

"What?"

"I told you we were going to help you," he said smartly and Kurama sighed, this really wasn't the best time for surprises.

After the dumb blond of a nurse let Kurama leave, the two made their way back to the temple. When they arrived they found everyone crowding around a corner and they walked over curiously.

"What's going on?" Kaitou asked and Kido pointed a thumb at the web writing covering the wall that read: 'No one in the city is safe.'

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Inulover: And thus ends that. I hope the scene with Kurama and Hiei in the beginning didn't get too boring. I was going for calm and relaxing but I think it might have come out boring. Hmmm. Well, I guess there isn't much to do about it now.

Please review. (Goes of to worry about the chapter being boring)

1: I learned about that in science class and figured I'd use it. It's like this really high frequency wave that you can't hear and it bounces off of your organs and like makes them vibrate or something and it's supposed to really hurt. (shrugs) well there's my science lesson. Thought I'd throw the footnote in incase someone didn't get that.

Ja ne.

Review please.