Thanks to:

Star-Goddess Z

DarkangelWings1324

Shadow

Black Fire

Legolas19

Rose

Kooriya Yui

ForeverFornever

What2callmyself

Kitsune Kit

Hedi Dracona

- - -

Dawn slowly crept onto the scene of Baroness Mukuro's castle, signaling the start of a new work day. Though the hour was still early, and neither the Baroness nor her nobles were awake, preparations for their breakfast and daily routines were already underway.

The kitchen was alive with busy kitchen maids and cooks, who hurriedly prepared the dishes for breakfast under the head chef, a man who was hired directly from the city of Rome on a far away continent. The slaves who worked in the kitchen busily cleaned the floors and dishes, and brought in the ingredients.

Every inch of the castle, save the private quarters of the nobles who resided there, was to be cleaned each day with no excuses to why it was not done. The Baroness was a very vain woman, and if anyone or anything made her look bad, well, the gods take pity on them, for it would not be a pleasant thing.

Meanwhile, in a certain room of the slave quarters, a sleepy silver fox lay buried under the rags he used for blankets while a very disgruntled bat tried in vain to wake him. No matter how hard he tried, the young bat was unable to wake the silver fox. So far, he had tried yelling, punching, prodding, and smacking with pillows; he was currently poking his shoulder continuously.

"Kurama! HEY!! KURAMA!! WAKE UP!!" the boy yelled, still poking the bony shoulder of his sleeping friend.

The rising sun hit the small window, and its rays cascaded down through the dirty glass to hit the fox's face. Youko Kurama, who was used to waking up by the sun ever since he was able to see, opened both eyes slowly, and did a catlike stretch on his pallet, making his fur bristle for a moment before he sat up.

"Morning, Kuro. How long have you been awake?" the silver fox asked cheerfully.

Kuronue scoffed, and hit Youko on the head.

"We were supposed to be at breakfast half an hour ago! Man, you sleep hard! I've been trying to get you up for forty-five minutes!"

Youko looked down, and his ears drooped.

"Sorry, Kuro, I just have never had a sleep as… nice as that. Not even when my mother still took care of me," Youko said, and stood up.

Kuronue looked at him weirdly, and then stood up as well.

"You're pretty weird to think that sleeping on old straw and rags is comfortable. I can't tell you how many times some of that damn stuff pokes through the thin cloth and pricks me during the night. I wake up with scratches all the time," Kuro said, and led his friend out of the room. "If we're lucky, breakfast should still be served, and if we eat quickly, we'll be alright."

Youko nodded, and the two picked up their pace, coming to a jog as they passed other slaves, human and demon alike, walking in the other direction towards their assigned jobs. Approximately seven minutes later and three floors down, they reached the large dining area for the servants and slaves of the castle. Kuro was right; breakfast was still being served and many people were still eating.

The noise was extremely irritating to the fox, but he wouldn't complain. He hadn't had a hot meal in a long time, and he was very hungry, having not eaten since yesterday morning. His friend led him to a line, and handed the fox a small wooden bowl. Kuro then proceeded to fill his bowl with some rice and steamed vegetables, picked up a pair of flimsy wooden chopsticks, and waited for Youko at the end of the line.

Youko followed Kuronue's example, and began to prepare his own breakfast, filling his bowl with more rice and less vegetables. Kitsunes loved rice after all. He reached Kuronue, and the two made their way through the ever-thinning crowd to a deserted table. There, the two sat down, and began eating quickly; there was a time limit after all, and getting in trouble for breaking it wasn't a wise thing to do.

Youko ate ravenously, and finished before Kuro, who was staring at the kitsune as if he had grown some unknown appendage straight out of his forehead. The fox set down his bowl sheepishly, and lightly placed his chopsticks in it. Kuronue shrugged, and continued eating, picking up his pace as well. When he was done, he picked up his bowl, and led the way to the deposit, where they both placed their empty utensils and flatware before walking out of the large dining hall.

"You shouldn't have eaten that fast; you'll get a stomach ache, and that won't be good while doing chores."

Youko looked down, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I was just so hungry. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning, and I didn't get to even finish that. When I saw the food, I ju-" Youko was cut off by a playful punch to the shoulder by his friend.

"It's all right! I was just kidding. Don't get so worked up about it," Kuronue said, smiling to Youko, who smiled back.

"Where are we going now, Kuro?" the fox asked.

"To get our chores. Those are usually given out at the entrance to the slave quarters, but sometimes – like if you have a job in the kitchen or something – they're given to you at dinner."

Youko nodded his head in understanding and followed Kuro out of the slave quarters and into the familiar main hallway of the castle he had walked through the other night. There was a large conglomeration of slaves huddled around three people who served as the overseers. Kuro pushed his way to the front, much to the older slaves' chagrin, and motioned for his friend to follow.

Youko, who was skittish by nature, felt awkward pushing through a crowd and bringing attention to himself. He was unsure about how people would react to him and his so-called oddity. The kitsune tried to follow the path that his friend made, but stumbled and ran into a middle-aged human. Youko gasped, and stood up quickly, bowing repeatedly to him and muttering apologies.

The man smirked, and brought the boy's face up to meet his. The fox tried to wheedle his way out of the man's iron grasp, but found that he was too weak. He looked up fearfully at the man, whose grin turned into a look of terror at the sight of his eyes. The man quickly threw the Kogane onto the floor. A sympathetic young girl bent down to help the fox up, but was stopped by the man's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch him; you'll be cursed. He's a Kogane," the middle-aged human spat out the last part like it was an extremely vulgar word, and the group of slaves inched away.

Instantly, there was a large circumference around Kurama, who stood up by himself, and looked down, shaking madly. Gossip started to spread through the groups like wildfire while some individuals took to spitting at him. Kuronue grew angry, and pushed himself through the crowd and over to Youko.

"What do you think you're doing? We're all slaves here; who cares about someone's eye color? We're already the lowest of low! If you believe that he's cursed, than you have no sense whatsoever! You dishonor the very place we live and work and the very person we serve if you act with such stupidity!"

His loud outburst silenced the crowd, and brought the attention of the overseers to the large throng. They roughly pushed their way through, bullying their way past plenty of already-frightened people. When the reached the center of the little gathering, the head overseer straightened himself up.

"What seems to be the trouble here?" he asked the human who pushed Youko.

The man pointed to the two in the center of the circle.

"That fox is a Kogane, sir. He was trying to curse me."

Youko looked up, and stepped forward.

"I-ie! That's not true! I wouldn't curse him! I don-"

"That's enough from you! You'll stay here after you've received your assignment, and then we'll discuss you're crime and the appropriate punishment. Understood?" the overseer barked.

Youko nodded, and looked down again.

"That's not fair, sir! Kurama wouldn't do anything like that! And I certainly don't think that just because his eyes are gold he would have any sort of power to do something so mean. From what I've seen, he wouldn't hurt a fly!" Kuronue objected.

"You were in trouble just two days ago, bat. Do you want the same punishment again?"

Kuronue was about to say something, but Youko stopped him. He opened his mouth, but shut it again, seeing that whatever he could say would be useless in the case of Youko's punishment. The three overseers then pushed their ways through the crowd and back to the front, where they started handing out orders. Both boys took their place in one of the lines that formed, and waited silently for their daily task.

Fortune smiled upon them; their assignment was a joined one: clean the third corridor of the sixteenth floor. Youko went off to the side, and waited somberly for what was to come. Kuro tried to stay behind with his friend, but he was harshly pushed away by the only human of the three overseers. He looked over his shoulder and smiled reassuringly to Youko as he ventured up to the sixteenth floor.

Soon, the last of the slaves left with their jobs, and the overseers were walking over to him. Youko felt alone and defenseless with these men; who knows what they could do to him? Well, the gods, but that's beside the point.

"So, boy, tell me, what curse were you going to place upon that man? Blindness? Paralysis? Or perhaps, was it death?" the stern voice of the leader questioned.

Youko looked up at him, every nerve in his body telling him to run.

"None, I don't know how to curse anyone. Honest!"

The three men laughed.

"Then why are your eyes that color? Certainly, being a Kogane, you know what they mean."

Youko nodded yes, and looked down. He didn't like these men, and intuition was telling him that something was definitely not right in the way they looked at him. The men grew ever closer, surrounding him, and the leader pulled him close. The fox yelped loudly, earning him a rough kiss on the lips from the man. He pulled and struggled to break away from the man, who was now holding the fox by the waste to his body.

The other two snickered, and watched the show with mirth. After the boss was done, it would be their turn with the defenseless boy, and they would be sure to enjoy every second of it.

- - -

Baroness Mukuro was angry. Not only was her heir defying her, but she also felt jealous of that thing he accepted. She was baffled by the jealousy though; why would the great Baroness be jealous of a mere silver fox with the cursed gold eyes? It was just preposterous. She shrugged it off, placing it in her "things to mull over" part of her mind, and paid attention to the task at hand.

Hiei was in the middle of a before-breakfast nap, completely unaware of her company. Naturally, one would never do that to the Baroness, but Hiei was a completely different case. In fact, he pretty much defied everything he could, even death itself. The hiyoukai defined the world "hellion" in its purest form.

Mukuro tapped her slippered foot on the ground impatiently, and placed her hands on her hips. Enough was enough; she would wake this demon up now.

"Hiei, wake up now! We need to talk."

No response. The small demon napped on. This really pissed the Baroness off.

"You're making me angry, Hiei. Wake up now, or you will suffer greatly."

Still no response. Mukuro huffed, and cuffed the demon on the side harshly. Hiei growled, and opened his eyes, ready to incinerate whatever disturbed his nap. He looked up to see the angry, scowling face of the Baroness. The demon yawned, and shut his eyes again.

"Don't you dare fall asleep again, Hiei. Open your eyes and look at me! We need to talk about that mongrel you brought in," she said.

"What I bring in and out is none of your business. And it so happens that the 'mongrel' you're referring to was a gift," he said calmly.

"He's a Kogane, Hiei. You know what they do. I don't know about you, but I don't want him to tarnish my reputation."

Hiei scoffed.

"He's mine, and I'll do what I want with him."

With that, he stood up, and left the room. Mukuro sighed; that demon was sure a handful. She shook her head, and walked out of the room. There was breakfast to get ready for, and after that meetings with her advisors; she couldn't be late on account of a single rebellious Lord.

- - -

Hiei trudged through the hallways, not exactly wanting to go to breakfast, but not wanting to show Mukuro that what she had said about the fox had gotten him worked up, though he didn't know why. He was extremely beautiful, though a tad too skinny. But that could be fixed. His eyes were amazing; the Lord had never seen anything like them before. They were such a rare color. No jewel or metal on any of the continents could even rival the golden irises the fox possessed.

While he was musing, a certain god that we all know and love had decided that the abuse young Youko was receiving should be stopped, so he subconsciously guided the demon to the main hallway, where the overseers were having their way with the fox. A loud squeaking and whimpering snapped Hiei out of his thoughts, and he looked to see the cause.

What he saw made the Lord growl and run over. His fox was surrounded by three men who were doing rather dirty things with him. The boy was completely helpless as they had their way with him, not at the point of raping him, but not too far from it. Hiei would not let this happen; the Lord's possessions were not to be used by people other than him.

Within seconds, he was behind them, grabbing the leader by his neck and roughly pulling him away. Youko was curled up on the ground with his eyes shut, trying to make himself as small as possible. He was panting slightly, and shaking like a leaf. Hiei took care of the guards quickly, killing them swiftly with his infamous sword, known for bringing a very painful death to those who crossed the wrong side of it.

When the smell of blood reached his nose, Youko lifted his head, and looked around for the source. When he was sure it wasn't his, he began to scan the hallway, his eyes landing on his master and the three corpses beside him. Hiei looked angry, extremely angry. Some would even say pissed.

Youko quickly lowered his head again, and covered it with his hands; who knows what his versatile owner would do to him. Hiei walked over to the fox, and placed a hand on him. The kitsune squealed, and cowered even more. The Lord, growing ever more impatient by the second, pulled him roughly out of the ball, and onto his feet.

Youko quivered, and bowed his head, looking down at the intricate patterns the marble tiles made. Hiei scoffed at him.

"Don't be so weak; I won't be there next time to help you. Either become stronger, or get killed, either way works for me."

With that said, he walked off towards breakfast. Youko shivered again, fixed his attire so Kuro wouldn't get suspicious, and walked the halls to the sixteenth floor.

- - -

After the night of celebration, Inari was again watching the young youko. He was outraged at the audacity of some of the lower world's creatures; how dare they insult him in such a way. If there was one thing he wouldn't take, it was the misuse of the very things he was a father figure to.

He was glad that he had sent the impulse into the fire demon's mind to kill those creatures, though he knew that Amaterasu would be angry with him. She hated when any of the gods tampered with the world which she carefully watched over.

He shrugged it off, and began watching again. He knew that soon, very soon, he would have to tamper again, and bring forth revelations that no god would mention or even speak of. But, deep in his heart, he knew it must be done, and better sooner than later.

The golden god stood up, his nine tails swaying ever so slightly, and walked into a different room, one that held some of the kitsune magic and guises his messengers were famous for. He would go to the living world, and watch over the boy in person, awaiting the time to come when he could reveal himself in the fullest.

- - -

Merry Christmas everyone, sorry if the ending's a tad… blah.

Dark-Kitsune-Dreams