"Do your best, Hiei. I'll be waiting," Yusuke murmured, sitting back on his heels by the sleeping redhead.

Hiei nodded and stood reluctantly. It wasn't that he didn't want to face Bui, it was he didn't want to leave Yusuke and Kurama. As he reached his feet, he drew himself up to his full height, which was still dwarfed by the vampire. If Kurama could face his fear, then he could do no less. With one last look at the two, he strode up to the stage and pulled himself onto it. Bui was there, waiting, his expression somewhere between not caring and condescending.

"You're not much bigger than when I last saw you, necromancer," Bui's voice was deep, rolling, trying to suck Hiei's mind under, but it lacked something that Yusuke's voice had.

"Yeah, well, I'll still kick your ass," Hiei returned, his hand going for his gun.

"You didn't have that last time you met me. Are you afraid to face me without it?"

Hiei hesitated a heartbeat before answering, "No, I'm just not that stupid anymore."

"It's been thirteen years, and I still don't know how you managed to kill them. Three revenants and you defeated them." He began sliding to the side, and Hiei moved with him, staying directly across the ring, his hand on the butt of his gun. "Tell me, how did you do it?"

"I don't remember." Hiei pulled the gun out, flicking off the safety. "I'll remember tonight, though." He aimed the gun, sighting along his outstretched arms directly into Bui's chest, where his heart would be.

Bui was across the ring before Hiei could breathe, pressing him down to the ground. Hiei's lungs emptied with a harsh sound as his hands were pinned by his shoulders, the gun pointed toward Yusuke. Bui glared down at him, challenging him, daring him to loose control and fire. Fear swept through Hiei's body and he was again twelve, caught under the revenants who didn't care what they had to go through to feed.

The power that made him a necromancer flared in his body, taking his sanity away and hiding it until it would be safe again. His eyes burned red and an unholy sound emerged from his throat as he pushed Bui away. The vampire landed across the ring, surprised, but not half as surprised as he was when Hiei was suddenly on his throat, moving at speeds only a vampire should have been able to reach. One of the silver blades in his hand, Hiei slashed at Bui's throat, tearing easily through skin and muscle until the knife embedded itself in the creature's spine. Blood sprayed from the wound, covering Hiei's face and torso, and crimson streamed to the floor of the ring, forming a puddle around Bui's feet. The vampire twitched once, twice, then his knees buckled and he crumpled to the floor, his head lolling back at an impossible angle, exposing the inner reaches of his throat and the knife still protruding from it. In that still crazed state, Hiei shrieked again, and fell to his knees in that puddle of blood, wrenching out the knife and making quick work of the vampire's body. With strength that was more akin to vampire, Hiei stabbed Bui directly in the chest, then reached into the wound and pulled back the enormous ribcage, the sounds of cracking bone echoing across the hall. The blood that coated Hiei's hands and arms was still warm, and when he grasped Bui's heart and tore it from his chest, the muscle was still beating, blood surging from its torn arteries and hitting the floor with wet squelching sounds as it pumped futilely a few final times then stilled. Hiei crushed the heart in his hand, his face a blood-splattered mask of insanity, then continued his feverish work on the dead vampire's body. He dissected Bui, first tearing out his lungs and crushing them, then slicing open his stomach and eviscerating him. He was screaming, yelling, crying, blood soaking his arms to the elbow as they dove into the vampire's large body, ripping intestines, pulling out the walls of the stomach, removing and scattering the creature's internal organs around the ring until he was surrounded by gore.

Something was pulling him away, restraining him. He fought against it, snarling, wild. His power flared and the hands left him. In his head, he heard someone call to him, "Hiei…Hiei…"

"Leave me alone," he snarled, his hands and knife still working on the remains before him.

"Hiei, he's dead. It's over. You won."

"He killed them. He killed them."

"He's dead."

"No!" Hiei howled, bringing the knife over his head in a double handed grip and dropping it into the still form before him, "NO!" He couldn't pull the knife out of the stage.

Arms wrapped around him again. This time, he allowed it, his head turning to the shoulder of the one that held him. "He killed them."

"I know," the voice reached his ears, soothing. Hands caressed his back, calming him. No one had held him when his parents had died. He trembled in the embrace.

"I was so scared," he murmured, his arms going around the one that held him.

"I know. It's okay. It's over now." Over and over the words were repeated, hands soothing his back, holding him as his mind returned to him.

Hiei shuddered and sighed. "Yusuke?"

"Yes?"

Hiei pushed away from the brunet vampire, "I…I…thank you."

Yusuke placed his hand on Hiei's cheek, and whispered, "This is part of what it means to be my servant. You never have to face them alone. You don't have to be alone anymore, Hiei."

Hiei looked into the vampire's brown eyes. They were sincere, nothing hinting at lust or desire, only the promise of companionship. He was surprised at how well Yusuke was keeping to his promise not to pursue him, to keep this to a show for the council and yet still show him another aspect of the vampire's desire. This new aspect both frightened and drew Hiei to Yusuke and Kurama.

Thinking of the redhead caused Hiei to look over to where he was lying. He looked back at Yusuke, "He needs me, doesn't he?"

Yusuke looked over at Kurama. "It would help him recover, yes. But, he can also wait until we get back to the café."

Hiei leaned against Yusuke, his eyes on Kurama, "I want to help him."

"Why, Hiei?"

"Don't ask me right now, Yusuke. I can't answer. Help me over there. I'm not entirely sure I can walk." They took a step and Hiei felt something missing. He looked down and his holster was empty, as were his hands, "My gun." Yusuke took their path to get the fallen weapon. Hiei tried to reach for it but his balance was off. Yusuke reached down and picked up the gun handing it barrel first to Hiei. "Butt first, Yusuke," Hiei corrected, his voice sharp.

Yusuke glared slightly at Hiei, "I can't switch it without letting you go."

Hiei growled and took the gun, awkwardly shoving it into his holster. He had trouble manipulating it with just one hand and feeling shaky, but he managed to get it holstered. Yusuke waited, watching avidly. "You didn't use that," he pointed out.

"No," Hiei conceded, allowing Yusuke to lead him to the edge of the ring. There was a fair drop off between the ring and the floor below. Hiei looked down, wondering how they'd navigate it.

"Forgive me, omoimono," Yusuke murmured, sweeping Hiei up into his arms and leapt down. Hiei tensed, but Yusuke didn't take advantage of his weakness. As soon as they were next to Kurama, Yusuke set him down, helping him kneel on the ground next to the redhead. "Why didn't you shoot him, omoimono?"

Hiei looked at the vampire, confused at the question, "I don't know. I…I was remembering….he showed up just before the revenants got to me. He didn't do anything to stop them."

"You didn't fire when he pinned you. Do you know why?" Yusuke pressed.

Hiei looked at his hand. He knew where the gun had pointed when Bui had pinned him. He fought against the muscle twitch that would have pulled the trigger and thanked every god he could think of that the gun's trigger was a bit firmer than most. He was too aware of who the target would have been. "I couldn't," he finally whispered.

Yusuke let that answer slide, understanding what hadn't been said. He ran his fingers through Kurama's hair, "It's time to wake, my little one."

Hiei watched as the green eyes fluttered open, more focused, looking into Yusuke's face. "I'm hungry," the redhead's voice was willowy, thin, almost transparent.

While Yusuke woke the redhead, Hiei removed one of the sheaths from his arm, baring his wrist. Holding out his arm, Hiei murmured, "Here, eat." He pulled Kurama into his lap when the redhead struggled to sit up.

Kurama took Hiei's arm in both of his. "Thank you," he whispered, baring the wrist of the shirt that had fallen back down and kissing it gently before baring his fangs and sinking them into the exposed flesh.

Hiei gasped, his body tensing at the sharp pain from the bite. He fought against himself not to pull back, to allow the redhead to take what he needed. After the initial pain, warmth began filling him from the redhead's mouth. He was very aware of Kurama's tongue against his wrist, rippling as the redhead swallowed. He could hear the little moans of pleasure, feel the warmth returning to Kurama's body. His own body felt alive, electric. His body began to respond, and there was no way to hide that fact from Kurama with the redhead lying in his lap. Hiei bit his lip, hoping the pain would distract from the pleasure he was feeling. He was beginning to get lightheaded when Kurama released his wrist.

Kurama twisted in Hiei's lap, his arm going around the slayer, pulling their lips together. Without thought, Hiei returned the kiss, deepening it. His tongue slid past the barrier of their lips. The taste of blood, his blood, gave him pause and he pulled back. In an instant, Kurama was out of his lap, a meter away, "I'm so sorry, Hiei." Somehow, the redhead had managed to keep the jacket over his hips.

Hiei shook his head, "No…not you, me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Kurama."

Kurama shook his head, his eyes dropping to the ground, "No, Hiei. I promised I wouldn't take advantage of you. I felt you responding. I'm sorry."

Hiei sighed, "I'll accept your apology if you accept mine."

Kurama's eyes came up, "Can we still be friends, then?"

Hiei grunted, "When were we ever?"

Kurama smiled, but his response was forestalled by the overhead speakers coming to life once more. "Yusuke, Toguro, to the ring."

A/N: Well, much much love goes to BlueUtopiah for helping expand the gory bits of this. I don't write gore well, as you may have noticed...but...there will be smut again...soon for me...y'all gotta wait until chapter 12 ;) Hopefully by then, aff will be working (It should be...barring complications)...How odd that I'm going to finish this story so far ahead of finishing posting it. It will be 13 chapters...though, the 13th chapter will need to be severly edited for here...chapter 12 is going to be edited for here, but not severly...just a paragraph or three. If you want to see how I paid madame Blue, check out today's lj post (Feb. 17, 2006).