Bffimagine: BACK!

Hiei: Oh no…

Twigs snapped under the rapidly moving feet of Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara. Kurama knew Hiei was close, since he only diverted Kuwabara and Yusuke a little off to the right in the first place.

'Almost… there…'

Driven by newfound adrenaline, Kurama pushed forward with a spurt of speed, dragging Yusuke and Kuwabara by the arm.

'I'm coming, Hiei.'

The birds peeped happily in the trees, bittersweet contrast to Kurama's pained heart. Such a quaint, grassy clearing, void of impurity… small, colourful blossoms on the trees, little flowers adorning the grass…

And Hiei's lifeless body lying in a pool of relentlessly crimson blood.

Kurama fell to his knees beside his lover. He scooped the fragile body into his arms, pressing Hiei to him, cradling the hiyoukai to his chest. The koorime's eyes stayed closed, and his naturally pale skin was stark white in contrast to his dark hair.

"C-Can we save him?" Kurama's voice was muffled by Hiei's shoulder; the kitsune had buried his face into the crook of the younger demon's neck, the cold skin of the small youkai touching the nape of Kurama's neck.

"I-I don't know," Yusuke replied, biting his lip. He turned to Kuwabara, silently pleading, 'Help him!'

It was tempting. Kuwabara wanted to just say 'no, I can't do it,' and face Yukina's wrath. But then a tiny, sparkly object shone from the pool of blood.

"Kurama… what's that?" Kuwabara pointed to the beautiful… thing…

The redheaded demon pulled his head up, almost reluctantly, and looked. The little sparkle of the shiny jewel caught his eye. He reached for it, and though his fingers shook, his lips were set and didn't tremble as he thought they would. Slowly, his fingertips closed around the beautiful gem, and when he realized what it was, he pulled Hiei closer to him and cried.

"I-It's a H-Hiroseki s-stone," he sobbed, "H-Hiei c-cried…"

Wet, salty trails of tears were evident on Yusuke's cheeks. He sniffed and pursed his lips, clamping down on them to prevent any sobs from escaping.

"An aura transfusion… will it work?" Kuwabara looked hopefully from Yusuke to Kurama.

"I don't know… but probably not the way it worked for me…" Yusuke's chocolate brown gaze was set on Kurama.

"No… it won't work. Hiei needs demon energy, but I don't have enough to begin a transfusion, and if something isn't done within five minutes, we'll lose Hiei forever."

"Five minutes? But… who do we know that would have enough energy to transfuse, and be willing to—?" Kuwabara fought the urge to wring his hands.

"Wait… I'm a quarter demon. Will I work?" Yusuke gave a questioning glance to Kurama.

"Perhaps. But Yusuke… please, HURRY." Kurama stood, Hiroseki stone clenched in one hand and Hiei in his arms.

Carefully, Kurama set Hiei in Yusuke's arms, the small demon light and delicate.

"Here goes nothing…" Yusuke opened a channel to let his reiki flow into Hiei.

At first, nothing happened and Kurama's heart sunk. Though disheartened as well, Yusuke kept at work, and finally, a flicker of aura ignited around Hiei.

"His aura… it's returning…" Kurama's eyes filled with tears of happiness.

"His reiki and youki are returning as well. I can feel his energy again…" Kuwabara was extremely elated; not only did the most powerful member of team Urameshi survive, but also he wouldn't have to face that member's enraged twin sister.

Yusuke wobbled slightly at the sudden drain, but he knew he still had quite a lot of reiki in reserve. He let just a little bit more flow into Hiei to ensure his survival, then stopped the reiki from running. Hiei's injuries had healed somewhat, and all traces of the poison disappeared.

"Hiei!"

Kurama took the beautiful—and now alive—demon into his arms and pulled him close to his heart.

"… Kurama… were you… really… scared… you'd… lose me?" Hiei's voice was soft and weak against Kurama's ear.

"Petrified."

"I… I was… afraid… I'd… lose… you. Kitsune…"

Kurama smiled and kissed Hiei's forehead. The demon had regained his heat.

"You're my hiyoukai, Hiei. My koorime."

"Aishiteru, Kurama."

Kurama nodded invisibly.

"Hai… Aishiteru, Hiei."

A small smile tugged at Hiei's lips.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Yusuke snickered good-naturedly. Hiei blinked at him for a second.

"Yusuke?"

"The one and only!"

"Where's—?"

"Right here, koishii." Kurama leant over the edge of the bed and kissed Hiei gently, pressing his lips firmly onto the other demon's.

"Onii-san!"

Yukina burst into the room, and Kurama pulled away quickly.

Hiei flinched slightly in pain when Yukina grabbed him and squeezed him tightly.

"Aa, good to see you too, anue-chan," Hiei gasped. His lungs were being quite constricted by his sister's embrace.

Kurama quickly caught the pleading look in Hiei's eyes and approached Yukina.

"Yukina-chan, I believe your brother needs to breathe, ne?"

Yukina immediately let go of Hiei.

"Otouto! Gomen nasai!" she checked over Hiei. His wounds hadn't yet healed, but were beginning to. His lack of energy slowed his healing, and he was progressing at the rate of an ordinary human.

"I can help with that," she chimed merrily, her melodic voice soothing and kind.

Hiei stiffened slightly when Yukina's cold fingers touched his skin, but the koorime in him allowed him to become accustomed to it quite fast.

"All better, onii-san!" Yukina clapped her hands and smiled. Hiei nodded.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Yukina."

Standing, Hiei wobbled a bit but then regained his usual grace and balance, elegant poise returning abruptly.

"Let's go," Yusuke piped up, "Koenma will be happy to find out the mission was successful."

"Successful? You got oar-woman back?" Hiei looked at Kurama inquisitively. The fox demon nodded.

"RIGHT HERE!" Botan yelled cheerfully. She popped out from behind Koenma.

"Hello… Botan…" Hiei did a mental check of the guide in front of him. She looked the same… only a tad bit more annoying…

"Good work, team Urameshi. If it weren't for you guys killing those demons… Botan here would be toast." Koenma beamed around the pacifier in his mouth.

Hiei shuddered, the cold feeling of Yukina's fingers still on his skin. He let his aura warm him up.

"Anyway, it turned out that this Koronosuke dude needed Botan to lead his son over the Sanzu River safely, but he certainly had a lot of goons. I tested out my new reiki techniques and blew 'em all to kingdom come, got Botan and dashed outta there. The Koronosuke dude was powerful for a regular demon but Genkai had taught me this wicked reiki bomb and Botan ended up leadin' all of 'em to the Underworld." Yusuke grinned after his long-winded explanation.

"I hope… it was challenging enough," Genkai sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I'd say so," Kuwabara laughed, slapping Yusuke on the back, "Urameshi passed out as soon as we got back with Botan! Keiko had to watch him 'cuz he slept for five hours!"

"Best be off, then," Kurama smiled and waved.

Hiei nodded.

"Sayonara, Yusuke. Ja ne," Hiei said his swift goodbyes and left.

"BYE HIEI! SEE YA KURAMA!" Yusuke yelled to the retreating backs of the youkai.

"Sayonara, onii-san!"

"Bye Shrimp! Later Kurama!"

"See you both soon." Genkai and Koenma waved.

The stars twinkled giddily in the sky.

Kurama and Hiei lay in the grassy clearing, side by side, watching as the sky rolled by. Their fingers were entwined as they looked up at the dark canvas littered with stars.

"Aishiteru," Hiei whispered as he shifted. Now his new position was lying with his head on Kurama's chest, fingers still laced with the kitsune's.

"Aishiteru," Kurama replied sweetly, softly caressing Hiei's cheek with his other hand.

Under the quiet night sky, the two youkai lovers fell asleep in each others' embrace.

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OWARITA DESU

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bffimagine: Done! Seemed a little short…

Hiei: Not at all. It was as long and grueling as I could imagine…

Kurama: It wasn't… unenjoyable…

Bffimagine: All right, review! Flames are retarded, but if you feel you must… whatever.