A/N: Hello once again, Dear Reader!

In case anyone missed the memo: updates for this story will be on a M/W/F schedule until further notice!

Symbols Guide:

* : Written by CM; She writes for Akari and Hiei
3 : Written by Star (supposed to be the 'heart' symbol, but FF doesn't like the 'less-than' sign, so it's a 3 instead); She writes for Toriko/Shikiyoku and Youko/Kurama
~!**!~ : A universal transition between scenes or characters, sometimes used to indicate a passage of time, but most often used to transition between major scenes that are happening. As the story progresses, this will evolve into mainly separating the (usually two) scenes happening between authors/characters.

As a general rule, anything in italics is thoughts.
Unless it's used in a sentence like this, which merely indicates emphasis.
[Anything written in italics inside square brackets is Youko speaking to Shuichi/Kurama inside their mind and is private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.]{Anything written in italics inside curly brackets is inner dialogue by Shuichi/Kurama to Youko, and is also private conversation, unable to be picked up by telepathy.}
"Quotations are usually reserved specifically for telepathic dialogue being transmitted from one being to another, but sometimes this can also mean a character isn't being careful about what they're thinking and anyone with telepathy in the nearby vicinity can listen in without taking any effort."

The only exception to that last rule is for the Shiba Inu dog, Nabu. All of his "spoken" dialogue will be in italics and quotations, but is communicated through body language or dog-like noises, so unless a character is able to translate those they are unlikely to pick up on what he is saying any more than the average person might understand his general moods like aggression (bared teeth, ears back) or excitement (wagging tail).

Previously on Yu Yu Hakusho!

Youko and Akari enjoy a quiet moment together in the field of moon flowers,
Youko weaving a few of them together and placing them as a necklace around her neck.

Youko then abruptly switches places with Kurama, after "buttering her up,"
and Kurama and Akari manage some strained small talk.

With Youko complaining in Kurama's head, Kurama takes the following silence in stride,
silence that Akari breaks by finally telling Kurama the answer is 'no,'
she does not wish him to remove all of her scars.
Akari apologies for being a bit of a pain, and thanks him for being patient with her.

Akari inquires after Kurama's life up to this point,
which has been filled with working for his father-in-law
who owns a supply office.

Kurama asks if Akari has gotten to venture on holiday yet,
to experience what the unification has brought about,
asking if she would want to do so with him sometime.

~!**!~

Her hunger overwhelming her, Shikiyoku nearly exercises her power on Hiei,
stopping short when his scent wafts over her senses.
She flees in lieu of feeding on him, and instead decimates the patrons of a bar.
Her energy tries to wrap around Uryo, who is also there,
but he is able to resist. He seems accepting of her changes,
and while she acts as if to attempt to feed of him as well,
Shikiyoku manages at the last to run,
leaving Uryo behind to contemplate the heart-shaped mark that appears on his forearm.

Yukina finds Shikiyoku collapsed up against a building in the city,
and seemingly against her wishes, Shikiyoku begins feeding on the Koorime
who had only stopped to try and help.
This actions grabs Hiei's attention and he manages to intervene,
pulling Shikiyoku away and bombarding her mind with images of who she had been.

At the last, she questions his touch, as he grabbed her to pull her up and kept hold of her,
and she becomes more despondent as she remembers once speaking that her touch was only affectionate,
because she could not kill others with her energy. At this point she attempts to pull away from Hiei,
who keeps her in place and tells her that she is still Shikiyoku, just different. She is a fighter now,
whereas he had once been her fighter for her...

Giving in, she stayed in place, but leaned forward and buried her head in his chest.

"I don't want to fight. I don't like fighting. I'm tired of it." She realized her words took on an air of a petulant child, but at the core of it she did sound truly exhausted. "It's just like running...doing it by yourself isn't any fun." 3

Hiei made a sound of amusement as Shikiyoku came closer, her head resting on his chest and her nose burying into his cloak. He kept his hands at her arms, where they'd moved when she'd tried to get away. Half of him was afraid that if he moved, she'd take it as an advantage and disappear. "Then I suppose you should find someone to fight with." he replied calmly. His eyelids slid shut and he took in a deep breath, feeling as if he was speaking to a person he knew now.

"Quite frankly, I'm interested in seeing what you've learned, aside from the obvious."

~!**!~

Akari gave a small shrug, rustling the grass and flowers around her. She reached up to adjust the flowers on her head, only just noticing that they were still sliding towards the ground and pulling at her hair. She wrapped her fingers gingerly around the decoration and moved it to rest on her stomach, her hand simply resting an inch above it.

"Then I suppose you'll have to find me when the mood strikes you, because quite frankly, I'd accept as soon as you asked." Anything to get away from Juun and his group of idiots.

Also, you're quite entertaining and…

And…

I missed this. *

Kurama let out a sigh, "Finding the time is the issue. Slipping away at Youko's whim is one thing, and he thankfully lets me return so that I am not missed, but-" He shook his head, "A true holiday, like I am thinking, will consist of more than just a few hours of a single night, and I would not want to take advantage of my step-father's kindness and ask off for as much as I would want for a venture such as this."

~!**!~

"Who'd wanna fight with me? I'm a terrible fighter. I don' like fighting." If she had spoken the words out loud, they would have been muffled in his clothes, and as it was they were grumbled regardless. "-no business fighting with anyone. And there's no point unless you have someone to fight for."

She started hearing other voices in her head, voices from memories she could not recall.

I'm sure you could. I don't doubt your abilities, Lover.

...

Temptress. Seducer. Courtesan. Allurer.

Who am I?

Shiki-...Shikiyoku?

Iro. My Lady. 'Yoku. ...

Didn't she have a fourth one? Strange.

She let out a long sigh.

All these memories, but none of them seem like mine. 3

For a moment, Hiei wasn't sure whether he should peel back from her and look at her or not. He considered it, a single brow raised in his momentary contemplation. But her words had his brows raising for a different reason, and he let his arms fall to his sides, his head dipping towards her slightly.

"You fought for yourself." The words were in a small tone, as if hesitant to speak them. "You had your reasons. Reasons I am not aware of, but reasons all the same."

She always had reasons for what she did.

~!**!~

Akari, despite her efforts against it, gave a small laugh at Kurama. How selfish of you, hm? She turned her head away from him, not giving him the opportunity to see the smile on her face. If only others were as selfish as you.

"Like I said, you find me. I can make time if I so desire." She turned her head to him, eyes watching him with a gleam. "Because, you know, I'm just overseeing morons. Just doing damage control." She gave a shrug, earning the rustling of the grass under her shoulders and the flowers around her neck. "I have time, whenever I want to have time. You do what you have to. Though, a break every once in a while wouldn't hurt anything." *

Kurama regarded her seriously before continuing, appearing to size her up.

"It could be a very long time," He warned.

Hopefully it will be a very long time.

If he had his way, it would be until his family had no more need of him. Until they had passed on blissfully.

"You may not want to anymore at that point." He finished.

~!**!~

She didn't answer for a moment, but after that pause her head moved back and forth just enough to indicate a negative response.

"She did not think so." It was a simple matter to comprehend her reasons, being this close to the source. "She merely acted a part as those she was with required, but everything she-" Another pause. A silent struggle, "Everything...I...did was always for another. And...not because, at the last, she had always been that way. But because...she chose to. Because...I wanted to." 3

Hiei let his eyelids slide closed, his entire being focused on the person he was standing with and the words she said to him, her body hugging against his. Odd, how he didn't mind it.

Rather enjoyed it, actually.

But he didn't say anything to her. He merely stood there, silently giving her the choice to continue if she so desired. He merely gave a small sound of acknowledgement and stayed where he was.

~!**!~

Again, Akari shrugged. Several thoughts came to mind, some similar to then I suppose we have a problem, a couple along the lines of you're right, I could be disinterested by then. But really, she didn't feel like saying either of those things. Neither of them felt like something she actually wanted to say, because really, they weren't actually true.

She shifted her weight about until she was rolling onto her side, the flower crown falling forgotten for the moment as she reached over and just poked at Kurama's cheek. Again, she was struck by a small urge, a small temptation that kept her from rolling away again. So she contemplated.

"I'll get over it." *

[OH, could this GET anymore melodramatic. What ARE you, a sailor asking his bride-to-be to wait for him while he ventures over the open seas?]

{You've been watching too many movies.}

[Hmph. Says you.]

{You know we could just as easily visit her on those nights you wish to 'get away.'}

[True. Am I really that kind though?]

{You are if there is sufficient motivation.}

"However-" Kurama went on, just wearing that same small smile as before and training his eyes onto her own, "That isn't to say we can't see each other until then." He went on, his smile growing just a little, "But I figured you could only stand a single evening of me every six months or so."

~!**!~

Her eyes blinked open to the dark fabric where she still had not moved. She could feel through the cloak his quiet strength as he let her lean against him, her arms still folded underneath her chest.

"I am...so very tired." She could feel the sickness sapping her bones, replacing their health with weakness. "But I am so very hungry." The desire to feed remained a constant ravaging across her mind. "It makes it difficult to think. Or remember anything."

She took a deep breath, filling her nose with spices, with the fire demon's scent, and feeling her mind clear.

"...What...fire-prince, what is 'Ogre's Blood?'" She questioned with the smallest hint of curiosity. Why would an ogre's blood hold any significant place in her mind? 3

Here, Hiei's brow raised higher, and he let his eyelids slide open to cast a curious, albeit slightly confused, stare onto Shikiyoku. "An ogre's blood?" He half suspected it to be a type of drink, though he felt that she wasn't really asking about anything like that. Though, he assumed there was a reason for her asking, a reason for this random question to fly into the forefront of her mind and out of her lips.

He thought for a few minutes, eyes staring at Shikiyoku but not seeing her for the moment.

Ogre's Blood…. It could very well be a literal thing, but something else about the way she asked about it had him shaking away the thought of it being in the literal sense, that the blood from an ogre's veins was not what she meant.

Suddenly he was thinking back, recalling something he'd learned… what felt like forever ago, during the dark tournament.

"It's a drink," he said suddenly, recalling Chuu's beverage of choice. His eyes focused on her again, curious. "Is it of significance?"

~!**!~

Akari rolled her eyes at Kurama and let her hand fall to the grass between them. She leaned away just slightly, suddenly recalling older times when she'd been sitting with Sensui while Itsuki was out, leaving her bored and doing nothing more than watching the television screen that the older male had been tuned into for several hours at a time. "You remind me of a soap opera," she commented with a small smile to match his.

And again a thought crossed her mind, and this time she gave a sigh and rolled closer to him, until she was all but crushing the crown of flowers beneath her and laying on her stomach. Before she could talk herself out of it, Akari leaned close enough to just touch her lips against his cheek, where she'd poked earlier, before she pulled away, eyes down.

And she found she couldn't bring herself to say what she'd wanted to say. *

Ever calm, Kurama had taken her comment in stride, though somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered what her interactions had been with soaps. His mother had never been fond of them.

And before he could let the response that welled up do much more than stir in his brain, she had closed the distance between them and planted the softest of kisses on his cheek.

Even Youko didn't have anything to say about that for a moment.

He lowered himself to the ground, bending his elbow back and laying his head on it as a pillow and merely looking at Akari.

"What was that for?" He murmured, the question quiet as if afraid to ask.

~!**!~

"I...I cannot say." Her words were a little muffled in his cloak, her eyes distant as she tried to remember. She would have stood up and away from him if she had thought she had the strength at that moment, but instead her contemplation took place while still against him.

She shifted her face so that her cheek lay on his clothes and her mouth was more free to continue.

"Only that...the drink? You said?" She flicked her eyes up as if she could see his face to confirm the question, "Is closely related to the phrase 'Demon's Fire.' ...and I...I think I want some." 3

Hiei's brow raised, and then he gave a scoff of amusement, almost even laughed at her admittance. Without thinking twice about the action, he reached up and just patted her head once, eyes turned to her with an amused gleam. "Well, answer this: do you remember the Niiro Kaga?"

~!**!~

Akari slowly slid away, eyes just as slowly turning up to the redhead as she settled on her back again, half tempted to turn her back to him entirely. She opened her mouth to respond with a genuine answer, found no words, closed it again and gave a soft sigh to herself.

Then a small smile crept onto her features. "You're remarkably adorable when you don't know what's going on. Too bad I don't have that camera, hm?" *

Kurama actually let out a chuckle that filled the space between them with his amusement.

"I suppose I deserved that, mm?" He closed his lips over his teeth, but his wide smile remained.

~!**!~

Red Flower...Bud?

She made a noise of concentration, hardly noticing his contact with the top of her head.

She almost went ahead and admitted that she could recall nothing, but after a second longer she frowned, the echo of a voice passing through her mind. One that called her 'girl.'

"I...only that there is an old man." Her voice sounded slightly irked, her source of frustration being that a demon would be so forward as to call her a girl. 3

"Kafu." Hiei provided the name just as quickly as it had come to the forefront of his mind, his lips twitching into an even more lopsided, amused smirk at her ire. He supposed it was the barkeep's term of endearment to her, though it didn't seem she was aware of it at the moment.

He rifled through his own memories until he found one of Kafu, thinking on it for a moment as he considered the trek. Would it be fruitful? Would it be worth it?

He had to fight the shrug he almost gave as he stepped a bit away from her. "Ninth Layer, I do believe, if you want one bad enough."

~!**!~

"Very much so, might I say." Akari turned her head away from him now, her eyes taking to observing the expanse of the meadow to her left and the creatures that occasionally came forth in curiosity of the glowing flowers. Shadows danced, moving when the creatures did, when the leaves on distant trees swayed by the wind. And, there was only the quietest of birdsong in the distance, only the quietest of sounds.

So… tranquil. Why had she delayed saying hello to this person again?

Well, if she hadn't delayed, she likely wouldn't have ended up here anyway. So what did it matter?

"It was a thank you, by the way." she finally answered, not turning to look at him. "An unplanned one, but a thank you nonetheless." *

Kurama let his eyes closed, though they were still crinkled just a little at the edges of his eyes with the smile on his lips as he remembered how softly the gesture from her had been against his skin.

"I'll keep that in mind."

[We should find out more things to cause her thankfulness.]

~!**!~

She stood up finally as she felt him step away, hands still crossed so that her shoulders hunched forward a bit as she considered the information Hiei passed her.

She...she tried to remember if there had been any good feelings connected to the Ninth Layer-or had it been Level?-but only a darkness and a reeling sense of despair and...and also nothingness. A nothingness of depression.

And the knowledge that she had not set foot there in a long time.

She raised her eyes to him, face as neutral and inexpressive as ever, "...was the drink any good?" 3

Hiei raised a brow, then gave an expression that meant he was thinking back. He remembered several things about that night, several things popping up at the forefront of his mind almost instantly. He remembered Taka, the demon he found he still held a general dislike for. And.. a conversation he'd overheard. His mind lingered there for a moment before he finally refocused on Shikiyoku, his expression difficult to keep under control.

"You seemed to enjoy it." He didn't answer on his part, since she hadn't asked if he specifically enjoyed it. And if she asked, he wasn't even sure he'd answer her. Because, in the end, he didn't want her to know what he'd discovered that night, didn't want her to know what he'd heard and how he felt of it, even now.

...you've still never called me cursed...

"Though, why would you crave one now if you hadn't liked it then?"

~!**!~

"You do that."

This time, Akari turned her back onto him, rolling onto her left side and letting her eyelids slide closed. Nabu would likely be waiting at the house for her by now, as he'd taken to doing when they ended up separated. Surely he'd understand if she didn't come home for the night, right? If she slept here, where the soft glow of the moon and the flowers that radiated on her skin warmed her to the very soul? Surely he wouldn't be too upset if she explained.

She pulled her left arm up and under her head, propping her cheek on the skin near her elbow and up off of the ground. He'll get over it eventually. It isn't like I haven't done this before. *

A cool breeze swept over the meadow, gently sending the flowers waving as if to one another as it passed over the field.

Kurama opened his eyes to see that Akari had turned away from him now, and the night had deepened enough that now the flowers sent out a more muted glow, one that would lull him into sleep if he were not careful, what with the warm earth beneath his side and the expanse of the sky above them.

[It is quite lovely here. Peaceful.]

Kurama pressed his other palm against the soil, feeling the beating rhythm of the energy that flowed all about him, energy he could tap into. And he did so, spreading his power underneath the ground to the roots of the plants that led him upwards to burst out of the dirt into so many petals and stems, their interconnected networks as beautiful to him as the end result of their glow.

Slowly, and with no malice, the flowers on the other side of Akari began to rise from the ground, looking as if they were pushed out by their brethren as they silently shimmered upwards, Kurama weaving together into a single sheet a multitude of the flowers that rose like a tiny wave of greenery lit with the bluish glow over Akari's waist to rest upon the flowers blooming behind her.

It was a blanket, one that did separate from the field but served as such, thin enough to not be of a discomfort, as soft as the interwoven plants that created it, and it finally stopped rustling and moving once it had covered her other side.

[Hmph. I would have covered both of us in it.]

~!**!~

She raised and lowered one shoulder, "She could have been a masochist. I wouldn't know."

Looking into his eyes, she could see something stirring, but dismissed it as she did not understand.

"...would you take me there?" 3

Hiei made no indication that he heard her first words, only continuing to stare at Shikiyoku curiously. Would she be able to withstand something like a visit to the pub? The tavern could very likely be full of patrons at this hour.

However, he decided he'd do as she wished, given her sudden ability to remember a few things here and there.

"As I said. Ninth Layer." With that, he began to blur between the layers, crimson eyes still watching her as he moved from the first layer to the second, and continuing on.

~!**!~

Akari didn't move when she felt Kurama's energy fluctuate just a fraction, nor did she react when she felt the movement of the nearby plants, slow and harmless. She was tempted to voice her curiosity, to open her eyes and cast a glance over her shoulder, but she did none of those things, not even when she felt the very slight pressure settling over her.

"You're odd." she grumbled to the redhead, lips not even so much as twitching despite her small sense of amusement. *

Kurama settled back into place, releasing his hold on the plants though still able to feel as always the hum of their inner life.

"And why would that be?"

~!**!~

As she had done countless times before, without so such as a single hint of effort, she wrapped herself in the layers as they stood there, easily manipulating them around her as she slid herself between them until she found the last one and came to a stop, waiting expectantly for Hiei to make the next move. 3

Hiei came to a stop on the Ninth layer and found that he didn't have to even wait for Shikiyoku, who had settled on the very same layer an instant later. He turned as soon as he noted her expression, taking to running at a speed he had used for her when they'd run through the levels together the last time.

It was odd, really, how he'd visited this layer so many times that he'd become acquainted with every threat, every step it would take to get to where he wanted to be. Where she wanted to be.

He'd visited Kafu only once, and hadn't stayed longer than to get the little information that had been given to him from a denizen inside. But it didn't make the trip any less easy for him to map out.

~!**!~

AKari took in a deep breath, giving a long, contented sigh into the night as her muscles became very comfortable in the position she was laying in, despite her definitive lack of her normal night attire. If she didn't move, she wouldn't be bothered by the jeans she wore or the blouse that occasionally caught on the grass and was tugged at.

These things were easily ignored after Kurama spoke up.

"Hmm… Should I start from the top of the list or…?" *

"Humor me." Kurama intoned with a grin, "I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."

~!**!~

Her entire body made a groan that managed to sneak past her lips when she saw him take off.

Running on the layers, in her condition, was not something she often took the effort to do.

Make that: she never took the effort to do.

Before he had gotten more than a few steps, she sighed and pulled the layers around her again, falling into their embrace which took her inbetween, where her body did not feel so old and her joints did not protest her movement.

Her forehead still felt hot with fever, but the toll it had taken on her limbs lessened once she stepped off the existing layer again, blurring her form insubstantial. Here her hunger also muted, and she stood straighter.

Even with her doubled vision, seeing both the eighth and ninth layer of the world at the same time, it was easy for her to make out the direction Hiei dashed off in, and she calmly followed, with only a few strides catching up so that she was just behind and to the right of him.

For her, it seemed only a slow jog, as she almost did not herself move, instead shaping the two layers around her in such a way that they themselves almost pushed her forward with little struggle on her part. 3

Hiei continued moving, his feet carrying him at a simple speed through trees, through streets that he'd run a hundred times in the past few months. His eyes stayed trained forward, his mind easily creating the easiest route through the layer so that it only took a few minutes for him to traverse his way through the many hues of red and into the city he occasionally told himself he still loathed.

And another few minutes later, he was standing outside the Niiro Kaga, stopping at the door to turn and look at Shikiyoku with a blank expression, to see what she thought of the place that looked completely unchanged from the last time they'd seen it.

~!**!~

"Well, first off," Akari began in that same, half-asleep mumble that her tone had turned to being, "you're unnaturally colored. Your hair is extremely bright- it sometimes burns the eyes- and your eyes are like actual gems. I am half surprised someone hasn't mistaken them for emeralds and tried to gouge them out." She gave a shrug. "Also, that combination reminds me of something I once saw on a television show: a holiday some humans somewhere else celebrate that has the colors of red and green."

She gave a small sigh, another shrug to the flower blanket that now rested over her shoulder. "There's also- wait, no. I like that. Never mind that." *

Kurama's shoulders shook with silent laughter as he opened the green 'gems' that were his eyes and took to looking at Akari's back.

"Oh, now you can't just say something as alluring as that and then not go on."

[Agreed.]

~!**!~

When he stopped, she let her last step take her from the inbetween place and onto the gravity of the last layer, feeling immediately the difference of being nearly hidden and then fully existing in the one. Her shoulders tensed back up and the constant dark circles under her eyes appeared now even more prominent.

She gave Hiei another expectant look when he paused and turned, but then lifted her eyes to see the hanging red-wood sign over the door of the building made of the same stuff with the image of a red flower painted upon it.

She considered it thoughtfully, and it did seem familiar. And it wasn't wrapped up in any of the dark emotions that usually bombarded her thoughts when she thought of this layer.

"Interesting..." She murmured to herself, taking in the outside of the establishment, the two-stories, and the few demons that were milling about the streets of the city. 3

Hiei waited, gauging her reaction with a keen gaze as she looked up at the building, then about them, then back up at the tavern. He saw a flicker of familiarity, albeit a bit of confusion muddling it, but otherwise she gave no indication that she even remotely knew of this place. And her one-word description of it seemed to be mirroring his own thoughts of her.

With that thought, he turned and headed inside, a hand pushing the door open and even keeping it open for her to enter if she so desired. His eyes, however, turned up to search for Kafu almost curiously, knowing the barkeep would be watching the door.

~!**!~

Akari's eyelids slid open, but still she did not turn to look at Kurama, despite the feeling of his eyes on her back. Her lips twitched up, the skin by her eyes crinkling in complete amusement at him with the smile that colored her expression.

"There's also the fact that you seem to…. wait, not that either." She gave a pause. "Your list is shortening little by little!" She turned her head now to cast a gleaming glance at him before she turned forward again.

"And I suppose you'll just have to figure it out on your own, hm?" *

Kurama let out a long sigh, "Whatever am I to do with you?"

[I can think of a few things?]

{Shut up.}

~!**!~

The bartender's eyes weren't the only ones that looked up when the door swung inward.

Being the time of night that it was, things had slowed down and the current patrons were of the more subdued kind, turning back after a moment of staring to continue their murmured conversations that settled back over the building with a constant, if soft, lull of noise.

As he always appeared to be doing when he had the moment to breathe, Kafu had a mug in his hands, standing about in the middle of the bar behind the counter, and was wiping it dry.

He gave an inviting nod to the fire demon whom he'd seen a while back, fully expecting Hiei to join him at the bar. His face upon seeing the demon with Hiei stayed as unchanging and stoic as ever when she stepped past Hiei and into the room, her eyes a little wider as she took it all in, slowly coming inside as if she hadn't the slightest idea of what she was meant to do next.

He noted her scarred face, her almost complete lack of exuding energy-almost as if she isn't really even there-and waited for the pair to approach before speaking, though a pitcher from over his head started to make its way towards him, and he let go of the tankard he cleaned to reach for two others and place them near his hip behind the countertop.

She stepped cautiously into the room, her eyes darting around to see that more than a few of the demons in the area had let their gazes linger, but more upon the demon behind her than herself. Something in their eyes agitated her, and her ears twitched as she started to pick up snippets of their conversation, which revolved not only around her, but also around the curs-

"A drink, lady?" He asked mildly when she was close enough.

He appeared to have startled her, though she was difficult to read, but she recovered quickly and gave a small nod, climbing into the chair in front of him and frowning.

"I- I would like-"

"Demon's Fire. I'm almost positive." Kafu's lips turned upwards just a little as he had already placed his rag and mug down to pull out one of the tankards from near his side and fill it swiftly with the pitcher, placing the tankard in front of her.

She gave a little nod and reached for the drink to stare at the contents.

"Anything for you, Hiei?" 3

Hiei allowed the door to shut on its own after Shikiyoku had passed him, earning a creak from the wood and a loud slam to echo through the room that had silenced for a moment at his entry. Even as he moved to the bar, he didn't spare a glance towards the others in the room, didn't allow himself to listen to their talk because he already knew without a doubt their topic.

And his temper was much too uncontrollable for that now. While he'd gained control over it long before his first visit here, he'd long since lost that control when he'd…

He let the thought trail away as he slid into a seat at the bar, eyes trained on Kafu and giving his own nod of greeting even as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the countertop.

He couldn't even bring himself to glance at Shikiyoku for the moment.

He contemplated the question the bartender aimed at him, contemplated the drinks he could see beyond the bar, and he finally lifted a hand and shook his head in negatory. "Not yet."

~!**!~

Akari shifted around just a little, pulling her legs closer to her chest and curling her arm under her head even more. Her eyelids slid shut again, and this time, when she stilled, she was much more comfortable than before.

And it took an extra second for her to realize Kurama had spoken, and a little longer than that to say anything, though she wasn't aware she was speaking.

"Whatever you wish, I suppose. If you wanted, you could kill me in an instant, or just let me take a nap. Either way." *

Kurama at first couldn't even make sense of the eruption of volume Youko just splattered across their mind, and he grimaced, closing his eyes and almost growling at the fox, whose comments were most certainly not ones Kurama felt he would particularly want to sort out the meaning of.

{I am not moving.}

[Reeeeeeed, you're so boooooooring!]

{And I shall remain that way for as long as it continues to confound you.}

~!**!~

She had by that time taken a sip, but she could not shake the unrest she felt come over her.

"This is...strange." She looked down at the tankard and gave a sniff, then took another drink.

"How so, lady?" Kafu inquired, picking up his mug and continuing where he had left off.

"You have..." She struggled for the description, "Influenced this beverage in some way. It is not only alcohol within here."

Kafu said nothing, smiling down at his work. 3

Hiei sat in silence, ears carefully tuned into the conversation nearest him and eyes forward, staring at but not seeing the bottles that lined the wall, the glasses that occasionally shifted when Kafu had need of them. He'd forgotten what it felt like to sit in one place with other demons, what it sounded like on occasion. Low murmurs and small laughs here and there.

After a moment, his red eyes turned to Kafu, a brow raised in curiosity at the conversation he'd been listening to. His own eyes turned to the drink in Shikiyoku's grasp, eyeing it as if he'd be able to detect the difference, if there was one.

Though, for some reason, he couldn't remember the original taste nor smell of the drink.

~!**!~

Akari's breathing had slowed, she noted, and her entire being had relaxed into the grass below and the warmth of the glowing flowers over her. She was so comfortable, so relaxed that she almost missed the slight change in the air, the charged energy nearby that was not demonic, but… simple tension energy.

Her lips twitched.

"Aw, is Youko bothering you?" She gave a small hum of empathy. "You handle it so well. I certainly couldn't." *

"Bothering me?" Kurama replied as if he hadn't the slightest idea what she was talking about, taking care to release the pressure around his shoulders and relax. "Whatever gives you that idea?"

~!**!~

Another drink.

"It is not only made of...liquid, is it?" She commented after swallowing, letting the taste stand on her tongue.

Before Kafu could answer her, one of the waitresses silently slid a mixed drink to her elbow, and she only gave it the barest of glances, but the waitress caught the bartender's eyes and something passed between them before she turned and left, moving quickly.

The drink sat where it had been placed for only a second before Kafu reached out and took it from her, drinking it himself and then putting the glass behind the counter, his eyes flashing as he looked out into the room, finding that not a single one of the demons would meet his dangerously flinty gaze. 3

Hiei's eyes followed the motion of the newcomer, having seen the waitress step up before he'd actually even been aware of her presence. He eyed the drink that was placed on the bar top, curious and suspicious all at once. He knew demons often bought drinks for another in a tavern, normally to show interest, but this one was oddly… different.

And that suspicion was confirmed when Kafu stole it away from Hiei's eyesight, the fire demon turning and following the gaze of the barkeep and finding the same as the other: no eyes pointed to the front.

So he turned back to Kafu, then turned to Shikiyoku with a casual raise of his brow.

"What's mixed in?" he prompted, deciding to keep her preoccupied for the moment.

~!**!~

"Mmm, I dunno…" Akari mumbled, her lips just barely letting the words form, not even twitching to show her amusement that was completely shrouded with her sudden desire to sleep. "Maybe it was.." The rest of her sentence trailed away into incoherent mumbling, her lips no longer cooperating as her mind began to fall into the darkness of sleep.

"-fox." she finished, the lone word escaping her mouth before she took another deep breath, and gave in to the bliss of dreamless sleep. *

It was blessedly silent for a moment.

[She's dangerously perceptive you know.]

{I was enjoying the peacefulness.}

[Too much. Just a little too much.]

Kurama huffed and turned onto his back, putting his arms behind his head again.

[You aren't really going to stay, are you?]

He let his eyes close.

{The office isn't open tomorrow. Maybe I will.}

~!**!~

Her eyes, even as dull as they had become, were sharp enough to catch the end of the steely gaze Kafu released on the rest of the room, but when he turned back down to look at the mug in his hands, the expression was gone.

She considered the drink and Hiei's question, "It is not...precisely his energy, for that would delude the flavor. I...I think he imbues it with his essence."

Looking up through her curtain of hair, she examined him more closely as she talked; not a single white hair was out of place on his head, his strong-jawed face as serene as ever, but the upper part of his arms, revealed as they were from his rolled up sleeves, were tightened severely, making the well-formed muscles there prominent, and while she thought it was a trick of her eyes, she would have sworn she saw the last of what could be yellow shafts of light dissipating just shy of the edge of the sleeve on his left arm.

"That is how," She never missed a beat, "It tastes different with nearly every sip." She finally raised her head. "Are you an empath?"

Kafu did not get a chance to answer as a drink slid onto the counter between her and Hiei, just within Hiei's hand's reach. Her eyes narrowed and her world tunneled in on its contents.

Without hesitation, she snatched the drink and whipped around, but the waitress had already disappeared, and none of the bar appeared to notice her infuriation. She felt her jaw clenching, her eyes taking on a similar gleam to the deadly one Kafu had worn earlier, when a drink had been set at her side.

"Do you do nothing about the scum you serve?" She spoke through tightened teeth.

Kafu made a noncommittal sound, "Should something happen, perhaps it would whip into shape my other clientele, lady. These are not the most...desirable of patrons here this evening. Things have changed greatly since the merging, but... My hands, you must understand however, are...tied."

"Then the pleasure, is mine." Her scowl had deepened and she pushed her seat back to hop down to the floor, beginning to feel a burn starting at her scalp to envelop her entire body.

"Stay...behind me." She advised, just managing to growl out the words coherently, eyes rippling deeper into the blackest abyss of color as she took a single step away from the bar.

For a second, a few of the other patrons looked up, having heard her move her chair back and her feet land lightly on the ground, but the entire building-it seemed-felt like it was holding its breath.

With the giant influx of her power, however, everyone stopped what they were doing, the space around her growing darker as her energy started licking of her skin in an aura that steadily filled the space around her.

"You wish to stare?"

So what if his blood was that of fire and ice, two 'conflicting' elements? So what if he was the bastard child of an Ice Maiden? What did it matter?

"Then I will give you at which something to stare."

She herself now was akin to his hybrid state, two opposing ideals living simultaneously in one body, if more pronounced than his state, and perhaps that's what made the anger more personal, but...she knew that was not true.

"You want to talk?"

Why anyone would set before him a drink meant to use him should he wish, to mate with him, but to never keep him, to never become his mate for fear of watering down their own power-

"Then I will give you about which something to talk."

Her wrath manifested within her energy, making ripples shudder outwards, the entire room overcast with the veil of her power.

"You desire to see cursed?"

Her face had darkened, making her scars appear to stand out more on her skin, her voice eclipsed by the same shadow of emotions that fired her veins.

"Then I will show you which one of us is truly cursed!"

Dark tendrils of energy that had at one time been yellow erupted from her body, too numerous to keep track of, and shot forward, almost instantly finding their way around the necks of those previously gossiping patrons in the room who could only stare as their deaths approached them.

Unable to draw air to speak or scream, the demons struggled silently as the ribbons of energy lifted them into the air, the waitresses in the room having all disappeared except for one who had backed up against the bar, holding her tray to her chest, eyes wide as she could do nothing but watch.

Once in the air, the energy tightened and the demons began to struggle harder, groping at their throats in their attempt to get themselves free.

She did not relent and the energy easily started to snap necks broken, a handful of the demons having their heads popped clean off to spray blood into the air.

It was not until the other demons had stopped struggling, until the last one of them had suffocated and died, that she released them, dropping their bodies unceremoniously to the floor, her energy winding back towards her, leaving her looking much the same as she had when she entered the establishment, grey-skinned with too many scars covering her face, breathing heavily with bits of her hair stuck to her neck from the sweat that had manifested under her effort, barely able to stay on her feet, but surveying the rest of the room with a rather blasé expression. 3

Hiei had sat back for a brief moment, arms still on the counter of the bar and eyes momentarily shifting with the consideration of glancing back at the room again, to give a warning glare at a conversation he hadn't truly meant to overhear. But instead his eyes were drawn to a drink being set beside his hand, within his reach if he so desired of it.

And he didn't even contemplate it for longer than a second. He wasn't thirsty, wasn't interested in any freebies that came his way. It was probably something he wouldn't enjoy anyway, so why bother?

Shikiyoku, though, seemed to have different thoughts on the matter. While they were slightly parallel with his own, they were also.. magnified, more intense than his own towards the drink for reasons he didn't understand.

And her reaction, coupled with Kafu's when Shikiyoku had received a free drink, made him suspect that the freebies weren't exactly… free.

He turned a curious stare briefly onto Kafu before he turned in his seat to watch Shikiyoku, who was now standing, giving her own words to the room that seemed to be filled with the same venom, the same darkness that had become her.

He blinked only once when the words cursed came from her lips, but otherwise his expression gave way none of his thoughts.

Thoughts that were conflicting one another, swirling about in a frenzy that had him unable to keep from watching the scene.

And yet, he wasn't exactly registering his own thoughts. Merely witnessing the events unfolding before him with a blank mind and a stare to match. Even as silence befell the room, he hadn't moved an inch, hadn't found anything to say or anything to do.

She's not cursed. After a moment, his eyelids drew closer, narrowing to slits that allowed just enough red to be seen to be thought of as either a warning or contemplation. Again, she'd said he was not cursed.

Hiei, the fire child born from an Ice Maiden, was not a curse.

Had anyone else said it, he would have likely given a bitter scoff and proved them just how wrong they were. But Shikiyoku…

How could he do that when she'd called herself cursed?

Finally, he shifted in his seat and faced forward again, as if he hadn't even noticed the dead bodies and pools of blood in the room, as impressive as the show had been.

"I'll take a Demon's Fire." *

She shivered in place, arms clutching to one another underneath her chest, suddenly wrecked with the effects of her disease in an even greater amount than before. And so she stayed in place for a moment, watching as the waitress next to her appeared to multiply into innumerous copies and calmly begin cleaning up the mess she had made, just as unceremoniously as she had dropped the bodies dumping them outside.

"My thanks, lady." Kafu's voice floated over the countertop and to her ears.

"Don't mention it, old man." She replied hoarsely, her knees slowly bending as she slid to the floor and ended up sitting on her feet.

All of her anger had drained away, and she truthfully could not remember the cause of it save for those who had once inhabited the bodies now being carried out calling Hiei some blasted word or another that had set her off in the first place.

What had it been?

Cursed?

Foolish demons. They did not know what cursed meant. They had likely never even seen a curse before in their lives, only associating it with a hybrid for reasons they had likely forgotten themselves.

What, like your curse?

Yes, like my curse. Do you not see how it has ravaged my mind? How it now consumes my body? Whatever I once was...I am only a shadow of it. A passing shadow at that. One not likely long for this world.

Another shudder as the chills crept to her scalp and stayed there. 3

Hiei waited until a tankard was in his hand and he'd had a drink before he turned to glance at Shikiyoku again, this time with an unwavering stare that gave way only a few of his thoughts.

For one, her show had been rather impressive. Highly amusing, even.

Two, the waitress cleaning up the mess made it even better.

Three…

That's twice now. Twice she'd said he was not cursed. Both had happened in this very tavern, though she hadn't been aware of his presence the first time. And this time, she'd called herself the cursed one.

How foolish.

What a foolish, foolish woman.

Such a title was not something she was to be called, if he had a say in it. Because, really, he felt it wasn't true. She was not cursed in any way that he saw. Simply… struggling.

Going through a rough time, to put it mildly.

He reached down with his tankard, tipping the chair sideways just enough to allow him to stretch and close the distance, just touching her arm with his tankard in an offer.

"I am not in need of this."

~!**!~

Akari's sleep had remained dreamless throughout the night, as odd as that was for her. For the first time in weeks, she hadn't dreamed about work, hadn't dreamed about things that stressed her, hadn't dreamed about the numerous things she needed to remember to ask Koenma about.

She merely… slept.

So, when that blissful sleep was interrupted, she was not a happy camper.

Akari shifted slightly, pulling away from the person she hadn't realized she'd been sleeping up against, rolling onto her left side in the grass as the breeze picked up again, a voice carrying on the energy that had caused it to move in the first place.

"...Aka…"

"Shut up." she grumbled to the wind, eyes still closed and mind only half between the waking and sleeping world. If she so desired, she could deem it as the beginnings of a dream and brush it away.

But no.

That wasn't how things worked, was it?

The wind stirred again around her face, making her hair tickle her nose and lips. "Akari…"

"I said, shut up." she grumbled, this time more force.

"I apologize about disturbing, but-"

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't call on me. Whatever it is, handle it."

"-someone is here, asking for you at sanction E and-"

"I'm not even alive."

"-they say it's important."

Akari growled as the wind shifted about her face. She batted at it, eyes closed still, but of course earned no budge from the slight breeze about her.

"He says he needs-"

"Tell him to kiss my ass and go back to hell."

"It isn't Juun, Akari. He says his name is…" There was momentary silence. A silence that stretched on. And on. And on.

She almost thought she'd be going back to sleep. But just as the darkness of sleep began to welcome her again:

"He's resisting giving information. Only… drilling us and-"

"God damn it, Lou! What did I say?!" Akari was sitting up now, snarling and eyes open to stare at the space in front of her face as if someone stood before her. "One day! Or, hell, a few peaceful hours to sleep in! You can't handle a simple curious demon?!" She couldn't help the words she spat, almost quite literally, at the wind that she could see moving in front of her face. "I am not the only capable being on the nine levels! You are able to-"

"Akari, I understand you're angry, but this is out of my hands. He evades my attacks. Aside from myself, the only person I've ever known able to see them is you, meaning he is not from the fourth level."

Akari gave a snarl and promptly turned onto her back, rolling again until she was laying on her right side, comfortably up against the person she hadn't realized had stayed. "Find another lackey of Spirit World who gives a shit before dawn."

"It's midday here.."

"Like I said." *

"Tell them there's a problem on this layer and you can't leave until it's taken care of." Kurama murmured, still half-asleep and moving his arm over Akari's shoulders as if to prevent her from getting away again.

~!**!~

She barely moved her head, just enough to see what Hiei had offered her, and reached up with shaky hands to take it from him, only just managing to set it in her lap before the strength of her fingers gave out.

And she stared at it with empty eyes, somewhere in her mind still laying true curses upon the bodies of the dead she had been instrumental in causing.

Now they could say they had seen a curse. And now that they had seen her, they had been disposed of. Quite satisfactorily.

That was cause for a drink.

But she found she couldn't so much as raise it to her lips.

...maybe it wasn't cause for a drink, then. 3

"You do not have to do that every time I am called 'cursed'. It holds no effect on me. You're wasting your time anyhow." Hiei released the tankard and turned to the bar again, simply sitting there just as calmly as he had before. His eyelids slid closed and he thought back only briefly to her quick work of the demons who'd once been inside this bar.

He found it odd that in all his life, this was probably the only demon he'd ever met who had done something of this magnitude simply for the word he'd been called. "Rather foolish."

~!**!~

Akari took in a deep breath and, without thinking, hugged closer to the person who had spoken and draped an arm over her. Her mouth opened to relay the very message, but the wind around her stirred with "I heard that."

There was a pause as Akari blatantly ignored the energy, and the demon communicating behind it seemed preoccupied for the moment, until his voice suddenly floated through the clearing again, in a much lower, much quieter tone than before, as if afraid to be heard. "What if it's the big man?"

Akari didn't even miss a beat. "Koenma would not ask you where I am. He'd simply find me. Or, rather call."

"Should've known better than to use that again."

Another pause and Akari was comfortable, giving a sigh of content and burying her face in the soft fabric that smelled of roses. "Contact me when something important comes up, no?"

"...I didn't want to say, but it's the fourth time this week he's been here."

Akari finally let her eyelids slide open. "Repeat that."

"Must I really?" When she didn't reply, a sigh floated on the air. "HE's come demanding for your presence for four times in the past six days. Today, he is more persistent and has not left in hours."

"Description."

"tall, dark hair."

"That helps." With a growl to accompany her sarcastic tone, she shifted a bit again. "Anything else?"

"Nothing that would actually be of help, as he says you do not…. care enough to notice such things."

Akari could just make out some rambling in the background of what could only be described as a type of call, almost similar to a communication mirror allowing another's voice to float through a microphone. Though, she understood none of what the words were.

"He's disrupting the flow of things. Greatly."

"Can you deal with it for…" she thought about the time difference, the way the time passed on the fourth layer in direct contrast to the sixth. "an hour?"

"Affirmative."

"Stop talking like that. I'll be there."

Of course, she gave no motion to move away from the person she had yet to realize she was still laying on, her arm draped over his waist and head on his chest. *

A very fox-like growl had been rumbling in Kurama's chest until the communication cut off, a deep vibrating noise that did little else but settle into a low sound that never came up past his lips.

"I could very quickly become a problem even they would not be able to handle." The only reason it did not come out as a snarl was because he sat too far into the sleeping side of the world.

~!**!~

"I know better than to believe your claims, Hiei Jaganshi." She responded with a sense of finality, of declaration. Not affecting him. Ha. "You, dearest prince of fire, are not cursed. Having hybrid blood is nothing more or less than just that." She sighed, thinking of her own duality, thinking of the audacity of the drink that had been set next to him. "And they crossed a line besides." The fragment was accompanied by a growl.

"They will come to understand what being cursed truly means. Or they will perish." Strange how quickly she had found something to fight for, when only admitting it to be a necessity not all that much earlier.

...she really should invest some time in learning a few good curses. That would likely prove more satisfactory than just plain killing them.

Oh, I'm so sorry, did you enjoy being able to eat? How is it that you came to be incapable of feeding yourself? Missing with a utensil every time like that? Finding your plate or your meal mysteriously to the left of wherever you decided to plunge your face towards it? Pity. 3

"...You're a fool."

Hiei gave no words against Shikiyoku's claim. He sImply.. didn't agree either.

The fire demon took in a long breath through his nose, releasing it in the same fashion as he leaned forward just a bit, his upper-body weight now on the countertop. He stayed quiet for a moment, contemplating the silence in the room from the few remaining.

And then he thought of the effort it must have took for Shikiyoku to pull off such a thing as killing each and every demon the way she had.

"Can you move at all?"

~!**!~

Only now did Akari realize she was up against another, and quite comfortable being as such might she add. She drew in a deep sigh and patted her hand against his chest in slight protest. "Shh. I can't sleep when you're threatening lives. Just five minutes." Five minutes, and then I'll go kill them all myself.

Or trap them in a shadow. Starve them all and-

Oh hell, it isn't worth the energy. *

Kurama held back the next string of his actions, where he would be perfectly content with meticulously disemboweling the lot of them, and only shifted slightly, turning his head to the side and letting himself fall back down into the darkness of sleep.

~!**!~

She was breathing.

Did that count as moving?

"I'm perfectly fine." She responded, voice as blunt and forward as ever with that same seriousness she always seemed to have. "The floor is simply much more comfortable than those chairs."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kafu had not moved from his spot, even during her outburst, still cleaning glasses as calmly as ever. 3

"I know better than to believe your claims." Hiei said calmly, repeating her earlier words nonchalantly as his hand snaked out to take her previous tankard, deciding he needed a drink after all. Her's was only half full, but it would do. He had decided a while ago that he didn't want much of anything anyway.

So he took a sip. And then another. And then simply downed the whole thing before touching the mug to the countertop and sneering.

"Quite the show, though."

!**!~

Akari waited until Kurama's breathing evened out again, his mouth closed and no more growling emitting from his chest. She waited until she was absolutely sure he was asleep again, and even waited just a bit longer, out of precaution.

Only then did her eyes actually open, flashing at the field around her in irritation as the sun's rays began to peak over the horizon in the distance, casting a light glow over the trees in the distance.

I hate this job.

Akari began to slide away from Kurama, careful not to let her hair fall over her head and into his face. I can't believe you stayed, you moron. *

[She's leaving, Red.]

{I know.}

[...and you aren't going to do anything about it? We were so comfortable.]

{And what would you have me- You know what, don't answer that.}

[How well you seem to have caught on.]

...

[...well I'll still be interested to know if she says anything or not, regardless of your...attempt at hiding your disappointment.]

{Silver-tail?}

[Mm?]

{Shut up.}

~!**!~

You don't know. You're not down here.

As if to prove him wrong, she stood up and moved back into her chair.

She did cheat though, phasing inbetween the layers in order to be able to do so.

And, naturally, immediately regretted the decision as she was hit once more with the brunt of her exhaustion and found that she leaned into her elbows on the counter more than normal. Much more.

Her knuckles, the ones of the fingers that clutched at the tankard, were white, and she closed her eyes, trying to find comfort in breathing steadily.

She could feel that she had much more power within her than what she had just exerted, but the fever, the sickness within her, told her she had nearly died. 3

Hiei glanced over at Shikiyoku when she was firmly seated in the chair she had vacated earlier, a brow raised in her direction in slight amusement and curiosity. He hadn't meant to challenge her, but.. Oh well.

Why is it that when I issue a direct challenge, you ignore me, but accept the smallest, most meaningless of challenges? Again, he had the urge to call her a fool, but really, who was the fool here?

He turned away from her and took to watching Kafu's motions, though he didn't really see the bartender in any way. His eyes were a million miles away, as was his mind, his thoughts on different times when she'd bested him without even seemingly knowing she'd done as such.

~!**!~

Akari shifted, and shifted, and shifted until she was successfully out of Kurama's reach, eyes glancing at him briefly before she turned away with an inaudible sigh. I was so comfortable… She glanced around, looking for anything that she might have dropped on the ground during the night, such as the mirror, and when she found nothing, she gave an audible sigh of discontent.

Well, back to work, I suppose…

Her eyes turned to Kurama for another moment before she let herself fall through her shadow, effectively traversing two layers and ending up within a portal's dimensions within seconds, her calm, serene expression now replaced with a severe one as she set foot in the darkened between dimension, her feet moving towards where the Kekkai used to be.

"Now, explain to me what you can't handle again, exactly?"

Two demons turned, one male, one female. The one that spoke was the owner of the voice that had awoken her in the first place. "He's on the other side of the portal. Said to let you know he was waiting."

"He's blocking traffic." the female explained with an exasperated sigh. "I tried, really, but he isn't prone to manipulation like most others."

"Well, at least you tried." Akari grumbled as she continued moving past the pair. "Prepare to escort a body to Spirit World."

"You don't think she's serious?"

"I guess we'll see." *

~!**!~

With the entire reason for his lethargicness at leaving gone, it took little effort for Kurama to sit up once she left, his motivation one of returning home, perhaps before his parents knew of his absence.

After all, he hadn't exactly planned on sleeping next to Akari all night.

Not...not exactly.

~!**!~

Feeling her head becoming more and more heavy, she reached up and settled her cheek into her other hand, not even at this point bothering with the tankard she still held, though her eyes would on occasion shift longingly towards it.

It was never worth the effort, though.

She didn't particularly want to sleep, though it tugged mightily at the edges of her vision.

If she slept, she might forget. If she slept, she would wake up hungry once more.

And after all, the bodies still being carried out behind her had not been worthy of having their energy removed.

Let them rot. How dare they.

Another single flame of ire had her eyes opening again to stare off at the shelves behind Kafu.

He is most certainly not 'cursed.'3

Thanks for reading! Bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless you. Peace off! -Star