A/N: Hello once again, Audience.

So, this is the last of the chapters I had pre-prepared while I was gone to Italy. I am back now and will work on updating everything to normal this coming week, with the goal being having it all nice and pretty by next Monday!

Ciao for now!~

Hiei's snarls seemed to have, at some point, registered with his crew, as suddenly, all at once and in a scattered formation, each demon turned to move a different direction as if Hiei had held his sword to their necks while yelling the command. Initially, he'd been relieved, and had began taking measures to make his own escape.

After all, he could only trail after the demon who charged at each individual demon again, effectively cutting off all escape routes and, with Hiei only able to get just far enough ahead of him to block the path, earning the tiniest of blows to the shorter fire demon.

It was all he could do, really, to catch up, block a blow, and then keep up with Uryo, who seemed to not care that he was up against Hiei. Continuously, step after step, Hiei kept finding his options limiting by the nanosecond, his sword uselessly at his side because he couldn't even move his arms fast enough to attempt an attack.

And the whole guild was cornered.

Their chances of survival were next to none, and he could only imagine what had happened if he hadn't come on this journey.

Desperation. With each shove against his own group member, with each nick he earned to his skin, he began to realize the only option he had:

Throw the area up in flames and let the group escape with third degree burns, or keep running around until everyone was dead. And even then, the probability of his energy making even a dent in Uryo was next to none.

Only option.

No time.

He could feel it, whatever coated Uryo's sword seeping into his blood vessels, traveling his system and, little by little slowing him down. Dulling his vision. Working to shut his heart and brain down. A silent killer, if one had never come into contact with it before. This time with a kick that forced open the wounds he received until he bled all the way down one arm, the nick now a gash deep enough to bleed out from.

No time.

He didn't even get to warn the group before he poured every ounce, every drop of his energy he had into an inferno that began first at his hands, and then all at once enveloped the area in a mushroom cloud big enough to shake the whole level.

Energy spent, Hiei's legs came to an abrupt standstill, the sudden halt causing the fire demon to lurch forward into the grass, katana skidding a good ways away, melting despite the material he'd had it crafted from.

His vision blurred in and out of focus, his brain silent and his body beginning to tell him just how much trouble he was in. He tried to twitch a finger, to blink his eyes, and found that even those simple movements were denied him.

"Boss!"

Movements somewhere nearby, shuffling on the scorched ground.

Before he knew it, and at the same time in such a slow motion that he couldn't comprehend, Hiei found himself no longer on the ground, his eyes seeing burnt ends of dark hair that continued to burn away until it was no longer in his vision. "We're all here, Boss." came the smooth, somehow calm voice of the second-in-command. "Stay with me."

And either the man wasn't moving at all, or he was moving so fast Hiei didn't feel it.

"...fire." The lone word was supposed to have another after it, but it didn't quite make it from Hiei's lips.

"Yeah, boss. He was in the fire."

"...demon."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Frustration made Hiei growl. "Fire… demon."

There was a pause, and then the other yelled to the rest, his shoulders becoming hard as rocks with tension. "Watch the rear! It's a fire demon!"

Hiei gave a short motion meant to be a nod, his eyelids closing. "Ur….yo." *

Time became meaningless.

Or, as such, the passing of time meant nothing to the petite she-demon whose feet and legs had long grown dirty and stained, the loose strands of hair matted down to her skin and portions of the clothing she wore now containing snags and tears that she appeared to be unaware of as she dashed through the undergrowth when forced from the trees by anything that might hinder the speed of her progress.

Familiar enough with the energy signature the merc guild gave off when they all were together, when she arrived on the same level as they, she headed straight for them, picking up Hiei's hybrid life force somewhere in the midst of them.

When she got close enough to see them, to see him, her eyes narrowed as she acknowledged the fact that Hiei still breathed, even if he was bleeding.

With the majority of their eyes guarding their retreat, Shikiyoku had her decision made for her, dropping to the ground and darting past them.

"Keep moving." She ordered as she skirted their de facto leader and the unconscious hybrid in his arms, not staying long enough for any of them to get a word in edgewise as she disappeared back the direction they came from.

She rejoined them just as they crossed to the next level, giving no indication of what she had found, but neither did her reappearance come with a warning that they were still being chased.

She had found the burnt clearing, the blood, drops of the poison that had been collected on fabric, rolled up, and tucked into her blouse, knew that the energy which had caused the destruction to be her Consort's, but she found no sign of what had attacked them, and had even widened her searched until she was certain they were not followed.

In her arms was the body of one of the relatively newer mercenaries, his clothing all but scraps hanging off his frame, but the injuries he had sustained were slowly mending themselves, an indication that he had not actually perished.

When they reached the First Level, she picked the two of the group who looked the most fit to run and gave an address to each of them, telling the first to escort the Koorime he would find there to the bar where she was to tend to their wounds, and giving a list of botanicals to the second, making him repeat it back perfectly three times before she sent him off, telling him exactly who he was to speak to and in what order so that he might reach Shuichi the quickest. 3

If he would ever use the group's real names, it probably would have been in this very moment. With Hiei in his arms and the Kuraku leading the way, Akihiko felt as if the situation was almost too dire to make a point to remember names, and as it were, people responded better to their given names.

But, honor the boss' wishes.

"Goldie," he called to Shikiyoku, not even looking at her, his eyes remaining on the path he carved ahead, "The name Err Eyo mean anything to you?" He spoke through clenched teeth, recalling the many times Hiei had told the crew to leave, none of them realizing in those seconds that the situation had been so dire.

When the group reached the bar, Shikiyoku leading the way, it was no surprise to him that patrons within the walls parted ways and skirted the edges of the room, most leaving, some staying to look onto the group that moved tables and chairs, pulling two tables together for Shikiyoku to lay down the member in her arms on its surface.

"Stairs."

Without hesitation, he followed Hiei's telepathic command, partially stunned that the demon was even remotely aware of his surroundings, much less able to form any thoughts.

"Right."

"Got it, Boss."

But as he passed the door to go up the stairs, Shikiyoku's command to go into the door on the left at the end of the hallway and planned to alter his course with a simple nod to her.

He nudged the door open when he came to it, using a foot to open it further so he could move beyond the threshold and into the simple bedroom. Before it could be commanded of him, he shuffled inside and lowered the hybrid onto the bed, which looked as if it hadn't been used much since its placement in the room.

Finally, eyelids peeled apart to reveal extra-shiny, glossed-over red orbs. The sense of the telepath's presence washed over him again in an unformed question, and he nodded once. "We're all here. All breathing."

"Good,"

"I'm going to oversee them while you're being taken care of." Before his Boss could say anything or even blink, the man ducked out of the room and was moving down the stairs with chin lowered and thoughts roiling. *

As soon as Shikiyoku put the merc down, giving instructions to the others as to where they would find medical supplies for themselves, she gave orders to the bar for drinks and food, herself walking up to a certain bartender, murmuring different instructions at him to which he nodded and turned away to get to the phone on the wall.

Moving up the stairs, knowing Yukina would soon arrive and leaving them to be healed by her hands, Shikiyoku said nothing to the demon going down them, her face an emotionlessness that had set her entire staff on edge and jumping at her command.

Getting through the open door to her bedroom and briefly thankful the demon toting Hiei had done as she asked, Shikiyoku opened various cabinets and drawers in the room before she even so much as moved for the bed, making for certain that she was thoroughly immersed in the blank nothingness she had created for herself.

Because if she wasn't, she was likely to explode.

Setting the medical supplies just out of reach of the bed, she finally turned and stood over the beaten and battered form of her Consort.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered times when as a Ward she had been compelled to take on the pain of her Champion, to remove it from them and take it upon herself so that they were always in peak condition.

The only one to have ever refused her help, going so far as to tie her to a chair to prevent her approach, had been Kitoushi, the cat demon who himself took on sickness and disease from others, healing them in a fashion, but when overwhelmed by too much of one or the other, never allowing her to take it from him, claiming it would kill her and frustrating her to no end.

Staring down at Hiei with blank eyes, her teeth clenched together briefly before she parted her lips to speak.

"Let go of the bond." She ordered flatly. 3

Hiei could track the movement of the toxin in his system, how it traveled and how it worked. How dexterous it was against his own immune system, how fast it spread, the kind of damage it did as it went. He listened to his body, finding that here and there, it attacked harder than in other places. And that the more it spread, the more it slowed.

Likely for torture purposes.

Information gathering.

By the time Shikiyoku had entered the room, his eyelids had slid shut again, fighting the exhaustion that continued to sweep over him in waves, one worse than another.

But when she spoke, he allowed himself to look at her, to meet the blank, empty eyes that stared down at him. Initially, he made an attempt to telepathically reach her, only to find that she blocked him in a similar fashion to the way he currently blocked her out.

For good reason, I imagine.

He was simply too tired to break down those walls, to make that attempt. Slowly, taking enough time to span over a few minutes, the hand closest to her side of the bed fell palm-up onto the sheet, as if he'd tried reaching to her but hadn't been able to.

"Hand." It was a feeble attempt to match her tone, but at least he'd formed the word. *

In blatant opposition to his request, her arms crossed over her chest as she continued to watch him from somewhere distant despite being only a few feet from him, her eyes flashing defiantly from afar.

"Not until you stop whatever it is you're doing to our bond." Whatever it is that you shouldn't be able to do. You are causing more harm than good by keeping yourself from me.

In case you have forgotten, I am pain.

When his demeanor shifted enough that she knew he did intend to release whatever hold he had on his end, she may have reached for his hand, but she did so coldly, and the gesture did not reach her eyes in any way.

As his grip tightened on her, the only other indication that she received anything came from the bond itself, as outwardly she stood frigidly in place.

In a manner akin to gathering something up, Shikiyoku helped the discomfort pass more quickly as she was able, taking on the portion of his pain that she should have that whole time been allowed, picking up with it the vestiges of an apology from him, but forcing herself to ignore it, as it only sparked her ire in a way that distracted her from the task at hand.

There was only a single phrase she allowed to permeate the space between them that had become filled with his pain, though it alone seemed to contain all of her barely contained wrath in regards to the whole situation.

(NEVER do that again.)

As soon as he passed out, she peeled her fingers from his grasp, having struggled while the bond had been feeding openly between them not to let her absolute fury at him move over it in any way.

He quite possibly would not have been able to understand in that time why the word "upset" seemed so vastly mild to the rage she felt chewing at the back of her mind. And not even because his capability to pull away from her was unjust, but because of the fact that what she viewed as his pride, his selfishness, at wanting to keep such, honestly, miniscule pain from her ripped the equality inherent in the nature of their relationship right out from under her. It was cruel. Insulting. As if her character were in question, the action of pulling away from her in this instance slaughtering to her very dignity, and for a single moment, for the first and only time, making her question his place as her Consort and how perhaps she had not been so wise in allowing him to become so.

How in this manner he had effectively rendered himself unworthy of the title, regardless of whatever "good intentions" he felt were behind his actions.

If you had let the bond do its job, and given me half the poison's effects, perhaps you would have had a clearer mind and wouldn't have nearly killed your entire squad by attempting to burn a fire demon infinitely stronger than yourself.

Since there was for the moment no chance of her accidentally conveying any of this to him, she let the thoughts roil about in her mind as she efficiently assessed each outward injury by the experience of it allowed to her by the bond, able to pinpoint its location and provide the necessary attention required.

If she felt them poisoned, she left them to the air, which truthfully was the vast majority of them.

Still, she categorized them and their locations as well as analyzing the anatomy of the poison itself and the havoc it wreaked on his system, unsure if the plants she had sent the guild member after were in fact the correct ones, but having to guess at the time since someone had-

Teeth clenching together once, she huffed a breath out from her nose and slowly became aware that Hiei had taken a fever, adding that to the list of symptoms, and turning to assemble something that might help stave it off. 3

For an instant, Hiei thought he might be back in the clearing he'd just set aflame, the forestry about him seeming exactly the same as the forestry he had destroyed. Where there should have been scorch marks and dark rings in the grass, in the trees, there was healthy plant growth, undisturbed by anything other than the wind that whispered through the area.

"You've wronged your Queen, Consort."

Hiei slowly turned to stare at the taller demon who held no sword, who stood in place as if he hadn't moved from that spot in decades, the grass growing around his feet and the ferns nearby leaning in a way that indicated the demon's shadow had previously blocked its source of light. The red eyes that stared down at him were disappointed, the frown on his lips to match.

"By closing yourself off from her, you have invalidated her role entirely. All but voided your verbal contract."

Finally, Hiei narrowed his eyes at Uryo, momentarily irritated at the demon. After a breath, he let it go, his frustration sliding away from him so that he might hear what he knew somewhere deep down he needed to know. "It was…"

"Instinct, yes. One that deems you unfit to be a Consort. You've tossed her aside for the sake of your own pride, and that is not something easily forgiven to a Queen."

The fire demon stuffed his hands in the pocket of his cloak, his chin lowering a little and his eyes closing, his mind reeling.

"If you do not learn how to let her in, you will lose her, Consort. Your duty is to her now. You have no room to be selfish, to think of yourself and hide it under the guise of 'looking out for her'. That will only bring the destruction of the both of you at your own hands."

She is not your weakness, Gouka. She is your strength.

When Hiei did not respond, Uryo made a sound that fell somewhere on the spectrum of disappointment.

"For her sake, do better."

And just like that, the dream faded to darkness. *

~!**!~

As Shuichi ducked into the bar, following behind the demon who had been sent to retrieve botanicals from him, he marveled for a moment at how much like Inyoku this place felt, despite the sight of the bodies scattered around the benches that met his eyes and the scent of injury on the air.

He had no idea she ran a place like this, though with her business savviness, he couldn't rightly say he was truly surprised.

He came to a standstill not two feet in the door, wondering briefly if she had meant the plants she requested for any of these in the room, a part of him trying to rationalize beginning to assist before he felt a flux of very pure-smelling energy and heard wounds closing, spying what he understood-though he could not have said why-was a Koorime smiling as she spoke with the demon she had just healed.

The demon standing behind the bar hung up the phone and turned back around, eyes widening as he instantly recognized the form that had hesitated by the door.

Shaking himself once, he waved to catch Shuichi's attention, gesturing that the other follow him as he turned and walked towards the door leading upstairs, meeting the other next to it as it slid open.

"They should be in the room on the left."

Nodding appreciation to the bartender, Shuichi stepped beyond the threshold and up the stairs, immediately aware of the source of the light hint of poison on the air that he noted in the bar below to be in the room the demon had indicated to him.

As he reached the top of the staircase and began walking down the hallway, the door at the end of it opened up and he blinked as Inyoku stepped through it.

At first unaware of the redhead, Shikiyoku let the door close behind her and took two steps forward, feeling a somehow refreshing cascade of energy coming from her room, but when she looked in, she only caught the last remnants of a somewhat pinkish emission dissipating in the air.

The scent was most assuredly Renai, and while she did not expect he meant her Consort any harm, it did not stop her from rapidly picking up her feet and moving back into the room.

"Inyoku?"

When she heard that name, she stopped in the middle of the doorway and nearly dropped the bundle in her arms.

She became keenly self-conscious of her appearance, of the mess that was left of her hairdo as well as her missing glasses, not to mention the fact that her legs were covered in grime, the slit in her skirt torn jaggedly further, and her once white blouse nearly beige with dried blood across her chest and stomach.

The only part of her that seemed clean was her arms themselves, the sleeves of the blouse rolled up long before now and her hands clean as she had been dressing Hiei's wounds.

If he was disgusted or otherwise offended by how she looked, he gave no such indication, only coming towards her and entering the room behind her once she started moving again.

Well, as long as you're here...

He half-expected her to protest at him having shown up, but while her face had lost a bit of the gravity and sternness he had seen on it before she left his office, he still had difficulty reading her. If he had to guess she only accepted his presence as it was and simply moved forward.

This became more evident as she started to speak, describing what she knew of what had happened as well as the poisoned wounds that she pointed out and the other symptoms, the list of which was extensive enough to have him questioning exactly how she knew of them, given that with what she described, Hiei had likely been out for a few hours and thus unable to inform her of them.

Removing his outer coat and suit jacket, Shuichi began questioning her further as he placed them over a chair and started to roll up the sleeves of his dress shirt. He gestured a hand over the bedside table and sat in the chair Shikiyoku had pulled up to the bedside before he arrived, beginning to look over the demon whose relationship to his personal assistant he did not rightly know, and yet somehow recognized due to the dark, swirling tattoos across the left side of his body from memories somewhere that he could not recall.

And for the first time, he felt a connection within himself to this pale and clammy-skinned demon that was almost as venerable as the one he felt with the dark haired woman that stepped up to his side.

~!**!~

Shuichi wiped his hands on the towel over his leg and sat back in the chair, reaching over to his watch that he had removed and placed on the bedside table and brushing aside the various half-used plantlife there to look at the time.

Still dark outside. But dawn would be breaking soon.

All of Hiei's injuries had been treated and wrapped, and he had a small container of salve sitting in the midst of the plants that he intended to bring to Inyoku's attention before he left. The bandages would need changing, but he had no doubt she was perfectly capable of handling such a task.

He did not exactly feel tired. Really, it was the first time he'd been able to stretch himself in a very long while. Since they had put the marble planter box installations in his office and Inyoku had encouraged him to develop whatever he wanted within them.

However, he was aware of the early hour and regardless of the fact that there would be no one in the office building today, he preferred to return to it under the cover of darkness while he still could.

Gesturing over the plants he had grown atop the bedside table, they rustled away and disappeared as he stood and returned his watch to his wrist, putting the dirty towel where the plants had been moments ago and beginning to roll his sleeves back down his arms as he looked around the rest of the room.

His eyes alighted on his PA, curled up in a chair with her knees to her chest and breathing evenly in her slumber, his coat and suit jacket laying over the side and having obviously been moved so that she would not be on top of them. She wore new clothing and had gotten cleaned up at his behest so that she could sit and rest more completely, and part of her medium length hair had fallen over her neck.

He leaned down to retrieve his things, and whispered her name near her ear, suddenly struck by a hazy memory of leaning over a darker-skinned female curled up just like that in a larger chair, strands of his own long, silver hair falling over his shoulder as he did so. In the vision he planted his lips against her soft cheek and murmured some word he could not recall, perhaps her name, only to have her eyes slide open, amber-colored and glimmering.

Here however, as he paused in place and tried to grasp at the memory, the form beneath him shifted at her name and bright green eyes popped into view, pulling him from the past as she blinked sleepily.

"Ku...rama?"

He smiled at her, unused to hearing her use his actual name instead of calling him 'sir' and taking great satisfaction in it.

He did not seem to question or notice the fact even he did not yet truly think of himself as Kurama. The memory, though faint, was strong.

"There is a salve by the bed. And the rest of the bandages next to it. The fever will not break until the poison is completely cleansed from his system, and it will leak out from the wounds steadily for the next several hours. His dressings will need changing regularly until the process is finished."

He wasn't entirely sure she would be awake enough to process all of that, but she reached up and stretched and yawned, making him actually want to kiss her cheek just out of the sheer adorableness, and she nodded, her eyes half-lidded as she shifted her legs around so that they would slide off the chair.

He started to take a step back to give her room to rise, but just as he began leaning away, a sleepy hand reached up and rested on his neck and pulled him back to her as she planted a soft and drowsy kiss on his cheek before letting go so he could right himself.

Not appearing to notice that he stared after her, Shikiyoku went and sat in the chair next to the bed, pulling her feet onto the seat and wrapping her arms around her knees to rest her chin on them, toes wiggling for a moment as her eyes peered out from underneath long lashes, beginning to watch over the immobile figure in the bed, though she still appeared near slumber.

After a few moments, Shuichi broke the spell over himself, rolled his jacket over his shoulders and then his coat, and left the room. 3

Several more dreams after the first one plagued his sleep, but other than the initial one, he didn't recall anything the first time his eyelids fluttered open. At first, he thought maybe he was still dreaming, the world around him dark still and more than just a little blurry. He had to blink three times before the dark form that moved nearby came into clarity, revealing a face he recognized and, for a reason he didn't immediately understand, cringed at the sight of.

Or maybe it was the pressure at his wound that he cringed at. He wasn't so sure.

"Shiki," he mumbled, half-lidded eyes searching for the green ones he, for some reason, couldn't quite make out from the darkness around him. He knew she was there, could sense her nearby in some way, but he couldn't see her, and that bothered him.

He kept talking anyway.

"Shiki-yoku," her name was broken into two parts, a breath taken between as a momentary hesitation. He fumbled for words, a few incomprehensible mumblings falling from his lips before finally turning into words that he, for some reason, was afraid he wouldn't remember to tell her later. "-am a fool and still learning all this Consort stuff and don't want you to leave me and- and-"

He took a breath, turning his head in the direction he knew her to be, his expression still holding a cringe, this time aimed at himself. "I'm sorry. Do you still love me? I love you." There was another pause. "I'll do better…"*

She had lost track of the number of times she had unwound and rebound his cuts. And each time she felt a twitch or twinge of pain as she did so, her eyes would dart to his face, afraid that the discomfort she inadvertently caused might stir him from his rest.

She could feel clearly each and every moment it happened.

"Stay still." She replied calmly as his words faded from the air. "You're loosening the bindings."

It wasn't like she hadn't heard him, but she wasn't really sure she was ready to forgive him yet. And for some reason he sounded a lot like Youko, who would tend to only tell her he loved her when it best suited his interests, like calming her down or in place of an apology when he still felt he was in the right.

She said nothing else, steadily continuing to wrap his forearm, flinching once and murmuring an absent 'sorry' as she felt the wound prickling as more poison started to seep out of it underneath what she had nearly finished bandaging up. 3

As if he'd forgotten everything he'd just said, Hiei repeated the last three words one more time, seemingly not noticing that she ignored what he'd said or the pain that should have made him cringe a second time.

"You're not allowed to say that word," he said suddenly, the sentence stronger than anything else he'd said within the timespan of being awake. "You can't be the one sorry, because I'm the one doing the apologizing." The impression of his nose lifting in the air a little slid across the bond.

He went quiet again, turning his head once more, this time to the opposite direction from her and closing his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, knowing that what he'd been about to say was nothing more than an excuse.

"I never intended to insult you." *

Shikiyoku felt rather like she was listening to a petulant child speak to her, placing his arm back down on the bed in such a way that she would be able to begin unwinding the bandages at his shoulder, continuing to work silently and opening her mouth once to mutter 'sorry' again as she felt the festering cut, one of the larger ones, at his shoulder protest as the pressure atop it was removed.

Keeping her hands steadily working, one of her eyebrows quirked briefly as she chose to answer his last statement.

"Are you certain about that?" 3

If the bond let her know of the sting he felt at her question, he was unaware of it. He kept his eyelids closed over his eyes and his head turned away, unable to make another attempt to look at her. He couldn't even bring himself to answer her despite the growing need to convince her he meant it within him.

He reached up with his other arm to scratch at his face, not really seeming to notice the pain that shot up his tingling arm.

And instead of saying anything else and digging a bigger grave, he decided to let her stew for a while more. *

She did not have to feel his internal cringe from the bond to read the self-same evidence in his body language when she questioned him. And for the moment, with her heart hardened by her anger, she felt no remorse for asking it. For his response could just have easily meant that he wasn't certain.

Shikiyoku felt the tension at her shoulders releasing as she felt him slip back into unconsciousness, as if simply him being awake was too much for her right now and she could work more easily on his injuries with him asleep.

When she finished his other arm and the cuts across his chest, she gently removed the bandage from the slice down his cheek and delicately wiped away the poisonous residue from his skin before reapplying salve and covering the wound back up.

Before she completely pulled away from him, she softly pressed her lips against his feverish forehead and murmured quietly, "I've always loved you," before turning to gather up the dirty wrappings again. 3

The second time Hiei woke up, the remnants of the dream lingered, fresh in his mind, and he frowned to himself at the thought of Shikiyoku being mates with that kid of Renai's. Or, really, any of them.

The dream had been short, but it had been the distress from seeing Shikiyoku with someone else, telling him to leave her be, that had forced him to awaken and peel his eyes open to the gentle lamplight that filtered over him from the bedside table nearby.

"Shiki?" He grumbled after a few minutes, not turning his head in case she was wrapping his wounds again. He didn't want to give her another reason to be angry. *

An internal timer set for the next shift of bandage-changes, Shikiyoku knew it had not gone off yet, but she still half-opened her eyes and blinked them blearily before intoning a questioning "mm" noise as she looked out over the tops of her knees where she had drawn them up to her chin as before, arms wrapped around her legs and feet planted in the seat of the chair.

She released her legs and sat up, rubbing the back of the oversized sleeve of her sweater against her eyes as if that might wake her up faster.

She reached over and shifted the collar of it back on top of her shoulder from where it had shifted and fallen, not aware of the fact that when she did so, the other side dropped off.

Rubbing at her eyes again, she repeated a more coherent, "Yeah?" And dropped her hands into her lap, fingers curling around the edge of the fabric that extended farther than her arms actually went. 3

Hiei waited, listening for the telltale signs of movement, of the feeling of hands on his arm or chest or something, only to realize that the sound he heard was not from her being nearby, but in a chair somewhere to his right. A shifting against the material, followed by her one-worded call-out to him had him slowly, carefully, turning his head to look at her.

He had been ready to say something, but when he saw her, all other thoughts seemed to flee, shoved away and replaced with only one. He stared, feeling his fever spike a little. He noticed the sleepy look on her face, realizing that he must have woken her up, and the mess that was the hair atop her head. Add the overly-big sweater, and Hiei was rightly smitten.

"...You're pretty," he whispered at her, blinking only once before returning to his wide-eyed stare, his eyes burning with the fever.

"Wait, wait wait," he spoke again, giving his head a shake. "Not what I- that's not what-"

"...what was I gonna say?" *

Blinking a couple of times, as Shikiyoku finally saw the room around her, she looked down still drowsy at Hiei, whom she noticed had turned his head to look at her.

It wasn't particularly his words that meant anything coherent to her since she didn't process their meaning, it was the sudden deepening of the color on his face that had her standing up suddenly, clearing the remaining dreams from her mind as she leaned over him and reached up to lay a hand across his forehead, moving to put the back of it against his cheek, her face filled with concern even as he kept talking.

When she inwardly checked herself, she couldn't rightly say if the fever had worsened. She didn't think so, but then why did it look like it had? 3

Hiei blinked when he found himself staring at her midsection, making a point to turn his head up to look at her with blinking eyes in confusion. Then, his earlier thoughts caught up with him, finally returning, and he was reaching up for the hands that touched his forehead, his cheek, or wherever they were, though it was sluggish.

"Wait, wait, wait," he repeated, turning his head one way and then back again, blinking when it made him dizzy. He stilled, waiting for the world to stop spinning, a frown deepening his features. "Shiki? Don't leave me, okay?" *

Concerned and unsure if she needed to call Shuichi, for the moment Shikiyoku allowed her hands to drop and catch ahold of Hiei's, still scanning his face.

"I'm right here." She replied calmly, much more calmly than she particularly felt in those moments. "Try not to move, okay?" 3

Hiei felt much better when Shikiyoku's hands found his, and he blinked the world back into its rightful place until he was staring up at her again, his lips giving a thoughtful purse. He blinked at her a little, seeing the way her eyes looked at him, and he too made a face.

"But you were too far away," he complained. "Oh, wait," he said for the third time, his mind once again making full circle back to his original task. "I know you're mad at me, and rightfully so," he began with a small frown, his expression turning serious a moment after his lips had formed the gesture. "But I don't want you to leave me, okay?" He paused, trying to figure out how to word it without sounding as ridiculous as he imagined Renai's kid had sounded.

"I want you to be my mate, Shiki." He paused for a second to take a breath, "I mean, not right now, because you're still mad and I haven't made it up to you yet and I have so many ways to do that and a lot to learn but I really really really don't wanna lose you and want you to be my mate and-" he sucked in a huge breath, and then two more, "don't want you to leave me because I was stupid." *

As Hiei started to babble, Shikiyoku let go of one of his hands and reached up and brushed away part of the bangs that had started to stick to his forehead as she nodded absently, not really hearing him.

"Hiei, you need to rest. You still have a fever." 3

The fire demon frowned, wishing this time she didn't ignore what he'd said. He stared up at her, breathing a little heavy after his moment of babbling. You didn't say you wouldn't leave me.

He watched her for a few quiet moments, contemplating what he thought he should say, what he could do, until he finally huffed and shifted with every intention of hugging what he could of her, but found the most he could do was reach his now free hand out and grab the hem of her sweater.

"I mean it. Really, I do. Have wanted to ask for a long time but the Jagan told me to wait." His frown deepened. "I don't want you to mate the kid from Renai. Or anyone else. I want it to be me and you for, like, eternity." *

Grabbing a nearby cloth from the bedside table as she felt Hiei's fingers grasp the edge of her baggy sweater, Shikiyoku leaned over him again to patiently wipe away the perspiration around his forehead and face.

She softly shushed him, leaving her other hand in his for the time being as she dabbed at his face. "I'm not going anywhere, fire prince." 3

Hiei gave a soft sigh, deciding to accept that as answer enough for the time being, the fingers holding onto her sweater loosening until the hand simply hung off the edge of the bed, brushing the material every so often.

He blinked once at her again, still giving a small, pensive frown. "I really am sorry, my wind. I'm still not used to someone caring enough," he admitted in a low tone, his eyelids finally closing. "I haven't learned all that comes with it yet." His lips gave a ghost of a smile before flattening out again. "I'll get better, and I'll learn." And just as before, he fell back into slumber, this time with no fever dreams.

~!**!~

The third time Hiei came to consciousness, he had to blink only once to get rid of the bleariness in his vision. Almost immediately, he was aware of the fact that the toxin no longer attacked him, having run its course until there was no more in his system, leaving him feeling sore and overall just lethargic.

This time, he did not call out for Shikiyoku, aware that the only other sound in the room was of her even breathing, telling him that she slept. He took a deep breath, momentarily considering reaching out and checking in on the guild, but deciding against it.

He turned his head to the chair first, remembering with fuzzy memory that she had been in that chair each time he had woken from his slumber. So, he was a little surprised to find that she was not asleep in that chair, as he had expected.

He turned his head the other direction, slowly so he didn't make his head spin, and found himself staring into the face of the sleeping Shikiyoku, who lay with a small amount of distance between them, her hands to the jewel and ring at her chest and her knees only slightly pulled up.

He found himself staring into that sleeping face with a fondness that was no longer foreign to him, accompanied with the lingering guilt for what he'd done.

He brushed the thought aside, taking the moment to simply enjoy the peace on her face, the calm that was Shikiyoku. *

"But Yoku-"

"No. I'm not letting you in." She sat at the table, one leg crossed over the other and arms equally as crossed over her chest.

The voice whined her name again.

"Not until you say you're sorry."

"Yokuuu."

She knew he wasn't sorry, and he wasn't going to be sorry, but she was too exasperated with him to unbar the door and let him inside.

She heard him make another incoherent noise of protest from the hallway, one of her pointed ears twitching slightly at the sound.

"Yoku, I love you." The tone had turned velvety as he attempted to coerce the response from her that he desired. "You know that. Please open the door?"

In her sleep, eyes darting around as she dreamt, and a puff of air parted her lips as she frowned for a moment, the breath sending the stray hairs that had come to rest over her face fluttering. 3

For a few more moments, Hiei continued to watch the woman who slept beside him, taking in every muscle twitch in her face, the way her eyes moved behind the lids, the way her lips twitched downward for that millisecond. He too gave a frown, though more in relation to whatever caused hers than anything else.

He didn't, however, want to wake her.

So, he reached the hand closest to her out as if to take her hand, finding that the bandaging at his shoulder was too tight and didn't afford him the movement he desired. An unhappy noise escaped him as he settled for laying on his back and staring some more, making an attempt to filter a calmness through the bond that didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. *

It worked. It always worked, dammit. He knew her weaknesses just as he knew her strengths, and as with any other tool at his disposal, he freely exploited the information to his best advantage.

And having the most powerful instrument under his command upset with him was not within his best interests.

He never intentionally sparked her ire, save for one or two specific cases simply to amuse himself, and was quick to reconcile with her.

Unfortunately for her, he could reconcile with her at any moment he desired...

Shikiyoku became aware of her awakening as her eyelids shuddered together once, the hand that did not have a hold of the gems around her neck reaching up to brush the back of her sweater sleeve across her face, finally bothered by the strands of hair tickling her skin.

As the hand shifted back down to the bed, her fingers released the jewelry they had been grasping so firmly and relaxed against the covers too, finally opening her eyes to see Hiei, his gaze fully coherent and the flush gone from his face, looking back at her.

Briefly she made an inward sweep of herself, finding the remnants of pain and stiffness in her muscles that did not originate from her own body, but no other signs of illness. 3

Hiei stared with a neutral expression as Shikiyoku's face gave another small twitch just before he saw the first signs of her waking, at which point he'd retreated his arm back to his side, ignoring the pain as he did so.

His steady gaze, however, never so much as twitched from her face. Not even when she finally blinked her eyes open and was looking back at him with a calculating gaze, searching him for any other sign of the toxin he knew to be gone from his system.

Finally, after a little bit of time passed where the pair continued to stare at one another, the fire demon turned his head until his eyes saw the ceiling, where he continued to stare blankly.

He didn't have anything to say to her this time around. At least, not anything she hadn't already heard. *

Satisfied that he was no longer sick, Shikiyoku pushed herself up and rolled over to the other side of the bed, feeling as she moved a portion of the stiffness and pain that Hiei currently experienced.

Swinging her legs off and rising in one smooth motion, she moved around the bottom of the bed back to the side where he lay, saying nothing, but gingerly reaching across his body as she leaned into the bedside and lifting his further arm from his side, bringing it slightly over his stomach to more easily have a handle of it and beginning to unwind the wrappings starting from his wrist. 3

Hiei was torn.

On one hand, he wanted to sit up, wrap his arms about her middle, rest his forehead against her and apologize one more time, and then sit there in silence in hopes that she would forgive him.

On the other, he wanted to give her space, to remain silent and wait for her to break the silence of the room, the stillness of the air that didn't seem to have anything for him to taste from her other than her general presence.

Another, very miniscule part of him, and old habit really, told him to get up and go, to put some physical distance between the two of them until he was more adept at being her Consort, until he felt worthy of her time, her effort, her love. This option, he knew, was nothing more than an old habit trying to creep back up, telling him to run before everything was thrown into smoke and fire at his own doing- whether it be deliberate or accidental.

In the end, he remained where he lay, eyes staring at the ceiling, saying nothing as she began to change his bandaging. He couldn't bring himself to look at her again, to find words that might be worth saying.

He didn't want to chance making matters worse. *

As Shikiyoku continued the methodical motion of unwinding the poison-stained bandage, she was none too surprised to discover that this time nothing remained underneath it, the cuts that had been hidden beneath completely healed.

She let the folds of bandage drop down to the floor as she picked up the still-damp, clean cloth she had prepared for the next batch of dressings from the bedside table and wiped away the toxin remnants that had dried onto his skin.

Once she finished, she stretched up on her tiptoes so she could lean a little further, just for a moment pressing her lips against the place on his arm where the deepest cut had been before gently putting that limb back by his side.

She continued in this way-removing wrappings, wiping away what remained of the grime, and then resting her lips against each place-across the rest of his chest and stomach, until she only had his other arm and the cut on his face left.

She lifted the remaining arm and lightly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed next to him, folding her leg underneath her bottom and sitting on it in such a way that her other leg hung off the side, his wrist resting on that thigh once she looped the bandages that had been there off his skin.

After cleaning the arm, she, as before, bent down and pressed her lips to his skin, smoothly sliding herself further up his side in silence to take the wrappings at his shoulder away, doing there the same steps she had done all along.

Dropping those bandages to the side to join the others on the floor, Shikiyoku finally took the last strip of bandage from his face, let cloth smooth away the dried venom, and then leaned forward to rest her lips against his cheek.

This kiss lasted longer than the others, her eyes closing for a moment as she let the sensation wash over her, her core sighing and sending her energy into the air around her hair as she finally pulled away. 3

With the first kiss after wiping his skin clean, Hiei had blinked up at the ceiling, confused for a moment before he let that emotion slide away into a neutralness that he felt was best for the moment. With the second, that neutrality wavered, and by the time her lips found his skin a fourth and fifth time, his eyelids were closed to hide the very slight relief behind them.

He counted each one, taking note of which ones she paid special attention to and which ones she only brushed. The ones she lingered on a little longer, he realized, had been the ones that had festered longer, the ones that had grown into the problem areas.

But the kiss on his cheek? It brought his eyelids open again and pulled a small sigh from his lungs, and a wish that the contact wouldn't end.

You're supposed to be angry.

Instead, she'd shown him love and affection once more, and even made his core give this little hitch at the thought.

There wasn't a moment before this one where he wanted to express his own affections for her more. Never before now had he ever wanted to tell her all the things he thought of her, all the ways he was just so afraid to lose her.

Never before now was it so painful to think that maybe someone could come through and take her from him, and that he'd likely deserve it. She could always do better, he knew. After all, he was the Cursed Child. And she was, well…

The Kuraku. The demon who was master of the two most powerful things in this world, one of which he'd known his whole life, the other he'd never known before her. Pain and Love.

The Enchantress. The demon able to cast her spell on anyone she wanted should she desire to do so, to reign in any being she deemed worthy of her presence and charm said being with just a single look.

The Lover. The demon who could bring tenderness to any situation, who could teach even the most cruel of beings to love and be loved in return. The demon who could be whatever anyone wanted of her, and be happy doing so. The demon who loved no matter the situation, who they were, what they'd done. A demon deserving of everything she ever wanted.

The Demon of Desire. The demon who knew what any person wanted the moment they were within a certain distance of her, and with the means to grant such desires, to fulfill such wishes no matter what it was. The demon who could bring forth even the tiniest of desires from a person's heart and turn it into a possibility in a mere second.

He knew he wasn't the only soul in this world to want her, and he knew she didn't view him in such a way.

But he'd already given her his mind. Why not give her his soul too?

Not ready yet.

Who? You or her?

...Both?

Finally, he turned his eyes to her. Eyes that revealed none of his thoughts, only the thankfulness at her being there, at everything she'd ever done for him. And he only stared, still finding no words for her that would do justice. *

Just as her lips began to draw further away from him, she thought better of it and lowered them back towards his ear.

"You...are in so much trouble." 3

The fire demon blinked as she leaned out of his line of sight once more, drawing his attention completely to the demoness in curiosity.

He blinked again when she spoke, not having expected that. He'd thought it was pretty obvious?

In many more ways then I'm sure you know.

"I'm aware." *

She finally sat back up, not appearing to be uncomfortable in any way despite the fact that she had laid his arm down over her leg, and looked him over.

"However." Her gaze returned to his face. "In light of the fact that this sort of thing has not happened between us in such a way before now." She paused again, blinking once. "I accept your offer of recompense, with the caveat that it should not happen again. If you can at all help it." She stuck her nose in the air, turning her head slightly away from him and adopting a prim sort of tone she distantly realized with amusement was one she had used often while in the courts in the Ninth Level when admonishing others. "I will not require penance from you for your selfish actions in this matter. Mostly because I'm sure you're by now aware that if you had allowed me to divide your pain between us, you might have walked away from that fight on your own two feet instead of in the midst of your delusion deciding to set fire to another fire demon." Like an idiot. "And one who is much more powerful than you by any stretch of the imagination in any case." She briefly began to mutter aloud, "Who likely barely had a singe on his sleeve while you in turn nearly melted your entire team. Hmph."

She cleared her throat once and spoke louder again, "It was a very cruel thing you did to me, Consort. Extremely naughty of you, in fact." And not in the good way, either. "I have never before now suffered an actual blow to my dignity, but that's exactly what you did and it was really rather rude of you."

She finally opened her eyes again and turned to look at him, her expression lighter, she reached over with her right arm and placed her hand over the black tattooed lines that swirled into a heart just above his core, her voice much quieter this time.

"Those who are closest to us, who know the most about us-"

(Who are bound to us.)

"-are the ones who can cut us the deepest-" She nearly said 'my love,' but swallowed it and kept going, "-because simply by the act of growing close to them, they learn intimately our most sacred of secrets, our weakest points. Exactly where to strike to draw the most blood with the least effort." She took a small breath. "That is why letting yourself become close to someone is an act of trust, my fire prince. If they hold your heart in their hands, it means they can crush it in an instant. On a whim, in fact. Whenever they please. And you have to trust that the one to whom you gave such power over you would never intentionally do so. Or be smart enough to never give it away to anyone that ever would." I recommend the smart option. Despite never particularly having learned to follow my own advice. Do as I say, not as I do.

Yoku...you know I love you. The voice rang emptily through her mind, reverberating through its edges before fading away.

Don't be me.

She smiled at him finally as her lips closed, satisfied, and having finally, truly, forgiven him. 3