Yu Yu Hakusho: An Alternate Reality

by Last of the Star Makers

What if Shinobu Sensui had one more bad guy? And what if Kurama's classmate got caught up in the whole saving the world mess? Starting in the midst of the Chapter Black Saga, Episode 73 of the anime, join CrisicMelody and Star's on-going roleplay full of action, adventure, and a little romance along the way. There's probably gonna be fun too. We think so. AU. OC/Kurama, OC/Hiei.

163. Episode 247

A/N: 'nother "chapter," as it were. Continues right where the last one left off.

Symbols Guide:

* : Written by CM; She writes primarily 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 primarily for Shikiyoku and 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.

(Words in italics and within parenthesis is dialogue between Hiei and Shikiyoku via the bond between them after Hiei became Shikiyoku's Consort. As soon as the 'thought' occurs, it can pass between them, and does not actually have to be formed into exact words-feelings and sensations can pass through as well-in order to be picked up and the meaning translated immediately by the other. For the sake of the coherence by the reader, words and sentences are used as normal. It cannot 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).

The Nabu Exception also applies to anyone when they are in an animal form, if the dialogue is in italics and quotations, unless stated otherwise.

---

Akari stood next to Tarou on the table, her drink hovering in front of her lips to hide the smirk of satisfaction at the turn of events. She took a small sip, the sound just barely heard over the deadly silence of the room as Yuuichi stood in an attempt to intimidate the owner of the establishment.

She wondered if this was the first demon-run bar he'd ever stepped foot into.

None of my business, she thought as she watched the tell-tale signs of him rearing his fist back.

The sound of his knuckles meeting Shikiyoku's cheek reverberated around the room, punctuated by the sound of a few chairs scraping against the floor as the last sitting patrons took their stand around their favorite demon.

And then, in the midst of the deadly silence, a single loud, genuinely amused 'HA!' shattered the quiet.

~!**!~

Tarou and Akari's faces above the crowd had been what drew Hiei's gaze away from the wet cloth in his hand and up to the guild. He frowned at the pair on the table, and was about to tell them to get down and stop being idiots when the rest of the guild stood.

He finally noticed the tense silence in the room and shifted his eyes in the direction that every other head in the room had turned, and he blinked at Shikiyoku's back as one of their 'customers' stood.

His hands flattened against the now-clean bar station and he leaned a bit into the polished wood for support so that he could watch the happenings.

If she wanted him there, he would be there.

Hiei's stare leveled on the dog demon as the other reared his fist against Shikiyoku, and Hiei dropped a tick lower into the bond in anticipation of losing its connection with her.

Except... she didn't... change forms.

The thought took a moment to process, and after a beat, amusement flooded the bond and, unable to contain it, he threw his head back and let out the loudest single laugh he'd ever voiced before in his life.

His laughter would have continued if not for the loss of his support on the bar and his sudden lightheadedness.

He slammed his mouth closed and leaned forward again, this time his elbows and arms finding the bar, and he stared at the polished wood until it stopped swirling under him. *

Several of the patrons' ears flicked at the only other noise in the room, but only a handful actually looked in the direction of the laughter, Akihiko being one of them, frowning as his boss seemed to almost collapse after the outburst.

"Tearing him to pieces would be exceptionally satisfying." Svaen and Sven murmured with aggravation the instant the front door shut behind the intruder, the air of the room lightening if just a touch once Shikiyoku and her assailant disappeared.

Tsundora nodded in agreement with them, his gaze almost enough to cool the edges of the door as he glared at it like he could see onto the street.

Somewhat surprisingly, no one moved to follow to see what might happen, despite the smatterings of curiosity that began peppering through the crowd.

Perhaps they found it more fun to guess amongst themselves what she might do to him.

"Not that I think she'd actually do it, but personally I wouldn't want to take the pleasure from Mom, satisfying or no." Raitoningu shifted his chair around so he could sit again, letting his gaze fall back to his drink as others throughout the room began to rouse themselves from the charge of their emotions and get back to their usual evening faire.

"Did anyone else hear Hiei laugh?" Chisai wanted to know. 3

Akari turned to look at Hiei as people began to move again, seeing him hunched over behind the bar. Tarou shuffled next to her, but after a beat of watching the door for Shikiyoku's return, he shook himself from his thoughts and tromped his way to the edge of the table, where he unceremoniously dropped from its surface and turned to offer his hand to Akari.

"How could you miss it?" he grinned at Chisai. "It's a once in a lifetime experience!"

Akari set her hand in his and let him guide her from the tabletop. "It's a first for me, that's for sure. Thanks." She smiled at Tarou.

Akihiko stared at Hiei for a few moments, considering the other. He hesitated, then decided it was best if he moved the demon instead of someone like Tarou, who would simply carry the other.

He set his drink down and shuffled from the group unnoticed.

"Why d'ya think he laughed?" Tarou asked the group, still grinning. "I mean-"

"Obviously because the guy's an idiot," Raion commented with his nose in the air. "Didn't know who he was talking to and got himself in trouble."

~!**!~

Hiei took a few measured breaths before the wood settled as it should again, and after a few more beats of checking himself, he finally pushed himself to stand upright. He picked up his washcloth and tossed it in the hamper at the end of the stations, and just as he intended to circle around the end of the barstations, Akihiko's concern-filled face cut in through the crowd and the other came to stand patiently by Shikiyoku's station.

Hiei nodded. "I just overdid it."

"Of course you did." Aki raised a brow in silent questioning. Where do you want to go?

Hiei shuffled in the second's direction and tilted his head toward the guild and band. Not missing a beat, Akihiko carefully drew his arm around Hiei's shoulders so the other could lean into him for support and, to his surprise, Hiei didn't argue or pull away.

Aki gave him a look.

Hiei only nodded. I learned that lesson.

Good.

Hiei let Akihiko guide him to the guild and the band, and he took the seat next to Tarou gratefully, almost sinking into it with relief. Aki moved back out into the crowd again, and reappeared a moment later with a chair for himself that he planted on Hiei's left. *

There were a few eyes in the room that caught the moment Shikiyoku came back into the door alone after several minutes passed, appearing no worse for the wear save for the shiner of her right eye.

She moved through the bodies and didn't even pause for a moment as she passed behind Hiei and slipped her hand over his shoulder to rest her palm against his core for a moment.

(I'll be right back.) With Gai here, Shikiyoku thought Hiei might finally have a moment to get the other the rings for Airi and let as much ruminate in their bond. (I'll distract her so you have the time.) She told him warmly, herself aware that Hiei had little business going upstairs and fetching them himself.

She did just that, getting into his jewelry room and grabbing the little box he'd placed the finished product in what seemed like ages ago now, the night he'd been pulled from her after completing them where she'd fallen asleep in his arms as he sat in his chair at the worktable.

Coming up behind him again once she was back downstairs, Shikiyoku leaned over his shoulder and kissed his cheek as she slipped the box into the pocket that didn't still have the basan egg and note from earlier.

She moved around and through the bodies at the table until she got to Airi and took her hand, "These knuckleheads probably haven't even thought to introduce you." She pulled her along until they reached the first of the band, the blonde twins still sharing the same seat. "Svaen. Sven." She never failed to know which was which. "This is Airi. She's a big fan of the band." 3

Hiei settled into his chair quickly, though not without thanking Aki under his breath when the other also settled into a chair.

Akihiko only nodded and passed Hiei a drink.

The fire demon relinquished the beverage from his second in command before he sat back again, just in time for Shikiyoku's hand to press against his core lovingly as she passed behind him. He turned to watch her go with a twitch of his lips.

(Thank you.) After the day's events, he'd almost forgotten.

"-right, Boss?"

Hiei turned to Tarou with a raised brow. "I didn't hear you."

"I said, once you're up and around again, we're going on that job for Kurama, right?"

Hiei nodded.

"Though it may be a bit," Akari intoned as she looked the shorter demon over. "Glad to see you sitting with us again."

Hiei shrugged, and he turned to look at Gai as Shikiyoku reappeared among the group and seamlessly stole the human away from her partner.

Gai blinked at Shikiyoku's back, a smile turning the corners of his mouth up as she took over the introductions he hadn't been able to truly finish. He always had a hard time with names.

He turned to look around the group again, sensing eyes on him, and he found himself meeting Hiei's striking stare from across the table. Slowly, he shifted from his chair and made his way over to Hiei, his smile turning to a more concerned one.

"How are you holding up?"

"I've had better moments," Hiei responded dryly, though Gai thought there was a hint of amusement behind that stare.

Gai opened his mouth to say something, but paused when Aki stood and tapped him on the shoulder. Take my seat for the moment, Akihiko mouthed, and Gai was all too happy to do so.

"I'm glad she finally decided to stop by," Hiei commented as he watched Shikiyoku lead Airi around the table ever so slowly. He didn't understand it fully, but he knew Ikigai had been waiting for and looking forward to this very moment. "How was your vacation?"

"It- uh..." Gai let out a nervous laugh and scratched at the back of his neck. "We got into a little disagreement over something silly..."

Hiei turned to gauge Gai's expression thoughtfully, but said nothing.

"We left early because apparently our little spat disrupted the spa's atmosphere." Ikigai avoided Hiei's gaze, instead turning to watch Airi and her excitement about meeting the band. "We're okay, but I was worried this would be too much."

Hiei nodded. "Humans don't always like change."

Gai chuckled, "Nobody likes change, Boss."

Hiei took a sip from his drink and shifted in his chair until he pulled a foot up to rest on the edge of it. He rested his elbow on that knee and lowered his hand - still holding his beverage - to hang between his knee and his chest, effectively hiding his torso and the hand that slipped into his pocket from the other side of the table. "Here."

Gai blinked and turned to look at Hiei, then down to the box offered. Without hesitation, the other plucked the velvet box from Hiei's hand, hiding it in his lap under the table, and he peeked inside at the rings.

Hiei heard the breath audibly whoosh from his lungs. His mouth opened, closed, and opened again to take in a breath, and Hiei almost smiled to himself.

"If there's any changes you want made, let me know."

Gai shook his head and slowly closed the box, a small pouch dropping from its inside. "They're... perfect. Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

Gai frowned at the little bag and glanced inside, only to see what little money he'd paid upfront for the rings to be given back to him. "Hiei-" he frowned, "How much do I owe-"

"Nothing." Hiei took a drink, his eyes still following Shiki and Airi.

"But-"

"No." Finally, Hiei pinned the other with an unwavering stare. "I wanted to."

Silence fell between them as the guild talked around the pair, none of the others wise to the exchange happening, of the silent battle of wills taking place as the two stared at one another.

Finally, Ikigai's gaze dropped back to the little box in his hand. "...thank you."

Hiei nodded and lifted his drink to his lips again, its warmth spreading and rivaling the warmth of happiness that had settled at his core. *

~!**!~

Hara and Rizu shifted as Shikiyoku made to move on and pass between them to get Airi to her seat where she started, Hara's hand coming up to press against Shikiyoku's back and let her know it would be a tight fight, but he'd moved as much as he could. The bar was standing room only at this time of night.

A strange texture to her crimson colored blouse had him bringing his hand close to his face, Shikiyoku's scent hitting him suddenly as he realized there was a metallic composition to the smell while he noted the redness to the tips of his fingers and blinked at it.

He discreetly managed to put his other hand on her shoulder as she found herself letting go of Airi's hand when the other kept moving, in conversation with the others, and Hara leaned down to her ear.

"Ah...you're bleeding, Za Joie."

Shikiyoku blinked up at the strange white irises rimmed with a black circle as if she couldn't quantify his whispered comment, and he noticed a particular sort of bloodloss to her face he wouldn't have seen except at this proximity.

He curled and slipped his dirtied hand into his black jacket's pocket out of sight and reached up with the other to tuck part of his long, straight black hair back behind his ear.

"Oh, uh...thanks." Shikiyoku frowned.

Hara nodded and when he noticed a moment where he wouldn't be missed, turned away for the other side of the room where he might duck into a bathroom and clean it off. 3

Finally uncomfortable with the position he'd taken, Hiei lowered his foot back to the floor and was almost leaning against his armrest when Gai's arms suddenly wrapped around him in a very gentle hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Gai whispered to Hiei. "And, please, rest soon."

Unsure of how to react to the sudden hug, relief flooded the fire demon as Gai pulled away and shuffled back to his own chair, where he hugged Airi and gave her a smile as she began to talk about the band members and how she'd got to meet them and how she was able to sit with them and-

Hiei chuckled to himself and turned to watch Shikiyoku as Hara broke away from her.

Exhaustion seeped further into his being as the establishment grew louder with his sudden awareness of it and, after a brief deliberation, he set his half-finished drink down and started to rise.

"Giving in?" Akihiko asked as he reappeared next to his own seat, his eyes seeming to bore into Hiei.

"It's been... a long day."

Aki almost smiled. "See you in a few days."

Hiei nodded, knowing he wouldn't be able to leave his bed anytime soon.

He shuffled carefully away from his seat and through the crowd, finally meeting Shikiyoku somewhere around the side of the guild's usual table. He held a hand out to stop her from passing him, his palm finding her waist as he leaned down to kiss her.

(I'm going to bed. I overdid it.) He pulled away from her long enough to wrap his arms around her in a tired hug, and he almost told her to join him when she was ready when, instead, he noticed an odd wetness at her back. *

(It's...been a long day.) The notion passed over Shikiyoku's awareness to him, full of the events of what had transpired since they were last upstairs, and hugging him back carefully, she meant to turn and help him to the door when she felt him pause and she blinked up at him questioningly. 3

Hiei slowly pulled away to stand upright, his gaze looking over her features briefly before he turned down to look at the redness he could just see on his hand and forearm. He blinked a few times at it as if unable to fully process anything in that moment, then he let out a breath.

(Come upstairs with me for a bit.) He met her gaze calmly and the briefest smile flickered across his lips tiredly. (I'll teach you how to wrap your own wounds.) He slid his arm over her shoulder and, before she could truly answer, began to carefully lead her away from the guild. (That way if you want to spend time with the guild some more before bed, you won't pass out from blood loss.)

...One more thing, then bed. *

Shikiyoku flushed suddenly with embarrassment at Hiei's coming to the conclusion that he did and let him start to move her away before she'd entirely processed what was going on.

At this point, she could hardly make sense of the noise of the bar, which had returned to normal levels, much less the bodies or light around her, all of which had a sort of absent haze to them where she couldn't particularly focus.

(I, uh) Her absentmindedness translated into the bond between them, her answer revealing her weaknesses in the moment.

Part of her wanted to admit to some sort of 'overdoing it,' only at the last second realizing Hiei himself had said as much and becoming aware of just how much they were entwined in one another inside the bond and how much Shikiyoku could feel Hiei to be missing.

He shouldn't even have been standing at the moment, and she felt much more drained than her somewhat limited activities of the day would have suggested possible.

Injuries aside, most considered her rather hearty and finally she let out a breathy chuckle.

(I suppose we should have guessed we might be able to do more than simply share vision, Consort. You haven't a single drop left and I'm running dangerously low.)

She might have over done it with Yuuichi, but the bastard deserved it.

(I'd do it all again for you.) It had been a good day. 3

Hiei's amusement filtered through the bond and he glanced at Shikiyoku out of the corner of his eye. (Truthfully, I realized it after I shattered the bottle.)

He blinked and his amusement was gone just as quickly as it had come.

(...I broke a very expensive bottle. I' m sorry.)

He led her carefully through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd until he finally caught sight of the door to the apartment, at which point the bond filled with his relief. Any other day the crowd wouldn't have bothered him, but today it was just a bit much.

The door closed behind them and he reveled in the silence. *

The reminder of the bottle shattering harkened Shikiyoku's thoughts back to their earlier moment in Toriko's home where he'd burned her and Shikiyoku let the smallest breath puff from her lips as she glanced over at him when he paused just inside the door.

The price of the bottle concerned her very little.

Instead her mind shifted briefly through the possibilities of him continuing to be unable to control such moments from happening more and more frequently and wondering if such was more indicative of him becoming closer to his trial or simply a result of being all but drained and his body seeking to replace what had been lost.

Would it happen with less time inbetween each one as his trial approaches?

She certainly hadn't the faintest idea.

At his feelings of relief, Shikiyoku blinked and looked up at the stairs, countering his relief with her chagrin.

(...why did I have to put stairs here...) 3

When Shikiyoku did not so much as appear curious about why the bottle had shattered, Hiei let out a small breath and turned his eyes to the stairs in front of him just as her comment filtered through his awareness.

He blinked up at the stairway once and then sighed.

(...I didn't even think about them.)

He took a long breath, briefly tightened his hold on her in a short hug, and then took the first step for both of them. With that first step, he realized that he hadn't truly been leading her here. Instead, they had been supporting each other's weight physically just as she had been supporting him energywise.

He let out a little puff that might have been a laugh, then took the next step. Then another, and another, until they were at the landing at the top of the apartment.

Without pause, partially for fear of not being able to continue on, he moved toward his own room with her still at his side. He maneuvered until they were at the edge of his bed, at which point he unceremoniously dropped down to sit on the clean covers.

He pulled away far enough to reach for his bedside table, each movement measured and careful.

"Take off your shirt," he told her as he rummaged in the drawer, his hand searching for the bandages and such that he usually kept there.

~!**!~

Akari somehow found herself sitting in the chair on Tarou's left and Akihiko's right, her arms leaning onto the table and her drink lifted to her mouth, but not quite finishing the gesture. She pointed a finger across the table at Gai, who mimed her motion with a grin that matched hers, minus the drinks that colored her face.

"Jynx!" they yelled in unison, and before either of them could say anything, they broke into laughter.

Akari tried to talk between giggles. "I can't believe-"

Gai, who was very much still sober, laughed even harder when she cut herself off to laugh some more.

Airi leaned into him to get his attention, and while she whispered up at him, Akari took the moment to gather herself.

She ignored the gathering of drinks next to her left elbow, careful not to accidentally knock them to the floor as she threw the last of her drink back.

She slammed her glass down and turned to point a finger at Tarou. "And you-"

"Me," he answered with an equally goofy grin.

"-owe me a drink."

He raised a brow at her, "I do?"

"Mm-hm." She gestured around the table. "You see Hiei or Shikiyoku anywhere?"

Tarou slowly glanced around the area and, after seeing that the pair had indeed slipped away without farewells, he turned to whisper in her ear, "I'll buy you whatever drink you want, gorgeous." *

~!**!~

Cognizant of nothing else in that moment except for the fact that she had just thrown all of the coverings for Hiei's bed in the wash earlier that day, Shikiyoku let go of Hiei when he went to sit down next to her and eyed the place next to him for a moment.

If she hadn't been so exhausted herself, she would have made them go to her room.

Instead she let out a breath and didn't particularly think anything about Hiei's demand, making a face as she reached behind her to somewhat painfully pull at the fabric already partially dried to her back, the sound of the stickiness giving way to her tug and peeling from her skin lasting for a moment or two before she went to pull it over her head as she stood next to him, wincing and feeling where blood had come to pool at the waistband of her pants.

When she tried to ball up the shirt and reach behind her to use it to wipe whatever she could reach, she actually let out a huff of pain and dropped her arms to her sides.

Sides that were deep purple and red from where Uryo's swords, albeit sheathed, connected with her when they fought in the meadow.

The attempt she had made somewhere near her stomach of covering the wound, some gauze taped awkwardly to her abdomen, was already by now just threatening to soak through what she'd done.

She was fairly certain sharing her strength with Hiei had slowed her own healing almost to a halt, regardless of the intensity of the injuries which certainly would have taken a full day to recover from and not just this evening of non-rest she'd so far gotten. 3

Hiei's hand finally landed on his little stash of bandages and gauze, and he pulled them out little by little while listening to Shikiyoku's movements. He almost frowned at the sound of her shirt sticking to her wound, but refrained from doing so as his hand dove into the drawer again for the last of his supplies.

Finally, at the last, he pulled out a cloth that appeared older than any other item in his room, its once white surface stained brown. He seemed to weigh the soft cloth in his hand before nodding to himself and turning to look at Shikiyoku, outstretching that hand with the intent to wave her closer.

Instead he found himself staring at the ugly bruises on her sides, deeper than any bruise he'd seen on her before this moment. He cringed a little at the thought of her trying to wrap her own wounds, and he realized that even if she did know how to dress her own injuries, it would have been difficult to do so with such pain.

He waved her closer until she stood between his knees.

"Rest your hands here," he murmured, gesturing with his own hands to his shoulders. "I'll talk you through this, but I'll wait to walk you through it until those," he nodded at her bruises, "have healed a little."

~!**!~

Akari turned to wave a waitress down just as Tarou leaned away from her, his arm finding the back of her chair again and his eyes following hers.

She placed her drink order with the waitress, and before she got too far, Tarou made sure to instruct the very busy woman to put it on his tab and not Akari's. Only after the waitress was gone did the pair turn back to the others.

"-for a living, Airi?"

"Right now, I go to a University in Mushiori, but after school I work at this cute little sweets shop!"

"Oooo, you sell candy?" Tarou inquired. "What kind?"

"All kinds. I personally love the sour stuff, but I like it all."

Raion passed her water from the waitress that had stopped by. "What's it like, going to school?"

Airi blinked. "It's uh..." She glanced at Ikigai, who smiled encouragingly at her. "It can be pretty tough. Classes aren't all easy, and the homework can be a real pain, really." She turned to look around the group again. "I have a good group of friends though, who help with studying and club activities."

"Oh, what club are you in?" Akari called across the way. "I didn't like school the brief time I went, but I never did get a chance to look at clubs."

"The Occult Club!"

"What do you do in that one?" Chisai asked, piping up for the first time in a while.

Akari turned away briefly to thank the waitress that dropped off a drink at her elbow, and she turned back to the conversation with her new drink in hand and a rapt interest in Airi's answer. *

~!**!~

Now that her attention was unable to focus even in a somewhat limited manner on anything else, each movement she made sent a soreness radiating through her awareness, a wave of dizziness blooming across her features as she took Hiei's outstretched hand in her own when it paused between them and used it to encourage herself closer to him.

She could barely take a breath without the expansion of her ribs aggravating the bruises and she tried not to think about the hole Uryo had made through her middle that Kurama had at least made sure would not result in anything aside from blood leaking out of.

Shikiyoku winced while she raised her hands to rest on top of Hiei's shoulders so that they'd be out of his way.

She tried to focus in on his face and smiled a little.

"I've gone this long without knowing. I guess I can wait a little longer." 3

Hiei met her gaze briefly, his body aware of her pain in that moment as if it were his own.

He didn't plan to make her stand there for long.

He wanted to lean up and kiss her, but found he didn't quite have the energy, so instead he turned back down to her midsection and began to gently wipe at the blood that had dried on her skin. The cloth, cool against his fingers, began to glitter and shine with a blue hue as he gently swiped it against what little had leaked from her abdomen, his other hand peeling away the soiled gauze there.

"I bought this cloth on the Seventh," he told her as he cleaned her wound. "It's been handy for moments like this where energy is in short supply but wounds need to be cleaned." The enchantment on the material soothed the ache in his own hand as it absorbed her blood, leaving her abdomen clean and clear of impurities.

He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, at which point he took to using the cloth to thoroughly clean the wound behind her as well. "I have several, but this is the one with the best enchantment."

Once he was confident that area was clean, he pulled away a bit and set the cloth on the bedside table, its blue gleam fading now that he had no use for it.

Next, he reached for the gauze and, talking her through the process as he went, he began to dress the two wounds with gentle care. He covered the holes and secured the thicker than usual gauze in place with adhesive, and then, after warning her it would sting for a while, he began to just as carefully wrap her abdomen so the gauze would not move when they inevitably slept.

He showed her where her hands would go if she were doing it herself, how she would hold things in place, and how she would secure it once she was happy with the wrap itself. He carefully smoothed his hands over her abdomen, showing her how smooth it should be when finished and how even the wrap itself should feel.

And then, at the last, he stretched up and kissed her, just as he'd wanted to before.

"You look exhausted," he murmured as he rested his hands on her hips, mindful of the bruises.

~!**!~

"We talk about and investigate paranormal happenings around the city!" Airi answered with her nose lifted into the air a little. "Like demons and spirits."

Akari's grin widened. "That sounds like fun!"

Airi just as quickly dropped her chin and glanced around at the guild specifically. "It isn't half as fun as the things Ikigai says you all get into."

"Well, they do all the hard stuff," Gai said sheepishly. "I just follow along."

"You kidding?!" Tarou slapped his hand against the table. "You don't just follow along, man! You're the strongest of us all!"

"Stop it, no I'm not," Gai grumbled, and Akari almost thought she saw a redness begin to tint his cheeks.

Raion rolled his eyes. "Mm-hm, sure."

"Airi," Raitoningu waved his hand to get the girl's attention, "this guy could give Hiei a run for his money."

Airi raised a brow, "Hiei's the boss, right?"

"Yeah! And while he's good with a sword and runs fast, Gai could kick his ass any time he wants! That metal work is no joke," Tarou beamed at the other demon. "I'm willing to bet he'd wipe the floor with all of us even if we worked together against him."

"Hiei said so himself," Akihiko added with a serious look at Gai. "That last job we did? All you, kid."

"That's because we were near a lot of metal, and you all distracted-"

"Excuses, excuses," Raion shook his head.

Chisai leaned into Airi's shoulder, "He's never been good with compliments."

"It takes some serious energy to have control over that much metal for that long, my man." Tarou slid a drink across the table at him. "And don't you let anyone tell you you're less than kickass, my friend."

Akari took a sip from her drink just as a waitress set another drink in front of her. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku leaned her head down in Hiei's direction as if to do something, but in the next moment he had his hands on her with the cloth and she was trying to pay attention to everything he told her.

Truthfully, she couldn't make out too many of the words in specific, only the overall gist of the motions he went through, too distracted not only by his gentle attentions but also just the sound of his voice on the air washing over her ears.

She tried not to think about how she might have never heard it again.

Unable to actually pinpoint the moment when she closed her eyes, they came open once Hiei's lips left her own and she blinked somewhat blearily down at him, lips twitching like she meant to smile.

I love you.

There was a new tightness to her waist that only gave slightly to her breathing, which had been somewhat shallow already, and she realized she'd been all but sleeping standing up, lulled there by his voice and his touch.

One of her hands left his shoulders to reach up and grasp at the gem hanging around her neck and she blinked once more to try and bring his face into focus.

"I never...I never really told you what this meant." She thought back to her keeping the pair of them safe when they were at Mukuro's, how she assumed at that time Hiei would not understand the gesture and instead satisfied herself with wearing them as a promise of his return, a symbol of his desire for her continued companionship.

Her smile grew a little as his face in front of her cleared somewhat in her vision as if she'd shaken herself, when in truth the recollection of the many times since they were reunited he had pulled his tear into view and kissed her in this moment gave her a sort of strength.

But she'd come to realize something in these last few days, these last couple of weeks, when she sat haunted by the suggestion of losing him to an illness she'd all but started herself.

"I know it isn't exactly mine, but I don't have one of my own, really, so it will have to do." Shiki reached up and pulled the necklace from around her head to put over Hiei's as she kept going, "Hiei...the truth is...these gems...rare though they may be, rarer still are those who wear them in this fashion that are not Koorime themselves. This necklace is a gift you give to someone without whom...someone you couldn't...can't...live without." She blinked down at it, hand coming to rest over it once she'd put it on him, and felt the corners of her eyes begin to fill with tears of her own. "Yukina gave hers to you when she realized you were family and-" She took a breath and never did actually start to cry, "-and the world deserves to know there are two of us now who feel this way." She briefly took them both between her fingers before letting them rest together around his neck, her hand moving over to briefly brush against the left side of his chest where her markings originated and she smiled a little again before murmuring at the last:

"A child capable of love such as this could in no way be cursed." 3

At the first sign of possible tears, Hiei's hand lifted to wipe at her eyes preemptively where it then rested against her cheek, gentle and warm, as he listened intently. His eyes never left her face, meeting her gaze at any moment where she wanted him to, and his hands continued to rest against her.

His hand lowered from her face as she moved to put the necklace over his head, returning to its original spot at her waist.

He eyed the two gems as she brushed her fingers over them, his ears still intently trained on her voice even as the bond told her of the love and adoration and admiration he had for her in this moment.

At the last, when he lifted his gaze to her face again, his irises glittered at her, briefly hinting at tears before his smile grew and overtook that particular glimmer with a different kind.

He pulled her closer until she was in his lap, and then he simply fell back against the mattress with her in his arms, careful not to land hard enough to cause her pain.

"How could I truly consider myself cursed when I've been blessed with this." He kissed her cheek, mindful of the bruise on that side of her face, then he kissed her lips again. (I haven't thought myself cursed for a long while, my Beloved. Someone truly cursed could never find such love as yours, nor be so lucky as to be here in this moment.)

~!**!~

Akari took another draw from her drink and sat back in her chair to watch the self-conscious Ikigai sputter in an attempt to wave away the barrage of compliments from his guildmates.

"I- that's not-"

"Suck it up, you're awesome. Plain and simple," Tarou told him. "Now drink up and be merry!" He held his glass out as if to toast with Gai, then drank from his drink before Gai even had a chance to grab the offered beverage.

"So, how many of you spent your bet winnings on drinks tonight?"

Akari raised a finger in response to Aki's teasing question, as did Raion and Tarou.

"You were a given," Raiton jabbed at Tarou goodnaturedly.

Akari took another sip from her drink and wrinkled her nose, realizing in that moment that it wasn't the drink she had ordered. She turned down to glance at its contents, confused, then glanced at Tarou's various ordered drinks, wondering if she had accidentally swiped one of his. *

~!**!~

(Good.) Shiki replied on the subject of him, at least, no longer considering himself cursed. Her brief ire at the idea of anyone else considering him cursed became curtailed rather quickly in the wake of the kisses she received, the second one in particular sending its usual effervescence of energy scattering over her features and turning her a little pink in the meantime.

Her eyes still closed even as she felt her energy begin to pool within them, Shikiyoku pulled away from him just far enough to be able to murmur into the space between them.

"I love you." 3

Hiei relaxed into the mattress, his arms still carefully around Shikiyoku's middle, and let out a little breath.

His eyelids slid closed as he simply listened.

He listened to her breathing, and the way the bandages stretched ever so little at each breath she took. He listened to her hair sliding against the comforter, next to him, when she pulled a little away. He listened to her take the breath that she then used to murmur his new favorite words, and then he listened to her take another breath.

"I love you too, Shiki." He shifted one of his hands a little so that he could rub her back comfortingly, feeling for himself just how much pain she was in even as they rested for the first time since they worked behind the bar that evening.

~!**!~

Tarou pointed a finger at Raion with the hand that held his drink, "That was hilarious!"

The lion demon nodded, a grin plastered across his features too. "Hiei didn't know what to do!"

"And that's why we have Aki," Chisai added before he sipped his beverage.

"Damn straight," Tarou chuckled as he lifted his glass to his lips again. He turned to glance at Akari as he took his draw, and he raised an eyebrow at her as he saw her staring at him. See something you like?

She frowned and held up her half finished drink with a questionable look on her face.

He shook his head. Not mine. He lowered his glass to the table. "Not my favorite blend."

She wrinkled her nose again as she turned down to consider its contents. "Mine either."

"Tarou, what about that one time on the Fifth!"

The bigger demon guffawed and whipped around to rejoin the conversation.

Akari set the glass down and was reaching for the one she recognized to be her own ordered drink when a hand slipped into hers, and before she could even process its presence, she was hauled from her chair and dragged across the bar. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku relaxed into Hiei's arms further as he began moving a hand across her back, his touch against her warm skin scattering bits of energy as wherever his fingertips stroked was mostly bare.

"Mm..thanks f'r-" She paused, almost lulled into sleep again, "Cleanin' up mah mess, flameboy." 3

Hiei smiled up at the ceiling.

"I'd do it all again for you," he murmured, repeating her earlier words right back at her even as he continued rubbing at her back.

If she answered, he honestly didn't hear it. With his eyelids closed and his entire being so wrapped up in their bond, it was hard for him to focus as all of the day's events came crashing over his body.

He rubbed Shikiyoku's back until he realized she'd fallen asleep, and while the thought did momentarily pass that they were not exactly laying as they should on his bed, surrounded by medical supplies as they were, he found he didn't quite have the energy to care.

The thought hardly even left his consciousness before he too fell away into a much needed slumber.

~!**!~

Akari didn't really register what was going on until she found herself in the middle of a very crowded dance floor, her arms placed on the shoulders of another very drunk demon who not-so-gracefully moved in random directions out of time with the music.

Not that she could have done any better in her current state.

Understanding washed over her as the man pulled her closer:

She'd accidentally accepted an offer.

To... dance?

If that's what one would call this.

She frowned as the man leaned into her and his lips pressed against her ear sloppily, his voice saying words she honestly couldn't put together as any one language she could understand. She was too drunk.

Or maybe he was too drunk.

...Maybe it was both.

She leaned away from his sloppy attempt at a kiss against that ear and took one full step back in an attempt at putting an arm's length distance between herself and the stranger. Any indication of her earlier smile at the table had long since disappeared, leaving her with a seriousness that was not characteristic of her usual drunken state.

She realized one of his hands tugged at the end of her blouse insistently and she batted his advance away. "Absolutely not," she told him when he mumbled some complaint she didn't hear over the music.

Half a drink. Does that mean half a dance?

She didn't genuinely know, but as his other hand slid to her lower back, she bat him away again, giving him a stern look as a harsh 'no' fell from her lips in a half growl.

How long is this song? Do I have to fulfill it?

Akari removed the hand that had begun to slide around her waist to her backside for the third time, her impatience growing as she counted the seconds through this song. Only half a drink; only half a song, she told herself, deciding that she would not stay for any longer than that no matter the 'rules' of the game.

She didn't think Shikiyoku or anyone else would mind her decision, in any case.

"I told you no," she growled at him, keeping a certain distance and resisting the urge to actually do harm.

She hadn't had nearly enough to drink to deal with the handsy demon, and this time when his hand slid to the back of her thigh, she smacked his hand away and took a step back.

She bumped into another demon who danced behind her, and then into a demon on her right when she tried to step away from that one.

The demon she had tried to step away from followed her step, his hands freely roaming her frame, and she realized in that moment just how trapped she felt. Her core lurched and dropped to her stomach, leaving her breathless.

She growled and grabbed the demon's wrists to force them away from her body, bending both hands backwards until he was on his knees from the pain.

She stepped to the left, towards the door of the bar, and bumped into three other people.

Get out. Gottagetoutgottagetoutgottagetout-

She dropped into her shadow and disappeared from the establishment, slamming her energy back over the shadow to deny access when a part of her thought someone might follow. Darkness surrounded her, cold and still, equally overwhelming after the music and the sounds of the busy bar.

She curled in on herself, her hands clutched to her chest and her chest heaving with each quick, shallow breath she took. No matter how many times she breathed in, her lungs burned as if she were under water.

Her energy pulsed around her, reacting to her sudden fight or flight instincts even in the midst of the very shadows she subconsciously called upon.

And then she was booted from the safety of her shadow. The sounds of the bar thrummed dully in her ears, barely able to be heard over her rushing blood, and a cold hard surface pressed against her back. She made herself small against it by sliding to the ground and pulling her knees to her chest. Her whole body shook with her breathing, and she hid her face against her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

What's going on?

What is wrong with me?

~!**!~

Akihiko leaned back in his chair and drained the last of his glass, then he quietly set the empty container back down on the table. His eyes slowly made the rounds of the table, taking in the various states of the guild, and then the state of the people in the bar as a whole.

A waitress stopped at his side with a drink in her hand, and as she began to lower it to the table in front of him, he held up a hand to stop her. "No, thank you. It's getting a little stuffy in here for my liking."

"Well, if you change your mind, let me know." She pat his back and moved on to the next person, setting drinks in front of Tarou and Raion, then proceeding to pick up the little gathering of drinks that had grown since Akari's initial sitting in the chair.

She'd only drank one of them, he realized.

He brushed the thought away, seeing it as not his business, and he pushed himself to stand.

His leaving was silent, unnoticed by the guild, as usual. He slipped past various patrons and customers of the bar and out the front door.

The fresh night air was a welcoming comfort to his senses, cleansing his nose of the alcohol and sweat that dominated the bar inside, and it brushed away the warmth that had gathered on his cheeks from his own drink.

He turned and made his way to the side of the establishment, fishing a small box from one of the inside pockets of his jacket. He tapped the end of the box against his palm to shake out a single cigarette, and as he rounded the corner, he looked down to pat his other pockets for a lighter.

He blinked at the ground, his foot paused in the air as he realized he'd almost stepped into a person, and he grumbled an apology. "I didn't mean to-"

Recognition hit him then. The copper hair, the outfit, the energy.

He opened his mouth to say her name, but thought better of it. She hadn't looked up at him, hadn't even so much as twitched since he'd rounded the corner. Her hands were curled tightly around her forearms, her knuckles white, and her hair fell around her and to the dirt, hiding her face as she rested her head on her knees.

Understanding hit him. She's been crying. He could smell the saltiness of her tears on the breeze, and every now and then, he heard her sniffle.

He almost turned to go. She's closer with Tarou. The thought of the brute sitting in the dirt with her didn't feel right. Shikiyoku would-

...She had gone upstairs with Hiei.

His expression softened a little and he turned to lean against the wall near the edge of the building, deciding in that moment that he'd stop anyone who wished to come this direction. He reached into a different pocket in his jacket and pulled the lighter free. He couldn't remember when he'd started smoking.

He held the cigarette filter to his mouth and poised his thumb to strike the lighter, but again, he hesitated.

His eyes drifted to Akari again. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

After about a minute, it became apparent she wouldn't answer him. So, he put everything back where it belonged, only leaving the unlit cigarette hanging from his lips, and instead turned his eyes up to the stars above their heads.

He heard her sniffle discreetly, and for a moment, he considered lowering himself to sit next to her. Instead, he busied himself with patting down his jacket pockets again, searching for that one thing he never really had a use for, but always carried anyway.

Ah. He found the cloth handkerchief in his right breast pocket on the inside lining of his jacket. He pulled it away and surveyed its cleanliness in the moonlight. He shook it out.

Satisfied that it was clean enough, he reached down low enough to offer the handkerchief to her, just brushing her hand with it. He watched her twitch away and carefully withdrew. "It will help clean your face," he told her after a beat.

He held his position there stubbornly, and just when he thought she might not take it from him, her statuesque posture finally cracked and she pulled one arm to tuck it between her stomach and her thighs while the other hand grasped for the cloth.

He noticed she grabbed it by the end furthest from his hand.

He stood upright again and turned his eyes respectfully to the constellations above. He crossed his arms over his chest and listened to her sniffles, the cloth dragging across her skin, and even the breaths she took.

He recognized the signs of panic well enough, and internally, he sent his well wishes to her.

Several minutes went by in silence before Akari broke the quiet atmosphere, her voice hoarse and heavy. "Why aren't you inside drinking with everyone?"

"It gets crowded in there. I thought it was time for some fresh air."

She gave a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. "Smoking is fresh air for you?"

"More like a nasty habit that started with fresh air."

She didn't respond then, and the pair fell into an easy silence again. He heard her shuffle around a little, and when he finally glanced out of the corner of his eye at her, he saw that she'd looked up to the sky as well. She stretched her legs out in front of her and rested her head against the wall. Her eyes were puffy and red, and despite the handkerchief use, he could still see the faintest outlines of tear tracks that had paved their way through her makeup.

He turned to the sky again before she could catch him looking.

"The stars are so beautiful here," she whispered. "I can see them for miles."

"Shikiyoku chose a great place to be," he agreed.

"Akihiko?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think they noticed?"

He turned to look down at her again. "Noticed what?"

"My disappearing act."

He shook his head at her. "I doubt anyone did, it's so crowded in there. They didn't even notice my leaving, and Tarou sits right next to me."

She let out a breath of relief. "Good." She shifted around and pushed herself up onto her feet, her knees still shaking and her hand trembling as she wiped at her cheek. "I'll, uh… I'll clean this and get it back to you," Akari waved the messed handkerchief around, but wouldn't meet his gaze.

Akihiko waved his hand dismissively. "Keep it. I have several."

"No, I couldn't- I-"

"It isn't sentimental or even worth anything. It's yours. Just in case."

Her expression fractured just a little, a shininess coming to her eyes.

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

She shook her head at him. "No, but thank you for the offer." She pulled a wallet from her back pocket and pulled out some bills. "May I ask you to-"

"Consider it done." He held his palm out for her, letting her set the money in his hand before he folded it up and slid that hand into his pocket. "Go take a shower. It will help. I'll tell the others you drank too much and decided to go sleep it off."

Her lips stretched into a shaky smile. "Thank you."

"You better get going, before Tarou realizes you're out here. I'm certain he'd insist on walking you home."

Laughter bubbled past Akari's dry lips. "You're right." She waved and turned to go. "Thank you again."

"Get some rest, Akari."

He watched her as she shuffled away, looking more like a dog in that moment than he'd seen her ever before. Even without the tail and ears, he could see the droopiness in the extremities.

Fight on, pup.

He waited until she was out of sight before he turned and made his way back into the bar, this time shuffling up to the bartender who had the fewest patrons. He passed him Akari's money and exchanged a few words, said a brief thanks, then turned and shuffled back through the crowds and out the side door, his cigarette and lighter once again in his hand.*

~!**!~

Tarou hadn't the faintest idea what time it was when he finally left the bar, disappointed when he couldn't convince his second-favorite bartender to make him a to-go cup tonight to nurse as he walked in the least stumbly manner possible towards his apartment building.

Several miles away, but the closest one he could get.

The thought of it reminded him of how he hadn't yet convinced Mom to build him a room up there with her and Hiei and he hadn't the faintest idea why she wouldn't.

It would be a whole helluva lot more convenient than having to make sure he was sober enough to remember which way was which, that's for damn sure.

He might have passed by the figure in the shadows off to his left if a nearby streetlight didn't glint off of a head of hair he thought he recognized. He blinked a couple of times trying to clear his vision.

"..."

"..."

"Akari?"

~!**!~

The clarity of the night air let Hara's thoughts disperse as he stepped outside away from the cacophony of the bar.

Pleasant enough in its own right, he preferred the quiet if he were being honest.

Too many bodies. Too many weaknesses.

It was hard to turn it off and tonight more so than other nights it seemed like the number of bodies in there had tripled over the usual crowd.

The door opened a few feet away and he lifted his cigarette to his lips, the slightly sweet blend he gathered from the lower levels wafting over his nose as he let out a silent exhale of air, not bothering to look over and see who had come out or why. 3

The door shut behind Akihiko, cutting off all sound of the interior of the bar and leaving him in a wonderfully blissful silence. He took in a deep breath of the night air, half wondering if Akari would get home alright before he pushed the thought away and shuffled a couple of paces away from the door.

He passed by the form leaning against the building, not really giving the other any sort of attention as he lit his own cigarette and lifted it to his mouth for a draw.

"Smoking is fresh air for you?"

He let out a long breath, exhaling the smoke and amusement all at once.

He hated these things.

A nasty habit indeed.

~!**!~

Akari didn't go too far before she tried to drop into a shadow again, knowing it would be faster to get home that way. She tugged on her energy a few times, and after she walked another few feet, she realized the shadows weren't responding to her call.

She frowned at the darkness around her, but continued to move toward home.

"I'll just walk then," she mumbled to herself as she pat her pockets down in search for her apartment keys. When she didn't find them in her front pockets, she tried patting down her back pockets. Then her front pockets again...

She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and frowned at the general area around her. Did I lose them?

...Thinking is hard, she internally grumbled at herself when she didn't immediately come up with answers.

Nonetheless, she continued walking toward her apartment, pretending that she wasn't suddenly stressed by the thought of not being able to get into her home.

Nausea hit her as she remembered Ryouta guiding her to stand next to Kurama, and as she turned to the nearest tree to empty her stomach of all the drinks she had this evening, she realized she left her keys in the cafe.

She retched until she had nothing else to toss up, and after a few dry heaves, she grumbled something to herself about never drinking again.

She jumped when she heard her name called out, and for a moment she thought about screaming 'nope' and making an attempt at an escape.

Instead, she spit one more time, wiped her mouth, then stood upright.

"...yeah?"

She couldn't bring herself to look at whoever had called out to her. *

Tarou tossed a grin in the other's direction that she definitely didn't see still turned away as she was, but he shucked his jacket off his shoulders as he moved towards her and reached into one of the front pockets of it, fishing out something like a cigarette case from it and opening it with one hand, unfolding from it something like a wet-wipe that smelled much sweeter.

He held it out to her once he'd tucked the case away again.

"Here, suck on that. It'll take the taste out of your mouth."

~!**!~

"Even dads gotta take a smoke break from their jobs every once in a while, mm?" Hara said after watching Akihiko out of the corner of his eye for a moment.

"Though I guess with the worst offenders gone, your job is much easier."

Seeing as how Hiei and Tarou already left. 3

Akihiko leaned against the brick wall of the bar and crossed his right arm over his stomach, then he rested his left elbow in the palm of his right hand. The cigarette in his left hand hovered a few inches from his lips, and he stared at the smoke that trailed from its end.

He gave a small sigh at Hara's question, "Unfortunately, someone has to keep them in line." Hiei and Tarou especially.

He took another draw from his cigarette, held onto the smoke, then exhaled it after a long beat of silence.

"Too loud in there for you too, hm?" He finally turned to look at Hara. "Must be rough, being part of such a popular band." Akihiko could not imagine the chaos that came with having fans, though he doubted it was ever a quiet life.

~!**!~

Akari turned to face Tarou as he approached, not liking her back being to anyone in that moment, and she blinked down at the little wipe thing he offered her. Then she blinked up at him.

She gingerly took the offered item from him and, despite her own association with alcohol wipes, she stuck the sweetly flavored thing in her mouth.

It was a pleasant sweetness. Not too much, but just enough to wash away the awful taste in her mouth.

A halfhearted smile twitched at her lips. "Thanks, Tarou."

She took a few steps away from the area, though they were slow and unsure.

...Can't believe I forgot my keys.

"On your way home?" *

He nodded to her thanks with a crooked grin still plastered over his features.

"Yup!" He replied, blinking and taking a second before gesturing in the direction he had been heading before blinking again and suddenly remembering why he'd actually left in the first place.

"You?"

~!**!~

Hara smiled softly and shook his head a little as he tapped his cigarette to let some of the ash fall free.

"It's not the loud in there that gets me so much as the people." He took another draw, lips twitching. "Being on a stage is like singing into a train. Can't see anybody. S'easy."

"I never would have pegged you for a smoker though. I can't stand those human things." His lip curled a little. 3

Akihiko mirrored Hara's ash dropping a moment after the other was done, his eyes watching the heat die away as it fell to the ground.

"Well, I certainly couldn't do it." A wry smile briefly ghosted across his features. "To a train or otherwise."

Akihiko lowered his cigarette so the stench wouldn't waft into Hara's face. "They're the worst," he agreed with a nod as he played with it a little between his fingers. "Worst habit."

He briefly glanced at Hara's cigarette. "Where do you get yours?" It doesn't smell like trash in a fire pit, unlike mine.

~!**!~

Akari didn't immediately answer Tarou. She glanced at him from the side and continued to suck on the little sweet wipe, considering her answer.

She was honestly surprised to see him alone.

She turned her eyes away, to the ground.

"I'm, uh, not sure yet," she finally admitted. "I..." her frustration welled up in her, and for a moment her eyes stung. She took a deep breath and huffed. "I lef' mah keys at work..." she finally admitted in a grumble, her face flushing not just from her night's drinks. "An' the stupid shadows won't let me use them to get home." *

"That's cuz yer drunk." He pointed at her, not clarifying in the slightest bit to which statement he meant his to apply.

He looked around, not having the faintest idea where 'work' was from here for her.

Or home for that matter, though he wouldn't have known about the latter regardless.

"Isn' yer place open all the time?" He asked, for some reason having it in his head they were never closed.

...maybe that was just the bar.

~!**!~

"Yeah, well, I don't do it either." Hara smirked a little. "I'll leave that to Misaki, thank you very much."

"Make 'em." He held it out in Aki's direction. 3

Akihiko nodded at his comment of leaving the singing to Misaki.

He'd do the same in Hara's shoes.

Aki had his own cigarette halfway raised to his lips when Hara held out his cigarette. He glanced at it briefly and, after a short hesitation, he switched his own cigarette from his left hand to his right so he could reach out to take the one offered to him.

"You make them, hm?" He held the cigarette up to inspect, seeing that even the paper on the outside is different than that of the human world. "I hadn't thought about doing that myself."

He tapped his finger against it to drop a little of the ash from its end before he took a draw.

The flavor was far more palatable than the ones he'd bought. Sweet and earthy, yet not awful and all-consuming.

He exhaled the smoke as he passed it back to Hara. "Do you sell any?"

Akihiko made to trade his own cigarette back to his left hand before deciding that he no longer wanted it. Instead, he let it fall from his fingers and to the ground before he stepped on it to put it out.

~!**!~

Akari shook her head, not arguing the fact that she was drunk. "I haven't needed to be open all the time."

She heaved a big sigh and turned her eyes up to the stars, as if doing so would make the irritating threat of tears go away.

"...Would you..." she frowned up at the sky, hesitating. Maybe I should try to pick my apartment's locks.

"I'm sor'y to ask because it's stupid that I forgot my keys and can't use my shadows and-"

She took a deep breath.

"Would you mind if I stay at your place?" Embarrassment filled her to the brim, and she was sure her entire face was tomato red. "Iwouldn'taskifIthoughtIcoul'ge'intomahapartmentbutIknowIcan'tandI'msorry." *

Tarou's eyes grew wider as she kept going.

That...is definitely not what I expected her to ask.

He'd been fully prepared to, uh, break a window or two, honestly.

He also wouldn't have been opposed to busting down a door.

After all, he hadn't built the place.

Helped set it up, yes.

Constructed the damn thing, no.

He remembered he'd left the bar to begin with because she hadn't been there, and then just kept going towards home when he didn't immediately spot her outside the building either.

I...am way too drunk for this.

"Yeah, yeah, hey, calm down, it's fine." He mumbled, thinking about how this wasn't exactly what he'd imagined her first time at his place to be as he moved over and dropped his jacket over her shoulders. "C'mon, pup. We stand here any longer and we're liable to get into trouble."

Or rather...I'm liable to get into trouble.

...it's gonna be a long night.

~!**!~

Once Hara handed it off, he pulled out the beat up, half torn cigarette packet he'd never thrown away, filling it with his own after stubbornly smoking the final one, and got another out for himself to light.

He struck a match from a box that appeared out of a different pocket, hearing it hiss pleasantly at him, and held it up to the end of the cigarette between his lips.

"Dun' recommend it." He said with self-aware chagrin in regards to Akihiko having never thought of doing it himself. "It's a pain in the ass."

He blinked as he lowered his hands when Akihiko asked if he sold them, waving his hand that the other could keep it as he admitted, "Hadn't thought about it before. No one's ever asked." 3

Akihiko nodded his thanks as he lifted the cigarette to his lips again, the draw longer this time and far more satisfying.

And so my addiction worsens, he thought, amused.

"I imagine it takes a while to get the right blend of plants before you're satisfied with the flavor," he mused. He wondered if it would be tedious or not, since he regularly traveled the levels with the guild.

He exhaled through his nose.

...The idea of playing with blend after blend was annoying on its own, however.

"Well, I certainly would buy from you if you ever decided to sell these." He shifted his weight around a little. "You've officially ruined me of the human junk, not that I needed much help with that."

He almost smiled at the other.

~!**!~

Akari swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, frustrated that she was frustrated enough to shed tears. Emotions are stupid.

She blinked and turned to look at Tarou as he dropped his jacket over her shoulders, and a brief little laugh bubbled past her lips in relief.

"Trouble? Never." She sniffled a little and took to walking next to him. "I'm a model citizen." *

"Uh-huh. That's why you've decided to go home with me instead of breaking into your own cafe."

He laughed as he threw an arm across her shoulders over the jacket and steered her down the street, "I'm pretty sure deciding to come home with me automatically revokes any model citizenship you think you might have had!"

~!**!~

Hara nodded his head back and forth, "It's not the blend that's hard. Got that part down." He eyed Akihiko's meaningfully when the other continued to smoke it.

He let out a sigh and leaned his head back against the building to look up at the stars, "The trouble is getting the ingredients. Haven't been able to transplant any of the stuff. Somethin' about the air up here I think. Never tastes the same. Means I gotta make the trek down when I run out. Not easy. I hate doing it. And I hardly have the time anymore since we're out on tour so much." 3

Akihiko nodded in understanding, only just able to imagine how time consuming being in such a popular band would be. He'd probably hate running the levels too if it was so out of the way.

He half considered going to Kurama about suggestions to help Hara, but another thought intervened, and it seemed far more entertaining than owing Kurama the Youko any boons for any information he might get from the kitsune.

He let silence fall for a moment as he took a long look at the cigarette in his hand, weighing his options.

"Luckily for you, my job requires that I run the levels on a regular basis." He turned to look at Hara finally. "If you're willing, I would be happy to get the ingredients for you in exchange for a few packs per batch. You can stay here and focus on your band, and I get good quality cigs."

~!**!~

Akari almost thought she wouldn't want to be under Tarou's arm, but as soon as he settled, she realized she didn't quite mind it. She glanced up at him briefly, realizing he made her feel safe, secure in the fact that if she told him to back off, he'd do as told.

Tension she hadn't realized she'd been carrying melted away from her shoulders, and she let out a breath.

"Tha's because cafe windows are espensive, Tarou. And it's annoying to get shtuff serviced."

Her lips twitched. "Bu' I won' deny havin' bad company." *

"The worst!" He asserted at her commentary of being in bad company, grinning at her as they moved along.

"Breaking in could be fun, though! You can't say otherwise. It's not allowed. I'm right." He stuck his nose in the air. "The fact that you think I wouldn't have some sort of lock-picking kit in my weapon's cache makes me very disappointed in you, doggo." He turned and booped her nose with his free hand, determined to distract her from whatever unforgiving shadows he'd seen dancing across her features when she first stood up.

~!**!~

Hara glanced over at the other at the offer, not sure what to make of it.

"The stuff's not easy to get to." He admitted. "I dunno if I'd really wish that trip on anyone. Part of what I need's on the third and the other is on the fourth, so it's not exactly the quickest trip, either." 3

Akihiko shrugged nonchalantly. "The guild makes regular trips all the way to the Seventh. It wouldn't be unusual for me to be in those areas anyway, even if just running through."

He tapped the cigarette to loose some ash from its end.

"I'd be willing to get quite a bit at a time, since there will be times that I'm gone for weeks for a single job. I also know enough about plants to be able to discern one from the other if I know what I'm looking for; knew someone who once studied them for poisons and salves."

He turned his eyes to the sky above again.

"I assume you need to treat the plants a certain way. If it's time sensitive, I could send a runner." He shrugged a second time. "The guy I use on the regular is a master of discretion."

~!**!~

"Ha, anything's a weapon if thrown hard enough, huh?" Akari half smirked up at Tarou, genuinely having not expected him to have a lock-picking kit on hand.

She wrinkled her nose when he bopped it, at that moment registering his new nickname for her. "Ikigai has been rubbing off on you, I see." She bumped her shoulder into his side. *

"Yes." He nodded emphatically, thinking how he'd spent much of his life testing the limits of the storage.

"Ikigai?" He repeated with a frown, knowing they weren't really all that much farther before he'd have her safely away from anyone that might bother her. He smiled as he thought of the girl he'd brought in. "His girlfriend's real pretty, isn't she? He seems so happy. I'm glad."

~!**!~

Hara let out a chuckle, "I guess moving through the levels is kind of part of the job, isn't it?"

He eyed Akihiko for a moment, "It's definitely time sensitive. Gotta get the stuff from the fourth last because I have to get it up here as quick as I can. Gotta make sure you get the whole plant too, roots and all, or it won't last the trip. Not to mention what I need from the third is from a specific tree in a particular orchard and frankly I just outright steal the stuff because the owner is an ass with the whole place trapped up who shoots on sight and are you really sure this is the sort of thing you want to try and do?" 3

"It counts for more of the job than any actual job we do get, truthfully." Aki raised the cigarette to his lips and took the last draw from it, dropped the filter to the ground to snuff, and let out the smoke in a long, slow exhale.

"I could use the break from my usual routine," he admitted at the last. "Only running the Levels for Infected is draining.

"As for the traps and such," he turned to eye Hara, a ghost of a mischievous smile breezing over his features, "once a bandit, always a bandit."

~!**!~

"Mm-hm," Akari agreed with two quick nods of her head. "And once she got even just a little comfortable, she really opened up." She thought about the little human girl tucked against Gai's side, the smile she'd slowly developed.

"Chisai and Ikigai must be pretty close. Airi seemed pretty comfortable around him." She thought about how Gai had planted Airi between himself and Chisai, and how easily the girl seemed to turn and ask him a question about this drink or that travel story. "I think they're adorable," she concluded. *

Akari and Tarou eventually arrived at an apartment building and he tugged her just past the main entrance, which looked like it had one of those buzzer systems meant to call a resident and unlock the door for anyone that came visiting.

Tarou moved Akari two or three feet beyond the ten or so stairs leading up to it where the first window was set into the wall and planted her there in the shadow of the steps, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching.

"Don't do anything suspicious."

He hefted himself up onto the window on the first floor and then leaped and grabbed for the second sill, pulling himself onto it without too much effort, crouching, and fiddling with the window for a moment before it slid up.

Tarou grinned back down at her, "Be right back. Don't move."

After some jostling of his position, he disappeared inside.

Five minutes passed before he was back at the door and had it swung open, still grinning, and he held out his hand for her to take if she wanted once she got close enough up the steps.

~!**!~

"Ugh, don't say that." Hara made a face and lifted his cigarette to take it between his lips, "I'd just as soon not be thrown in with you lot anymore."

He shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he fought a smile.

His subsequent sigh was accompanied by smoke from his inhale.

Finally, he shrugged and pulled out the beat-up packet from earlier to toss in Akihiko's direction.

The two or three cigarettes still inside rattled in the air on their way over to him.

"Not gonna say that'll tie you over until I can make more, but you'll need that packet to keep them in anyway. Lemme know when you've got some free time and I can show you what's up." 3

Akihiko almost chuckled.

He did let air out through his nose, however. "It certainly is no millionaire's club." A brief memory of his and Henka's capture during one theft attempt both stung and warmed his heart.

His hand lifted to catch the packet of cigarettes tossed his way, and he glanced inside the beat up box to see the three sticks inside before he stowed it away inside his jacket pocket. As Hara continued on, Akihiko lowered his gaze to his watch, studied the time, then let his arm fall to his side.

"Well I am free now."

~!**!~

"Don't do anything suspicious, he says," Akari grumbled to herself as she watched Tarou not-so-gracefully heft himself up onto the second story of the building. "As if I am the suspicious one of us." She shook her head as he disappeared from sight.

Mildly, she wondered if this was his place.

Maybe he doesn't carry his keys.

She pulled his jacket tighter around herself as the cool breeze picked up around her, more so it wouldn't fall off than out of actual necessity.

She shuffled in place.

He's been gone a bit…

She opened her mouth to call his name just as he appeared in the doorway, that same big, goofy grin on his face.

She couldn't quite help the soft smile that settled across her own lips and she reached out to take his hand. "You are ridiculous," she whispered in his direction. "Climbing through the window."

She let out a breathy laugh.*

Tarou shrugged and pulled her inside, shutting the door and not letting go of her hand so she wouldn't go too far into the darkness of the small hallway.

He stuck a finger of his free hand up to his lips to request her silence and started tip-toeing down the hallway passing the only door on this small entryway to his right with extra care that was also as speedy as he could make it while still being as quiet as possible.

He managed to get up the first landing that flattened out to lead to the next set of stairs to the next floor when his ears twitched and he shoved Akari behind him, blocking her from view of the door that opened in the next second back down the stairs.

"Haruto?" A crotchety no nonsense sort of voice called out as an older woman with her hair up in curlers, in a nightgown with slippers on her feet stepped out into the entryway to look for, presumably, Tarou.

Her face was mostly shadowed by the light shining out of the doorway behind her, but definitely unfriendly as she frowned and spotted a darker shape up on the first flight.

Tarou had frozen in place, gripping Akari's hand tightly behind him as he hid as much of her as possible behind him.

"Yes, Ms. Qui?"

She squinted her eyes up at him and took a sniff of the air, "You haven't been drinking again have you?"

Absolutely no hesitation: "No, ma'am."

As if she didn't believe him, her answer was delayed, "Uh huh. Out past curfew too. Tch."

He grinned at her, though it wasn't exactly clear if she could see his face or not.

"You better not be bringing any girls home either, you hear? And lock your door next time you leave, yeah? Somebody might go in there and mess with something."

"Yes, ma'am."

After another moment where Tarou held his breath, Ms. Qui scoffed again and shuffled back inside, slamming the door shut behind her in a manner that would have likely woken up anybody that had been sleeping on any of the three floors above them.

Tarou didn't move for several seconds.

...he didn't trust her not to immediately come back out.

...she'd done it before.

After the appropriate pause he turned and herded Akari up the stairs and out of sight of the door down here as quickly as he could manage.

~!**!~

Hara had his cigarette out of his mouth and between two fingers by the time Akihiko spoke up again and he blinked, looking over at the other as if he wasn't sure if he'd heard the guildie correctly.

He let out a breath that could have been a scoff or a laugh puff from his lips as he tapped at the end of his cigarette again.

"I mean, yeah, I guess so, huh." He seemed to consider it for a beat before continuing, "Well, lemme see if I can manage to get away. I only told the girls I'd be out here for a smoke."

He stuck the cigarette between his lips and ducked back inside the bar. 3

Akihiko nodded his head and shifted his weight around a little as Hara slipped back into the bar through the side door. Out of habit, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his usual pack of cigarettes, tapped one out, and almost had it lit before its stench just barely wafted over his nose, reminding him of the new and better ones he had.

...That he only had three of.

He slid the human-made nicotine back into its box and slipped into the bar long enough to throw out his original box in a bin just to the right of the doorframe, and then he returned to where he'd been leaning against the wall moments before.

~!**!~

Akari nodded in understanding of his requested quietness from her, though her smile most definitely stayed in place. She trailed behind him at a much quieter pace, her steps hardly even registering on the wooden floor that his made creak every once in a while.

She almost laughed at him, though she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from making any sound.

He's so not quiet.

Whatever Tarou heard went completely unnoticed by Akari, who simply stepped where he guided her and stood blinking at his back. Curiosity almost drove her to look around him, but his tight hold on her hand was far more distracting, and she found herself staring at it as Tarou was addressed.

Her hand covered her lips again to stay a giggle; she was 100% sure they both reeked of alcohol enough to account for an entire bar, and that, accompanied with his response to 'bringing girls home', almost cracked her.

Her lungs burned as she held her breath, but she didn't dare let it out until he was ushering her up the stairs again.

She half stumbled on her way up the stairs, but caught herself and managed to get all the way to the next landing before she let her breath out in a giggle.

"You're terrible," she whispered in his direction between quiet giggles.

~!**!~

Hiei shifted a little on the bed, his head turning toward Shikiyoku in a quiet, lazy attempt at a sleepy kiss. His nose just barely brushed some part of her face, but before he could complete the action of the actual kiss itself, he let out a little breath and stilled once more.

A single thought floated across his sleep-addled mind as he settled in her presence again:

I couldn't live without you either, my Beloved.

As if the notion slipped its way across the bond, he felt Shikiyoku stir against him, shifting around until her weight no longer pressed upon his chest. This wouldn't have truly pulled him from sleep were it not for the shuffling of her sliding from the bed and the near-silent steps she took around the room.

He blinked his eyes open and turned his head to watch her as she rummaged through her drawers for an outfit to wear. That's funny, I thought I fell asleep in my own bed. He blinked slowly at her profile. She must have carried me here at some point. *

~!**!~

Hara ducked his head and moved through the bar back over to the table that still held several members of Gouka's guild and the rest of the band.

Quietly stepping up behind Kasimi, he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear about heading out for the night and she nodded as she tilted her head just enough to make contact with his face.

The barest of smiles twitched over his lips and just before he pulled away, he nudged his nose against her and stood back up.

Two steps over to Misaki leaning up against Rizu's chair and it was much the same thing except when she learned he was leaving, she almost absently turned and kissed his cheek before he got too far away and bid him goodnight.

Hara moved back through the crowd and out the door into the alleyway to give Akihiko a nod and move onto the sidewalk, leading away South from the bar.

~!**!~

"Shut up!" Tarou whispered, his order laced enough with laughter to be very little in the way of threatening.

When he looked up at her climbing the stairs in front of him, he nearly passed her by, nearly slapped her on the ass to get her moving faster, but a memory of a look she gave him stayed his hand and he only kept ushering her as he had been before.

"It's that one! Just get in there. It's open." He told her, half-shoving her for the farthest door down the hallway on her right when they reached the second floor and once they were inside, turning and locking the door behind them. 3

Akari looked over her shoulder at Tarou, "I'm going!"

She wasn't sure she had whispered that one, truth be told, but into the particular apartment she went. She twisted the handle and bustled inside, half stumbling in her hurry to get out of his way, her giggles getting progressively louder.

"Tar-"

The sound of various things near the door clattering to the floor interrupted her thought, and she giggled some more as he made attempts to catch the standing lamp and other metal, very loud objects that he bumped into.

His straightening of the one taller lamp in particular made her laugh, if only because she didn't know what exactly he'd told the inanimate object to do other than 'stay'.

Somehow finding herself on his couch, she rolled and stuck her foot in the air in his direction, pleading, "Help me get these stupid shoes off, my feet are killing me."

~!**!~

He shifted a little on the bed, making as if to roll onto his side so he could properly watch her, but he found his limbs were too heavy and his body too tired. He exhaled a breath through his nose and contented himself with only watching her in his limited field of view.

She pulled an outfit away from the drawer and turned to move further into the room and out of his sight. Deciding he didn't want her to fuss over him, he decided not to turn his head to follow her, and he closed his eyes and listened to her movements around the room.

She moved somewhere near the end of her bed, and after a brief silence, he could make out the sound of a brush moving through her hair. He smiled briefly to himself, wondering if she intended to go work in the bar while he rested.

The thought pulled at something at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

He opened his eyes again after a few minutes and found himself surprised to see her standing near the door. She leaned one hand against the wall and bent over, her back to him, to slip on a high-heeled shoe. He appreciated the view, noticing that the pencil skirt and white button-down shirt fit her frame perfectly, and yet was contradicted by the severe updo of her hair. He watched her secure the shoe in place before she lowered that foot to the carpet and turned around to lean with the other hand so she might slip on the other one.

She blinked at him, action half finished. "You're awake." *

~!**!~

Tarou obliged amidst their own attempts at quiet laughter as they struggled to get them off her feet when she just held one up to him and acted as if she expected him to just pull.

When he got the second one off, he jerked hard enough to throw himself off balance and knocked into the lamp again, whirling, catching it and putting it back, telling it to 'stay,' as if that would help anything at all.

As he let the shoe join the other one on the floor, having turned back to her, there was a moment for him where he stared down at her, curls of her hair hanging down around her shoulders, and he swallowed.

I...really did not want this to be how your first time here turned out.

After a moment where his stare on her relented, he grinned again and murmured, "Good night," and turned away before he acted on any of the ten or so things passing over his mind, pointing at the end of the couch where he was pretty positive his landlady of all people had neatly stacked a set of sheets, blanket, and a pillow when she'd snooped around his room earlier as he had suspected her to have done.

He closed the double doors to his bedroom only to open them a few breaths later wearing a long-sleeved red shirt and matching pants with different-sized white hearts scattered all across the fabric. 3

She tried to be quiet.

Really, she did.

But as he fiddled with her shoes and the lamp toppled a second time, she burst out into more laughter, her eyes following his movements even as she shifted and propped herself up against the armrest of the couch.

She slowly quieted from her laughter when she realized he was watching her, a look in his eyes that she hadn't genuinely seen from many in a long time.

Her smile softened and all at once that look was gone and he was moving away. "Good night," she responded quietly. She turned and stretched forward, her hands tugging at the blankets and pillow at the end of the couch so she could set up her little sleeping space for the night.

Not for the first time, appreciation welled within her at his accommodations.

She sat back on the couch and ran her fingers through the ends of her hair a little, her head turned so that when Tarou's bedroom doors flung open, she was staring right at the bright red pyjamas he donned.

Her smile immediately returned. "Cute jammies," she commented.

He's adorable and so are those pjs.

~!**!~

Hiei blinked slowly back at Shiki. "For a bit." He could already feel himself falling back into sleep. "I see that Kurama called." He gave her a look up and down, indicating her attire gave her away.

She nodded. "He did."

"Will you be gone long?"

She turned her eyes down to the shoe in her hand and, after a brief pause, leaned down to slip it over her foot. "For a good while, yes."

Her tone wasn't the same as before, though he couldn't pinpoint how or why. "By the time you get back, maybe I'll be well enough to meet you at the door." His eyes sparkled at her with the promise of his greeting her if he could.

She lowered her foot to the floor and straightened, her hands smoothing over her skirt as if it had wrinkled. "Hiei, let's… not."

He blinked at her. "Not what?"

"Just…" she took a deep breath and finally lifted her eyes to meet his gaze, steady and stubborn and accented with a sort of darkness he'd never seen before. "I can't do this anymore." *

~!**!~

"My mother made them for me." He told her loftily, sticking his nose in the air. "She's the best."

He walked over towards the door.

"I forgot to pull the chain." He winked at her as he put the chain-lock in place. "Ms. Qui is exceptionally adept at getting into an apartment if all precautions are not taken." 3

Akari's smile widened, and while she wished she had a response, the only thing she could really do was watch Tarou as he shuffled through the dark room toward the door. Her eyes followed him every step of the way while her hands continued to work at knots and tangles in her hair, and she let out a little puff of a laugh when she heard him tug on the chain.

"We wouldn't want that now, would we?"

~!**!~

"Do what?"

Shikiyoku raised an eyebrow at him. "This," she punctuated the word with a wave of her hand in his direction. "This nearly losing you every time I turn around stuff. The constant worry that I'll have to race away from work to save you again, because you can't stay out of trouble."

He frowned, "I-"

She held her hand up to stop him. "I'm not done." She gave him a hard look, and when he did not open his mouth again, she continued on. "I can't rely on you as my Consort, little fire. You go out of your way to be in danger, and then I have to come find you and nurse you back to health, and I just can't keep doing that. It's too much." She paused and turned her eyes to the floor. "I…"

Hiei's core dropped to his stomach, each word acting as a knife being twisted in his chest. He tried to shift around, tried to move any part of himself so he could get to her and kiss her and tell her he would do better, and-

"Shiki-"

"It's yours."

He blinked. "What?" *

~!**!~

"No." Tarou said emphatically. "I would not. We would not."

He didn't indicate one way or the other if it had happened before and he had learned his lesson, sauntering his way back across the main room towards the doors again before pivoting around and taking in a breath before bidding her, for a second time, "Good night," and closing them again...

...only to almost immediately whip them back open again. 3

As before, Akari repeated Tarou's 'good night' back at him, and her hands dropped into her lap. She no more tossed her hair back over her shoulder when the doors swung open again, and she turned to blink at Tarou, standing in the middle of the doorway, shirtless.

Akari pulled her knees to her chest and rested her elbows on her knees, then her chin on her hands. "That was quick."

She carefully kept her eyes on his face, well aware of the trouble she could end up in if she wasn't careful.

~!**!~

"This," Shikiyoku waved her hand around the room nebulously. "It's all yours. I don't need it, nor do I want it. You can have it."

"Shiki-"

"I'll pop in to work from time to time so the customers don't get suspicious, but-"

"-yoku-"

"-I can't do this anymore. I-"

"-wait-"

"-don't want to do this anymore."

He couldn't move, and all at once, the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat. You're leaving me.

She nodded. "I am."

And I can't stop you.

She shook her head.

...but…

She turned and pulled the door open.

But you said…

She took two steps out into the hall.

...that you couldn't live without me.

The door closed behind her, and his world shattered.

Don't you know it's the same for me?

Hiei's core lurched, and suddenly the dream fell apart. His eyelids flew open and he found himself staring at the top of his own canopy bed, just where he should be. *

Too exhausted to make any sense of the, not actually life-threatening, emotions coursing through Hiei, still in sleep, the real Shikiyoku, curled up next to him and snug against his side, shifted just enough to nudge him with her nose, one hand which had come to rest on his chest shifting against the fabric under which was hidden the centerpiece of her marking upon him.

~!**!~

"Water." He intoned, holding up a finger before moving for the kitchenette and sink. "We both need water. We don't want to get a hangover."

Tarou filled up two glasses and came up behind the couch to hand one to Akari from over her shoulder, standing there and gulping his down in front of her. 3

Akari nodded. "Smart."

She turned to watch as he passed by, her eyes freely roaming what she could see of his back and shoulders. Her lips twitched ever so slightly, and it was another moment after she realized he was turning to head back her direction before her gaze found his face again.

In trouble, I am.

She reached up to accept the water and took a sip from her glass.

After a couple of gulps, she lowered it to her lap and raised a brow at him over her shoulder. She opened her mouth to say something, realized it was most definitely a train on the track of trouble, and changed her mind entirely.

She lifted a finger to indicate the corner of his mouth where water trailed just a bit over his chin, "You sort of missed the mark, bud."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku's movement brought Hiei's eyes down on her face, and relief flooded him as if he hadn't truly been sure of her presence against him. He turned his head ever so slightly, seeking to reassure her with a kiss of his own even as his heart rate slowed.

He kissed her lightly on the cheek, and her cringe at the soreness of that bruise reverberated in the bond. A silent apology sifted its way across in her direction and he settled into bed again, realizing they had shuffled around and were now laying properly on the top of his covers.

He let out a long breath and turned to stare up at the canopy of his bed, waiting for the emotions to subside so he might eventually go back to sleep. *

~!**!~

Tarou let out a gasp of satisfaction as he lowered his glass, only running his fist over the side of his mouth with a sloppy grin.

When he saw she hadn't done the same with hers, he turned away to put his glass in the sink, "You should probably down that yah know!"

He moved back over to the doors, pivoted gallantly for the second time and once more said, "Good night." Tacking on, "Again." Before closing them.

This time at least the doors were closed for half a second longer.

"You know...there's something else I forgot. What was it. Locked the door. Drank the wa- Ah, that's it! Hungry! I'm hungry."

He moved over to the kitchenette again and grabbed for the first box he found, pulling out a cookie from it before in an exceedingly nonchalant fashion after taking a bite making his way back over around the side of the couch.

"Cookie?" 3

"I will. Thank you, Tarou," Akari replied softly as he made his way back to his room again. She waved her goodnight this time and turned back to the glass in her hand, studying it in silence for a brief moment before raising it to her lips again.

She didn't immediately turn to look at him this time. Instead, she held up a thumbs up to indicate she heard him as she took a long drink from her glass.

She swallowed and lowered it just far enough away to turn and say something to Tarou that turned, instead, into a choked sound of surprise.

"Ohmygod!" She threw her free hand up to cover her eyes then, not really sure she was actually seeing straight, she peeked through her fingers long enough to determine that, yes, Tarou was absolutely naked.

She covered her eyes again and let out a loud, long laugh. "You're ridiculous," she giggled at him.

At his question of a cookie, she peeked again as if she didn't already know what he was doing, and just as quickly turned her face away, laughing even harder.

"N-no thanks, Tarou." *

Tarou shrugged his shoulders, box of cookies still conveniently placed in front of him right where they needed to be as he stuffed the cookie in his mouth and kept moving back towards the bedroom.

"I mean, alright, I guess. Your loss!" He stood in the doorway for a moment and looked at her, eyes glittering, saying, "They'll be in here if you decide you want one," before closing the door and turning out the light. 3

Akari laughed as he turned to pad away, unable to stop herself from turning to watch between her fingers as he went.

Her eyes followed him until he was in the doorway of his bedroom again, at which point she went quiet and covered her eyes again, giving him no response if only because all responses she had would get her into trouble this night.

It wasn't until the door had been shut for several seconds before she let out her breath in a long, slow sigh.

She lifted her water to her lips again and this time drained the glass dry. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku and Hiei spent the next three days in deep hibernation once his dream of her leaving passed and he fell back into a sleep too hard to so much as stir from.

At some point during the second day, Akihiko snuck up there to check on them, initially taken aback by how absolutely, almost deathly, still they remained, completely unaware of his presence.

A hand over Shikiyoku's mouth to feel her breath and a light test of his palm atop Hiei's chest to note the rise and fall dissuaded Akihiko from thoughts of the worst and, satisfied with their remaining among the living, he left them, resolved to check in another two days.

On the fourth day when he came up, he noted the immediate difference in the air as soon as he stepped beyond the door to the apartments, and when he stuck his head in Hiei's room this time, it was to find the pair of them sitting up together greeting him with a clarity to their vision and able to hold a coherent conversation when Hiei gestured him into the room to talk.

Feeling immediately comforted by their recovery progress, after their insistence they needed nothing, he left them be and said nothing to the rest of the guild as to their accepting company yet since they gave no indication they were ready for real guests.

Hiko knew more than one of the guild would invade their privacy if given half the chance and he would just as soon not encourage that behavior when the pair still seemed too tired for much of anything.

At some point on that day, Hiei spotted the letter from the demons he'd saved from the Infected before he got sick and grabbed for it, fishing out the trinket and asking Shikiyoku to weave it into his hair before gathering her up in his arms and laying back down.

On the fifth day, the pair of them spent a short amount of time working on Hiei's letters before they both reverted back to laying in one another's arms, lacking the focus necessary to stay on task.

By the sixth day, the two were well on their way to recovery and during an hour she knew to be slow for the bar, Shikiyoku slipped downstairs just long enough to mix them a pair of lighter, filling drinks enough to sustain them since they neither one were hungry yet, before coming back upstairs and moving for the jewelry room they had spent most of their day in together. 3

Hiei, feeling rested and refreshed on the sixth day of recovery, found himself almost antsy not long after waking from a short nap. He had laid in bed for a few hours, at first staring at the canopy of his bed while Shikiyoku slept, and then, once she was awake, talking with her about various thoughts that came to mind.

At some point in the middle of a conversation, he decided he couldn't quite sit still any longer and, after a brief testing of his strength, he moved himself and Shikiyoku into the jewelry room, various ideas and projects in mind.

As was usual, he took up residence behind his desk and promptly set to work on a project, his eyes occasionally flickering over to the floating Basan egg to the right of his work space, and Shikiyoku took up residence in the bean bag chair on the floor.

They talked here and there while he worked, but for the most part the pair were more than happy to be in the companionable silence.

Hiei worked with a dense block of ivory-colored metal, taking away chunks until the piece he wanted to use was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

The only marker of time passing for him at that point was Shikiyoku's offer to get drinks, to which he immediately agreed, reminded of a set he wanted to work on while she was out of his presence.

He set his current project to the side, but he didn't reach for his new materials until the door shut firmly behind Shikiyoku. His hands flew around his space in a blur, grabbing for a small velvet satchel in one drawer and a slightly larger, plastic bag from another.

He dropped the three tear gems from the velvet bag into one hand, and in the other he quickly but carefully extracted a long silver chain that glimmered golden under the light. He attached a rounded metal pendant to the chain and set into it one of the tear gems, his fingers working to keep it in place as the glue dried.

Once confident that the gem would not roll out of its place, he set the chain on his desk and turned to place the two other gems into simple earring pieces, keeping them on a simple post made of the same metal as the necklace above, both enchanted to fight off damage from long-time wear.

He inspected the pieces under the lamp as the door opened again, and he had time to turn and place the now-set earrings into a jewelry box and carefully place the necklace a separate, larger box before he swiveled his chair to Shikiyoku.

She only just got the door closed behind her when he rolled his chair out from behind his desk and sat up further in his chair, at first thinking he might stand, but deciding instead to remain seated.

"Thank you," he smiled at her and rested both hands, one closed into a loose fist and the other flattened over the bigger box, in his lap. "Set those down for a moment, please, and c'mere." *

Shikiyoku moved further into the room and tilted her head at Hiei as she took a breath and felt how the wrappings he'd done from several days ago were much looser now, but became distracted by his request as she came closer.

Obligingly putting the pair of glasses on a clear edge of the desk he sat behind, she came around the corner of it to him with a small smile. 3

Hiei waited until Shikiyoku's hands were free before he reached out to her, first holding out the smaller box with the earrings inside. He held it on the palm of his left hand for her to take.

"I have two things for you. This one…" He dropped his gaze to the little velvet box and his smile grew just a touch. "This one is supposed to tell you how much I love you, even on the days where I'm not here to tell you." He met her gaze again, then gestured with his hand that she should take it from him. *

Amusement flickered across Shiki's face at the notion she might ever forget such a fact as she reached out for the box and made to open it.

She stared down at the earrings nestled into it and blinked, her amusement softening as she smiled at them a little while reaching up to tuck part of her long hair behind an ear.

Her glasses had been set aside sometime during their rest and her hair too had been released from the crown Raion wove for it in the meadow.

"I'm very torn, you know." She told him as she looked back up at him, "On the one hand, they're quite beautiful," She reached up and drew the back of a finger across the top of his cheekbone beneath one of his eyes, "On the other hand, their existence means something made you cry, my Consort." 3

Hiei sat forward in his chair eagerly to watch her look the earrings over, his eyes glittering as she peered into the little box. And, after a few beats, he found himself glad that he'd kept them in a separate box from the necklace because, as she reached up to touch his face, she confirmed what he had already suspected:

She hadn't seen him shed those particular tears.

His smile softened and he took her hand in his. "Well, yes. However, those particular ones were happy tears." He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand briefly, then turned to let his cheek rest against the back of her hand, her fingers still laced with his.

"Those are from the moment that you told me you love me." *

Her brow furrowed for one moment in thought, though the expression was not an unpleasant one.

"Oh, Hiei." She said in the next as she realized what he'd done, gaze flickering back over to the earrings and then her fingers squeezing his own.

Shiki's head dipped down a little as she almost leaned forward to kiss the cheek he did not have in her hand.

She let out a little breath instead.

Not disbelieving, though she couldn't say she remembered taking note of such tears at the time, but being reminded again of the strange turn that particular night had taken and how it had settled her heart on many things, she gave him another soft smile. 3

Hiei watched her with a keen gaze as the realization set in over her features, and for a brief moment, he found himself remembering the night he referred to and all of the feelings he'd felt.

So many fears, gone in an instant; so many worries, cleared away; so much negativity, replaced with only the positive reality: she was not going anywhere.

Not for the first time, he thought about the dream he'd had almost a week ago now, and how dumb it had been, considering he genuinely had no fear of such an event happening now or ever.

His features softened ever so slightly. "I made them to be simple, so you could wear them whenever you liked."

He squeezed her hand in his and leaned forward to kiss her briefly on the lips before he settled into his chair again, his fingers slipping away from hers.

He took the second box in both hands and lifted it to her. "And this one…" He shrugged. "It'll speak for itself, I'm sure." *

Shikiyoku blinked down at Hiei as he left her, his kiss making her blush and stand up a little straighter again, eyes darting away from him as her hand dropped back to her side.

Still trying to gather herself, Shikiyoku closed the lid back over the earrings with slightly more fuss than they likely required, putting the box on the edge of the desk next to her before turning back to him.

"Hiei, you don't have to-" She huffed out another breath, reaching for the box to steady it in one hand as she left it in his grasp but went to open the lid, "-you shouldn't feel like you have to-"

The rest of the words caught in her throat, leaving her mouth hanging open as she blinked several times down at the necklace and immediately felt as if her core swelled up inside of her, knowing the sensation had passed over the bond even as it sighed away again and left her feeling breathless as well as speechless.

"I-" She lifted her gaze to his face, "Hiei, I-"

What? 3

Hiei's smile was much more gentle than before, softened by his adoration for her and his own understanding of this moment, if only because he'd experienced it himself not all too long ago.

He lowered his gaze to the open lid of the box as if he could see through it and to the necklace inside.

"And now everyone will know that I can't live without you. Nor would I want to." His lips twitched ever so slightly. "The world deserves to know there is someone who feels this way about you." *

I know what it means, I-

...

-I just wouldn't have guessed that you-

She stared down at the tear gem.

Another one of his own, she was sure.

She'd said on more than one occasion she wouldn't be alive without him. Recent happenings had just made that all the more apparent to her, how she meant it not only literally anymore, but also in every other way she could think of.

"Hiei..." Once again, it wasn't that she didn't believe him. This time however, she found it a little harder to believe.

And she wasn't entirely sure she could handle the thought of it.

Living for yourself was one thing.

Living for someone else...was entirely different.

Her cheeks tinged pink again, "Hiei, I had no idea you felt this way." 3

The fire demon gave a slow nod, though his eyes remained on the box. He couldn't quite bring himself to look up at her suddenly, and he wasn't really sure why.

I've never known how to express these things.

Even now, there were things he didn't understand about himself, about things regarding his relationship with her, that he couldn't express.

"I've never had the opportunity to express it," he finally admitted, "because I didn't know how. Or, for a long time, what it even meant." His thumb stroked the velvet box absently. "And…"

He swallowed.

"I wanted-" (-no, needed-) "-you to know, too." He finally glanced up at her for a moment before his eyes dropped away again. *

It was much easier, Shikiyoku realized, for her to have come to the conclusion she did sooner than Hiei had.

After all, whether they held their position more benevolently or less, she had felt as much the same way with her Champions.

She wondered briefly if all this was somehow part of having a Consort.

If she thought for a moment he actually wanted it, she would have asked him in this moment if he might consider being her lifemate.

"It can be hard to have the words for things when you don't know what they are." Shikiyoku eventually replied, still staring down at the necklace and wondering at how Hiei had come to feel the same way about her.

As for the necklace...

She smiled a little again, "Hiei, I really don't even know what to say." The tips of her fingers moved briefly over the necklace as she admitted: "I've never had anyone tell me they felt this way before." 3

Hiei slowly pulled the box away from her and turned it toward himself. He set it in his lap and extricated the chain from its secure space and, after a few moments of glancing it over for any imperfections, he reached up to slip the necklace over her head.

He understood more than anyone the feeling of being told one was cared for for the first time. He'd gone so much of his life without ever even knowing it was possible that when the first person told him, he'd wondered silently to himself what she would gain from his believing her.

Now, knowing the truth from her as he did, he only remained quiet, letting the necklace speak for him as he pulled her into a gentle hug. *

~!**!~

The problem with drinking everything that had been sent her way since Hiei left earlier in the morning was by the time any noticeable crowd was actually in the bar, Shikiyoku herself had gathered quite a few of them to her station.

Usually the busiest bartender when she worked anyway, being inebriated in any capacity meant she had less control of the stuff wafting around her general vicinity, and whether or not the general public could see the various shimmers and sparkles that lit up the area around her, they could definitely smell them, the scent of her energy turning more heads than usual.

For her part, Shikiyoku was beyond the point of caring, if probably much more gregarious even than normal for her usual manner in which she served those requesting drinks.

Even her staff found her giddiness rather infectious, though any of them who weren't sure where the respectful 'Za Joie' nomenclature originated from suddenly, completely, understood why the boss was referred to as such.

Her entire mood seemed to set the atmosphere of the place.

Kurama the Youko did not come in through the main doors.

They were much too close to the bar station he fully expected Shikiyoku to be standing behind for his devices.

And neither did he make a particularly large production of slipping inside from the side entrance either, taking the moment of solitude amidst what he immediately recognized to be an especially rowdy environment that evening to scan the entirety of the gathered patrons.

Only the bartender closest to the side door seemed to notice him almost immediately, but since Kurama had been the one who arranged for Shikiyoku to continuously receive drinks throughout the day—-each one of them different, poignant, and exceptionally inappropriate—and contacted this bartender specifically, it came as no surprise to see him appear since the other was on the lookout for the fox already.

To say he was pleased to spy her more carefree movements even as she expertly continued doing her job with an efficiency and, he assumed, accuracy she always had would have been putting it mildly, the kitsune's eyes immediately taking on a more wicked glimmer at the confirmation that his prey this evening was playing so exceptionally into the rest of his plans.

The absence of Hiei was a little disappointing as part of the point of the following moments would be further solidified if the Consort himself were present, but Kurama did not take the time to extend his senses to see if his friend were nearby.

Especially not since everything leading up to the moment he had planned was already in motion, keen yellow eyes catching sight of a waitress with a somewhat silly grin on her face shake her head at the bartender who spotted Kurama coming inside, but turn to deliver the drink down the other end of the bar, several stations away, to Shikiyoku herself.

By the time he watched Shikiyoku throw back this shot, standing a head or so taller than most of the humanoids packed into the room, the demons nearest Kurama took note of his presence where he leaned casually against the bar and without fail the news of his arrival spread like wildfire and he turned his head to give a somewhat cool sort of smile to the nearest of them, expression reserved at present as he started to make his way forward and the crowd started to slowly shift and move for him.

His ears twitched slightly as he heard his name start to whisper farther out exponentially and by the time even the corners knew of his presence, Shikiyoku had already excused herself from her adoring patrons and began moving to meet him, a drink, as he requested, in her hand to deliver.

"Well, hello there, sexy."

Kurama's tail swished once with his amusement, an eyebrow lifting into the air as the two of them stopped in front of one another and the corner of his lips twitched upwards at the greeting he received from the much shorter woman.

Anyone that hadn't been stealing glances at the infamous bandit certainly began staring at least intermittently now that the owner had come up to him.

"Hello yourself." His eyes flashed as he considered her, eyes sweeping up and down her figure.

"The drink you requested." She didn't make a move to hold it out to him, but he flickered his attention to it briefly.

"Perhaps you'll accept one of my own in exchange for it?"

This time her eyes glittered in a similarly dangerous fashion at him, neither one making any particular effort to hide their conversation as they stood within arm's reach of one another.

"There hasn't been a drink you've sent me today that I haven't accepted."

"I noticed."

The undulated aura of yellow energy around her shimmered and he let it catch his attention this time, his calculating stare roaming over it just as it had over her moments prior.

His gaze made it shiver pleasantly and his smirk widened as he slowly returned his eyes back to hers.

Shikiyoku held out a hand as a waiter meant to pass and deliver a drink en route to another table and she held the shot glass from the bottom in lithe fingers that had expected it having sensed the desire of its delivery, turning it back and forth though her gaze did not leave him for a second.

The heated intensity of her own stare made him want to do just about anything to her except stand there and he felt his muscles wind tighter as he reminded himself of the point of the entire production he was putting on for every single eye in this establishment.

Any whispers now were centered around the notion that they did not recognize the drink she held, which mattered little to Kurama, though he was certain at least one among the patrons would know, if one of the staff themselves didn't let the information fly out into their midst.

Everything for him hinged on whether or not Shikiyoku chose to drink it, and he had long ago worked his plan on the assumption that she would by this time be much to far gone, have imbibed every other offer he'd sent up to this point, for her to stop with this last one.

Through the haze of her inebriation as well as her energy, Shikiyoku didn't quite catch on to the triumph that overtook Kurama's piercing stare when, within a beat of receiving this second shot since his entrance, she threw it back.

They played this game as if they were born for the parts.

If he'd asked her what it was for, she wouldn't have been able to tell him.

If he hadn't gotten her so drunk in the first place, she might have considered how dangerous that little fact could be.

Truthfully, she didn't even consider it as he bent down over her, avoiding the drink she still held in her one hand to wrap his slender fingers around the back of her neck, the other hand moving to her waist as if she might have the brain capacity to slip away from him.

By the time she realized he had tilted her head to the side, it was already too late and she felt a portion of his energy begin coursing through her veins alongside her own as his teeth pierced her skin, sending the most wonderful burning ache spreading towards her toes in a way that made Shikiyoku's core skip a beat before increasing in tempo as the sensation overtook her in a very specific sort of ecstasy she had not felt since her last Champion.

Since him.

Kurama watched what of her face he could once he had his fangs in her neck and felt his energy in this moment instinctively react to his very specific desire to have her marked as his own, watched her eyes flutter shut and her lips part just slightly as she genuinely relaxed in his hands and would likely have done anything in that moment to keep him there in turn.

At just the beat when he knew he wanted to stay, to fill her up completely, Kurama clenched his stomach and managed to pull away, hearing at this proximity a noise from Shikiyoku that reflected his own feelings on the matter even as the marking which had begun to rise from beneath her skin settled under his eyes, scar over his initial bite, and spread further out as his breath moved across what of her neck and shoulder her blouse had exposed.

As reluctant as his departure from her had been, he smiled perhaps a bit wickedly at the dark lines that curved around her alabaster skin, enjoying the color contrast this time just as much as he had with the last marking he put on her in her other form.

He murmured into her ear, still inches from it, and saw her somewhat unfocused green eyes cut to their corners in her attempt to see him. He knew she likely couldn't make out his words as he spoke them, even as he let himself watch hungrily the last of the marking emerging into place, "Now, if that doesn't light a fire underneath your Consort...I don't know what will." 3

After the moment in the jewelry room, Hiei had gone back to his various projects for the day and the days following, adding in the occasional read and write lessons, broken up only by Hiei's teaching Shikiyoku how to properly wrap her wounds once she was able to move free enough to do so.

When none of that seemed to keep him busy enough, he spent a day rotating between working behind the bar and sitting with the guild, all of whom welcomed him with smiling faces and stories of Airi and Gai's visit the night they'd all gotten to meet her officially.

Hiei expressed his apology for not truly greeting her, but Gai waved it away with promises to bring her around the next time.

The following morning, Hiei awoke from a dream about sparring with Shiki and, after briefly telling her that the dream had occurred and getting an 'I'm sorry' - to which he ensured her was not boring in any capacity for him - revealed his desire to go find a place for them to spar.

Her delayed 'okay' followed by the bond's telling of her confusion was enough for him to kiss her goodbye and disappear for, choosing instead to find the sparring spot and eventually show her how fun that could be.

For the better part of the day, Hiei ran the first level, scouring its forests outside of the city for an out-of-the-way clearing that might shelter them from any hiking humans or curious demons.

Sometime around dusk he found himself standing in a vast circle of trees, the forest shielding him from view of anyone or anything else in the area other than the usual creatures of the terrain. He ran its length and found that it was spacious enough for a group the size of his guild to spar if they needed it, but a quiet voice in the back of his mind whispered about keeping the sparring between him and Shikiyoku.

He ran a good perimeter around the area and found it to be a good distance from any city or town, with very few roads coming even close to the clearing. Satisfied, he took one last look around the area and turned to make his way back to the bar, mapping out the route in his mind while also holding onto his excitement to show her later.

The moon, as full as it could be, lit his way back to the bar, creating shadows and casting light on his path. He enjoyed its light and the accompanying stars as he ran, finding for the first time in many weeks it did not hurt to do so.

He only slowed once the bar was in sight.

Only slightly out of breath, the fire demon stepped through the front door of the bar to see golden energy floating about the room almost lazily, languidly. He followed its path through the crowd mildly, wondering what had it so stirred up, and took one step forward before the most intense emotion passed over the bond.

Pleasant, but intense.

He blinked a few times as the emotion coursed through him as if it were his own, wonderful and somehow satisfying, and so strong that he couldn't quite get his feet to move forward even as his eyes swept the room for the source of it.

He spotted Shikiyoku on the other side of the bar, standing with Kurama leaned over her. Conflicted about the cause for whatever 'wonderfulness' was still coursing through him, he took another brief moment to shake himself from its hold and the subsequent internal conflict.

What he instead found himself focusing on was the guild at the usual table, each person with their heads ducked closer to the center in the tell-tale betting fashion and their eyes darting over to Shiki every so often.

Hiei finally picked up his foot and began to make his way to Shikiyoku to greet her and Kurama, his eyes set on the shorter of the two. However, in passing the guild, he couldn't quite help but overhear their bet.

"-Raion could."

"No, Aki, I bet you could make her glitter first."

Hiei immediately opened up his telepathy to encompass the guild and, as his mind filled with their joined surprise at his presence, he only said a single word:

"Bet."

Not looking at the guild, or Kurama, or anyone but Shikiyoku, Hiei stood himself a little taller to command passage through the groups of demons standing about, and he carved his path through the customers until he stepped within reach of Shiki.

And without even so much as a 'hello,' Hiei, aware that more than just the guild's eyes were on him, swung his hand out to smack Shikiyoku on the butt and just as promptly came to stand next to her with a smirk on his face just for her. *

Kurama's murmurings were punctuated by a brief kiss in the midst of the marking he'd placed on her that only as he started to pull away did those around him begin staring at, some taking to more immediate understanding than others.

Shikiyoku had not quite caught her breath as he stood back up and almost dared her to say something to him, blinking up at him in the midst of the madly swirling energy she could still feel prominently rushing through her limbs with an insistence she so desperately wanted to follow-through with that it left her rooted to the spot.

She gave him the slyest smile this form had likely ever worn, a crooked grin currently punctuated by the golden energy glimmering this time across her features unlike he'd ever seen it and holding him in place in equal form.

He could feel likewise how his energy wished to claim her, and how in those following breaths he found he wanted nothing more than to know the sensation of it for himself, to have those bits of glitter he could see reflecting in the air around her pumping intimately through his body in a way it never had before.

In an attempt to stay his hand which reached for her again, Kurama grabbed instead for the drink she still held and raised it to his lips, a brief glance taking note of the approaching fire demon and suddenly very aware of how he had completely missed Hiei's entrance.

Shikiyoku's expression, and whatever she had been about to say, was entirely disrupted by the slap she received from Hiei, eyes widening suddenly as in the midst of the sudden cloudpuff of energy that sparkled heavily out of her as if he'd summoned it himself, she whipped her head over her shoulder to see him standing next to her with a cheeky half-grin of his own.

For his part, Kurama immediately began laughing, one hand at his stomach and the arm with the drink coming up across his face in place of the palm he wished to put there.

Shikiyoku blinked several times, the flush of the drinks in her deepening to a more prominent pink on her skin.

Her actual feelings on the matter were unmistakable as, in a similar manner to the sensations Kurama's energy awoke within her, the bond made it clear she enjoyed the act.

The problem for her was how just as readily the bond made the distinction that the fact of it being Hiei made it better.

Which left her staring at the hybrid. 3

The look on Shikiyoku's face coupled with the bond's admission of her enjoying it more because it was him had Hiei giving the briefest pause to watch the sparkles dance around her face. A breath, followed by an amused little "oh" slipped past his tongue, and before he could stop it, the bond relayed his thought of now I see why he did it.

In the distance, there was a clatter. "Dammit Boss, that's cheating!"

Hiei ignored the guild and effectively closed telepathic communication with them so he could lean down and press his lips to Shikiyoku's cheek, a slight chuckle sneaking its way from his lips as he again took in the expression on her face. *

Kurama's laughter had started to settle as Hiei kissed her, the kitsune trying to catch his breath and actually very grateful to the other for the disruption, having been rather violently pulled from the moment he'd been lost in with Shikiyoku and better able to grasp once more at his mental faculties.

Well, mostly anyway.

"I-ha-I've never seen her make that face before." It was Kurama's turn to grin as he finally lowered his hand, adding before he took a drink-seeing that Shikiyoku had at least settled a little, but still had that wide-eyed look-"I think you broke it." 3

Does that happen every time?

Completely wrapped up in the wave of Shikiyoku's emotions, Hiei almost missed Kurama standing upright and saying something to him. He had to blink a few times to clear his senses enough to turn a look at the kitsune that was not filled to the brim with his and Shikiyoku's mingling emotions, and even then he almost missed what had been said.

As Kurama took a drink, Hiei slowly slid his hand up until it rested at the small of Shikiyoku's back, satisfied with the moment passing, and he let his smirk shift into a near grin.

"It's good to see you around, fox." He hadn't missed the many demons in the bar watching the three of them, and he was almost certain Shikiyoku's state was due to Kurama's presence.

He'd wondered how long it would be before the fox moved on their agreement. *

"I missed you too, Hiei." He replied as he watched Shikiyoku lean her side in to be closer to Hiei.

In the next moment, she had slipped her arm beneath his to mirror the one at her back and reached up to turn his face her direction and kiss him.

If her lips hadn't been pressed to his, there would have been a giggle accompanying the admission in the bond between them, but the emotion colored the words in any case:

(I love you.)

"I'll leave you in the capable care of your Consort, Yoku." His eyes flashed at her when she met his eyes and realized what he meant beneath that cool smile.

Seeing her about to protest, and knowing said protests would be in relation to how expediently he might be planning on making good on the drinks she'd had that day, he held out a few of the fingers circling his glass to stay her words.

"No, I think that can wait."

He almost laughed again, this time at her narrowed eyes, "If you'll excuse me." He stepped passed them further into the crowd. 3

Hiei might have had something to say to Kurama, but whatever it was disappeared from his tongue when Shikiyoku's hand pulled his face to hers in a wonderful kiss. He lingered on her lips for as long as she let him, tasting the various alcoholic drinks she'd had that day.

He smiled against her.

(I love you, too.)

He stared at her for a few moments after the kiss ended, but straightened up in time to see Kurama wave a few fingers in dismissal of whatever Shikiyoku had been about to say.

Hiei sidestepped to give Kurama room as he passed, and the fire demon turned to look at Shikiyoku again, his smile returning.

"I see you've had an interesting day," he commented, nebulously gesturing to the hazy, gold-energy filled room around them.

~!**!~

Akihiko finished writing a few things in his little pocketbook before he tucked it and his pen away to the left breast pocket inside his jacket. "Just because you call it cheating, that does not mean it is cheating, Tarou."

"But that's why we made the bet! He wasn't here!"

"Until he was," Chisai said with a shrug. "You could have gotten up and ran over there."

"That guy, run? He'd knock over the whole bar just trying to get there," Raion jabbed. "And that's while he's sober."

"He isn't the most graceful, is he?"

"Hey, you shut yer mouth, twinkle toes!"

Gai frowned. "Why am I called twinkle toes?"

Hiko sighed and took a long drink.

"Because he can't come up with any better insults," Raiton answered.

"I still can't believe that happened," Tarou mumbled. *

"I've honestly never seen her make that face before."

Akihiko quickly took a drink as soon as he realized it was Kurama in Hiei's chair to stay anything he might have had to say about it.

"Yeah no kidding." Tsundora still watched the pair across the room, his tail wagging in the chair behind him.

"I should get some of those winnings," Raion grumbled into his drink, "He only did it because I did it first."

"Okay, look here, cat, you were not the first person at this table to slap mom on the ass." Tarou pointed across the table at the other.

"I was."

"Yeah! He was!" Tarou sat back triumphantly, taking a giant swig of his drink before he realized who had said it and what he'd agreed to.

~!**!~

The kiss they shared had made all sorts of emotions bubble up inside of Shikiyoku, her core shivering pleasantly and sending Kurama's energy swirling intricately through her limbs alongside her own.

She couldn't stay upset with Kurama for leaving her for too long, not with Hiei turning to her with that smile after the fox left.

Her eyes gleamed, full of adoration for the demon she leaned into, her hand previously at his neck having returned to rest there and absently moving the tips of her fingers around on what swirls were beneath her touch.

"Yeah," She admitted with an infectious, if sloppy grin, something of a coherence in her gaze, but obviously affected by the buzzing of her energy all along her skin and scalp.

Remembering now the reason he left, she perked up, "Didja find anywhere good?" 3

Hiei watched Shikiyoku with a gleaming gaze, finding her happiness continued to thrill through the bond, if muted compared to before, and support his own happiness at having returned.

He leaned down to place a quick kiss on her cheek, and as he pulled away, he said, "I'm enjoying you being this happy."

Her question, however, spiked his own excitement that thrilled across the bond toward her, renewed with the reminder of any possible sparring match in the future. "I did." He thought about the directions he took and how far it was, then let out a breath and continued, "It's a good distance from here, but it's also away from any and all civilization - human, demon, or otherwise. It's surrounded by forest, no roads or fences…" He met her gaze again. "I think you'll like it."

~!**!~

"But he's the first to get such an outward reaction," Chisai added, his eyes skipping over Kurama once and then snapping over at the fox demon.

"I think that's how he learns stuff like that," Raiton commented.

"Yeah, he reminds me of me a little," Gai shrugged. "I learned by watching and repeating." He glanced around the table, "Especially with Airi."

Hiko sat back in his chair, waiting to see when the brothers and Gai would pick up on Kurama's arrival.

"But he's a fire demon," Raion countered. "They're usually very well versed in these things." He gave Kurama an inquiring look. Unless you know something we don't. "Maybe it's that Cursed Child thing."*

Kurama shrugged, "He has the battle lust I've seen from other fire demons anyway." Kurama thought of Taka. "If it is, Raion, then Hiei is the only one I've seen with it."

"You're gonna get in trouble talking like that." Chisai reminded him.

Raion imitated Kurama's shrug, "She's so damn drunk she won't do anything about it."

"Or she's so damn drunk she would." Akihiko retorted.

Tsundora gave a little huff out of his nose, a contented one that meant he'd completely lost track of the conversation going on around him as his gaze had yet to return to the table.

Kurama took another sip from his glass.

~!**!~

Shikiyoku grinned at him, "S' easy to be happy when you come back in one piece, flameboy."

"Sounds nice." Her head tilted at him, smile turning lopsided.

Her ears twitched as she heard her name called from the other end of the bar and she sought out the voice, giving a long blink down the line as she remembered.

"Oh shit, Hiei, I was-" She turned back to him and took a second to focus back in on his face, having moved her head too fast. "-I need to go-"

Her eyes widened as her hands clutched him for a second as if he had moved and not her.

It was definitely her.

She'd just moved too fast.

She laughed.

"I can't go..." 3

Hiei blinked at her curse, but his smile widened just a touch as she clutched at him to steady herself. He set his hands on the outside of her arms, holding her still as he watched.

Her laugh, as delightful as it was for him to hear, was what helped him decide she did not need to be working anymore this night. Instead, he opened up his telepathy to the whole of the staff, letting them know he was there and would be stepping up to take her place, and he turned to guide Shikiyoku towards the guild.

"Well, I can take over until the next shift," he told her as he carved a path through the customers in the room, towing her by the hand behind him. "And when I'm done, I'll come join you." He glanced over his shoulder with gleaming eyes. "How's that, my Beloved?"

~!**!~

"You would deserve it," Raiton gave Raion a pointed look.

"The only thing I deserve is a cut of the winnings."

"Or a kick in the ass-"

"When'd you…" Raion pointed at Kurama with one of the fingers curled around his drink.

"About five minutes ago," Chisai murmured.

"I'm gonna go order more drinks at the bar. Anybody want anything?" Gai stood from his chair and hovered just beside it.

Tarou raised a hand.

"The usual?"

"Yeah."

"As if you had to ask if he wanted more."

"No one asked you, kitty-cat."

Gai nodded and glanced around the table, but only smiled at Kurama as if he belonged there. *

Kurama shook his head a little at the other and let Gai go without saying anything else.

~!**!~

The stupid grin she'd had for Hiei when she finished laughing stayed on her face.

She hadn't even had to resort to begging him to do it for her.

"You're the best." She squeezed his hand, letting him pull her along through the crowd, "That sounds great." 3

Hiei passed by Gai, who smiled and waved his hello but otherwise kept moving past the pair.

He squeezed Shikiyoku's hand back as he led her along, his eyes keen on the crowds in front of him and how they parted when he met gazes. Because of the parting of the masses, it wasn't long before Hiei came to stand at the table of his guildies, where he guided Shikiyoku to Gai's empty chair, then he planted a kiss on her cheek and pulled away with a silent promise to return when things calmed down. *

Tsundora was up out of his chair as it became obvious the pair intended to come up to the table, though he wasn't surprised to see Hiei part from them and leave her there.

He gave her a hug and got a very nice one in return as she kissed his cheek.

"Are you happy, Tsun?"

His crooked smile accompanied the wagging of his tail as he looked down at her exceptionally serious face.

"Yes, mother." He hugged her again.

"Hey, stop hoggin' mom!" Tarou banged his mug on the table several times, "Let 'er sit down!"

Tsun let her go and Shikiyoku ignored the empty chair to circle the table and climb into Tarou's lap.

"Yes!" He threw his arms in the air and then wrapped them around her and rubbed his partially stubbly cheek against hers, "Winning!"

There was at least one or two other semi-disappointed faces, though Kurama in particular seemed rather amused.

Shikiyoku laughed and hugged Tarou's arms, leaning against him. 3

Raion raised his glass to his lips and grumbled, "I hate him," then took a long drink.

Chisai shrugged, unbothered by the turn of events. "Only because you don't get lap tax."

~!**!~

Hiei flit across the bar and was at Shikiyoku's station within the next second, lining empty glasses and filling them with orders that had been waiting the longest. He passed that tray to a passing waitress, and had a second one ready to go within the next few seconds.

Gai stepped up to the station with a smile. "I forget you're fast enough to get back here before I cross the room," the other commented as he slipped into one of the stools.

Hiei nodded. "She needed a break."

"I'm glad to see you guys up and around again," Gai mumbled, his smile wavering just a little. "You didn't look too good the other day. We were worried."

Hiei met Gai's gaze evenly and gave a slight hint of a smile. "I'm sorry we made you worry."

"Better be."

Hiei lined glasses in front of Gai, then grabbed a tray and set the small grouping on it just for him, at the last second adding a plate of food for Shikiyoku's 'lap tax'. "Take care of her."

"Will do."

Gai slipped away from the bar and another took his place, leaving Hiei only a moment to watch the energy around the room before he turned to drink making again. *

~!**!~

Shikiyoku stuck her tongue out at Raion as she wrapped her arms around Tarou's neck, the cat demon narrowing his eyes at her.

"You wanna lose that tongue, Mum?"

"Only to you." She fired back.

Kurama chuckled behind his glass as he recognized the retort quite well.

"You know, Yoku, I was thinking the other day about the two-heavens harmony technique you know."

"Uh-huh." She intoned as she snuggled up against Tarou, who seemed particularly pleased with his current situation and had a goofy grin plastered across his features.

"Honestly, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to learn you knew such a style of swordplay. But truthfully I'd been wondering how you'd gone so many years with him without-"

Shikiyoku smacked Kurama's shoulder with such force and gave him a glare that might have stopped anyone besides the fox.

As it was, he changed trajectory at least, shrugging again, "I mean it's a valid inquiry, is it not?"

"No." She said hotly, still glaring. 3

Akihiko took a long drink from his glass, if only to hide the hint of a smile that threatened to be seen.

"Here you go!" Ikigai stepped up next to Tarou and Shikiyoku, where he set a drink for the big guy and a plate for Shiki, then he moved on to Raiton and Raion.

"Hey, Gai," Chisai called, "has Airi decided when she wants to come back?"

"Mmm, her work schedule is really unstable right now." Gai lowered himself into his chair and rested the now empty tray in his lap. "She hopes next week, but if Hiei is feeling well enough, I imagine we'll be out on a job by then."

"Well, I look forward to seeing her again," Hiko said. "She handled the atmosphere very well."

"I think so too."

~!**!~

Hiei whipped drinks up left and right, and sent them in seemingly random directions until he found himself with a steady set of customers in front of him and the waitresses were caught up enough to settle back into a rhythm.

Once that rhythm found its way behind the bar too, he found himself able to properly look around the room every once in a while, monitoring not just the demons in the room, but the energy that floated freely between bodies.

At one point he noticed the energy moving toward him, but instead of touching or coiling around him as it had in the past, it seemed to hang and hover in the air around him as if waiting for him to move into it. *

~!**!~

"Speaking of a job," Kurama hadn't the faintest idea who this Airi was, though he supposed he could have guessed if asked, "Assuming your boss continues to mend, you might seriously consider making your preparations for the trip to the Seventh I'd like you to take for me." He took another drink from his glass. "I expect you could be ready in a few days, no?"

Shikiyoku looked around and made a noise of consternation when she realized she didn't have a drink.

"Dun' go anywhere, big guy. I'll be ri' back." Shikiyoku scrambled to her own feet with Tarou's help and she slipped around the table to take the tray from Gai, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she moved for the bar.

Halfway there, a waitress swept by with an, "I'll take that," and she found herself without the tray, but kept moving for the station she'd been at earlier in the day, eyes keen on the hybrid working behind it.

She slid into a stool in front of him just as it was vacated and she put her arms up on the bar, planting one elbow and resting her cheek in a hand as she stared at him. 3

Hiei tilted a bottle just so, its clear contents spilling over onto a myriad of other colorful liquids until the point where the clear reached just a hair shy of the rim, at which point Hiei lifted it enough to pause the pour and moved on to the next drink.

Within a blink, four of that same drink were sent on a tray with a few others, and he worked to line several glasses of varying sizes up for the next round.

He sensed Shikiyoku coming closer, but didn't look up from what he was doing as a larger, more complicated set of drink orders were called onto the telepathic working list. He worked faster to get this set done, then moved on to the twenty drink order and began to set those up.

~!**!~

Tarou, once Shikiyoku was out of range, sat forward in his chair and leaned against the table toward Kurama, "You bet your ass we'd be ready."

Akihiko nodded a couple of times. "At most, it would take us three days."

"But we've done it in less," Raion added with a sly grin and a twitch of his tail. *

"I imagine you've done many things in less time, Raion." Kurama replied, looking over at the other in a manner that made Raiton snark into the drink he'd just taken.

Kurama's gaze shifted to the wolf, "If you're still around by the time they're ready, I'm sure they'll need all the help they can get."

~!**!~

Shikiyoku hadn't stopped smiling at him since she sat down, and she wanted to reach out and touch him, but didn't want to interrupt what he was doing, so it ended up the arm not helping to prop up her face was hanging in his direction over the edge of the bar on his side as far as it would reach, her hand absently moving in the air as it rested there like she meant to do something with it but never did.

"When you're not busy, will you make me a drink?" She also hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she sat down either. 3

He could feel her stare. It wasn't a heavy stare, nor was it negative in any way. It just was. A constant little sensation at the back of his neck, a quiet little awareness on the edges of his attention.

It was almost distracting.

His eyes flickered to her hand, seeing it lazily hanging over the edge of the bar station. He finished a few drinks in this line and moved the glasses onto a tray, and as his hands returned to his work, he reached out and just brushed the back of her hand with his fingers before pulling away to grab a bottle.

"Of course," he answered immediately, glancing up to smile at her briefly before turning down to the last of this order.

At the tail end of this line of drinks, he plunked down a crystal glass not unlike those of the usual whiskey glasses, and his eyes followed the swirls that were etched into the walls. He managed to drop an ice cube into it before turning back to the other drinks, all of which required more layers and colors and attention than the other orders, and he gave them every bit of attention they needed before he sent them away with one of the waitresses.

He turned back to the little glass with ice and poured over it a shimmery, red liquid. Then, when it was three-quarters of the way full, he dipped below the bar and procured another bottle, from which he poured a golden beverage that, as it chilled over the ice, began to form larger, shinier glitter-like pieces that free floated in the glass much like her energy did around him.

Satisfied with the red accentuated pleasantly with the gold, he set it in front of Shikiyoku with a smile. *

Shikiyoku's hand shifted in his direction when he touched it, as if she wanted more but wouldn't ask outright.

His fingertips left trails of shimmering energy across her skin that slowly vanished once he'd left it.

"Very pretty." She told him, without having so much as glanced at it. "Thank you."

The hand hanging over the edge of the bar opened and closed as she lifted it, asking him to come within reach as she leaned forward.

(Kiss me?) 3

Hiei ducked below the edge of the bar long enough to grab a few glasses in his hands, the telepathic list seeming to grow exponentially in that moment, and then he stood up again to spy the wave of Shikiyoku's hand just at the edge of his vision.

Her request fostered a warmth at his core and an excitement in his eyes.

His gaze traveled up her arm and to her face, seeing the mark on her neck but too busy in the moment to truly see it. His hands continued to line up glasses in a very specific order even as he leaned across the way to kiss her.

(You need only ask, my Beloved.) *

The energy around Shikiyoku seemed to shiver pleasantly at the lingering look he gave her, as if it anticipated his response before Shikiyoku herself actually knew he'd said yes.

And in the midst of the energy in the slow whirl around her, she propped herself up forward across the bar to meet him when something in her noticed his positive physical reaction to her request.

She smiled when she found his lips, reaching out to cradle his neck in one of her hands when she saw his were busy and shouldn't take a moment to do the same-(I'll keep that in mind.)-and did not let the kiss last very long, intentionally so, pulling away to give him a single wink amidst a dry and somehow also flirty expression as she scooped up the pretty drink he made for her and hopped down from the stool.

"Thanks, handsome."

The response he got from the bond when she kissed him was swirling with the energy that bubbled around inside of her, but was still coherent in this instance, still able to be read between them.

"I can't actually say." Kurama was telling the guild when questioned about the location and what they might be facing. "And not because I might in some circumstances willfully withhold information from those who wish to know. In this instance, my interests remain wholly on your success and I'll gather what little I know to give to you before you leave in regards to the artifact I require."

He had one arm thrown up behind the back of the chair, the other lifting his glass to his lips and the rest of the guild mostly quiet as they listened, "As for the area in which it is held, I've never actually been there. The mansion wasn't on my radar when I was roaming the other levels, though we rarely went down quite so far. However, all of my informants tell me what I seek is there. Inside the grounds. And if I wasn't so convinced myself, I assure you I wouldn't bother seeking your employ."

When Shikiyoku meandered back up to the guild's table, she briefly stopped at Chisai's shoulder and rested her palm on it to get his attention. They exchanged a few quietly murmured words as she asked him how he had been as she leaned over to talk to him and as she stood back up and moved away, the blue-haired demon blinked at the tattoo curling across the side of her neck and down over her collar bone, her skin especially visible with the plain spaghetti-strapped blouse she wore.

He blinked again as it left his direct sight, the piercing eyes of what could be mistaken for nothing besides a fox face still staring at him as the image stayed visible in his mind's eye for another moment and his gaze snapped over to the kitsune reclining with them at the table.

He knew what a mark like that could mean, whether Hiei did or not.

"Aw, mom," Tarou complained as he noticed Shikiyoku sitting across Raiton's lap as the wolf demon's mouth was hanging open in what would have been a lop-sided pant as his head was tilted towards her while she scratched at one of his ears, his arms wrapped around her and his tail wagging out from the chair behind him.

One of Raiton's honey-colored eyes opened to twinkle at the other as he managed to taunt Tarou with, "Winning." 3

Hiei smiled into the kiss, lingering there until she pulled away, at which point he almost reached out to pull her back, but his hand bumping into one of the glasses lined on the bar distracted him from the thought long enough to let her get out of his reach.

He continued to watch her as she slid from her stool, his ears catching her thanks at the last moment before her wink distracted him again.

He could only smile at the back of her head as she shuffled through the crowd and back to the guild.

After she reached the table, he turned back down to his drink making process, not a single drop spilled, and he picked up speed again and had those sitting on a tray by the time a waitress passed by his station.

He smiled to himself as he passed the tray off and turned back down for another line of orders. She called me handsome.

~!**!~

Tarou lifted his drink to his lips. "She's never scratched behind my ear," he mumbled just before taking a drink.

"You've never asked her to," Raiton countered almost immediately.

Akihiko reached down for his glass and blinked when his hand couldn't find it, but when he turned to look for it, he frowned at Tarou as the other leaned toward Shikiyoku and Raiton, his two hands 'full' with Tarou's own glass and Akihiko's new drink.

"Mom, my ear itches, but I can't get it. Can you get it?"

Hiko let out a long sigh and turned to Kurama. "If you don't mind my asking now, what artifact is it?"

"And what does it do?" Gai leaned to Kurama with a curious grin. *

"OW! What the hell was THAT for?" Tarou shouted, nearly losing his grip on the tankards in his hands when Raion kicked him in the shin under the table.

"Your ear doesn't itch now, does it?" The lion sneered at the other.

Shikiyoku had at this point wrapped her arms around Raiton's neck and his attention completely turned away from the conversation at hand as she began talking to him.

Kurama smiled at the other two, "I think it would be in our best interest to wait and speak of specifics on our way down to the Third. Suffice it to say I haven't the faintest idea where on the grounds what I'm looking for is located, so your preparations should take into account not only time spent on travel down and up, but also allow for ample exploration of the mansion and surrounding area and that any part of it could be well-defended. Is well-defended." He corrected, "None of the spies I sent were willing to get close enough solo to truly scope things out." 3

While Akihiko took these things to be more serious, Ikigai, sitting on the other side of Kurama, grinned and gave a little bounce in his seat.

"Oh, I do love a good adventure!"

Tarou frowned across the table at Raion, though whatever he grumbled was lost under Gai's excitement.

Aki watched as the weapons master took a swig from the wrong drink, then, as Tarou apologized and made as if to pass the drink back to him, Hiko shook his head. "You've ruined it."

"...'s not so bad."

A fresh drink appeared in front of the second in command just as he turned back to Kurama. "I, for one, am looking forward to the challenge."

"One less job centered around Infected," Raion agreed.

Akihiko nodded. "Those are few and far between these days." *

Kurama tilted his head a little as if allowing the assertion, but, "That isn't to say you won't run into them on the way down there. My suggestion would be to keep your eyes and ears peeled and avoid them if at all possible. No point in wasting your resources on what isn't the prize." He smiled a little as he lifted his drink again, "I'm not paying you per Infected killed, after all."

"No, he totally would." Tsundora insisted a little louder, the conversation between himself, Raiton, and Shikiyoku expanding past just the private bubble the three of them had become lost in.

Shikiyoku shook her head emphatically.

"Just. Send it to him."

"I will not." She narrowed her eyes playfully at him, "That's mean, Tsun."

"He's gonna drink it."

"He wouldn't even know what it meant!"

Tsundora pursed his lips at her and as she grinned and reached over to scratch at his ear it flicked backwards out of her reach and he tried to bat her hand away.

"Stop. Stop it. You're just trying to weasel out of it."

"I'm not betting on this."

"Cuz you know I'm right."

"Betting on what?" Tarou immediately wanted to know, other conversations between guildies having broken off into smaller subsets.

Shikiyoku's eyes had narrowed at Tsun again, but the two of them turned to glare at Tarou, "None of your business."

He'd ruin everything. Tsundora thought as Raiton's gaze lifted from the petite woman in his lap to throw a rakish smile in the big guy's direction.

"Traitor." Tarou called across to him when Raiton didn't give him anything else to go on after Tarou turned his eyes to plead with the larger of the two wolves.

Raiton lifted and lowered a shoulder and glanced down at Shikiyoku, "I'm still the winner here."

"You're the worst." Raion and Tarou told him at the same time, the lion similarly hoping that he might be able to catch something of whatever 'bet' Tsundora was trying to coerce Shikiyoku into taking.

The pair had their heads closer together now and still seemed to be arguing vehemently back and forth.

One of Kurama's ears twitched slightly and Tarou pointed up at it.

"YOU. You know. Tell me."

Kurama lifted his eyebrows and turned to look down at Tarou who realized in mid-point maybe he was being rude, but had already committed to the action and stared as defiantly as he was able up at the other.

"Tell you what?"

Tarou knew the other was just being difficult and glared at him, but wasn't sure what to say.

Akihiko himself wasn't even sure of what exactly was transpiring between the two on the other side of the table, but when he'd caught Raiton's gaze, he'd known just as quickly the wolf wouldn't be giving it up, whatever it was.

Despite his burning curiosity.

I am not betting you a favor.

I didn't say you HAD to, I just said if you SENT it to him, I'd bet he would DRINK it.

And I'm telling you you're dead wrong!

What's the WORST thing that could happen if you sent it to him?

Shikiyoku paused for a second, knowing that if Hiei did or did not take a drink wouldn't particularly matter to her in the long run, she was just especially certain that he-A-wouldn't know what it meant and-B-would just as quickly toss it out if he went so far as to ask.

The drink gets wasted.

She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest, eyes gleaming in triumph as if she didn't expect him to have an adequate response.

Then I'll drink it.

Her expression shifted when his icy, taunting gaze sent an eerie set of chills across her neck and she pursed her lips at him, knowing for certain-unlike it might have been with some of the other guild members-this hadn't been the point of their drunken argument to begin with.

She huffed a breath out of her nose and her prickly stare only softened when Raiton intervened in their contest of wills and nudged at Shikiyoku's cheek with his nose, planting a gentle kiss on her skin in the same place and murmuring to her at the last.

And if he doesn't know what it means and he drinks it anyway, then you get to show him.

Shiki's eyes glanced in Raiton's direction and even before he continued, he knew he'd won.

You know you'd enjoy that.

Fuck you. She replied after the hesitation that the other two knew meant she agreed.

"HA!" Tsundora threw his head back and barked the laugh, hand slapping on the table in his amusement before he grabbed for his drink, downed it and gestured for the closest member of the wait staff to come take his next order.

The rest of the guild stared at Shikiyoku as she pulled the waiter down closer to her and murmured something in his ear before he turned away. 3

Hiei picked up speed, feeling freer than he had in a while as his muscles worked without restriction and without pain. He passed trays effortlessly and even tossed a bottle or two down the line, none of which were tossed back, though he suspected it was because of the incident a little over a week prior.

He'd gained quite the little grouping of spectators as he worked, some just able to catch his movements and tricks while others only watched the drinks fill up in front of them.

A few chatted idly with him, but for the most part, the patrons seated in front of him let him work in peace.

A drink slid into view just at the end of his production line, and for a moment he thought he was meant to pass it off.

"No, silly, it's for you," Sachi laughed telepathically.

He passed her the loaded tray and finally lifted his gaze to glance around the room, not recognizing the drink but also not willing to drink it if he wasn't sure of the sender. Several eyes watched him, but it was Shikiyoku's gaze slipping back to Raitoningu and the two wolves stares that confirmed for him Shikiyoku was indeed the sender.

(I have no idea what this means-)

He waited until he was sure he was being watched by one of the three before he turned and upended the drink into his mouth, drinking every drop before he set the now empty glass to the side and returned to the long list of orders waiting to be made.

(-but if it's from you, then yes.) *

If Raiton's grin back at Shikiyoku hadn't confirmed for Akihiko, regardless of whatever was happening, she had been wrong, then Tsundora leaning back in his chair and staring at her with his arms crossed over his chest did.

Tsundora leaned forward again even as Shikiyoku's pinched face refused to meet his gaze as he murmured, "Winning."

"He doesn't even know what it is!" She quietly hissed back at him like it was a problem, seeming angry in the moment, but the look in her eyes appeared more flustered to Tsun.

"I don't see how that's an issue." Raiton replied just as quietly. "Now you just get to show him."

"That's-ugh." Shikiyoku rolled her eyes upwards, "You're the worst."

"So I've heard."

"He said he'd drink anything if it was from me!" Her tone hadn't changed as she whispered through her teeth.

"I don't understand why this is so surprising to you." Tsundora commented mildly. "I'm fairly certain everyone at this table knew that."

When he turned his head as if to ask the rest of the table, Shikiyoku's hand came up across his mouth and pushed him so he was facing her again with a deep frown and a, "No."

He just raised his eyebrows at her with glittering amusement dancing across his features as he licked her hand when she started to pull it away and she grumbled something incoherent as she wiped it on her shirt.

Tsundora followed her action and blinked at the pair of tattooed eyes he suddenly realized were staring at him from atop her skin and his gaze darted over to the kitsune who was laughing at some conversation or another happening around the trio. 3

Hiei slipped a few more drinks onto a tray just as a couple of bodies passed behind him, one of the two kitsune reaching out to tap him on the shoulder to alert him of their proximity.

He glanced briefly back at the pair and nodded in acknowledgement, and just as soon as the pair had on their aprons and were picking up glasses, Hiei began to clean up his station.

"Leaving so soon, Hiei?" one of the customers called from the end of his station. "Thought you'd be around all night!"

Hiei shook his head, "I intend to sit with my guild for a bit. If it picks up again, I might come back."

"Well, in any case, good to see yah," the demon lifted a glass in his direction before taking a long drink.

Hiei tossed his now dirty washcloth into the hamper and stepped out from behind the bar, grabbing a bottle of water as he passed the minifridge. He made his way through the crowd and passed by demons until, finally, he came to a stand between Akihiko and Tarou, not listening to the conversations at first as he took a drink from his bottle. *

"No, that one definitely means something!" Tarou was saying, eyes still glued to the kitsune and trying to catch any indication that might dart over the other's face and tell him he was right.

"I don't understand why you can't take anything I say at face value, big guy."

"Because- You-" He huffed and took another drink as if it would help organize his thoughts.

"Because you only say half as much as you ever mean." Raion fired back at the fox, pointing at him as he lifted his own glass to his lips.

"Yeah!"

"And what about the other half?"

"The other half means twice as much as you ever say." Akihiko half-mumbled into the drink he'd ordered after Tarou swiped the other.

"Huh?"

"Double-entendre." Chisai nodded in an attempt to clear it up for Tarou, perfectly aware that he only ever caught half of it himself.

Kurama appeared quite innocent as he regarded Chisai with something of surprise, "You mean sexual innuendo? I can keep it up all night."

"THAT!" Tarou pointed, "THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN."

"You should be more clear next time, then." Tsundora finally jumped in.

"I AM CLEAR."

"Clear as mud." Raiton finished.

"I'm clearly going to kick your ass!"

"Please don't. I'm rather comfortable." Shikiyoku said from where she hadn't moved from Raiton's lap.3