Author's notes (aka begging for forgiveness): Oh dear god... okay, I'm REALLY sorry this took SOOOO long... In my defense, I just moved out of my house and into the garage so my stuff was a little caotic, then the thumb drive where i kept this story broke and it took some time for my mom to save the stuff and I had completely forgotten about this here story... Thankfully I have it all written in advance, too, because I can't write worth crud right now.

Ice-Puppet

Episode 5: Sacrifice! The forbidden love.

"Yuusuke!"

The truth was that Koenma had no idea where Yuusuke was at.

"Yuusuke!"

The guard had requested a change in schedule in order to 'visit his mother' and Koenma had not bothered to look at the paperwork before signing it. He had no idea when the man was even around.

"Where are you?"

If Kurama had asked him to take Yuusuke out to the forest, though… then he had to have known that the brown-eyed man was around, right? Except that Kurama had been asleep for a while and therefore would have no idea of the change in times…

"Yuusuke?"

He was frightened now that the sorcerer that had made an attempt already on his life had returned for around round. Koenma was by no standards brave and had always preferred to hide under his bed during a thunderstorm rather than risk the dark hallways to go to his sister or mother's room.

"Yuusuke!"

The easy way out was what he preferred to do if it was his own life he was gambling with, although he often told others not to be so cowardly. A hypocrite he was by choice, perhaps. But that did not change the fact that this time it had been Kurama whom was telling him to run.

"Yuusu-"

"WHAT?"

Koenma's tall body collided with someone perhaps an inch shorter than himself and in his frantic state he didn't have the balance to catch himself from falling.

Upon finding the Prince body sprawled across the floor Yuusuke moved to stand him up. "We've been looking all over for you! Someone had attacked the north end of the castle."

"I know!" Koenma was a bit surprised to find his voice coming out as a soft squeak of fear. "Kurama told me it is the sorcerer whom is the master of the one that put the curse on me!"

"Kurama is awake?" Yuusuke inquired absentmindedly.

Koenma nodded as he gripped onto the other man's lower arms. Yuusuke could see the fear in the prince's golden eyes. "Kurama told me to take you and go to the forest to hide."

"The forest?" The guard inquired. "How are we supposed to get away from him there?" Koenma shook his head to show that he didn't know and Yuusuke only took a moment to decide. "Let's go, Koenma." He turned and began walking only to look back and find that Koenma wasn't following. "What?"

"You called me Koenma again…" the prince whispered as if in awe before he smiled a strained smile. "Yeah… let's get out of here."

As they left the palace and headed toward the forest a large explosion only a few feet in front of them stopped their path. Koenma stumbled backward into the guard whom had expected any attack to come from behind and thus was covering the other's back.

Before them a man stepped out from the smoke and dust still rising from the explosion. Yuusuke's grip on Koenma's shoulders tightened before he pushed the boy behind him. He did not release the prince's arm however in case someone attacked from behind.

When the face of the man became visible Koenma let out a small cry and pushed his body against Yuusuke's back. He breathed out, "Sensui…"

"Sensui?" Yuusuke inquired before he realized that the man was not alone. "Kurama!"

"Oh? Does this belong to you?" 'Sensui' (as Koenma had called him) inquired as he held up the redhead who only glared in response. "Here… you can have it back." He tossed Kurama forward as if he were only a ball he was giving back to two children.

Yuusuke gasped as Koenma jerked out of his grip and rushed up to the redhead whom lay between the two men. "Kurama?" The Prince breathed as he brushed the younger man's hair from his face. "Did he injure you?"

"I'm fine," Kurama responded in a low voice. Koenma did not even jump when he whispered into his head, 'Take Yuusuke and go into the trees as soon as you can.'

"Koenma!" Yuusuke snapped. "Get back over here!"

The brunette froze before his head turned slowly to just beside him. They rested on a pair of boots before trailing upward to glowing violet eyes.

"Hello little prince," Sensui purred before grabbing hold of a fistful Koenma's hair and dragging him to his feet.

"Koenma!" Yuusuke growled out as he made to attack only to have his body freeze before he had even taken two steps. His eyes shifted toward Kurama whose arms were held up. "What are you doing, Kurama?"

"I'm not doing anything!" The redhead shrieked in an angry and slightly hurt protest. "He's controlling my body!"

"Let Koenma go you bastard" The half-demon hissed angrily. Sensui's only response was to laugh. "Damn you…"

"How have you been my precious?" Sensui asked as he brought Koenma's face near his own – holding the Prince up by his hair. The reply was a small cry of pain. "Oh? That bad?" He smirked and moved his hand up slowly to grab hold of the pacifier still clenched between Koenma's lips. "Do you still have this pathetic little toy, Koenma?"

"Shit!" Yuusuke gasped while Kurama cried, "No!"

A small pop of both the releasing of plastic and magic came when Sensui removed the object from Koenma's lips. Golden eyes widened in surprise. The Prince did not even make a noise when he was dropped to the ground.

The magic still crackling around the object released Sensui's hold on Kurama and with it releasing Kurama's hold on Yuusuke. "Yuusuke!" The redhead snapped suddenly. "Get him into the trees!"

"What?" The guard shrieked in uncertainty.

"DO IT!" Kurama ordered.

As Yuusuke rushed over and pulled one of Koenma's arms around his shoulder before beginning to drag the Prince toward the trees, Sensui had dropped the pacifier onto the ground and with one swift movement stomped the object, smashing the fragile frame to pieces.

Kurama turned as soon as the two brunettes had gone behind two trees and held up his hands in a seal none of them had ever seen before. Yuusuke gasped as a shield – stronger than one he had ever seen before – formed around (from what he could see) the entire forest. When he reached out it would not budge from the inside.

"A soul shield?" Sensui asked with a laugh before he approached Kurama. "What a smart boy you are… but I can still force you to release it…"

Even when Kurama dropped his hands the shield did not release. Instead, he grinned almost sadly before whispering, 'goodnight' as he formed a second seal and promptly fell over onto the ground, unconscious.

Silence filled the area before Sensui let out an angry growl and kicked the mage's body. "God damn you, mage!"

"What's going on?" Yuusuke inquired although he did not expect to be told.

"A soul shield…" Koenma whispered catching Yuusuke off guard. "It is the most powerful of any mage's shield… but they do not use it often. A soul shield is a shield that can only ever be released by the mage that cast it. If they die there is no releasing of it. Kurama has placed himself into a deep sleep so that Sensui cannot force him to release the shield… such a sleep can only be removed by another mage."

"Kurama did all that for us?" Yuusuke inquired before Koenma began to shake. "Koenma?"

"That poor boy will die within two weeks without his precious trinket," Sensui purred before bending down to grab hold of Kurama. He threw the redhead over his shoulder before smirking. "I assure you, I will be back by then for him."

"You son of a…" Yuusuke muttered but did not finish for lack of a better word.

"Who knows what could live in there?" Sensui inquired as he began to walk away. "Really… locking you two in there with demons and the like… perhaps he is not as smart as you think."

And then he was gone.

Yuusuke dropped to the ground to where Koenma had slumped over, shoulders still shaking. "Koenma…"

"I'm fine…" the Prince breathed before looking out toward the palace. "But I don't know how long I will be…"

"Kurama had something planned, I'm sure…" Yuusuke assured as he pushed the Prince's bangs from his forehead. "You're going to be okay." He frowned when golden eyes stared deeply into his own. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"It's nothing," Koenma assured before he leaned back against a tree.

Yuusuke hummed lightly as he did so on the opposite one. "How do you know that guy, anyway? Sensui… I think?"

The Prince went stiff at those words as he looked away into the forest. His eyes were hard and Yuusuke almost thought he shouldn't have asked. "He was… my guard while I was younger."

"What?" The younger man nearly fell over. "But he's a sorcerer!"

"Sorcerers are not born into it," Koenma reminded. "They are given the ability by an existing sorcerer when they want their practice to be moved on."

"What happened to make him not your guard anymore?" Yuusuke inquired, remembering how my haste they used to make him Koenma's guard despite the fact that he was much too young.

Golden eyes lifted to his but not a word fell from the prince.

--

Youko groaned as he lifted himself from the ground but he did not wait for the headache or dizziness to cease. If Sensui was in the building then there was serious trouble! He stumbled down the hallway and called out to anyone whose name came to his mind.

It was Kazuma whom finally found him. "Youko! I'm lucky to have found you!"

"You must hurry!" He snapped. "There is a sorcerer and…"

"I know!" Kazuma replied in a quick response. "That is why we are checking the castle to make sure everyone is safe!"

"Where is my son?" Youko inquired. He then added as an afterthought, "Where is the Prince?"

"Yuusuke took Koenma out to the forest to hide over an hour ago," the guard informed in a slightly panicked voice. "Kurama told them to go out there to hide until he came and got them. I have not seen him, however."

"The forest?" Cursing at his son's bravery and craftiness, Youko told Kazuma to find Genkai and send him there as he rushed toward the exit of the castle.

When he arrived at the forest he found what he had expected. Koenma and Yuusuke were seated just outside of it and appeared to be unharmed.

"Kurama!" Koenma chirped, unused to calling the mage by anything but his first name as he had been doing since his youth. He struggled to stand up and placed his hands against the shield leaning on it as if it was a window he was speaking through.

"A soul shield…" the kitsune breathed as he approached, knocking on the object. "Where is he?"

"Kurama?" Yuusuke inquired in reference to the younger kitsune. "He put himself into some sort of sleep… Sensui grabbed him."

Youko cursed before a moment of silence fell around them. Koenma studied the man's face for a moment before he slipped to his knees and whispered in a defeated voice, "I'm going to die in here…"

"What?" The guard cried as he fell beside the prince. "Of course you aren't, Koenma! Kurama has something planned, I'm sure of it! He wouldn't have just left us in here without some motive!"

"There is nothing he can do now, Yuusuke," Youko informed as he watched the Prince's shoulders shake lightly in fear. "Sensui cannot get him to awaken without a mage and because of that he will kill Shuuichi."

"No!" the guard protested with a glare that sent the kitsune a few steps backward in shock. "You have to trust him! Kurama has a plan and neither of them are going to die!" He turned back toward the prince then and grabbed hold of his shaking shoulders in order to jerk him around so that they were facing each other. "Koenma! You have to listen to me! I will not like you die, I swear! You are not going to die!"

Golden eyes watched him behind unleashed tears and there seemed to be words hanging between them that neither of them could say. To say them would be to damn themselves to a life they did not want and to open up something they were afraid to face.

After a moment Yuusuke looked toward Youko whom appeared surprised to be addressed. "Who is Sensui?"

The silver-haired man appeared nervous at the question before he stated, "He was Koenma's guard before he became a sorcerer."

"Why did he stop?"

He saw the golden eyes flicker toward the prince only to move back to Yuusuke when Koenma looked away. "That is not my story to tell, Yuusuke."

They turned when Genkai made herself known by clearing her throat. "A soul shield?" She inquired despite already knowing the answer. Youko was the one that nodded as she approached slowly. "A smart boy." When the confused looks fell on her she met two of them with annoyed ones. "The enemy is Sensui, correct?" Youko nodded once more. "Sensui will not be satisfied unless he is the one that kills Koenma and because of that he will find a way to break the shield before Koenma dies."

"Why does Sensui even want Koenma dead?" Yuusuke inquired only to growl at the silence that followed his question. "Why will no one answer me?"

"You're insensitive!" Genkai snapped. "It is a personal story! He will tell you when he is ready! Meanwhile I hope you two are used to eating whatever you can find because there is no way we'll be able to get food to you." Yuusuke paled at that while Koenma said nothing. "Good luck." She then turned way.

"W-Wait!" The guard shrieked as he stood. "You're not going to leave us here, are you?"

"Not much else we can do," Youko informed as he turned to leave as well.

"You ungrateful bastards!" He growled only to plop down on the ground as they headed out of sight. "Stupid mages… they think they're so superior…"

"Yuusuke…"

He looked over to find the Prince watching him quietly from only a few feet away, his lanky body leaned heavily against a tree trunk and one leg pulled up to his chest while the other bent as he knelt on it. His arms were wrapped around the one knee and his fingers grabbed at his loose pants.

"Koenma?" The guard inquired unable to stop the worry that came with his words.

The Prince did not answer however.

--

The redhead was placed so gently on an altar that he appeared almost like a sacrifice – one arm across his chest and the other dangling off to barely brush the floor. His hair – which was coming unbound from a few braids placed in it – fell over the sides in slight curls while his slightly long bangs brushed over his pale cheeks. He slept almost peacefully it seemed from the look on his face.

Sensui had been watching him for a good hour in the dark. The only light in the room was a small one that was circled around the altar the mage rested on giving him an almost holy appearance.

"Awaken him," he said suddenly although it did not catch the man behind him off guard.

"Of course," was the immediate response.

A figure stepped into the light, chains rattling as he did. He was a young-ish man with turquoise hair that fell just past his shoulders, pale skin, and glowing green eyes that appeared foreign… as if they had not been there when he was born.

"Don't touch him."

A grin crossed the sorcerer's face and the mage stopped. "Hello forbidden child," Sensui greeted as he turned toward the shadowed figure. "How lovely of you to stop by."

"Don't touch him," Hiei stated a second time as he moved to stand over Kurama.

"Tell me little half-dragon," the violet-eyed man purred. "Would you rather protect the mage or your sister?"

A snort left the dragon. "My sister is already safe." He unleashed his sword and stood before Sensui. "You will not touch the fox."

"Do you think you can fight me, dragon?"

Hiei grinned widely, his eyes flashing once in the dark before a shadow crept out from him and fell over the light. Sensui snorted and the chained mage stumbled back when a loud growl erupted from the darkness. With a nod from Sensui the mage formed a seal and began to glow, the light engulfing most of the room.

Before them stood a large dragon, its red eyes staring at them hungrily. On it's back was the redheaded kitsune who was sill completely unconscious.

With a loud growl that made the entire room shake the dragon twisted its head around to snap at the mage who stumbled back in slight surprise. It then jerked out its wings and smashed them into the high ceiling causing it to crack and cave in, filling the room with more light. It lifted its body out and flew high into the air.

"Will he return to the palace?" The mage inquired.

"It is likely," Sensui responded.

"Because the elderly mage is there?"

"Because we think he wont."

--

It was late into the night three days later before Koenma finally spoke of it again. Neither of them could sleep – they were frightened and hungry. The first words were a whisper of, "I cared very much for him."

"Sensui?" Yuusuke inquired automatically.

Koenma nodded. "He was like my idol… I would follow him everywhere. He did not mind, however… he always laughed and said I was adorable. He was extremely powerful even then. He, like you, was hired at a young age. By the time I was eleven I had developed a childish crush on him." Yuusuke felt a pang of jealousy but ignored it as Koenma looked down to his folded and shaking hands. It was rather cold out there although it was doubtful that was the full reason that the elder was trembling. "He offered me a lovely ring that he said his mother had given to him to tell me he would always protect me and I wore it proudly."

"A ring?" Yuusuke inquired.

Koenma's eyes were filled with pain. "I didn't think it was strange when I started to black out… I thought maybe it was stress. Father had been increasing my studies lately but when Botan started telling me I kept disappearing and my teachers told I was skipping class I became worried…" He swallowed hard then and closed his eyes. "It was when I suddenly came to one time covered in blood that I realized something was wrong."

"Who…?" the guard was unable to finish the question from shock.

Golden eyes met him for a moment as the prince mouthed, 'Mother's' before he looked away again and continued his story. "Kurama… Youko looked me over to find out if I had been cursed and found out that the ring Sensui had given me was being used to control me. At first I didn't want to believe it… but he was using me the whole time to kill innocent lives for his own twisted pleasure… maybe it turned him on? I don't know…"

"W… what happened?" Yuusuke managed after Koenma had stopped talking. He knew there was more to the story.

A sigh left the elder man but he knew he could not leave it there. "He was a sorcerer then and it was no longer illegal to injure him for Kura… Youko and thus he banished him from the castle and by the next morning the ring was gone. At the time Youko had an apprentice… a young demon by the name of Itsuki whom had only recently been given his abilities by a friend when he had been killed. When the ring disappeared Itsuki did as well… we were unsure what happened to either of them but Youko assumed Itsuki was dead as Sensui was not one for mercy. Perhaps that is why he believes Shuuichi will die."

The younger man had never known the Prince's life was so hard. He had heard very little about how the other grew up and now felt a bit left out.

"That doesn't explain why he wants you dead, though," Yuusuke mumbled as if suddenly realizing that had been the question in the first place.

Koenma sighed lightly and reached into his pocket, removing a large ring.

"Wha?" Yuusuke inquired with wide eyes. "Is that-?"

"In order to control me there are two rings," the prince explained with a dispassionate voice. "He has the one that he could use to control myself but I stole from him the one he wears. Without both of them he cannot use either power."

"How did you steal it?" Yuusuke inquired. "If he was simply gone the next morning… you couldn't have snuck in and stole it."

Pain laced through golden eyes before they became impassive. "He was gone the next morning, yes… but that night so much more happened. More than you can even handle knowing, Yuusuke."

Before he could comment the sound of extremely large wings flapping followed by the growl of a dragon filled their ears and they turned to spot a black dragon with red eyes landing between the forest and the castle, a redhead placed carefully on it's back.

"Hiei!" Yuusuke gasped as he stood up.

"Hiei?" Koenma inquired.

"The 'forbidden child'," the guard explained only to watch in amusement at the awe on Koenma's face before turning back to the dragon. "Hiei! You'll need a mage to wake him up!"

In an almost boring form of shadows the dragon became his human-like form and easily dropped Kurama just before he hit the ground. "Idiot," he stated. "Don't you think I know that?"

Predictable as can be, Youko rushed out with Genkai and Kazuma in tow only a few moments after the loud noise had filled the landscape.

"It's the dragon-boy!" Kazuma whined in high-pitched shock.

Youko smiled with a whisper of, "I had a feeling he'd be back."

Genkai motioned for Hiei to bring Kurama over and the dragon did with a bit of difficulty, as the mage was taller than he. Placing him on the ground Genkai ignored the group as they watched in awe while she placed one hand on his forehead and the other on his stomach. In a sudden jolt Kurama jumped up with a small gasp.

He glanced around before meeting her eyes with a smile. "Master Genkai…"

"Don't look at me," she informed with an amused snort. "It was the dragon that saved your life."

Hearing these words green eyes swept over everything around him before resting on a pair of red ones. Kurama smiled widely and happily for the first time in a bit before he breathed out a sigh of, "Hiei…"

"I hate to break this up but, Kurama!" Yuusuke yelped as Koenma collapsed beside him. "Help!"

"Aw, shit!" The redhead gasped as he turned and formed the same seal from before. He held it for a few moments before dropping it and dropping the shield with it.

"Koenma!" Yuusuke cried as he shook the prince who did not respond, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "Kurama! Anyone! God damn it… help him!"

Kazuma approached and lifted the prince into his arms as they rushed back inside, Genkai now calling the shots as Kurama's healing abilities had not fully returned.

Green eyes shifted to Hiei when it was only the kitsune and the dragon left outside.

"Did you find your sister?" He whispered in genuine wonder.

"Yes," Hiei informed in a short nod.

There was a moment of silence before Kurama inquired, "Why did you save me from Sensui?"

Hiei snorted lightly and turned away. "A dragon's heart is like water, kitsune." The very words his father had said effected the redhead and he looked down. After a moment Hiei then whispered as if afraid to be heard, "But I am not fully dragon."

"Hiei…" the younger man breathed as he pulled himself up to stand slowly. "Don't leave yet…"

"I have to protect my sister."

Long arms reached out to encircle his shoulders and he felt a face press into his neck. Kurama could very well make him stay if he wanted but the kitsune was not abusing this privilege. He was inviting him to stay if only for the night… if only for an hour.

"I have to protect my sister."

Defeated, the arms dropped from him and the face pulled away. When Hiei looked back Kurama was already inside of the palace gates.

--

"Please," Botan breathed with tears in the corners of her eyes. "Tell me my brother is going to be okay…"

"I don't know as of yet," Genkai told her, green eyes closed and hands on Koenma's forehead. The brunette was jerking slightly every few moments and his eyes were still rolled back, hands curling and uncurling around the blanket that lay beneath him. His own room had been too far and they had stopped in the servant's quarters.

Despite being for the 'servants' the room was well furnished and taken care of. Three people shared the large rooms and each came with it's own bathroom. Koenma was resting on the couch with a blanket from the nearest room resting underneath him.

"That bastard smashed the pacifier…" Yuusuke kissed angrily for something to distract himself as he looked on from behind Youko. The kitsune was holding him back as Yuusuke had already attempted to go to Koenma's side four times. "Is there even anything you can do?"

"I don't know yet!" Genkai snapped a second time. "The spell is dark and strong. It was meant to kill and that is what it is trying to do." Silence met that… what could they say? It was very likely that Koenma would die.

"Youko…" the guard whispered after a moment quietly so that the others could not hear. "Koenma told me that you had an apprentice… a demon who had been turning into a mage by a friend?"

"Itsuki," Youko informed as he headed out of the room. Yuusuke followed without even being asked. "He went missing the night after I banished Sensui."

"The night the ring went missing, right?" Yuusuke inquired and Youko fixed him with a confused look before nodding. "Something else happened that night… what was it?"

"It's not my place to tell you that, Yuusuke."

Brown eyes stared deep into his and he could see the desperation there… along with the unnamed emotion that even those of them that were not mages could feel. "Please," he breathed in such a way that Youko couldn't help but comply. "I have to know…"

Golden eyes closed as the kitsune breathed out, "Sensui raped him before he took the ring, Yuusuke. That is how Koenma got his ring from him."

Yuusuke, however, hadn't heard anything past the first three words. He stared toward the ex-mage in shock, brown eyes wide and full of despair. It quickly turned to anger as his fists clenched. "That… that bastard!"

"It was a long time ago, Yuusuke-"

"Why didn't he tell me?"

Youko gaped as the brunette flung himself back into the servant's quarters and stormed past Kazuma to shove Genkai aside and grab onto the Prince's shoulders, jerking him into an upward position. "You asshole!" He snapped without seeming to notice the despair that laced his voice. "How could you keep something like that from me, Koenma?"

"Y-Yuusuke!" Genkai gasped.

"You're such an idiotKoenma!" the half-demon continued angrily, tears filling his eyes, as the Prince did nothing but twitch beneath his grasp. "Not telling me until the last moment when I have to find out from some stupid used-to-be mage! How could you… god, Koenma! This is important! And you… and you kept it from me!" He was rambling on now, shaking the other's shoulders only lightly. "I wanted you to tell me everything… I wanted you to share everything with me! You can't die now, you bastard! You can't die! You have to tell me! You have to tell me how it happened and how you felt and… damn it, you can't die! You just can't!"

His hands released the smaller shoulders and fell onto the couch beside them as he flopped forward, head pressed against the Prince's chest. He whispered then words that they had all known but never expected to hear, his fingers gripping at the blanket and his shoulders shaking.

"I love you, you idiot…"

Words could not express what happened then. Some sort of glow perhaps that enveloped the two although it wasn't so much a glow as a visible emotion. It filled up the air and suffocated those who stood in the room.

Two heartbeats could be heard in the ears of all. Two heartbeats that fell into sync.

Kurama pulled his hands apart from where he stood in the doorway and gave a soft smile before rubbing his still sore shoulder. The occupants in the room turned to him for an explanation and he gave a soft smile.

"In the moment of Koenma dying," he breathed. "I linked his life with Yuusuke's. He shares your life now, Yuusuke. If you are injured he will be too… if you become sick so will he. One soul, two bodies. One heart, two bodies… you live as one."

"B-but…" Yuusuke inquired as Koenma's golden eyes became focused once more. "How?"

"It is a complicated spell," Genkai explained. "One that, normally, takes quite a bit of preparation… I am baffled as to how you did it so quickly, Kurama."

"Truthfully?" He inquired as he approached. "I have been preparing for it since I first met you, Yuusuke. After I became conscious, that is."

"What?" The guard inquired with a small frown.

"I would have to take on a part of you," Kurama explained as he moved over to the two of them, helping a confused Koenma to sit up. "Normally this would be done by drinking your blood or something of the sort but sleeping with you worked perfectly fine." Yuusuke turned bright red at these words and the half-kitsune continued as if not noticing it. "While I healed Koenma I took small breaks to combined your two souls, doing so slowly so that you would not take on the curse as well. The awkward feeling you two felt when seeing each other for the first time was not all just raw emotion, but rather the spell attempting to unite you two.

"For it to finish I would have to take something in from Koenma as well and I did so while he was sleeping. Don't give me that look! I merely pricked his finger and took some of his blood… oh come on now! I'm a kitsune! Anyway… I would need you two to actually touch to complete the spell and you gave me a wonderful opportunity then."

"You've been planning this that long?" Yuusuke shrieked in surprise.

"You slept with him?" Koenma commented in an equally as loud voice.

"You slept with him?" Kazuma repeated although his voice was full of confusion instead of anger.

"I seduced him," Kurama corrected with a smile. "And it was for the greater good of us all… or something like that."

"You are quite tricky to be able to come up with that and put it into action," Youko commented proudly as he pulled Kurama under one arm and rubbed his long hair. "I'm very proud of you."

"What exactly does it mean?" Koenma inquired as he placed a hand over his heart.

"I means," Genkai began as she got up off of her rear, glaring at Yuusuke who only laughed nervously in response. "That the curse cannot kill you because now that you are a part of Yuusuke, it is spread between the two of you. A curse is powerful but when it is broken into two or shared between two people it becomes useless. Neither of you can be cursed now." They shared a look before realizing and looking away, their faces both red. "However if you are to be stabbed, Yuusuke would share the same pain as you although a wound would not be visible on him."

"So…?" Kazuma breathed. "They're pretty much the same person?"

"I suppose," Kurama commented. "This can be used both for you and against you depending on how wise you are. I'm sorry I did not tell you earlier but it was the only way I could think of to fix the curse. I am by no means strong enough to ever completely destroy any curse but I was more than willing to try this if it means I get to sleep with Yuusuke."

"Kurama!" The half-demon whined when Koenma began to glare at him. "You're making it worse! Stop!"

The redhead smiled lightly at that, the air in the room growing slightly lighter despite what the situation had been only moments before.

--