Kurama walked out into the water, dipping underneath it, coming back up, the water glistening and running off him. "... Not getting in?"

Hiei sat on the bank, shaking his head. "No."

Kurama splashed some water up his arms. "Every single one of us has a reason to hate Karasu… United by the power of hate, how can we go wrong?" He pushed some hair back out of his face. "Mmm. The water is so cold."

"... That's a weird statement," Hiei wrinkled his nose, frowning.

"Hiei, I'm hungry." Kurama spoke up.

"You-" Hiei looked around. "You didn't… get full? Last night?"

"You have to realize I am used to eating constantly, almost as much as I could stand to eat." Kurama looked over at him.

"Well, not now," Hiei crossed his arms. "They'll be up any time…"

"Oh, they're asleep," Kurama flashed a grin at him.

"No," Hiei frowned.

"Hiei, how am I going to fight Karasu if I'm starving?" Kurama frowned.

"You're… not. You're going to let us fight him." Hiei answered.

"Oh? That's cute that you think that I won't be fighting." Kurama moved towards him, the water shining off him.

Hiei watched him come out of the water, walking over to his clothes. Hiei kept a suspicious eye on him. "... You're not going to try anything?"

"Why would I? I'm clean. The ground is dirty. You, since you refused to take a bath, are also dirty." Kurama pulled on a clean set of clothes. "You can't honestly expect me to want to roll around in the mud after I just took a bath, right?"

Hiei shook his head, an annoyed chuckle escaping his lips. "Of course not." he got to his feet.

"If you take a bath, I'll change my mind." Kurama finished getting dressed and walked back to camp. "Oh, boys, get up~ It's time to wake up," Kurama leaned against a tree.

Kuwabara and Shishi woke up first, stirring.

"Get up, silly boys. You all need to take your baths. So we can get going already," Kurama said, brightly. He shook Yusuke. "You get up too."

After a few moments, the three of them made it to the creek, carrying clothes. "Mm…" Kurama stretched. Hiei studied him, his delicate form, the way he stretched. Kurama cracked an eye at him. "Hmm?"

Hiei looked away from him. "Nothing."

"Nothing until you wash up," Kurama pointed at him. "I mean it."

Hiei scowled, annoyed by Kurama's statements. "Yesterday you were begging me… now today you're saying no?"

"Not until you're clean," Kurama repeated.

They squabbled quietly over this for a bit before they heard Kuwabara crying out. They ran over to the river, and they saw him surrounded by a tight ring of ice, and atop an ice platform stood a demon, smirking to himself.

"H-help me, guys!" Kuwabara was yelling.

"If you think you can help him, by all means, come here and we'll have it out," He reached his arm out and created an ice road to where they were. "The great Touya takes on all challengers."

Kurama walked up to it. I have enough energy… Hiei pushed him out of the way, walking up the path. Kurama scowled as he hit the ground. Damn it! I'm all dirty now! You did that on purpose. Just you wait… He was all the way up to the demon's platform before Kurama remembered that he could have forced Hiei to stand down. Have I become so acclimated to having no power…?

Hiei ran up the side of the platform, drawing his sword. Once at the top, he jumped, bringing his sword down. Touya dodged, shooting ice at it. The sword froze in a block of ice to the tall platform. "Too bad!" Touya kicked him off, sending him flying. Hiei landed with a splash in the water.

Kurama ran at him, scaling the tall platform. "What are you going to do?" Touya demanded. "You don't even have a-"

Kurama threw himself at him, pulling him against him and locking their mouths together. Touya's eyes widened and he tried pulling away but after a moment, relaxed. Kurama pushed him away. "Put all this ice away!" He ordered. Touya looked up at him before waving his hand and the ice was gone.

Hiei crawled out of the stream, sputtering and coughing. I'll show him! He thought, his eyes glowing with rage. Kuwabara swam for shore and Kurama and Touya arrived on shore shortly after, crawling up onto the land.

Hiei pointed his sword at Touya. "I'll kill you, you bastard."

"Hiei, it's over. He's not going to cause anymore trouble." Kurama sat up, pushing some hair out of his face.

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Oh? and why is that?"

"Because he's my new love slave," Kurama explained standing up and squeezing the water out of his clothes.

They walked toward the next city, an unbearably tense silence hung over the group. Kurama had explained his situation to them, and it was clear they felt uncomfortable with having an incubus in their presence, especially since they were going out to kill one. Touya was uncomfortable, because, in his own words, "I'm really not into this…"

Hiei hadn't said a word since Kurama had declared Touya his new love slave, and even now, he was as far away as he could be without completely losing them, but far enough away he was out of earshot.

"To be honest," Kurama decided to explain. "I actually didn't plan on using you for anything. I still don't. All I want is your assistance to help me get my harem back."

"Aghhh, I don't know what to do!" Yusuke came to a stop. "I'm a demon hunter, it's what I do! The fact that you're a demon and you're right in front of me? Arghh! I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"Yusuke, I will help you save your girl from Karasu. I'm not here to do bad things." Kurama looked up at him.

"I know, that's what's driving me crazy! As a demon, you DO bad things! Just by existing! My whole philosophy is shot…" Yusuke sighed. "I've got to figure out what to do with my mind now… I wasn't ready for this kind of revelation."

Kurama laughed a bit. "I'm sorry, Yusuke. Thank you for not killing me on the spot… That's sweet." They continued walking, Kurama thinking to himself. "Now… how am I going to get him back?" Kurama questioned aloud.

"So what, he's like, your favorite slave?" Touya questioned.

"Yes," Kurama agreed, looking over at Touya. "He is."

"Hm. Cute." Touya raised a brow. "So explain this whole… incubus thing."

Kurama sighed. "Alright…" Seems like I have to explain it every day around here. Kurama launched into his whole speech about incubii gathering up people who were single and lonely to make into his love slaves to feed him. He went on to explain about how he would determine which ones should be together and how he would push the two of them into a relationship. "But obviously, some of them abuse their power, such as Karasu."

"Hmm… Let me think a minute. Karasu. That demon with that gigantic harem?" Touya asked.

"Yes, has he affected you as well?" Kurama asked.

"Nope I can't say he has," Touya shrugged. "I've seen him around though. Real prick, isn't he?"

"That's the understatement of the year," Kurama frowned.

"So what, you guys are all going on a mission to kill Karasu?"

"Yeah, that's why we're all travelling together," Yusuke nodded.

"Huh. Sounds like fun," Touya shrugged. "I don't have anything better going on."

They headed toward the next city, finally arriving there before dark. They got three rooms.

"I suppose I'll room with the new guy?" Shishi asked.

"Yeah sure, that's fine," Touya shrugged. "I really don't care."

"Sounds good. I'm going to go drop my stuff off in my room," Kurama headed towards it, pushing the door open. It was a small, dirty room with cracks in the wall, and mysterious stains on the carpet. It put Kurama at unease, but he set his stuff down on the floor. He turned the covers back on the bed, making sure there were no bugs. There weren't. Kurama listened at the wall for noises but the room next to him seemed empty.

"You're such a pervert," Hiei said, coldly, sitting in the window.

Kurama startled. "Excuse me? Well… I'm an incubus, you know, there's nothing… perverted about it," He flashed a grin at Hiei, leaning towards him. "You came back."

"Where was I going to go?" Hiei raised a brow.

"... I don't know… I'm just glad you're back," Kurama moved towards him, putting his hands on the headboard.

"What's wrong, didn't get enough from your other love slave?" The question was cold.

"Oh, Hiei, shut up." Kurama reached towards him. "Come here."

"No." Hiei took a seat on the other bed, sitting crosslegged on it, looking guarded. "I told you if you got another slave, that you could forget it."

Kurama got up, moving over to the other bed, sitting on it, his hand on Hiei's leg. "I haven't even touched him."

Hiei glared at him, guarded. "Oh really?"

"Really," Kurama got down on his knees in front of him. "He's not here, is he?"

"Then why'd you do it?" Hiei frowned, watching as Kurama undid his pants.

"The more manpower we have when we go to face Karasu, the better, right?" Kurama looked up at him. "Besides, what man turns down a free blowjob?" he teased.

"Maybe that's all it is to you…" Hiei said, grumpily.

Kurama instantly felt massive guilt at his words. "Well… I'll have to make it really good then, won't I?"

Next door, Touya sat on the bed, his stiff posture screaming discomfort.

"Something wrong?" Shishi questioned, setting his bag on the floor.

"Ye… no. I don't know." Touya frowned. "I was having fun terrorizing everyone and now I'm sitting here in this disgusting hotel room… I'm going for a walk."

"Mind if I join you? I imagine they'll be getting loud soon," Shishi looked over at him.

"Sure, come on."