So pretty major adult warning for this chapter. I got a bit carried away with the Yukina/Fumio scenes. I was writing Fumio's dialogue with a reasonable frame of mind, but when I re-read it and discovered a few unintentional double entendres and I've just left them in there, as sick as they are. I guess this would be the chapter where I can fully justify saying this fic needs a more mature rating attached to it.

And again, I suck at finishing fics. I'm getting worse at it instead of better. Seriously.

Kinda long chapter (by my standards, so super-long by normal standards).

Chapter 34: Teleportation Necessity

Kurama paused at the base of the temple steps, wincing slightly as he peered up their length. He already knew – demon senses or not – what would be waiting for him when he got to the top, and, as much as he felt that he probably deserved it, it would still be a jarringly unpleasant start of a generally unpleasant process.

He decided to wait where he was a little longer, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes on the particular point where he knew his problem was awaiting him.

The last few days – or perhaps even the last few weeks – had been quite trying, and although Kurama had suspected, some several weeks earlier, that he would end up at odds with Hiei, he had not expected it to be because of Yukina. In fact, Kurama thought to himself, twelve days ago, he could not possibly have predicted anything in his life changing drastically because of Yukina. She was someone he had never really given a second thought to personally. She had always been more of an extension of Hiei or Kuwabara or Botan before then. Yukina was Hiei's sister, and for years her name had simply been another means of teasing Hiei, who was – as Kurama was now learning the hard way – viciously over-protective of his twin. Yukina was just another symbol that Kuwabara fought for, along with cats and second-rate rock music. Yukina was Botan's obi fixer and kimono seamstress. And, just once, Yukina had been a delicately pretty young ice maiden in an intoxicating field of ice village flowers.

Until the day before, Kurama's biggest concern had been that he was going to end up fighting Hiei for Botan, since it seemed that both of them were pursuing her. He felt a bit foolish to have learned that, apparently, Hiei and Botan had been conducting an infrequent affair with each other for quite some time without his knowledge, and his recent inner anger at Hiei for going after someone he wanted for himself felt totally unwarranted, as it appeared that Hiei had started his affairs with Botan before Kurama himself had really given any thought to approaching the ferry girl himself. Which, Kurama thought as he shifted his weight and narrowed his eyes slightly, raised another issue in his mind: Botan had been the object of his affection because he had chosen her specifically, not because he had felt anything for her at any time in their previous acquaintance. She was the convenient choice for him as he grew lonely and in need of partnership in his human life – someone who understood that he was part demon, understood that he had obligations in demon world, understood who and what his friends were, and understood that he would eventually return to his life as Yoko. But she was not someone who had caught his attention or attracted him or seduced him in any way.

Kurama paused long enough to consider some of the previous, more lasting, relationships he had had in his life as a demon. His first few relationships had been only with other fox demons, but as he had grown older and sought out power, ultimately joining Yomi and his band of thieves, Kurama had met and courted demons of all varieties – though never an ice demon, and certainly never an ice maiden. But the one thing that had been consistent across all of his previous relationships had been that he had at least been attracted to or drawn to the women on some level. He had always been the one to do the chasing and he had always desired his partners for more reasons than just that they were a practical solution to an impractical problem. He supposed then it would have been quite unfair on both himself and Botan if he had managed to win her affections, as she deserved better and he was cheating himself out of the joy of a meaningful alliance by choosing convenience over passion.

And Yukina was an exception to the rule too, for more reasons than one. She had pursued him, which was a first, she was an ice maiden, which was also a first, and she was as unaware of demon world flirtation techniques as she was of everything else related to any society outside of the sheltered one she had been brought up in. Whereas other demon girls pouted and turned away from kisses, or turned any attempt at affection into a physical fight – sometimes quite a violent one, depending on the nature of the woman in question – Yukina simply melted into every touch, gazed up at him lovingly and willingly gave herself to him with a level of trust that was completely unnatural for an ice maiden in the hands of a fox demon.

It was incredibly bizarre and had taken some amount of thinking on Kurama's part to overcome absurdity and connect with the reality of the situation: regardless of how different her approach to love was and regardless of the fact that their races traditionally put them at opposition with each other, there was no denying that she had a strength of feeling for him that went beyond a simple childish crush. It was clear from her illustrations and poetry that she had been studying him quite closely for some time – though he had been unaware of it – and it was also clear that she understood his situation about as well as any of the others in their circle of friends. In fact, he thought, her own situation was not so different to his: she was a demon relegated to living in the living world with nobody around her who was really suited to provide her with lasting companionship. After his initial mulling over of Yukina and everything she had done recently – which, despite her claiming otherwise, he still believed that helping Hiei had not been her only motivation for going undercover – Kurama had been left wondering if he could even think of her as a mate.

With a light sigh, Kurama started to climb the temple steps. As he climbed he again thought about what Yukina had endured during the eleven days she had pretended to be Hiei. Everyone around her had treated her like Hiei, which must have been difficult, and she had seen a side of Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama himself that she never would have otherwise known. Yusuke would never have called her names and roughed her up and torn off her clothes in a hot spring if he had known that she was Yukina and not Hiei. Kuwabara would never have let loose with a variety of bodily functions, he would never have been so rough or rude with her and surely he would have been devastated knowing that anyone else would ever be that way with Yukina – but he too had of course not known the truth. And Kurama himself would never have spoken about Hiei's relation to Yukina had he known it was her, he would never have spoken his opinions of the ice maidens and he would never have put his hands on her.

Kurama briefly wondered how things might have been if he had found out about Yukina's feelings another way. Maybe Botan would have found Yukina's secret stash of artwork by some other means and reported back to him. What would he have done then? How would he have felt?

Kurama reached the top step, and, just as he had expected, Hiei dropped out of a tree by the temple gate, landing in Kurama's path, his arms at his sides as though his hands were hovering over pistols at his hips, his eyes thinned and distrusting as they glared up at Kurama.

"I hope you explained to her kindly that you cannot take her as your lover," Hiei growled.

Kurama sighed and Hiei swung a fist at him. Unlike the last three times they had had this exact confrontation in the last twenty-four hours, this time Kurama blocked the blow.

"You have to stop," Kurama told him when he saw Hiei look horrified by his action. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Why didn't you tell her?" Hiei asked.

"Because I can't," Kurama replied.

"Can't or won't?"

"Won't, if I'm being honest. Hiei, she clearly has feelings for me. She spent time travelling and fighting alongside me, and despite my often brutal candour during that time, she still seems keen."

"She's blinded by infatuation. It's because of the way you look. She doesn't understand because she can't see you for what you really are. Show her your true form and then see how she feels."

"Hiei, she has seen my true form. She saw it at the Dark Tournament and she saw it during the mission. She drew pictures of my true form. She's perfectly aware of what I am."

Hiei snatched his fist back but his expression did not soften any.

"Sit down," Kurama said, indicating the top step behind him.

"No," Hiei replied.

Kurama sighed and moved over to sit down onto the top step, looking back over his shoulder expectantly.

"Sit down," he said again.

"I know how this works, fox," Hiei said. "This is what you do. You make me sit down and then you find a way to use your words to make me do something I don't want to do. I'll stand."

"Sit down Hiei," Kurama said.

"I prefer to stand," Hiei replied.

"Now you're just being awkward. Sit down."

"You get less blood clots standing."

Kurama sighed.

"Fine, stand," he conceded. "Hiei, I've given this much thought–"

"You just kissed her," Hiei cut him off.

"Yes I did."

"Again."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Without my permission."

"Do I need your permission?"

"Yes."

"Hiei that's absurd."

"You're absurd! You had your chance, and you refused it! You can't change your mind now! It's too late!"

Kurama gave Hiei a flat look, but Hiei was clearly too angered to notice or think logically, and so he was forced to question him.

"What are you talking about, Hiei?"

"I know short-term memory is a real weakness for you old timers, but see if you can tap into the back part of your brain and recall this: after we rescued Yukina from Tarukane, in the day or two she lingered in living world, unsure of where to go or what to do, I offered her to you. You said no."

Kurama's eyebrows shot up, but Hiei still did not respond.

"Hiei, I… I don't even know what to say to that!" he said.

"I offered you Yukina as a mate and you said you didn't want her," Hiei replied. "You said she was too young, you said she wasn't experienced enough for you, you said she was too dull and you said you would never put your hands on your best friend's sister! Or have you forgotten that already, old man?"

"Hiei, we seem to be talking at cross purposes here. If you remember correctly, at that time, all you said to me was "Yukina has nowhere to go now, you should take her home with you", to which I replied, if you recall, that I could not. I was still in high school, I couldn't have just taken home a blue-haired girl who looked barely old enough to be in middle school and expected my mother to take her in. You only qualified it after Yukina returned during the Dark Tournament, after you saw her healing Kuwabara's wounds whilst he simpered up to her. Only then did you say that you had been offering her to me as a lover and not just as someone in need of a place to stay."

"The timeline is irrelevant: you couldn't even give her a home to stay in back when you first met her, and when she returned during the Dark Tournament you said she was too young, too inexperienced, too dull and off-limits because of her relation to me!"

Kurama stood abruptly, losing patience himself.

"Hiei, I can give you three incredibly good reasons right now why I couldn't have accepted Yukina as a lover, back when I first met her and during the Dark Tournament," he said.

"You already gave me four!" Hiei snapped back. "One: too young, two: too inexperienced, three: too dull and four: off-limits!"

"One: I'm not a baby-sitter or some sort of sexual pawn who accepts lost little girls in need of companionship, regardless of who is offering them or how," Kurama sternly replied. "Two: Kuwabara clearly had feelings for her and he is a friend, I would never have pursued a woman a friend of mine was attracted to – because that's something friends do, Hiei. And, most importantly of all, three: Yukina is your sister, not your property, you cannot go around deciding her fate for her or trying to hand her over to who you think she should give her heart to."

"She's my sister, she's my responsibility."

"The very most you can claim is a duty of care–"

"I'm claiming that."

"Which doesn't warrant you dictating her life to her–"

"I'm her duty of carer."

"And you sacrificed the right to even claim a duty of care the day you denied her."

"What?"

"Hiei, she gave you the chance to be honest the day we left living world to return to demon world to train for the demon world tournament, and you refused her. She gave you the ideal opportunity to tell her who you really are, and you didn't take it. You gave up your right to act as her counsel that day. Do you understand?"

Hiei did not answer, but, as far as Kurama was concerned, the fire demon's silence was the loudest and clearest reply he could give.

"Hiei, when none of us were looking, Yukina grew up," he said gently. "She's endured far more suffering than you or I can fully understand, and she's done it with a quiet dignity that demands respect. She was terrified the whole time she was pretending to be you – anything could have gone horribly wrong for her at any time – but she fought through it. She braved it all to save your life, and in the process, she saved the lives of Yusuke, Kuwabara, me and the entire population of the ice village. I can't say she didn't occasionally betray her true self or that she never let her emotions over-rule her common sense, but, considering it was her first time working with a team to overcome an enemy and complete a complex mission, she did incredibly well. Her first time, Hiei. I seem to remember that one of my other team mates, on our seventh mission together, stabbed the Shadow Sword right through me."

Hiei turned his head slightly, avoiding looking directly at Kurama, which Kurama had long learnt was Hiei's way of admitting guilt.

"The sweet and fair little girl we all knew has grown into a brave, independent, curious and quite wonderful woman, Hiei," Kurama continued. "It's just unfortunate that you weren't afforded the same opportunity Kuwabara, Yusuke and I were to see it for yourself."

"You do understand that you can't be with her," Hiei said, meeting Kurama's eyes again. "Not intimately, anyway. If you do, you'll end up forcing her to birth a monster just like me."

Kurama smiled in spite of himself.

"It's not funny, Kurama!" Hiei snapped irritably.

"I understand the situation Hiei," Kurama assured him. "I have thought this through very carefully."

"Then why are we still talking about it?" Hiei asked, his tone becoming bitter.

"I had hoped for your approval."

"It doesn't seem as though you need it. You seem to have this all planned out already, and you always follow through with your clever little plans, don't you?"

"You're right, I don't need your approval. But I should like to have it anyway."

"Hn."

"Thank you Hiei. That means a lot to me."

"I didn't say anything."

Kurama shrugged and Hiei growled and ground his teeth.

"If you break her heart, I'll break you!" he blurted out suddenly.

"That's fair enough," Kurama agreed, nodding his head.

"I'll cut off your tail and post it to those witches in the ice village!" Hiei added.

Kurama briefly eyed over Hiei, one eyebrow twitching involuntarily.

"What?" Hiei asked, detecting the movement.

"Nothing," Kurama lied.

Hiei looked less than satisfied with Kurama's response, but said nothing, instead sitting down at Kurama's side. Kurama watched him for a few seconds expectantly, and eventually Hiei turned to him, his expression looking suddenly pained. Kurama started to ask him if something else was bothering him, but was cut off as a hand slapped him sharply over the back of the head, throwing a section of his hair over his face. He turned sharply to see Botan standing over him, her hands on her hips and her face twisted with anger.

"I've been hearing terrible things about you, Mister Fox!" she snapped.

"…What?" Kurama muttered as he tried to smooth his hair back over the point of impact.

"Hn, it's always this way with her," Hiei muttered. "Just be blunt, or she'll never get to the point."

"Yukina is a good and decent little girl, and you'd better behave yourself around her!" Botan continued.

"She's hardly a little girl, Botan," Kurama corrected her. "I think that's the lesson we all should have learnt from the little stunt she pulled."

"Don't lie to me like that!" Botan shot back.

"E-excuse me?"

"Don't sit there with your pretty hair and your well-polished shoes and try to tell me that you didn't know that Hiei was a woman this whole time!"

Hiei glowered up at Botan dangerously, but her attention was solely fixed on Kurama.

"Botan, you didn't realise that Yukina had disguised herself as Hiei either," he pointed out. "In fact, you were the last of us to fully grasp the fact that the Hiei we had all been working with for eleven days was in fact Yukina."

"That's not true," Botan replied.

"You groped her with your foot, you licked her ear and you asked her if she wanted to watch you get wet and soapy," Hiei interrupted. "You thought she was me, just the same as everyone else!"

Botan faltered slightly.

"Well alright, maybe she did have me fooled!" she reluctantly confessed. "But I wasn't as close to her for as long as you all were! Yusuke told me you all had a bath together – and you still didn't notice that Hiei suddenly had perky boobs and a lady garden where his manly jewels were supposed to be?"

"Botan, I never had a reason to suspect that the Hiei at my side was not the Hiei I had always known," Kurama carefully replied, ignoring the guttural remark Hiei made at Botan's choice of words. "Yukina knew enough of Hiei and the rest of us to pass herself off as him at a high level, and she had studied Hiei closely enough to quite successfully mimic a lot of his mannerisms. Hiei was sick and frail and out of sorts–"

"I was never frail," Hiei cut in.

"–and Yukina's gut reactions to so many of things we encountered were alarmingly similar to Hiei's. I expected Hiei to look thinner, paler and sound different, so visually I had no clue. Yukina's disguise was incredibly clever. The only unusual or suspicious things she did was occasionally show restraint, care about little things, worry about killing in a fight and act affectionate towards me."

Botan pushed her way between Hiei and Kurama and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her upturned palms.

"Lord Koenma knew all along," she said with a sigh. "I feel so silly for not noticing."

"Hn, he's a liar," Hiei scoffed.

"Hiei!" Botan yelped, turning to look at him.

"He's right, Botan, Koenma did lie about that," Kurama said, drawing Botan's outraged glare in his direction. "Koenma saw Yukina the first day she adopted her disguise and did not realise who she was, and he met us in spirit world by the second gate on Justice Road, spending most of a day and a night with us before figuring it out. He did figure it out on his own, but he had more information on the situation than any of the rest of us put together."

"Hn, I'm the only one of you idiots who could see what was really going on!" Hiei grumbled.

"Well of course you could, Hiei!" Botan replied. "You were the one being impersonated, so you knew that the other you wasn't the real you because you are the real you and the real you – which is you – had a real jagan eye which could see through the tricks of the fake you – but even if you hadn't had a jagan eye, you still would have known it wasn't you because you are you!"

"…I prefer your mouth when it does things other than talking," Hiei flatly replied.

"I think we can all agree that we were all a little too distracted to notice what was really going on, and that Yukina surprised us all by being intelligent and crafty enough to fool us all," Kurama said. "Arcanum arcanorum."

"I preferred it when everything was still Arcanum…" Hiei muttered.

"Oh Hiei, it's much nicer this way!" Botan said, nudging him playfully with her shoulder. "Now that all the secrets have been revealed, you can have a brother-sister relationship with Yukina! And you and I and Kurama and Yukina can double-date!"

"I sense that someone from spirit world is about to arrive," Hiei replied, his expression flat.

"Oh no!" Botan gasped, standing abruptly. "It's probably Ayame! I promised I would return her oar after you snatched it off of her and left her with my oar from Princess Mukuro, but then I broke it trying to escape from the Apepi because I wasn't flying high enough because I didn't know that snakes could fly though the–"

"She's getting very close, you should hurry."

Botan yelped and darted off, leaving Hiei and Kurama alone again.

"No-one's coming from spirit world," Kurama said once he was confident that Botan was out of earshot.

"No, but when she starts using words I don't like, it's time for her to leave," Hiei answered.

"Do you know what a double-date is?" Kurama asked.

"Don't want to," Hiei replied. "Dates are a sick enough concept without them being "double"."

Kurama laughed, but Hiei's expression did not shift.

"Don't worry Hiei," Kurama said, straightening his expression. "I just want to spend some time with Yukina when she's not pretending to be you. I need to know if I can still feel the same way about her when she's just being herself."

"That sounds worse than triple-dating," Hiei complained.

"How about this: if I am to spend more time with Yukina, she won't be alone up here for so long as she has been," Kurama offered. "She will be safer with me around. As long as I am frequenting this area, I promise you Yukina will not come to any harm. The only contact she will have will be tender and loving."

"I want to throw up in your face."

"Please don't."

"You better look after her. I know you went native back in demon world when you had all the ice wenches in a truck with you. I know they made you revert back to your lusty, foxy roots. Just don't get that way with my sister, understand?"

"Of course. You know Hiei, you, and Yukina's friend Rui, and perhaps many others may soon have a completely different opinion on the relationship between fox demons and ice maidens. And that change will stem from what happens right here."

"I'm going to kill you, but first I'm going to have you."

Yukina remained still, shock and fear delaying her reaction as Fumio's hands pressed into her sides.

"Your death will be exquisite," he growled, his pewter-coloured hair falling over either side of Yukina's face, casting her into shadow as he leaned over her. "First I'll make you scream with pain. But that won't last long – it never does with your kind. You protest it, you cry sweet gemstone tears, your face twisted and your body wracked with fear, but eventually you all love it. It doesn't take long before you're screaming in pleasure, begging for more. I'm going to carve my name in your skin with my claws, I'm going to rip you open and then I'm going to take you to the peak of ecstasy right before I turn you into a tasty treat for a Death Plant. You've seen the Death Plant before, haven't you Yukina? Of course you have, it's one of Kurama's favourite weapons. Such a beautiful plant, and the flowers it produces are unique in shape, colour and scent to the victim of the plant. It's just a pity you won't quite live long enough to see what sort of bloom your flesh and blood produces."

Yukina inhaled sharply, partly as a gasp of shock but also partly to draw in her gut as Fumio's hands slid around her waist, his fingers working their way up her chest.

"Oh, were you expecting me?" he purred as the tips of his fingers reached the still-open buttons of her dress. "I prefer my gifts tightly wrapped, but I suppose this little opening isn't too much of an inconvenience. It won't matter once I've ripped it open wider than you ever thought possible."

Yukina screamed and threw herself forwards, deciding that plunging down through the skies of demon world to her death was an infinitely preferable fate to being violated and tortured by a deranged demon. She enjoyed a brief moment of relief as the front of her dress tore against the strain of her entire weight pulling it down against Fumio's claws, and her body began to fall over the edge of the vines; but her weight caught again and suddenly as Fumio's hands caught her ankles, his grip easily as painful as the sudden jolt on her joints. She grabbed at the slippery vines in the vain hope of being able to secure the upper half of her body and redirect her energy into freeing her legs, but between the slimy coating of the plant and her small hands and fingers, she could not get a grip. In her prone position, the lower half of her dress had turned inside-out, and the feeling of a gust of warm demon world air against her bared legs did little to reassure her.

"Let go of me!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Alright," Fumio replied.

She held in a yelp of alarm as he released one of her ankles, her weight again jarring painfully against the joints of her leg he was still supporting, her freed leg bowing out awkwardly at her side as her centre of gravity shifted. Yukina kept her focus on trying to grip into the vines, scratching at them desperately in the hope that she could penetrate them and tear thinner strands to grasp onto, and she was so intent on her task that it did not occur to her that Fumio had let go of her ankle for any reason other than to taunt her with the fall she faced if he opened his other hand.

Yukina stopped suddenly, her fingers straightening out and her eyes growing large as Fumio's free hand grabbed her bared thigh, his thumb and forefinger touching the edges of her underwear.

"Does danger turn you on, Yukina?" he said, his words only worsening her panic. "I suppose there's only one way to find out."

His index finger burrowed its way under the elastic of her panties and she snapped back to her senses, kicking back her freed leg. Her heel collided with his upper arm, but as she was kicking against gravity, her blow was doubly weakened against a demon of his power, and he did not so much as flinch at the contact.

"Stop it!" she cried. "Just leave me alone!"

"You almost foiled my plans in spirit world and you tried to cast me into the pit of eternal pain and suffering," he replied. "Amuse me: tell me why you think I should spare you now?"

"You started all of this!" Yukina answered. "You hurt and abused my people, you did terrible things to spirit world and you're a very mean man!"

"My heart bleeds. But that's quite the rap sheet you've given me. Your delivery was incredibly childish and pitiful, but then again those are your strongest qualities."

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're not incredibly intelligent either, are you Yukina? If you had even the slightest hint of sense in that fluffy little head of yours, you would never have thought you could get away with imitating your brother, and you certainly wouldn't have ever challenged me. And yet you did both. Tell me Yukina, when your so-called "friends" found out about your dirty act of deceit, did they respond favourably?"

Yukina's fingers slipped over the surface of the vines as she began to quiver.

"Or were they perhaps a little disappointed?" Fumio continued when she did not answer him. "They all coddled you, treated you as an equal, led you to believe that you were capable of feeling real emotions, thinking logically and sensibly and that you are an individual. How cruel. They all deserved to nearly die because of your stupid little game. I won't be as pandering as they were. I will tell it to you straight: everything your ancestors in the ice village ever told you was true. You are a jewel factory. You contribute nothing of value to this world or any other apart from the pretty little stones you can create. Your kind are only allowed to exist because you produce currency for the rest of us. The fact that you have a passably attractive form is mere coincidence. There are only two things you can and do ever feel: fear and pain. And since you seem to invest a large amount of your time into seeking the thrill of feeling something truly intense, allow me to make you more afraid and to experience more excruciating agony than you ever thought possible."

Yukina cried out as she was yanked upwards, Fumio standing and hauling her up over his head before releasing his hold of her altogether. She flew a short way through the air before her back collided with a tree, which she bounced off of painfully and then dropped like a deadweight to the ground. She took a moment to blink back her confusion and push herself past the moment of pain from the impact; but she was not granted nearly as long as she needed as she was brought abruptly back to the moment by a sharp tug at the hem of her dress. She focused her eyes for only an instant – just long enough to see Fumio tearing a strip of fabric from the lower half of her dress – before throwing herself over to one side. She rolled over completely and leapt to her feet, breaking into a run without hesitation, ignoring pain, fear and panic as survival instinct overtook all of her other senses.

As she ran, Yukina tried to block out two niggling thoughts that lingered in the back of her mind: the first was that she was too flustered to really notice which direction she was running, and if she wanted to have any hope of escaping Fumio, she ought to be aiming for the temple, and the second was that Fumio was much faster and stronger than she was, and yet he was letting her stay ahead of him, which made no sense. And Fumio really was letting her stay ahead, maintaining his distance behind her, only occasionally breaking form to take a glancing shot at her. She could not tell if he was hitting her with his claws or some kind of plant, but he was – with worrying accuracy and efficiency – shredding her dress from her body. Without a weapon and without the discretion dressing in men's clothing had offered her, Yukina was not confident that she could stand up to Fumio in any capacity. She knew that he was infinitely stronger than her, but he was quite arrogant and a little reckless, and that had allowed her opportunities to keep him at bay in their previous encounters, but this time was different.

This time Yukina was not even experiencing the moment in her own body, rather she felt as though she was hiding behind a tree watching the horror unfold, exactly as she had done during her first visit to Arbeinia when Rui had finally deigned her old enough to leave the ice village for a visit to demon world proper.

And that thought was what made Yukina almost irrational with hatred towards Fumio. Kurama's full demon form was graceful and beautiful, his hair as silver as the metal of the same name and his eyes a flawless honey-gold, but Fumio was different. Fumio's hair was a dirty pale charcoal colour and his eyes a brash yellow. He was, as Kurama had pointed out during their first meeting, a younger demon than Kurama. Fox demons were born with black fur that faded to silver with age, but that process took the best part of a century to complete. Fumio was still young, and in his current state, he had the same dirty, half-faded colouring of the fox demon who had ascended upon Yukina and the ice maidens who had taken her to Arbeinia during her first visit there. And as she ran, Yukina could see herself running from him, she could see the mauve-haired ice maiden running from the fox demon so many years ago, she could hear her breathing becoming squeaky and desperate, she could hear the desperate and fearful cries of the ice maiden so long ago, and, worst of all, she could see the moment the fox stopped toying with the girl and caught her, tearing her clothes from her, his claws mercilessly tearing skin with silk, and then, too terrified to move or help, Yukina had hid behind a tree and watched as the fox had his way with the ice maiden.

With most of her dress removed from her body, Yukina realised that she was facing the same fate. Fumio could catch her at any moment; he was merely toying with her. He wanted her frightened because that was part of the thrill. He was going to catch her – it was just a matter of when it would happen, not if – and when he did, he was going to do quite terrible things to her.

"No!" Yukina wailed as he suddenly grabbed the back of the collar of her dress.

He yanked back and she cried out again as she was forced to a halt, the remains of her dress tearing painfully down the length of her body. He discarded the flimsy material and grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. Out of desperation, she tried to kick him in the groin, but he easily hit her leg aside. She leapt at him in an attempt to inflict an ice burn on him but he leapt out of her reach and threw something at her feet. She tried to move but was stopped short as something slithered its way around one of her ankles.

Looking down she almost vomited as the irony of her predicament began to sink in: Fumio had just used a trick he had learnt from Kurama to hold her in place against her will.

"You remember how this plant works, don't you Yukina?" Fumio asked her. "It's immune to ice attacks, and it grows two new leaves for every one you break off."

Yukina lifted her free foot from the ground but a shoot from the body of the plant whipped outwards and caught her ankle anyway, pulling it back down to the ground. She already knew that struggling would only make her suffer worse, and so she reluctantly stilled herself, lifting her eyes to Fumio, who grinned darkly at her.

"Yes, that's what I love," he growled. "That look is to divine: you've finally given in to your fear, finally accepted your fate. And now it's time for my fun to really begin…"

Kurama was standing at the top of the temple steps, the wind tugging his hair out to one side. The others had all moved indoors as it was getting quite dark and the temperature was dropping outside; but Kurama was still outside on his own, waiting for Yukina's return. He had not expected her to hurry back from the beach after their earlier encounter, but he had expected her to return before the sun set entirely – and she was only about ten minutes away from failing to meet that deadline.

He could only guess what she was thinking and why she had been detained, but he decided to start back to meet her. He had an idea that she might have found a wounded woodland critter, as she often did, and lost track of time trying to heal it. The forests around Genkai's temple were still a hive of activity for D-class demons, who were no threat to Kurama, but could prove a challenge to Yukina, who was as inexperienced in battle as she was at socialising outside of her own clan. He smiled to himself as he began to descend the temple steps: Yukina had shown some promise during her time pretending to be Hiei, and, with some training and direction, she could perhaps prove to be a decent fighter. She would never be a contender for the Demon World Tournament, but she could certainly be more effective than she had been before. Yusuke had suggested that the team should encourage her to train and fight, and although Kurama did not especially disagree with him, he wanted to be sure that Yukina wanted to follow that route before she was dragged along it by an overly-keen Yusuke or else felt forced to do so because she was still so desperate to prove herself to everyone else.

Kurama had read enough of Yukina's writings she had secretly stashed in her room to know that she was not the shrinking violet the others all thought her to be, but he also knew that she was still soft enough that she would do things she maybe did not want to simply to please someone else. And, more particularly, he had read her ideas about how her romance with him would play out, should it ever become a reality; which was something he intended to respond to, when the time was right.

"Kurama!"

Kurama stopped, one foot on the forest floor, the other still on the last step of the temple stairs. The cry was a desperate, ragged one screamed out in terror – and, judging by how faint it had sounded, it was coming from some distance away. But, despite the tone, the distance and the whistle of the wind distorting it, there was no mistaking that the cry had come from Yukina.

Within three strides, Kurama was sprinting at his top speed towards the source of the cry, and he took less than a minute to reach his destination, where he stumbled to a halt, momentarily frozen on the spot at what he saw: Yukina was being held a few inches off the ground by a demon pereskia – just like the one he had used to restrain her in spirit world – she had been stripped to her underwear, the plant was holding her arms and legs out at her sides, she was littered with lacerations and contusions, and, by far worst of all, Fumio was leaning over her, his mouth open, poised to take a bite out of her shoulder.

Fumio's jaws made a sickening clunking sound as they snapped together – but he missed his intended target, his body airborne by the time he had reacted, his jaws closing an instant before he hit the ground, landing on his left shoulder. He turned to see what had thrown him to the ground, but his face was met with a fist: it was hardly the most effective or appropriate way of fighting, but Kurama had lost patience with the younger fox demon, and so when he shook off the first blow, Kurama followed with a second. The sound of his name brought back to his senses for a moment, and he turned his head to the source of the voice, seeing Yukina hanging in the air above and behind him, staring down at him with wide, terrified eyes. At such close range, he could see that her injuries were worse than he had anticipated, and she was clearly both panicked about being caught in a plant that could kill her if she struggled and desperate to hide herself again: although her underwear was not at all skimpy or revealing, one strap of her bra had snapped, the material it supported wilting downwards from the breakage, barely keeping her dignity in tact.

Kurama grunted as Fumio recovered and threw him off. By luck, he landed by the roots of the demon pereskia holding Yukina, and he quickly slapped a hand against the ground, feeding enough energy into the roots to disable to the plant. She was dropped unceremoniously to the ground with a yelp of surprise and possibly pain, but Kurama had to stand and push back Fumio, denying him the chance to break her fall. He managed to catch Fumio off-guard with an energy blast that threw him back a few feet, where he landed on his back. Kurama then quickly turned to Yukina, who was sitting on the ground, her legs bunched up in front of her, her arms huddled protectively over her chest. She looked even smaller than usual in that position, and, as she looked at Kurama, she looked as frightened of him as she was of Fumio.

Kurama shook off his thoughts, deciding to address them later, and instead focused on the task at hand: he removed his sweater, frowning slightly when his action made Yukina shuffle back from him slightly, her already wide eyes grower larger. He held out the garment towards her expectantly, and she seemed confused at first.

"Cover yourself up," he explained.

She relaxed a little then and gladly took the sweater from him, pulling it over her head with shaking hands. It was far too big for her, the poloneck looking baggy about her slender neck, and she had to roll the sleeves up to half their length just to uncover her hands, but the excessive length proved to be to her advantage as the hem fell to halfway down her thighs. She stood up and tightened the roll of the sleeves by her wrists and, despite still shaking all over and looking quite beaten, she glowered in the direction Fumio had landed, looking ready to fight.

"Stay out of the way," Kurama warned her.

She turned her glower to him, the determination in her eyes losing none of its intensity.

"He planted a giant demon plant in spirit world, and it tore open a portal to this realm and then another into demon world," she said. "All three worlds are open to each other, and the plant is still spreading into demon world – it might attract attention, and if demons follow it to its source, they can enter spirit world."

Kurama paused long enough to consider what Yukina had just told him.

"Stopping that plant will require a lot of energy and hard work," he concluded aloud.

"Can I kill it?" she asked.

"No, the best you could hope to do it halt its advance," he replied. "That plant can only be grown, controlled and stopped by a fox demon."

Yukina nodded.

"Then you must go immediately and start work destroying it," she said.

Kurama grunted involuntarily: he could not tell what shocked him more, her words or the fact that she had meant them.

"I will detain Fumio here," she added.

"Do you understand what he will do to you if I leave you alone with him?" Kurama asked harshly, anger stirring in his chest.

"That's not important," she softly replied. "You have to stop that plant. If very powerful demons get into spirit world, terrible things could happen. And remember, the first portal from demon world to spirit world that Fumio created brought that terrible virus to demon world."

Kurama narrowed his eyes, hoping to break her resolve with a stern look, but she remained surprisingly unaffected.

"Sit down and stay out of my way," he said firmly. "I will take care of this intruder and his plant."

Yukina's expression changed slightly, the tightness relaxing around the corners of her eyes, her eyebrows inverting in shape as her frown faded. She took a step back and lowered her head slightly, and Kurama, with no more time to spare, took her action to be one of submission, and he turned from her in time to confront Fumio, who had just launched a most unexpected attack at him.

Next Chapter: Oh God, seriously, why hasn't this fic ended already? It was only ever meant to be like 12 chapters, the whole ice maiden auction thing onwards was all ideas that only happened after I started writing… Chapter 35 – Thirteenth Night

PS: Does anyone here remember Fox McCloud? Does anyone else think his name sorta sounds rude? Like every time you say it, you end up saying Fux Aloud? No? Just me then. Oh well.